Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1750773AbWCEX2o (ORCPT ); Sun, 5 Mar 2006 18:28:44 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751901AbWCEX2o (ORCPT ); Sun, 5 Mar 2006 18:28:44 -0500 Received: from kanga.kvack.org ([66.96.29.28]:13220 "EHLO kanga.kvack.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750773AbWCEX2o (ORCPT ); Sun, 5 Mar 2006 18:28:44 -0500 Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2006 18:23:26 -0500 From: Benjamin LaHaise To: "Eric W. Biederman" Cc: Greg KH , Nicholas Miell , Greg KH , "Theodore Ts'o" , Linus Torvalds , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Andrew Morton , davej@redhat.com, perex@suse.cz, Kay Sievers Subject: Re: [RFC] Add kernel<->userspace ABI stability documentation Message-ID: <20060305232326.GC20768@kvack.org> References: <20060227190150.GA9121@kroah.com> <20060227193654.GA12788@kvack.org> <20060227194623.GC9991@suse.de> <20060227234525.GA21694@suse.de> <20060228063207.GA12502@thunk.org> <20060301003452.GG23716@kroah.com> <1141175870.2989.17.camel@entropy> <20060302042455.GB10464@suse.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1375 Lines: 30 On Sun, Mar 05, 2006 at 09:17:59AM -0700, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > So if we go down this path can we make this functional Documentation? > > In particular can we have per process/per interface kinds of flags that > allow access to experimental subsystems? Sounds fragile. It doesn't help the real problem that APIs need to be well designed. > If the developer has to jump through an extra hoop to use an interface > we have clearly documented this is unsupported and will change in the > future. Anything else can be easy to miss. At this point if it ends up anywhere near the tools people need to use on a regular basis, it will not have accomplished anything. APIs should be reasonably stable, often extensible, by the time they hit the kernel. The problem with any sort of 'experimental' API is that it probably means the code is not ready to be in the kernel. Wrapping it up in flags doesn't stop people from using it and tieing code to the interface; not shipping code that isn't fully baked does. -ben -- "Time is of no importance, Mr. President, only life is important." Don't Email: . - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/