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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sysctl/ctl_unnumbered.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/sysctl/ctl_unnumbered.txt | 22 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/ctl_unnumbered.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/ctl_unnumbered.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 23003a8ea3e7..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/sysctl/ctl_unnumbered.txt +++ /dev/null | |||
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1 | |||
2 | Except for a few extremely rare exceptions user space applications do not use | ||
3 | the binary sysctl interface. Instead everyone uses /proc/sys/... with | ||
4 | readable ascii names. | ||
5 | |||
6 | Recently the kernel has started supporting setting the binary sysctl value to | ||
7 | CTL_UNNUMBERED so we no longer need to assign a binary sysctl path to allow | ||
8 | sysctls to show up in /proc/sys. | ||
9 | |||
10 | Assigning binary sysctl numbers is an endless source of conflicts in sysctl.h, | ||
11 | breaking of the user space ABI (because of those conflicts), and maintenance | ||
12 | problems. A complete pass through all of the sysctl users revealed multiple | ||
13 | instances where the sysctl binary interface was broken and had gone undetected | ||
14 | for years. | ||
15 | |||
16 | So please do not add new binary sysctl numbers. They are unneeded and | ||
17 | problematic. | ||
18 | |||
19 | If you really need a new binary sysctl number please first merge your sysctl | ||
20 | into the kernel and then as a separate patch allocate a binary sysctl number. | ||
21 | |||
22 | (ebiederm@xmission.com, June 2007) | ||