I posted the following in Pro 3.3 beta forums, but I wanted to post on Esri Community in case someone or some organization has found an elegant solution to managing compatibility and interoperability between products and versions as Esri adds more functionality to geodatabase objects.
When Esri simplified the Geodatabase schema back at ArcGIS 10.0, it allowed for the addition of new functionality to geodatabase objects without having to update the Geodatabase schema itself. In and of itself, I think it was a really wise move that made the Geodatabase schema much more robust to survive the test of time; however, it hasn't been without its issue.
As Esri has added new features to geodatabase objects, e.g., attribute rules in ArcGIS Pro 2.1 and new data types in ArcGIS Pro 3.2, it is great that feature classes, tables, etc... that don't rely on that new functionality can continue to work in older Esri software; BUT, Esri hasn't really provided many tools for helping organizations and users manage compatibility and interoperability across software and versions.
I know in a perfect world no one would be using ArcGIS Desktop/ArcMap any longer, and every ArcGIS Pro user would already be using 3.2 (soon 3.3), but the reality for large organizations is that transitions to new software and versions takes time, as in years sometimes.
I recently spent some time in the bowels of the Geodatabase schema and the schemas of its objects, and I realized there is a RequiredGeodatabaseClientVersion XML element for feature classes and tables. Not only is the element specific, it appears to be extremely accurate, which is great. However, outside of querying GDB system tables, how are organizations and users supposed to be able to access that information to easily and accurately determine whether a given geodatabase object is compatible with the software they are using or plan on using?
If I am missing the obvious, mea culpa, just point me to the documentation for the tools I can use because I haven't had any luck.
