From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 24 20:45:30 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 33E68106566B for ; Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:45:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from stef-list@memberwebs.com) Received: from memberwebs.com (memberwebs.com [94.75.203.95]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F2DEE8FC13 for ; Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:45:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [172.27.5.159] (unknown [172.27.5.159]) by memberwebs.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 76DE283E4C7 for ; Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:26:31 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: <4ABBD5FA.5070507@memberwebs.com> Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:26:34 -0500 From: Stef Walter User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (X11/20090817) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Is the FreeBSD ABI compatibility policy documented anywhere X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: stef@memberwebs.com List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:45:30 -0000 It seems that FreeBSD has an ABI compatibility policy where major versions remain ABI and API compatible throughout minor point versions. That is to say that the kernel interfaces and libraries for (eg) 7-STABLE, 7.1-RELEASE, 7.2-RELEASE are not supposed to change. Is this a policy of the project? If so, is it documented anywhere? Or is it just a convention? Cheers, Stef