Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro.

From: Tom Tucker <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:45:37 -0600

On Tue, 2007-11-27 at 18:15 +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 11:35:42PM -0600, Tom Tucker wrote:
> > On Tue, 2007-11-27 at 15:49 +1100, Rusty Russell wrote:
> >...
> > > No.  That's the wrong question.  What's the real upside?
> > 
> > Explicitly documenting what comprises the kernel API (external,
> > supported) and what comprises the kernel implementation (internal, not
> > supported).
> >...
> 
> There is not, never was, and never will be, any supported external API 
> of the kernel.

Philosophically I understand what you're saying, but in practical terms
there is the issue of managing core API like kmalloc. Although kmalloc
_could_ change, doing so would be extremely painful. In fact anyone who
proposed such a change would have to have a profoundly powerful argument
as to why it was necessary.

I think this patchset is an attempt to make it easier to identify and
review these kinds of interfaces.

> cu
> Adrian