* Brian Gerst <brge...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Btw., the variable names here are crazy. I had to look twice to realize 
> > that 
> > we have 'v86' and 'vm86' which are two different things.
> >
> > Also, vm86plus_struct variables and fields are named wildly inconsistently: 
> > sometimes it's 'vm86.vm86_info', sometimes it's 'v86', sometimes 'user'. 
> > Ugh.
> >
> > Other fields have naming inconsistencies as well: for example we have 
> > thread.vm86->vm86plus.vm86dbg_active. 'vm86' is repeated _three_ times in 
> > that 
> > name, for no good reason.
> >
> > So please clean up the naming to make this all easier to read. Only the 
> > highest level field should have 'vm86' in it - all subsequent fields will 
> > inherit that name one way or another.
> 
> Some of these field names are visible to userspace and can't change.

That's a misconception: bits in the uapi headers can be renamed just fine.

The kernel ABI is that _semantics_ that user-space code relies on must not 
change.

Cleaning up field names is absolutely legit to do, and we've done it numerous 
times in the past. Especially where they are so confusing and inconsistent as 
in 
the vm86 code.

Thanks,

        Ingo
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Reply via email to