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- 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)
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