linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds 8966961b31 Staging driver tree merge for 3.8-rc1
Here's the big staging tree merge for 3.8-rc1
 
 There's a lot of patches in here, the majority being the comedi rework/cleanup
 that has been ongoing and is causing a huge reduction in overall code size,
 which is amazing to watch.  We also removed some older drivers (telephony and
 rts_pstor), and added a new one (fwserial which also came in through the tty
 tree due to tty api changes, take that one if you get merge conflicts.)
 
 The iio and ipack drivers are moving out of the staging area into their
 own part of the kernel as they have been cleaned up sufficiently and are
 working well.
 
 Overall, again a reduction of code:
  768 files changed, 31887 insertions(+), 82166 deletions(-)
 
 All of this has been in the linux-next tree for a while.
 
 Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
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Merge tag 'staging-3.8-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging

Pull staging driver tree merge from Greg Kroah-Hartman:
 "Here's the big staging tree merge for 3.8-rc1

  There's a lot of patches in here, the majority being the comedi
  rework/cleanup that has been ongoing and is causing a huge reduction
  in overall code size, which is amazing to watch.  We also removed some
  older drivers (telephony and rts_pstor), and added a new one (fwserial
  which also came in through the tty tree due to tty api changes, take
  that one if you get merge conflicts.)

  The iio and ipack drivers are moving out of the staging area into
  their own part of the kernel as they have been cleaned up sufficiently
  and are working well.

  Overall, again a reduction of code:
   768 files changed, 31887 insertions(+), 82166 deletions(-)

  All of this has been in the linux-next tree for a while.

  Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>"

* tag 'staging-3.8-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging: (1298 commits)
  iio: imu: adis16480: remove duplicated include from adis16480.c
  iio: gyro: adis16136: remove duplicated include from adis16136.c
  iio:imu: adis16480: show_firmware() buffer too small
  iio:gyro: adis16136: divide by zero in write_frequency()
  iio: adc: Add Texas Instruments ADC081C021/027 support
  iio:ad7793: Add support for the ad7796 and ad7797
  iio:ad7793: Add support for the ad7798 and ad7799
  staging:iio: Move ad7793 driver out of staging
  staging:iio:ad7793: Implement stricter id checking
  staging:iio:ad7793: Move register definitions from header to source
  staging:iio:ad7793: Rework regulator handling
  staging:iio:ad7793: Rework platform data
  staging:iio:ad7793: Use kstrtol instead of strict_strtol
  staging:iio:ad7793: Use usleep_range instead of msleep
  staging:iio:ad7793: Fix temperature scale
  staging:iio:ad7793: Fix VDD monitor scale
  staging: gdm72xx: unlock on error in init_usb()
  staging: panel: pass correct lengths to keypad_send_key()
  staging: comedi: addi_apci_2032: fix interrupt support
  staging: comedi: addi_apci_2032: move i_APCI2032_ConfigDigitalOutput()
  ...
2012-12-11 13:59:44 -08:00
..
obsolete oom: remove deprecated oom_adj 2012-10-09 16:22:24 +09:00
removed netfilter: remove ip_queue support 2012-05-08 20:25:42 +02:00
stable - Small fixes and optimizations. 2012-07-30 09:32:39 -07:00
testing Staging driver tree merge for 3.8-rc1 2012-12-11 13:59:44 -08:00
README [PATCH] Add kernel<->userspace ABI stability documentation 2006-06-21 12:40:47 -07:00

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.
	The file Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt may describe
	some of these interfaces, giving a schedule for when they will
	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.