Re: [stable] cpumask: fix compat getaffinity

[Greg KH <greg@kroah.com>]

On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 08:13:55PM +0200, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> On Tuesday 11 May 2010 17:20:02 Greg KH wrote:
> > > AFAIK, -stable is mainly used for distro and they have many and many
> > > packages. we can't assume no app read /sys files directly.
> > > IOW, To change /sys printing format is a bit risky change. frequently
> > > compatibility breaking natually break code stability.
> > 
> > Ah, the sysfs user/kernel API is what you are referring to here, right?
> > If so, remember, any changes need to be documented in Documentation/API
> > :)
> > And as for distros using -stable for their releases, that's fine, they
> > well know the risks/benefits for that and handle changes on their own.
> 
> Would it make sense to use my initial patch for -stable, which reverts
> the ABI back to before the change that caused the problem, but apply
> the correct fix (changing the ABI throughout) for future releases?

I do not know, as I really don't know what the issue is here.

I trust that you, and the others, can come up with a fix for mainline
properly, and if it applies to the stable tree, feel free to forward it
to stable@kernel.org for submission then.

thanks,

greg k-h