Schema Evolution and Compatibility
https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/schema-registry/fundamentals/schema-evolution.html
Method
none stated
Population
none stated
What it does not show
No measurement of how often incompatible-schema incidents occur or how many enforcement prevents, and no adoption numbers. The documentation states the checker does not verify runtime logic, data semantics or business rules, and coordinates no deployment ordering — so registered-compatible does not mean safe to roll out.
Confluent, Inc.
Defines backward, forward and full compatibility modes, plus transitive variants that check against all prior versions rather than only the last, enforced when a schema version is registered — blocking a change that would break the declared contract with existing producers or consumers. Transitive modes exist specifically to prevent a chain of pairwise-compatible changes that are jointly incompatible.
Tier IV: Vendor documentation describing a mechanism and its rules. A design argument, not a measurement of incidents prevented.