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| Linux <em>man-pages</em>: |
| <a href="./index.html">home</a> | |
| <a href="./contributing.html">contributing</a> | |
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| <h1>The linux-api mailing list</h1> |
| |
| <p> |
| Following a session |
| (<a href="https://man7.org/conf/lpc2008/who_owns_the_interface.pdf">Who own's the interface</a>) |
| that I led at the 2008 Linux Plumbers Conference, |
| the <em>linux-api</em> mailing list |
| (<span class="email">linux-api@vger.kernel.org</span>) |
| was |
| created at my request |
| as a forum to discuss |
| changes that affect the Linux programming interface</a> |
| (API or ABI). |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| Among other things, a primary goal of the list is to help |
| answer the question: <em>How do we even know when an interface has been |
| added or changed?</em> |
| Many people have an interest in the answer to that question, |
| including: |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| maintainers of C libraries, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| the <em>man-pages</em> project, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| testing projects such as |
| <a href="https://linux-test-project.github.io/">LTP</a> |
| and |
| <a href="http://codemonkey.org.uk/projects/trinity/">trinity</a>, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| maintainers of tracing tools such as |
| <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/strace/">strace(1)</a>, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| the <a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/lsb">Linux Standard Base (LSB)</a>, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| (possibly) other groups, such as the maintainers for the |
| <a href="https://kernelnewbies.org/LinuxChanges">LinuxChanges</a> |
| page at kernelnewbies.org, |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| and, of course, user-space programmers. |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| |
| <p> |
| The difficulty of answering that question is a contributing factor |
| to many problems in the Linux API—for example, |
| insufficient design review before release |
| (with the consequence that mistakes in API designs |
| are recognized too late), |
| insufficient prerelease testing, |
| poor or late documentation, |
| and delays before kernel APIs are made |
| available via C libraries. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| The kernel source file |
| <span class="pathname">Documentation/SubmitChecklist</span> |
| notes that all Linux kernel |
| <strong>patches that change userspace interfaces should be CCed to |
| linux-api@vger.kernel.org</strong>. |
| You would help many people by heeding that advice, |
| and in return your kernel patches might even see a bit more view |
| and get better documentation, faster. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Message for easy pasting into mail threads ;-): |
| </p> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p> |
| [CC += linux-api@vger.kernel.org] |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| Since this is a kernel-user-space API change, |
| could you please CC linux-api@ (and also for any |
| future iterations of this patch series). The kernel source |
| file Documentation/SubmitChecklist notes that all Linux kernel patches |
| that change userspace interfaces should be CCed to |
| linux-api@vger.kernel.org, so that the various |
| parties who are interested in API changes are informed. For further information, see |
| https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/linux-api-ml.html |
| </p> |
| </blockquote> |
| |
| <h2>Subscription and archive</h2> |
| |
| <p> |
| To subscribe to the list, send a message containing the |
| following <em>body</em> to |
| <span class="email">majordomo@vger.kernel.org</span>: |
| </p> |
| |
| <pre> subscribe linux-api </pre> |
| |
| <p> |
| Searchable archives of this list can be found on |
| <a href="https://lore.kernel.org/linux-api/">lore</a>. |
| and |
| <a href="https://marc.info/?l=linux-api">MARC</a>. |
| </p> |
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