Messages in this thread | | | From | Andi Kleen <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH RFC] [1/9] Core module symbol namespaces code and intro. | Date | Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:02:22 +0100 |
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> > Perhaps you've got lots of patches were people are using internal APIs they > > shouldn't? > > > > Maybe the issue is "who can tell" since what is external and what is > internal is not explicitly defined?
Exactly. Or rather it is not defined on the module level. We got "static" of course, but I think we should have a similar mechanism on a module level.
> Explicitly documenting what comprises the kernel API (external, > supported)
It would not be fully supported either -- can still change etc. -- but there is a reasonable expectation that those external APIs will change less often than internal interfaces.
> - forcing developers to identify their exports as part of the > implementation or as part of the kernel API
That is EXPORT_SYMBOL already. The trouble is just that it covers too much. My patchkit is trying to limit it again for a specific use case -- exporting an "internal" interface to another module. Or rather a set of modules.
Standard example is TCP: TCP exports nearly everything and the single user is the TCP code in ipv6.ko. Instead those symbols should be limited to be only accessable to ipv6.ko.
The reason I went with the more generic namespace mechanism instead of EXPORT_SYMBOL_TO() is that ipv6 is ever split up it would still work.
Also using namespaces doesn't have any more overhead than EXPORT_SYMBOL_TO() and the complexity is about the same (not very much anyways -- just look at the patches)
> - making it easier for reviewers to identify when developers are adding > to the kernel API and thereby focusing the appropriate level of review > to the new function
That is another reason.
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