Re: [RFC] Add kernel<->userspace ABI stability documentation

Benjamin LaHaise
2006-02-27T19:42:07Z

On Mon, Feb 27, 2006 at 11:01:50AM -0800, Greg KH wrote:
> --- /dev/null
> +++ gregkh-2.6/Documentation/ABI/private/alsa
> @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
> +What: Kernel Sound interface
> +Date: Feburary 2006
> +Who: Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>
> +Description:
> + The use of the kernel sound interface must be done
> + through the ALSA library. For more details on this,
> + please see http://www.alsa-project.org/ and contact
> + <alsa-devel@alsa-project.org>

How can something as widely used as sound not work from one kernel version
to the next, as seems to be implied with the "private" nature of the ABI?
This is a total cop-out and is IMHO very amateur of the developers. If
something like this is to be the case, at the very least the alsa libraries
need to provide a stable ABI and be shipped with the kernel.

-ben