The patch titled sysfs-rules.txt: reword API stability statement has been added to the -mm tree. Its filename is sysfs-rulestxt-reword-api-stability-statement.patch Before you just go and hit "reply", please: a) Consider who else should be cc'ed b) Prefer to cc a suitable mailing list as well c) Ideally: find the original patch on the mailing list and do a reply-to-all to that, adding suitable additional cc's *** Remember to use Documentation/SubmitChecklist when testing your code *** See http://www.zip.com.au/~akpm/linux/patches/stuff/added-to-mm.txt to find out what to do about this The current -mm tree may be found at http://userweb.kernel.org/~akpm/mmotm/ ------------------------------------------------------ Subject: sysfs-rules.txt: reword API stability statement From: Nathan Lynch <ntl@xxxxxxxxx> The first paragraph of this document implies that user space developers shouldn't use sysfs at all, but then it goes on to describe rules that developers should follow when accessing sysfs. Not only is this somewhat self-contradictory, it has been shown to discourage developers from using established sysfs interfaces. A note of caution is more appropriate than a blanket "sysfs will never be stable" assertion. Signed-off-by: Nathan Lynch <ntl@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Greg KH <greg@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Stephen Rothwell <sfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt | 5 ++--- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff -puN Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt~sysfs-rulestxt-reword-api-stability-statement Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt --- a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt~sysfs-rulestxt-reword-api-stability-statement +++ a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt @@ -3,9 +3,8 @@ Rules on how to access information in th The kernel-exported sysfs exports internal kernel implementation details and depends on internal kernel structures and layout. It is agreed upon by the kernel developers that the Linux kernel does not provide a stable -internal API. As sysfs is a direct export of kernel internal -structures, the sysfs interface cannot provide a stable interface either; -it may always change along with internal kernel changes. +internal API. Therefore, there are aspects of the sysfs interface that +may not be stable across kernel releases. To minimize the risk of breaking users of sysfs, which are in most cases low-level userspace applications, with a new kernel release, the users _ Patches currently in -mm which might be from ntl@xxxxxxxxx are sysfs-rulestxt-reword-api-stability-statement.patch -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe mm-commits" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html