linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds 4960821a4d More power management updates for 5.11-rc1
- Rework the passive-mode "fast switch" path in the intel_pstate
    driver to allow it receive the minimum (required) and target
    (desired) performance information from the schedutil governor so
    as to avoid running some workloads too fast (Rafael Wysocki).
 
  - Make the intel_pstate driver allow the policy max limit to be
    increased after the guaranteed performance value for the given
    CPU has increased (Rafael Wysocki).
 
  - Clean up the handling of CPU coordination types in the CPPC
    cpufreq driver and make it export frequency domains information
    to user space via sysfs (Ionela Voinescu).
 
  - Fix the ACPI code handling processor objects to use a correct
    coordination type when it fails to map frequency domains and drop
    a redundant CPU map initialization from it (Ionela Voinescu, Punit
    Agrawal).
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Merge tag 'pm-5.11-rc1-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rafael/linux-pm

Pull more power management updates from Rafael Wysocki:
 "These update the CPPC cpufreq driver and intel_pstate (which involves
  updating the cpufreq core and the schedutil governor) and make
  janitorial changes in the ACPI code handling processor objects.

  Specifics:

   - Rework the passive-mode "fast switch" path in the intel_pstate
     driver to allow it receive the minimum (required) and target
     (desired) performance information from the schedutil governor so as
     to avoid running some workloads too fast (Rafael Wysocki).

   - Make the intel_pstate driver allow the policy max limit to be
     increased after the guaranteed performance value for the given CPU
     has increased (Rafael Wysocki).

   - Clean up the handling of CPU coordination types in the CPPC cpufreq
     driver and make it export frequency domains information to user
     space via sysfs (Ionela Voinescu).

   - Fix the ACPI code handling processor objects to use a correct
     coordination type when it fails to map frequency domains and drop a
     redundant CPU map initialization from it (Ionela Voinescu, Punit
     Agrawal)"

* tag 'pm-5.11-rc1-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rafael/linux-pm:
  cpufreq: intel_pstate: Use most recent guaranteed performance values
  cpufreq: intel_pstate: Implement the ->adjust_perf() callback
  cpufreq: Add special-purpose fast-switching callback for drivers
  cpufreq: schedutil: Add util to struct sg_cpu
  cppc_cpufreq: replace per-cpu data array with a list
  cppc_cpufreq: expose information on frequency domains
  cppc_cpufreq: clarify support for coordination types
  cppc_cpufreq: use policy->cpu as driver of frequency setting
  ACPI: processor: fix NONE coordination for domain mapping failure
2020-12-22 14:12:10 -08:00
..
obsolete batman-adv: Drop deprecated sysfs support 2020-12-04 08:40:52 +01:00
removed docs: ABI: cleanup several ABI documents 2020-10-30 13:14:29 +01:00
stable dmaengine updates for v5.11-rc1 2020-12-17 12:52:23 -08:00
testing More power management updates for 5.11-rc1 2020-12-22 14:12:10 -08:00
README docs: ABI: README: specify that files should be ReST compatible 2020-10-30 13:07:01 +01:00

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.


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.