3 ms·

The stable API/ABI is for _user_ space, not kernel space.

• lmm 12y ago
  If the userspace API/ABI never changes, maybe a more useful use of the version number would be to reflect kernel API/ABI changes?
  • Tuna-Fish 12y ago
    There is no in-kernel API/ABI. The Kernel team is very vocal that the only interface that exists for the kernel is the userspace systemcall/filesystem interface, and any code that wants to use anything beyond that really should live in the kernel tree. Things like the nvidia closed-source driver that hooks into the kernel itself are not using any API/ABI, they are basically just hooking into structures where the people maintaining those structures don't just not care about being compatible, but are actively hostile to people relying on their code remaining same across versions.
    • mitchty 12y ago
      Yep, if we were to say that in kernel struct changes mean a major release in semantic versioning, there would never be anything but major releases. Even though for all of them the user space api wouldn't break. So yeah, I think the people harping on semantic versioning don't quite understand the reason its not a good fit for an os kernel.