OP was suggesting not to have included backwards-incompatible changes, using deprecation warnings instead and branding it as a minor upgrade
Either my memory fails me, or the comment was edited...
I don't recall responding to a comment that mentioned using deprecation warnings instead. :/
Sorry, I edited it right after posting it. Didn't think somebody could answer that fast :p
Hence OP was suggesting not following the semantic versioning model.
Why would they do that? To have extra work and to have to carry deprecated garbage and compatibility ports for a few releases more, instead of making a clean new version?
Those that need compatibility can stick with 4 until they're ready.
Re:D3.js 5.0 is out
by icebraining on Friday March 23, 2018 @05:28AM
(#16656342)
The semantic versioning model just says how you should update your version if you break compatibility, not that you can't avoid breaking compatibility.
In fact, they suggest the opposite: "Before you completely remove the functionality in a new major release there should be at least one minor release that contains the deprecation so that users can smoothly transition to the new API."
https://semver.org/#how-should-i-handle-deprecating-function...
There are backwards incompatible changes, so it has to be a major bump.