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I thought the Linux kernel had a strong “don’t break userspace” attitude, but it was a free for all in kernel space. If you’re developing kernel modules or have

I thought the Linux kernel had a strong “don’t break userspace” attitude, but it was a free for all in kernel space. If you’re developing kernel modules or have custom hardware with drivers, I could see having a backported kernel as being a major problem for support and development.

pxc 3y ago
My (spectator's) understanding is that ABI compatibility is not a priority for kernelspace in Linux, but there is care taken for backwards compatibility in other ways (like at an API level). You're just expected to recompile your out-of-tree kernel modules when there's a new kernel version.
- comex 3y ago
  Nope, API compatibility is also explicitly disavowed: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/stable-api-nonsense.rst https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin...
  - pxc 3y ago
    Thank you for sharing this! Nothing helps you remember a fact like having been wrong about it in public. :)