Deprecate compare_versions.

anntzer · anntzer · commit f2c4fce0843e · 2019-04-23T11:27:51.000+02:00
It is only internally used by the deprecated checkdep_ghostscript.
diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2019-04-23-AL.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2019-04-23-AL.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Deprecations
+````````````
+``matplotlib.compare_versions`` is deprecated (use comparison of
+``distutils.version.LooseVersion``\s instead).
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@
 }"""
 
 
+@cbook.deprecated("3.2")
 def compare_versions(a, b):
     "Return whether version *a* is greater than or equal to version *b*."
     if isinstance(a, bytes):
