linux/Documentation/ABI
Linus Torvalds f67e3fb489 device-dax for 5.1
* Replace the /sys/class/dax device model with /sys/bus/dax, and include
   a compat driver so distributions can opt-in to the new ABI.
 
 * Allow for an alternative driver for the device-dax address-range
 
 * Introduce the 'kmem' driver to hotplug / assign a device-dax
   address-range to the core-mm.
 
 * Arrange for the device-dax target-node to be onlined so that the newly
   added memory range can be uniquely referenced by numa apis.
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Merge tag 'devdax-for-5.1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm

Pull device-dax updates from Dan Williams:
 "New device-dax infrastructure to allow persistent memory and other
  "reserved" / performance differentiated memories, to be assigned to
  the core-mm as "System RAM".

  Some users want to use persistent memory as additional volatile
  memory. They are willing to cope with potential performance
  differences, for example between DRAM and 3D Xpoint, and want to use
  typical Linux memory management apis rather than a userspace memory
  allocator layered over an mmap() of a dax file. The administration
  model is to decide how much Persistent Memory (pmem) to use as System
  RAM, create a device-dax-mode namespace of that size, and then assign
  it to the core-mm. The rationale for device-dax is that it is a
  generic memory-mapping driver that can be layered over any "special
  purpose" memory, not just pmem. On subsequent boots udev rules can be
  used to restore the memory assignment.

  One implication of using pmem as RAM is that mlock() no longer keeps
  data off persistent media. For this reason it is recommended to enable
  NVDIMM Security (previously merged for 5.0) to encrypt pmem contents
  at rest. We considered making this recommendation an actively enforced
  requirement, but in the end decided to leave it as a distribution /
  administrator policy to allow for emulation and test environments that
  lack security capable NVDIMMs.

  Summary:

   - Replace the /sys/class/dax device model with /sys/bus/dax, and
     include a compat driver so distributions can opt-in to the new ABI.

   - Allow for an alternative driver for the device-dax address-range

   - Introduce the 'kmem' driver to hotplug / assign a device-dax
     address-range to the core-mm.

   - Arrange for the device-dax target-node to be onlined so that the
     newly added memory range can be uniquely referenced by numa apis"

NOTE! I'm not entirely happy with the whole "PMEM as RAM" model because
we currently have special - and very annoying rules in the kernel about
accessing PMEM only with the "MC safe" accessors, because machine checks
inside the regular repeat string copy functions can be fatal in some
(not described) circumstances.

And apparently the PMEM modules can cause that a lot more than regular
RAM.  The argument is that this happens because PMEM doesn't necessarily
get scrubbed at boot like RAM does, but that is planned to be added for
the user space tooling.

Quoting Dan from another email:
 "The exposure can be reduced in the volatile-RAM case by scanning for
  and clearing errors before it is onlined as RAM. The userspace tooling
  for that can be in place before v5.1-final. There's also runtime
  notifications of errors via acpi_nfit_uc_error_notify() from
  background scrubbers on the DIMM devices. With that mechanism the
  kernel could proactively clear newly discovered poison in the volatile
  case, but that would be additional development more suitable for v5.2.

  I understand the concern, and the need to highlight this issue by
  tapping the brakes on feature development, but I don't see PMEM as RAM
  making the situation worse when the exposure is also there via DAX in
  the PMEM case. Volatile-RAM is arguably a safer use case since it's
  possible to repair pages where the persistent case needs active
  application coordination"

