Don Armstrong <d...@debian.org> writes: > So currently there is no guarantee that a specific ABI maintains any > kind of compatibility for out of tree modules; it is a best effort based > on the kernel maintainer's understanding of what symbols have changed > and what out of tree (or even in-tree) modules are affected.
I feel like I should note here that I've been maintaining a complex out-of-tree kernel module for Debian for many years now (openafs) and am also involved in maintaining the non-free NVIDIA modules, and I can't remember ever having the kernel ABI break for those modules without the ABI number changing. It's probably happened and I just don't remember it, but certainly not enough to be memorable. *Upstream* has caused us all sorts of problems from time to time because of taking public symbols and making them GPL-only (OpenAFS predates Linux and the core of the source is licensed under a free but GPL-incompatible license, which also affects the kernel module), but the Debian kernel maintainers have always done a great job at maintaining ABI guarantees, insofar as my packages are affected. The only problem that I recall with the ABI numbering was the unfortunate use of -trunk as an ABI version during the squeeze development cycle, and there mostly because -trunk sorted inappropriately after regular ABI numbers were introduced, not because of an inherent problem with the use of that technique in unstable. So while I do recognize that there was a problem with an out-of-tree module that brought this particular bug to the technical committee, I have to say that with my out-of-tree module maintainer hat on the kernel team seems to, by and large, be doing a good job of maintaining the kernel ABI already. That inclines me against supporting any major change in how this is handled. -- Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-kernel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/87y67c45rx....@windlord.stanford.edu
