linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds 0b1e73ed22 Staging driver update for 3.13-rc1
Here's the big drivers/staging/ update for 3.13-rc1.
 
 Nothing major here, just a _ton_ of fixes and cleanups, mostly driven by
 the new round of OPW applicants, but also there are lots of other people
 doing staging tree cleanups these days in order to help get the drivers
 into mergable shape.
 
 We also merge, and then revert, the ktap code, as Ingo and the other
 perf/ftrace developers feel it should go into the "real" part of the
 kernel with only a bit more work, so no need to put it in staging for
 now.
 
 All of this has been in linux-next for a while with no reported issues.
 
 Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
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Merge tag 'staging-3.13-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging

Pull staging driver update from Greg KH:
 "Here's the big drivers/staging/ update for 3.13-rc1.

  Nothing major here, just a _ton_ of fixes and cleanups, mostly driven
  by the new round of OPW applicants, but also there are lots of other
  people doing staging tree cleanups these days in order to help get the
  drivers into mergable shape.

  We also merge, and then revert, the ktap code, as Ingo and the other
  perf/ftrace developers feel it should go into the "real" part of the
  kernel with only a bit more work, so no need to put it in staging for
  now.

  All of this has been in linux-next for a while with no reported
  issues"

* tag 'staging-3.13-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging: (1045 commits)
  staging: drm/imx: fix return value check in ipu_add_subdevice_pdata()
  Staging: zram: Fix access of NULL pointer
  Staging: zram: Fix variable dereferenced before check
  Staging: rtl8187se: space prohibited before semicolon in r8185b_init.c
  Staging: rtl8187se: fix space prohibited after that open parenthesis '(' in r8185b_init.c
  Staging: rtl8187se: fix braces {} are not necessary for single statement blocks in r8185b_init.c
  Staging: rtl8187se: fix trailing whitespace in r8185b_init.c
  Staging: rtl8187se: fix please, no space before tabs in r8185b_init.c
  drivers/staging/nvec/Kconfig: remove trailing whitespace
  Staging: dwc2: Fix variable dereferenced before check
  Staging: xgifb: fix braces {} are not necessary for any arm of this statement
  staging: rtl8192e: remove unneeded semicolons
  staging: rtl8192e: use true and false for bool variables
  staging: ft1000: return values corrected in scram_start_dwnld
  staging: ft1000: change values of status return variable in write_dpram32_and_check
  staging: bcm: Remove unnecessary pointer casting
  imx-drm: ipuv3-crtc: Invert IPU DI0 clock polarity
  staging: r8188eu: Fix sparse warnings in rtl_p2p.c
  staging: r8188eu: Fix sparse warnings in rtw_mlme_ext.c
  staging: r8188eu: Fix sparse warnings in rtl8188e.cmd.c
  ...
2013-11-07 15:07:58 +09:00
..
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 netfilter: remove ip_queue support 2012-05-08 20:25:42 +02:00
stable ACPI / PM / Documentation: Replace outdated project links and addresses 2013-10-11 13:22:43 +02:00
testing Staging driver update for 3.13-rc1 2013-11-07 15:07:58 +09:00
README Documentation: remove reference to feature-removal-schedule.txt 2012-12-17 17:15:12 -08:00

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.