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authorNathan Lynch <ntl@pobox.com>2008-07-02 10:21:30 -0700
committerGreg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>2008-07-21 21:54:59 -0700
commit83c79b55f0d929a0dcf2b0d347cd1875afc06f21 (patch)
tree618ba5db8c9c78a96aadd39997848b8ec45f90cf /Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt
parent9505e6375640fc61d92d36c8e9f25a6a218f3f57 (diff)
downloadlwn-83c79b55f0d929a0dcf2b0d347cd1875afc06f21.tar.gz
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sysfs-rules.txt: reword API stability statement
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@pobox.com> Cc: Stephen Rothwell <sfr@canb.auug.org.au> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt5
1 files changed, 2 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt b/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt
index 80ef562160bb..6049a2a84dda 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysfs-rules.txt
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@ Rules on how to access information in the Linux kernel sysfs
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