linux-kernel - Re: DT bindings as ABI [was: Do we have people interested in device tree janitoring / cleanup?]

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Date:	Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:48:34 +0200
From:	Richard Cochran <richardcochran@...il.com>
To:	Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>
Cc:	Stephen Warren <swarren@...dotorg.org>,
	Olof Johansson <olof@...om.net>,
	Catalin Marinas <Catalin.Marinas@....com>,
	"devicetree@...r.kernel.org" <devicetree@...r.kernel.org>,
	"ksummit-2013-discuss@...ts.linuxfoundation.org" 
	<ksummit-2013-discuss@...ts.linuxfoundation.org>,
	Russell King - ARM Linux <linux@....linux.org.uk>,
	Samuel Ortiz <sameo@...ux.intel.com>,
	Domenico Andreoli <cavokz@...il.com>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Dave P Martin <Dave.Martin@....com>,
	"linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org" 
	<linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org>,
	"rob.herring@...xeda.com" <rob.herring@...xeda.com>,
	Pawel Moll <Pawel.Moll@....com>,
	Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@...rix.com>
Subject: Re: DT bindings as ABI [was: Do we have people interested in device
 tree janitoring / cleanup?]

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 07:29:20PM +0100, Mark Rutland wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 07:05:48PM +0100, Stephen Warren wrote:
> > 
> > I don't think having people "rely" on the bindings is the issue so much
> > as the awareness that if they do, there will be compatibility issues for
> > unstable bindings.
> 
> As long as we can make sufficiently clear that trying to use an unstable
> binding is going to be *very* painful, and not necessarily supported.

Oh, man.

The introduction of DT into ARM Linux was supposed to make everyone's
life sooo much easier. Of course, based on experience with powerpc, I
never believed it*, but still I would expect to hear that the DT
bindings are, well, a *binding* contract between the board developer,
boot loader, and the kernel.

Once it is working with a particular kernel, a DT board description
file should continue to work indefinitely with newer kernels. Anything
less is a regression, pure and simple.

If you go around changing the bindings willy nilly, then what is point
of having DT at all?

Thanks,
Richard

* http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2011-April/046963.html
  http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2011-May/050255.html
  http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2011-May/050256.html
  http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2011-May/050264.html
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