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

Greg KH
2006-03-01T20:56:53Z

On Wed, Mar 01, 2006 at 08:27:52AM +0100, Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-02-28 at 16:23 -0800, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Tue, Feb 28, 2006 at 02:39:29PM +0300, Nikita Danilov wrote:
> > > Greg KH writes:
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > > +
> > > > + stable/
> > > > + This directory documents the interfaces that have determined to
> > > > + be stable. Userspace programs are free to use these interfaces
> > > > + with no restrictions, and backward compatibility for them will
> > > > + be guaranteed for at least 2 years. Most simple interfaces
> > > > + (like syscalls) are expected to never change and always be
> > > > + available.
> > >
> > > What about separating "stable" ("guaranteed for at least 2 years") and
> > > "standard" (core unix interface is not going to change ever)?
> >
> > Why? Would that mean that the POSIX-like syscalls would only be in
> > "standard"? What else would you think would be in that category?
>
> that sounds wrong. If you want posix behavior, use glibc. Not the kernel
> directly. It's that simple. The kernel tends to follow posix mostly, to
> allow glibc to do this job without too much hoops, but it's glibc that
> provides the final posix API to the application. And it should be that
> way.

Yes, sorry, that is much more correct.

greg k-h