* tag 'devdax-for-5.1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm:
  device-dax: "Hotplug" persistent memory for use like normal RAM
  mm/resource: Let walk_system_ram_range() search child resources
  mm/memory-hotplug: Allow memory resources to be children
  mm/resource: Move HMM pr_debug() deeper into resource code
  mm/resource: Return real error codes from walk failures
  device-dax: Add a 'modalias' attribute to DAX 'bus' devices
  device-dax: Add a 'target_node' attribute
  device-dax: Auto-bind device after successful new_id
  acpi/nfit, device-dax: Identify differentiated memory with a unique numa-node
  device-dax: Add /sys/class/dax backwards compatibility
  device-dax: Add support for a dax override driver
  device-dax: Move resource pinning+mapping into the common driver
  device-dax: Introduce bus + driver model
  device-dax: Start defining a dax bus model
  device-dax: Remove multi-resource infrastructure
  device-dax: Kill dax_region base
  device-dax: Kill dax_region ida
2019-03-16 13:05:32 -07:00
..
obsolete device-dax: Add /sys/class/dax backwards compatibility 2019-01-06 21:41:57 -08:00
removed acpi, nfit: Remove ecc_unit_size 2018-06-03 12:49:15 -07:00
stable platform-drivers-x86 for v5.1-1 2019-03-10 13:16:37 -07:00
testing f2fs-for-5.1-rc1 2019-03-15 13:42:53 -07:00
README

README

This directory attempts to document the ABI between the Linux kernel and
userspace, and the relative stability of these interfaces.  Due to the
everchanging nature of Linux, and the differing maturity levels, these
interfaces should be used by userspace programs in different ways.

We have four different levels of ABI stability, as shown by the four
different subdirectories in this location.  Interfaces may change levels
of stability according to the rules described below.

The different levels of stability are:

  stable/
	This directory documents the interfaces that the developer has
	defined to be stable.  Userspace programs are free to use these
	interfaces with no restrictions, and backward compatibility for
	them will be guaranteed for at least 2 years.  Most interfaces
	(like syscalls) are expected to never change and always be
	available.

  testing/
	This directory documents interfaces that are felt to be stable,
	as the main development of this interface has been completed.
	The interface can be changed to add new features, but the
	current interface will not break by doing this, unless grave
	errors or security problems are found in them.  Userspace
	programs can start to rely on these interfaces, but they must be
	aware of changes that can occur before these interfaces move to
	be marked stable.  Programs that use these interfaces are
	strongly encouraged to add their name to the description of
	these interfaces, so that the kernel developers can easily
	notify them if any changes occur (see the description of the
	layout of the files below for details on how to do this.)

  obsolete/
  	This directory documents interfaces that are still remaining in
	the kernel, but are marked to be removed at some later point in
	time.  The description of the interface will document the reason
	why it is obsolete and when it can be expected to be removed.

  removed/
	This directory contains a list of the old interfaces that have
	been removed from the kernel.

Every file in these directories will contain the following information:

What:		Short description of the interface
Date:		Date created
KernelVersion:	Kernel version this feature first showed up in.
Contact:	Primary contact for this interface (may be a mailing list)
Description:	Long description of the interface and how to use it.
Users:		All users of this interface who wish to be notified when
		it changes.  This is very important for interfaces in
		the "testing" stage, so that kernel developers can work
		with userspace developers to ensure that things do not
		break in ways that are unacceptable.  It is also
		important to get feedback for these interfaces to make
		sure they are working in a proper way and do not need to
		be changed further.


How things move between levels:

Interfaces in stable may move to obsolete, as long as the proper
notification is given.

Interfaces may be removed from obsolete and the kernel as long as the
documented amount of time has gone by.

Interfaces in the testing state can move to the stable state when the
developers feel they are finished.  They cannot be removed from the
kernel tree without going through the obsolete state first.

It's up to the developer to place their interfaces in the category they
wish for it to start out in.


Notable bits of non-ABI, which should not under any circumstances be considered
stable:

- Kconfig.  Userspace should not rely on the presence or absence of any
  particular Kconfig symbol, in /proc/config.gz, in the copy of .config
  commonly installed to /boot, or in any invocation of the kernel build
  process.

- Kernel-internal symbols.  Do not rely on the presence, absence, location, or
  type of any kernel symbol, either in System.map files or the kernel binary
  itself.  See Documentation/process/stable-api-nonsense.rst.