Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753563AbYGBRIx (ORCPT ); Wed, 2 Jul 2008 13:08:53 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751726AbYGBRIm (ORCPT ); Wed, 2 Jul 2008 13:08:42 -0400 Received: from a-sasl-fastnet.sasl.smtp.pobox.com ([207.106.133.19]:52408 "EHLO sasl.smtp.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751610AbYGBRIl (ORCPT ); Wed, 2 Jul 2008 13:08:41 -0400 Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 12:08:33 -0500 From: Nathan Lynch To: Andrew Morton Cc: Paul Mackerras , torvalds@linux-foundation.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, greg@kroah.com Subject: [PATCH] sysfs-rules.txt: reword API stability statement Message-ID: <20080702170833.GZ9594@localdomain> References: <18539.8141.683072.967851@cargo.ozlabs.ibm.com> <20080702003755.4daff613.akpm@linux-foundation.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080702003755.4daff613.akpm@linux-foundation.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17+20080114 (2008-01-14) X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 84529432-4859-11DD-BADF-CE28B26B55AE-04752483!a-sasl-fastnet.pobox.com Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1833 Lines: 43 The first paragraph of this document implies that user space developers shouldn't use sysfs at all, but then it goes on to describe rules that developers should follow when accessing sysfs. Not only is this somewhat self-contradictory, it has been shown to discourage developers from using established sysfs interfaces. A note of caution is more appropriate than a blanket "sysfs will never be stable" assertion. Signed-off-by: Nathan Lynch --- Andrew Morton wrote: > > Those are dopey weasel words and they should be removed. Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt | 5 ++--- 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt b/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt index 80ef562..6049a2a 100644 --- a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt +++ b/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt @@ -3,9 +3,8 @@ Rules on how to access information in the Linux kernel sysfs The kernel-exported sysfs exports internal kernel implementation details and depends on internal kernel structures and layout. It is agreed upon by the kernel developers that the Linux kernel does not provide a stable -internal API. As sysfs is a direct export of kernel internal -structures, the sysfs interface cannot provide a stable interface either; -it may always change along with internal kernel changes. +internal API. Therefore, there are aspects of the sysfs interface that +may not be stable across kernel releases. To minimize the risk of breaking users of sysfs, which are in most cases low-level userspace applications, with a new kernel release, the users -- 1.5.5 -- 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/