From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Tom Tucker Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro. Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:45:37 -0600 Message-ID: <1196185537.24469.21.camel@trinity.ogc.int> References: <20071122343.446909000@suse.de> <200711261228.15155.rusty@rustcorp.com.au> <200711271549.37670.rusty@rustcorp.com.au> <1196141742.9876.49.camel@trinity.ogc.int> <20071127171542.GB3406@stusta.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Rusty Russell , Roland Dreier , Andi Kleen , netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, sam@ravnborg.org To: Adrian Bunk Return-path: Received: from 209-198-142-2-host.prismnet.net ([209.198.142.2]:54529 "EHLO smtp.opengridcomputing.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756781AbXK0Rlp (ORCPT ); Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:41:45 -0500 In-Reply-To: <20071127171542.GB3406@stusta.de> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org On Tue, 2007-11-27 at 18:15 +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote: > On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 11:35:42PM -0600, Tom Tucker wrote: > > On Tue, 2007-11-27 at 15:49 +1100, Rusty Russell wrote: > >... > > > No. That's the wrong question. What's the real upside? > > > > Explicitly documenting what comprises the kernel API (external, > > supported) and what comprises the kernel implementation (internal, not > > supported). > >... > > There is not, never was, and never will be, any supported external API > of the kernel. Philosophically I understand what you're saying, but in practical terms there is the issue of managing core API like kmalloc. Although kmalloc _could_ change, doing so would be extremely painful. In fact anyone who proposed such a change would have to have a profoundly powerful argument as to why it was necessary. I think this patchset is an attempt to make it easier to identify and review these kinds of interfaces. > > cu > Adrian >