package stability

[Mike McGrath]

Bill Nottingham wrote:
> Axel Thimm (Axel.Thimm at ATrpms.net) said: 
>   
>> On Sat, Mar 03, 2007 at 10:26:01AM +0100, Patrice Dumas wrote:
>>     
>>> Do we want to keep API/ABI stable over the corresponding RHEL release?
>>>       
>> It would be interesting to have a document that described RH's specs
>> in this area. E.g. which API/ABI are more important that others. RHEL
>> has certainly kept some parts more flexible than others, for example
>> wireless API/ABI on almost each kernel update.
>>     
>
> It depends on the release, but generally, symbols used by external
> modules must be kept fixed. However, various subsystems (libata, wireless)
> may change.
>
> With the exception of very specific things (the wireless-tools things
> mentioned, which caused its own headaches), the userspace library ABI
> is considered pretty much sacrosanct.
>
> Bill
>   
Unlike in 'official' RHEL, I'd think the emphasis here is just on best 
effort for stability.  As long as we're cautious I think it will be fine.

    -Mike