kernel_optimize_test/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds d3dc366bba Merge branch 'for-3.18/core' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block
Pull core block layer changes from Jens Axboe:
 "This is the core block IO pull request for 3.18.  Apart from the new
  and improved flush machinery for blk-mq, this is all mostly bug fixes
  and cleanups.

   - blk-mq timeout updates and fixes from Christoph.

   - Removal of REQ_END, also from Christoph.  We pass it through the
     ->queue_rq() hook for blk-mq instead, freeing up one of the request
     bits.  The space was overly tight on 32-bit, so Martin also killed
     REQ_KERNEL since it's no longer used.

   - blk integrity updates and fixes from Martin and Gu Zheng.

   - Update to the flush machinery for blk-mq from Ming Lei.  Now we
     have a per hardware context flush request, which both cleans up the
     code should scale better for flush intensive workloads on blk-mq.

   - Improve the error printing, from Rob Elliott.

   - Backing device improvements and cleanups from Tejun.

   - Fixup of a misplaced rq_complete() tracepoint from Hannes.

   - Make blk_get_request() return error pointers, fixing up issues
     where we NULL deref when a device goes bad or missing.  From Joe
     Lawrence.

   - Prep work for drastically reducing the memory consumption of dm
     devices from Junichi Nomura.  This allows creating clone bio sets
     without preallocating a lot of memory.

   - Fix a blk-mq hang on certain combinations of queue depths and
     hardware queues from me.

   - Limit memory consumption for blk-mq devices for crash dump
     scenarios and drivers that use crazy high depths (certain SCSI
     shared tag setups).  We now just use a single queue and limited
     depth for that"

* 'for-3.18/core' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block: (58 commits)
  block: Remove REQ_KERNEL
  blk-mq: allocate cpumask on the home node
  bio-integrity: remove the needless fail handle of bip_slab creating
  block: include func name in __get_request prints
  block: make blk_update_request print prefix match ratelimited prefix
  blk-merge: don't compute bi_phys_segments from bi_vcnt for cloned bio
  block: fix alignment_offset math that assumes io_min is a power-of-2
  blk-mq: Make bt_clear_tag() easier to read
  blk-mq: fix potential hang if rolling wakeup depth is too high
  block: add bioset_create_nobvec()
  block: use bio_clone_fast() in blk_rq_prep_clone()
  block: misplaced rq_complete tracepoint
  sd: Honor block layer integrity handling flags
  block: Replace strnicmp with strncasecmp
  block: Add T10 Protection Information functions
  block: Don't merge requests if integrity flags differ
  block: Integrity checksum flag
  block: Relocate bio integrity flags
  block: Add a disk flag to block integrity profile
  block: Add prefix to block integrity profile flags
  ...
2014-10-18 11:53:51 -07:00
..
obsolete Merge branches 'for-3.7/upstream-fixes', 'for-3.8/hidraw', 'for-3.8/i2c-hid', 'for-3.8/multitouch', 'for-3.8/roccat', 'for-3.8/sensors' and 'for-3.8/upstream' into for-linus 2012-12-12 21:41:55 +01:00
removed net_dma: simple removal 2014-09-28 07:05:16 -07:00
stable mm: remove noisy remainder of the scan_unevictable interface 2014-10-09 22:25:55 -04:00
testing Merge branch 'for-3.18/core' of git://git.kernel.dk/linux-block 2014-10-18 11:53:51 -07:00
README Documentation/ABI: document the non-ABI status of Kconfig and symbols 2013-11-13 12:09:32 +09:00

This directory attempts to document the ABI between the Linux kernel and
userspace, and the relative stability of these interfaces.  Due to the
everchanging nature of Linux, and the differing maturity levels, these
interfaces should be used by userspace programs in different ways.

We have four different levels of ABI stability, as shown by the four
different subdirectories in this location.  Interfaces may change levels
of stability according to the rules described below.

The different levels of stability are:

  stable/
	This directory documents the interfaces that the developer has
	defined to be stable.  Userspace programs are free to use these
	interfaces with no restrictions, and backward compatibility for
	them will be guaranteed for at least 2 years.  Most interfaces
	(like syscalls) are expected to never change and always be
	available.

  testing/
	This directory documents interfaces that are felt to be stable,
	as the main development of this interface has been completed.
	The interface can be changed to add new features, but the
	current interface will not break by doing this, unless grave
	errors or security problems are found in them.  Userspace
	programs can start to rely on these interfaces, but they must be
	aware of changes that can occur before these interfaces move to
	be marked stable.  Programs that use these interfaces are
	strongly encouraged to add their name to the description of
	these interfaces, so that the kernel developers can easily
	notify them if any changes occur (see the description of the
	layout of the files below for details on how to do this.)

  obsolete/
  	This directory documents interfaces that are still remaining in
	the kernel, but are marked to be removed at some later point in
	time.  The description of the interface will document the reason
	why it is obsolete and when it can be expected to be removed.

  removed/
	This directory contains a list of the old interfaces that have
	been removed from the kernel.

Every file in these directories will contain the following information:

What:		Short description of the interface
Date:		Date created
KernelVersion:	Kernel version this feature first showed up in.
Contact:	Primary contact for this interface (may be a mailing list)
Description:	Long description of the interface and how to use it.
Users:		All users of this interface who wish to be notified when
		it changes.  This is very important for interfaces in
		the "testing" stage, so that kernel developers can work
		with userspace developers to ensure that things do not
		break in ways that are unacceptable.  It is also
		important to get feedback for these interfaces to make
		sure they are working in a proper way and do not need to
		be changed further.


How things move between levels:

Interfaces in stable may move to obsolete, as long as the proper
notification is given.

Interfaces may be removed from obsolete and the kernel as long as the
documented amount of time has gone by.

Interfaces in the testing state can move to the stable state when the
developers feel they are finished.  They cannot be removed from the
kernel tree without going through the obsolete state first.

It's up to the developer to place their interfaces in the category they
wish for it to start out in.


Notable bits of non-ABI, which should not under any circumstances be considered
stable:

- Kconfig.  Userspace should not rely on the presence or absence of any
  particular Kconfig symbol, in /proc/config.gz, in the copy of .config
  commonly installed to /boot, or in any invocation of the kernel build
  process.

- Kernel-internal symbols.  Do not rely on the presence, absence, location, or
  type of any kernel symbol, either in System.map files or the kernel binary
  itself.  See Documentation/stable_api_nonsense.txt.