linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] libosd: Remove ignored _

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Date:   Fri, 26 Oct 2018 14:02:06 -0700
From:   Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>
To:     Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:     bvanassche@....org, ooo@...ctrozaur.com,
        "James E.J. Bottomley" <jejb@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
        "Martin K. Petersen" <martin.petersen@...cle.com>,
        linux-scsi@...r.kernel.org, LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Nathan Chancellor <natechancellor@...il.com>,
        hch@...radead.org, Kees Cook <keescook@...gle.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] libosd: Remove ignored __weak attribute

On Fri, Oct 26, 2018 at 1:42 PM Linus Torvalds
<torvalds@...ux-foundation.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Oct 26, 2018 at 1:06 PM Nick Desaulniers
> <ndesaulniers@...gle.com> wrote:
> >
> > Is removing a filesystem considered a userspace breakage?
>
> Yes - if a user notices.
>
> The key word is *USER*.
>
> Note that it's not "user space". It's not about _programs_ noticing,
> it's literally about users and their workflows.
>
> If some change breaks a real user workflow, it needs to be reverted.
>
> So this is not about ABI or anything like that. We've had cases where
> the ABI stayed the same, but the order of device probing changed, and
> that broke peoples setups (because now /dev/sdb and /dev/sda switched
> places), and we had to revert.
>
> It's literally about "if a user upgrades a kernel, and something no
> longer works, it's a regression".
>
> In general, a good idea is "if you have to wonder about it, just don't
> do it".  Because it turns out that users are odd, and often do odd
> things much after you'd have thought they'd have long since switched
> to more modern hardware or filesystems.
>
>                       Linus

Makes sense and is a consistent stance.  Thanks for clarifying.  Will
pursue the smaller fix in the other subthread.
https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/10/27/55

-- 
Thanks,
~Nick Desaulniers