linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds d27637ece8 Staging/IIO fixes for 5.10-rc5
Here are some small Staging and IIO driver fixes for 5.10-rc5.  They
 include:
 	- IIO fixes for reported regressions and problems
 	- new device ids for IIO drivers
 	- new device id for rtl8723bs driver
 	- staging ralink driver Kconfig dependency fix
 	- staging mt7621-pci bus resource fix
 
 All of these have been in linux-next all week with no reported issues.
 
 Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
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Merge tag 'staging-5.10-rc5' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging

Pull staging and IIO fixes from Greg KH:
 "Here are some small Staging and IIO driver fixes for 5.10-rc5. They
  include:

   - IIO fixes for reported regressions and problems

   - new device ids for IIO drivers

   - new device id for rtl8723bs driver

   - staging ralink driver Kconfig dependency fix

   - staging mt7621-pci bus resource fix

  All of these have been in linux-next all week with no reported issues"

* tag 'staging-5.10-rc5' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging:
  iio: accel: kxcjk1013: Add support for KIOX010A ACPI DSM for setting tablet-mode
  iio: accel: kxcjk1013: Replace is_smo8500_device with an acpi_type enum
  docs: ABI: testing: iio: stm32: remove re-introduced unsupported ABI
  iio: light: fix kconfig dependency bug for VCNL4035
  iio/adc: ingenic: Fix AUX/VBAT readings when touchscreen is used
  iio/adc: ingenic: Fix battery VREF for JZ4770 SoC
  staging: rtl8723bs: Add 024c:0627 to the list of SDIO device-ids
  staging: ralink-gdma: fix kconfig dependency bug for DMA_RALINK
  staging: mt7621-pci: avoid to request pci bus resources
  iio: imu: st_lsm6dsx: set 10ms as min shub slave timeout
  counter/ti-eqep: Fix regmap max_register
  iio: adc: stm32-adc: fix a regression when using dma and irq
  iio: adc: mediatek: fix unset field
  iio: cros_ec: Use default frequencies when EC returns invalid information
2020-11-22 11:58:49 -08:00
..
obsolete docs: ABI: cleanup several ABI documents 2020-10-30 13:14:29 +01:00
removed docs: ABI: cleanup several ABI documents 2020-10-30 13:14:29 +01:00
stable docs: ABI: sysfs-driver-dma-ioatdma: what starts with /sys 2020-11-02 13:45:37 +01:00
testing Staging/IIO fixes for 5.10-rc5 2020-11-22 11:58:49 -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.