[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-ID: <20071127185952.GD3406@stusta.de>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:59:53 +0100
From: Adrian Bunk <bunk@...nel.org>
To: Tom Tucker <tom@...ngridcomputing.com>
Cc: Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>,
Roland Dreier <rdreier@...co.com>, Andi Kleen <ak@...e.de>,
netdev@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
sam@...nborg.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro.
On Tue, Nov 27, 2007 at 11:45:37AM -0600, Tom Tucker wrote:
>
> 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.
The latter should at least in theory be required for all changes no
matter how core they are...
> I think this patchset is an attempt to make it easier to identify and
> review these kinds of interfaces.
As long as the submitter fixes all in-kernel users these interfaces are
not handled differently from interfaces with fewer users.
And I remember at least one commit that changed > 1000 files because it
changed a frequently used driver API. [1]
cu
Adrian
[1] commit 7d12e780e003f93433d49ce78cfedf4b4c52adc5
--
"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe netdev" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Powered by blists - more mailing lists