Re: Writing linux kernel specification

[Peter Williams <pwil3058@bigpond.net.au>]

Rik van Riel wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, Karel Kulhavy wrote:
> 
> 
>>3) Is Linux kernel meant to have a specification and just a lack of time
>>   prevented it, or is Linux kernel meant to not have a specification?
>>4) If I produce a specification that is valid, correct and complete enough
>>   to be useful for general public, will it be included on the Linux kernel
>>   homepage http://www.kernel.org under a link "Linux kernel official
>>   specification" upon my request?
> 
> 
> You can write a specification, but I can guarantee you that
> it will be out of date the moment you run your spell checker
> on it.
> 
> Linux kernel development continues at a very high speed, and
> things inside the kernel change all the time.  The only thing
> that's stable is the user space ABI (the system calls), since
> the behaviour of those (mostly) follows POSIX and the Single
> Unix Standard (SUS).

Maybe that (the mostly bit) is what needs to be documented/specified 
i.e. any differences between the Linux user space ABI and those two 
standards.  Surely that difference is reasonably stable and having it 
documented in a single place would be useful.

Peter
-- 
Peter Williams                                   pwil3058@bigpond.net.au

"Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious."
  -- Ambrose Bierce