Deprecate: app.import_object()

CHANGES

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ Deprecated
 
 * :confval:`source_parsers` is deprecated. Please use ``add_source_parser()``
   instead.
+* ``app.import_object()`` is deprecated.  Please use
+  ``sphinx.util.import_object()`` instead.
 
 Features added
 --------------

sphinx/application.py

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from six.moves import cStringIO
 import sphinx
 from sphinx import package_dir, locale
 from sphinx.config import Config
-from sphinx.deprecation import RemovedInSphinx20Warning
+from sphinx.deprecation import RemovedInSphinx20Warning, RemovedInSphinx30Warning
 from sphinx.environment import BuildEnvironment
 from sphinx.errors import (
     ApplicationError, ConfigError, ExtensionError, VersionRequirementError
@@ -460,10 +460,16 @@ class Sphinx(object):
         if version > sphinx.__display_version__[:3]:
             raise VersionRequirementError(version)
 
-    # TODO(stephenfin): Deprecate this as it has no callers and isn't necessary
     def import_object(self, objname, source=None):
         # type: (str, unicode) -> Any
-        """Import an object from a ``module.name`` string."""
+        """Import an object from a ``module.name`` string.
+
+        .. deprecated:: 1.8
+           Use ``sphinx.util.import_object()`` instead.
+        """
+        warnings.warn('app.import_object() is deprecated. '
+                      'Use sphinx.util.add_object_type() instead.',
+                      RemovedInSphinx30Warning)
         return import_object(objname, source=None)
 
     # event interface

sphinx/builders/__init__.py

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from docutils import nodes
 
 from sphinx.deprecation import RemovedInSphinx20Warning
 from sphinx.environment.adapters.asset import ImageAdapter
-from sphinx.util import i18n, path_stabilize, logging, status_iterator
+from sphinx.util import i18n, import_object, path_stabilize, logging, status_iterator
 from sphinx.util.console import bold  # type: ignore
 from sphinx.util.i18n import find_catalog
 from sphinx.util.osutil import SEP, ensuredir, relative_uri
@@ -159,8 +159,8 @@ class Builder(object):
         # type: () -> None
         """Return the template bridge configured."""
         if self.config.template_bridge:
-            self.templates = self.app.import_object(
+            self.templates = import_object(self.config.template_bridge,
-                self.config.template_bridge, 'template_bridge setting')()
+                                           'template_bridge setting')()
         else:
             from sphinx.jinja2glue import BuiltinTemplateLoader
             self.templates = BuiltinTemplateLoader()