[PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[David Howells]

Add a guideline indicating who to notify about new userspace API/ABI elements,
such as new system calls or error codes.

Signed-off-by: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
---

 MAINTAINERS |    5 ++++-
 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 560ecce..694bec2 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -63,7 +63,10 @@ trivial patch so apply some common sense.
 	please Cc: security@kernel.org, especially if the maintainer
 	does not respond.
 
-8.	Happy hacking.
+8.	When adding new userspace API/ABI elements, notably system calls and
+	error codes, please cc <linux-api@vger.kernel.org>.
+
+9.	Happy hacking.
 
 Descriptions of section entries:
 

Re: [PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[Joe Perches]

On Mon, 2011-03-07 at 11:35 +0000, David Howells wrote:
> Add a guideline indicating who to notify about new userspace API/ABI elements,
> such as new system calls or error codes.

Hey David.

Is there some list of files that are more likely to
trigger this?

Maybe add a section like:

USERSPACE ABI/API INTERFACES
L:	linux-api@vger.kernel.org
F:	include/asm-generic/errno*.h
F:	include/linux/capability.h
F:	include/linux/compat.h
F:	include/linux/syscalls.h
F:	include/*/unistd.h

Maybe add some arch wildcards?

F:	arch/*/include/asm/errno.h
F:	arch/*/include/asm/unistd.h

Maybe add fs?

F:	fs/compat*.c

There's probably a bunch of others.
Suggestions?

Re: [PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Monday 07 March 2011, Joe Perches wrote:
> Hey David.
> 
> Is there some list of files that are more likely to
> trigger this?
> 
> Maybe add a section like:
> 
> USERSPACE ABI/API INTERFACES
> L:      linux-api@vger.kernel.org
> F:      include/asm-generic/errno*.h
> F:      include/linux/capability.h
> F:      include/linux/compat.h
> F:      include/linux/syscalls.h
> F:      include/*/unistd.h

syscalls.h and compat.h are not really the user space ABI,
as user applications don't use those headers to link to
the kernel.

> Maybe add some arch wildcards?
> 
> F:      arch/*/include/asm/errno.h
> F:      arch/*/include/asm/unistd.h
> 
> Maybe add fs?
> 
> F:      fs/compat*.c
> 
> There's probably a bunch of others.
> Suggestions?
> 

I think you can add the entire asm-generic directory. The majority
of the changes in there are to exported files, so they impact
the ABI. For a specific list, you'd have to go through all the
files listed as exported in include/{linux,asm-generic}/Kbuild.

	Arnd

Re: [PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[David Howells]

Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> wrote:

> F:	include/*/unistd.h

I think you mean arch/include/*/*unistd*.h and arch/include/*/*seccomp*.h.

David

Re: [PATCH] MAINTAINERS: Add a guideline on notification of new userspace API/ABI elements

[Randy Dunlap]

On Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:35:23 +0000 David Howells wrote:

> Add a guideline indicating who to notify about new userspace API/ABI elements,
> such as new system calls or error codes.
> 
> Signed-off-by: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
> ---
> 
>  MAINTAINERS |    5 ++++-
>  1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
> index 560ecce..694bec2 100644
> --- a/MAINTAINERS
> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
> @@ -63,7 +63,10 @@ trivial patch so apply some common sense.
>  	please Cc: security@kernel.org, especially if the maintainer
>  	does not respond.
>  
> -8.	Happy hacking.
> +8.	When adding new userspace API/ABI elements, notably system calls and
> +	error codes, please cc <linux-api@vger.kernel.org>.
> +
> +9.	Happy hacking.
>  
>  Descriptions of section entries:
>  
> 
> --

No objection other than I dislike having the same info in multiple places --
updates get out of sync easily and this is somewhat already in
Documentation/HOWTO and Documentation/SubmitChecklist.

---
~Randy
*** Remember to use Documentation/SubmitChecklist when testing your code ***