Re: [MAINTAINER SUMMIT] Enforcing API deprecation

Linus Torvalds
2025-08-27T16:58:04Z

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 at 09:42, Rob Herring <robherring2@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have a similar situation with DT APIs. It's a bit more nuanced than
> the GPIO case. There's old APIs which are "don't add new users" or
> "think twice before you add a new user". We may never get rid of the
> APIs because a) no one wants to fix PPC and Sparc and b) there's
> sometimes a need for these lower level functions. It's similar to
> using devm_ APIs vs. the non devm_ variants.

Having parallel APIs for different use cases is perfectly fine.
Normal, even, and not something that we should worry about or even
strive to avoid.

The devm_xyz() vs just plain xyz() is a good example of that. They are
parallel for good reasons, and they will remain forever.

All I'm saying is that people who do new API's should either just
accept that, or just convert between the two. None of this "deprecate"
garbage. None of this "blame other developers because they use the old
interface".

That's the basic tenet here: if you are too lazy to convert all users,
you also do not have the moral right to complain about - or expect -
others not doing the work you didn't do for you.

Linus