Hi Wouter,
when we changed the docs to say "has been removed" the problem with this option was that it in fact did no longer do what is was supposed to.
With alternateBgColors = 1 you do get alternating colors. However, with alternateBgColors = 0 you should then be able to switch alternation off - that also is what the description in TSconfig tells you and what was possible in older versions. But in current versions you can't anymore! Switching alternation off effectively was removed. Rows are alternating anyway; whether alternateBgColors is set or not. The only difference is that the colors are a bit different when it's set compared to when it's not set - but alternation is there always. If I remember correctly it was a decision by the UI team that alternation should always be there. So basically it does not make sense to tell people that there would be an option to switch alternation off - rows will alternate anyway and that is what is wanted. This option - at least with that name - does not make sense anymore.
Two possible solutions: Either make the property really turn alternation off again (the UI team does not want that) or finally really remove this property (this is what the UI team wants, what the docs claim had been done since ages and what effectively also has been done already).
The right solution is to remove alternateBgColors.
(Offtopic: Maybe you say that you want to have two different sets of alternation, e.g. one with higher contrast for people who want/need that (the patch you linked to reads like that). I have absolutely no problem with that, but then please use another property name for that, e.g. alternateHighContrast or something like that.)