linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds 40548c6b6c Merge branch 'x86-pti-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip
Pull x86 pti updates from Thomas Gleixner:
 "This contains:

   - a PTI bugfix to avoid setting reserved CR3 bits when PCID is
     disabled. This seems to cause issues on a virtual machine at least
     and is incorrect according to the AMD manual.

   - a PTI bugfix which disables the perf BTS facility if PTI is
     enabled. The BTS AUX buffer is not globally visible and causes the
     CPU to fault when the mapping disappears on switching CR3 to user
     space. A full fix which restores BTS on PTI is non trivial and will
     be worked on.

   - PTI bugfixes for EFI and trusted boot which make sure that the user
     space visible page table entries have the NX bit cleared

   - removal of dead code in the PTI pagetable setup functions

   - add PTI documentation

   - add a selftest for vsyscall to verify that the kernel actually
     implements what it advertises.

   - a sysfs interface to expose vulnerability and mitigation
     information so there is a coherent way for users to retrieve the
     status.

   - the initial spectre_v2 mitigations, aka retpoline:

      + The necessary ASM thunk and compiler support

      + The ASM variants of retpoline and the conversion of affected ASM
        code

      + Make LFENCE serializing on AMD so it can be used as speculation
        trap

      + The RSB fill after vmexit

   - initial objtool support for retpoline

  As I said in the status mail this is the most of the set of patches
  which should go into 4.15 except two straight forward patches still on
  hold:

   - the retpoline add on of LFENCE which waits for ACKs

   - the RSB fill after context switch

  Both should be ready to go early next week and with that we'll have
  covered the major holes of spectre_v2 and go back to normality"

* 'x86-pti-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (28 commits)
  x86,perf: Disable intel_bts when PTI
  security/Kconfig: Correct the Documentation reference for PTI
  x86/pti: Fix !PCID and sanitize defines
  selftests/x86: Add test_vsyscall
  x86/retpoline: Fill return stack buffer on vmexit
  x86/retpoline/irq32: Convert assembler indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/checksum32: Convert assembler indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/xen: Convert Xen hypercall indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/hyperv: Convert assembler indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/ftrace: Convert ftrace assembler indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/entry: Convert entry assembler indirect jumps
  x86/retpoline/crypto: Convert crypto assembler indirect jumps
  x86/spectre: Add boot time option to select Spectre v2 mitigation
  x86/retpoline: Add initial retpoline support
  objtool: Allow alternatives to be ignored
  objtool: Detect jumps to retpoline thunks
  x86/pti: Make unpoison of pgd for trusted boot work for real
  x86/alternatives: Fix optimize_nops() checking
  sysfs/cpu: Fix typos in vulnerability documentation
  x86/cpu/AMD: Use LFENCE_RDTSC in preference to MFENCE_RDTSC
  ...
2018-01-14 09:51:25 -08:00
..
obsolete This is the bulk of GPIO changes for the v4.15 kernel cycle: 2017-11-14 17:23:44 -08:00
removed rfkill: Remove obsolete "claim" sysfs interface 2016-02-24 09:04:24 +01:00
stable Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1 2017-11-16 09:10:59 -08:00
testing Merge branch 'x86-pti-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip 2018-01-14 09:51:25 -08:00
README docs: fix locations of several documents that got moved 2016-10-24 08:12:35 -02:00

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.


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.