23 lines
962 B
Plaintext
23 lines
962 B
Plaintext
|
|
||
|
|
Except for a few extremely rare exceptions user space applications do not use
|
||
|
|
the binary sysctl interface. Instead everyone uses /proc/sys/... with
|
||
|
|
readable ascii names.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Recently the kernel has started supporting setting the binary sysctl value to
|
||
|
|
CTL_UNNUMBERED so we no longer need to assign a binary sysctl path to allow
|
||
|
|
sysctls to show up in /proc/sys.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Assigning binary sysctl numbers is an endless source of conflicts in sysctl.h,
|
||
|
|
breaking of the user space ABI (because of those conflicts), and maintenance
|
||
|
|
problems. A complete pass through all of the sysctl users revealed multiple
|
||
|
|
instances where the sysctl binary interface was broken and had gone undetected
|
||
|
|
for years.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So please do not add new binary sysctl numbers. They are unneeded and
|
||
|
|
problematic.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you really need a new binary sysctl number please first merge your sysctl
|
||
|
|
into the kernel and then as a separate patch allocate a binary sysctl number.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
(ebiederm@xmission.com, June 2007)
|