Annotation Glossary

NULL is OK, both for passing and for returning.

Parameter points to an array of items.

Generics and defining elements of containers and arrays.

NULL may be passed as the value in, out, in-out; or as a return value.

NULL may be passed instead of a pointer to a location.

Parameter for returning results. Default is transfer full.

Exposed in C code, not necessarily available in other languages.

The caller owns the data container, but not the data inside it.

The caller owns the data, and is responsible for free it.

The data is owned by the callee, which is responsible of freeing it.

Unstable interfaces are experimental or transitional. They are typically used to give outside developers early access to new or rapidly changing technology, or to provide an interim solution to a problem where a more general solution is anticipated. No claims are made about either source or binary compatibility from one minor release to the next. The Unstable interface level is a warning that these interfaces are subject to change without warning and should not be used in unbundled products. Given such caveats, customer impact need not be a factor when considering incompatible changes to an Unstable interface in a major or minor release. Nonetheless, when such changes are introduced, the changes should still be mentioned in the release notes for the affected release.