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Customization🔗

Deprecation Messages and Templates🔗

pyDeprecate picks a deprecation message template automatically based on how you configured the decorator. Override it with template_mgs when the defaults do not fit.

Default templates🔗

Three built-in templates cover the common scenarios:

Template When it fires Example output
TEMPLATE_WARNING_CALLABLE target is a callable (function forwarding) The 'old_func' was deprecated since v1.0 in favor of 'pkg.new_func'. It will be removed in v2.0.
TEMPLATE_WARNING_ARGUMENTS target=True with args_mapping and the caller passes a deprecated argument The 'my_func' uses deprecated arguments: 'old_arg' -> 'new_arg'. They were deprecated since v1.0 and will be removed in v2.0.
TEMPLATE_WARNING_NO_TARGET target=None (notice-only, no forwarding) The 'legacy_func' was deprecated since v1.0. It will be removed in v2.0.

The selection logic is:

  1. If target is a callable (function, method, or class) → TEMPLATE_WARNING_CALLABLE
  2. If target=True and the caller passes a deprecated argument from args_mappingTEMPLATE_WARNING_ARGUMENTS
  3. If target=NoneTEMPLATE_WARNING_NO_TARGET

When you provide template_mgs, your custom template replaces whichever default would have been chosen.

Placeholder variables🔗

Custom templates use Python %-style formatting (%(key)s). Available placeholders depend on the deprecation type:

Placeholder Available when Value
source_name Always Name of the deprecated function (e.g. "old_func")
source_path Always Fully qualified path (e.g. "mypackage.old_func")
target_name target is callable Name of the replacement function
target_path target is callable Fully qualified path of the replacement
deprecated_in Always Value of deprecated_in parameter
remove_in Always Value of remove_in parameter
argument_map target=True with args_mapping Formatted string like `old` -> `new`

Custom template example🔗

from deprecate import deprecated


def new_api(x: int) -> int:
    return x * 10


@deprecated(
    target=new_api,
    deprecated_in="2.0",
    remove_in="3.0",
    template_mgs=("[MIGRATION] `%(source_name)s` is removed in v%(remove_in)s. Switch to `%(target_path)s`."),
)
def old_api(x: int) -> int:
    pass


# Emits: [MIGRATION] `old_api` is removed in v3.0. Switch to `your_module.new_api`.
result = old_api(5)
print(result)
Output: print(result)
50

For argument deprecation, a custom template that references the mapping:

from deprecate import deprecated


@deprecated(
    target=True,
    deprecated_in="1.5",
    remove_in="2.0",
    args_mapping={"lr": "learning_rate"},
    template_mgs="%(source_name)s: renamed args %(argument_map)s (since v%(deprecated_in)s, removal v%(remove_in)s)",
)
def train(lr: float = 0.01, learning_rate: float = 0.01) -> float:
    return learning_rate


# Emits: train: renamed args `lr` -> `learning_rate` (since v1.5, removal v2.0)
print(train(lr=0.001))
Output: print(train(lr=0.001)
0.001

Deprecation Output Sink (stream)🔗

stream controls where deprecation messages go. It accepts any callable with signature (msg: str) -> None, or None to silence output entirely.

Default: FutureWarning via warnings.warn🔗

By default, stream is functools.partial(warnings.warn, category=FutureWarning). In practice this means:

  • Deprecation notices appear as FutureWarning, visible by default in scripts and interactive sessions.
  • Standard warning filters apply — suppress with warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", category=FutureWarning) when needed.
  • The traceback points to internal pyDeprecate wrapper code. For caller-level tracebacks, use a custom stream that calls warnings.warn with an appropriate stacklevel.

Silencing deprecation output entirely🔗

Pass stream=None to disable all deprecation output for a specific function. Call forwarding still works — only the message is suppressed. This is useful for internal wrappers that exist solely for backwards compatibility without user-facing noise.

Testing gotcha: stream=None suppresses FutureWarning

When stream=None is set, no FutureWarning is emitted, so pytest.warns(FutureWarning) will fail. Test the call-forwarding result directly instead of asserting the warning. See Testing Deprecated Code for patterns.

from deprecate import deprecated


def new_internal(x: int) -> int:
    return x + 1


@deprecated(target=new_internal, deprecated_in="1.0", remove_in="2.0", stream=None)
def old_internal(x: int) -> int:
    pass


# No warning emitted, but call is still forwarded to new_internal
print(old_internal(5))
Output: print(old_internal(5)
6

Redirecting to a logger🔗

Pass logging.warning (or any logging level method) to route deprecation messages through Python's logging system. This plugs straight into your existing log aggregation, filtering, and formatting.

# phmdoctest:skip
import logging
from deprecate import deprecated

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.WARNING)


def new_process(data: list) -> list:
    return sorted(data)


@deprecated(
    target=new_process,
    deprecated_in="1.0",
    remove_in="2.0",
    stream=logging.warning,
)
def old_process(data: list) -> list:
    pass


# Instead of a FutureWarning, this emits a WARNING-level log line:
#   WARNING:root:The `old_process` was deprecated since v1.0 in favor of `your_module.new_process`.
#   It will be removed in v2.0.
old_process([3, 1, 2])

Pick the log level that matches the urgency:

  • logging.warning — standard choice; visible in default configs
  • logging.error — critical deprecations nearing removal deadline
  • logging.info — low-priority deprecations during early migration

Combine num_warns=-1 with stream=logging.warning for migration tracking

With unlimited notices routed to your logger, every deprecated call site appears in your log aggregation system (ELK, Datadog, CloudWatch). Query the logs to measure migration progress and find remaining callers before the removal deadline.

Using print for simple console output🔗

For quick debugging or scripts where you want immediate stdout output without the warnings module:

from deprecate import deprecated


def new_greet(name: str) -> str:
    return f"Hello, {name}!"


new_greet.__module__ = "your_module"


@deprecated(target=new_greet, deprecated_in="1.0", remove_in="2.0", stream=print)
def old_greet(name: str) -> str:
    pass


# Prints directly to stdout:
#   The `old_greet` was deprecated since v1.0 in favor of `your_module.new_greet`.
#   It will be removed in v2.0.
print(old_greet("World"))
Output: print(old_greet("World"))
The `old_greet` was deprecated since v1.0 in favor of `your_module.new_greet`. It will be removed in v2.0.
Hello, World!

Custom stream callable🔗

Any callable accepting a single string argument works. Here is an example that collects deprecation messages into a list for later processing:

from deprecate import deprecated

collected_warnings: list = []


def collector(msg: str) -> None:
    collected_warnings.append(msg)


def target_fn(x: int) -> int:
    return x * 2


target_fn.__module__ = "your_module"


@deprecated(target=target_fn, deprecated_in="1.0", remove_in="2.0", stream=collector)
def source_fn(x: int) -> int:
    pass


source_fn(10)
print(collected_warnings)
Output: print(collected_warnings)
['The `source_fn` was deprecated since v1.0 in favor of `your_module.target_fn`. It will be removed in v2.0.']

See also🔗

  • Use Cases — worked examples of all deprecation patterns including stream and template usage
  • Audit Tools — complement custom streams with CI enforcement of removal deadlines
  • Troubleshooting — how to redirect deprecation output to a Python logger instead of warnings.warn

Next: Audit Tools — validate decorator configuration, enforce removal deadlines, and detect deprecation chains in CI.