On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 18:53:04 +0200 Jiri Pirko wrote: > Fri, Oct 06, 2023 at 04:55:36PM CEST, kuba@xxxxxxxxxx wrote: > >> I'm confused. Didn't you say you'll remove this? If not, my question > >> from v1 still stands. > > > >Perhaps we should dis-allow setting version in non-genetlink-legacy > >specs? I thought it may be a useful thing to someone, at some point, > >but so far the scoreboard is: legit uses: 0, confused uses: 1 :S > > > >Thoughts? > > I don't know what the meaning of version is. I just never saw that being > touched. Is there any semantics documented for it? > > Kuba, any opinion? /me switches the first name in From :P I think it basically predates the op / policy introspection, and allows people to break backward compat. drop_monitor bumped to 2 in 2009: 683703a26e46 ("drop_monitor: Update netlink protocol to include netlink attribute header in alert message") which breaks backward compat. genetlink ctrl went to 2 in 2006: 334c29a64507 ("[GENETLINK]: Move command capabilities to flags.") which moves some info around in attrs, also breaks backward compat if someone depended on the old placement. ovs did it in 2013: 44da5ae5fbea ("openvswitch: Drop user features if old user space attempted to create datapath") again, breaks backwards compat. I guess it may still make one day to bump the version for some proto which has very tight control over the user space. But it hasn't happened for 10 years.