linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds db5ccb9eb2 cxl for v6.8
- Add support for parsing the Coherent Device Attribute Table (CDAT)
 
 - Add support for calculating a platform CXL QoS class from CDAT data
 
 - Unify the tracing of EFI CXL Events with native CXL Events.
 
 - Add Get Timestamp support
 
 - Miscellaneous cleanups and fixups
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Merge tag 'cxl-for-6.8' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/cxl/cxl

Pull CXL (Compute Express Link) updates from Dan Williams:
 "The bulk of this update is support for enumerating the performance
  capabilities of CXL memory targets and connecting that to a platform
  CXL memory QoS class. Some follow-on work remains to hook up this data
  into core-mm policy, but that is saved for v6.9.

  The next significant update is unifying how CXL event records (things
  like background scrub errors) are processed between so called
  "firmware first" and native error record retrieval. The CXL driver
  handler that processes the record retrieved from the device mailbox is
  now the handler for that same record format coming from an EFI/ACPI
  notification source.

  This also contains miscellaneous feature updates, like Get Timestamp,
  and other fixups.

  Summary:

   - Add support for parsing the Coherent Device Attribute Table (CDAT)

   - Add support for calculating a platform CXL QoS class from CDAT data

   - Unify the tracing of EFI CXL Events with native CXL Events.

   - Add Get Timestamp support

   - Miscellaneous cleanups and fixups"

* tag 'cxl-for-6.8' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/cxl/cxl: (41 commits)
  cxl/core: use sysfs_emit() for attr's _show()
  cxl/pci: Register for and process CPER events
  PCI: Introduce cleanup helpers for device reference counts and locks
  acpi/ghes: Process CXL Component Events
  cxl/events: Create a CXL event union
  cxl/events: Separate UUID from event structures
  cxl/events: Remove passing a UUID to known event traces
  cxl/events: Create common event UUID defines
  cxl/events: Promote CXL event structures to a core header
  cxl: Refactor to use __free() for cxl_root allocation in cxl_endpoint_port_probe()
  cxl: Refactor to use __free() for cxl_root allocation in cxl_find_nvdimm_bridge()
  cxl: Fix device reference leak in cxl_port_perf_data_calculate()
  cxl: Convert find_cxl_root() to return a 'struct cxl_root *'
  cxl: Introduce put_cxl_root() helper
  cxl/port: Fix missing target list lock
  cxl/port: Fix decoder initialization when nr_targets > interleave_ways
  cxl/region: fix x9 interleave typo
  cxl/trace: Pass UUID explicitly to event traces
  cxl/region: use %pap format to print resource_size_t
  cxl/region: Add dev_dbg() detail on failure to allocate HPA space
  ...
2024-01-18 16:22:43 -08:00
..
obsolete docs: update ocfs2-devel mailing list address 2023-07-08 09:29:29 -07:00
removed docs: update ocfs2-devel mailing list address 2023-07-08 09:29:29 -07:00
stable dmaengine: idxd: add wq driver name support for accel-config user tool 2023-10-04 13:00:34 +05:30
testing cxl for v6.8 2024-01-18 16:22:43 -08:00
README

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.


Note:
   The fields should be use a simple notation, compatible with ReST markup.
   Also, the file **should not** have a top-level index, like::

	===
	foo
	===

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.


Notable bits of non-ABI, which should not under any circumstances be considered
stable:

- Kconfig.  Userspace should not rely on the presence or absence of any
  particular Kconfig symbol, in /proc/config.gz, in the copy of .config
  commonly installed to /boot, or in any invocation of the kernel build
  process.

- Kernel-internal symbols.  Do not rely on the presence, absence, location, or
  type of any kernel symbol, either in System.map files or the kernel binary
  itself.  See Documentation/process/stable-api-nonsense.rst.