Stability Levels

DTrace provides two types of stability attributes for entities such as built-in variables, functions, and probes: a stability level and an architectural dependency class. The DTrace stability level assists you in making risk assessments when developing scripts and tools based on DTrace by indicating how likely an interface or DTrace entity is to change in a future release or patch. The DTrace dependency class tells you whether an interface is common to all Oracle Solaris platforms and processors, or whether the interface is associated with a particular architecture such as SPARC processors only. The two types of attributes used to describe interfaces can vary independently.

The stability values used by DTrace appear in the following list in order from lowest to highest stability. Applications that depend only on Stable interfaces should reliably continue to function correctly on future minor releases and will not be broken by interim patches. The less stable interfaces allow experimentation, prototyping, tuning, and debugging on your current system, but should be used with the understanding that they might change incompatibly or even be dropped or replaced with alternatives in future minor releases.

The DTrace stability values also help you understand the stability of the software entities you are observing, in addition to the stability of the DTrace interfaces themselves. Therefore, DTrace stability values also tell you how likely your D programs and layered tools are to require corresponding changes when you upgrade or change the software stack you are observing.

Internal

The interface is private to DTrace and represents an implementation detail of DTrace. Internal interfaces might change in minor or micro releases.

Private

The interface is private to Oracle and represents an interface developed for use by other Oracle products that is not yet publicly documented for use by customers and ISVs. Private interfaces might change in minor or micro releases.

Obsolete

The interface is supported in the current release but is scheduled to be removed, most likely in a future minor release. The D compiler might produce warning messages if you attempt to use an Obsolete interface.

External

The interface is controlled by an entity other than Oracle. Oracle makes no claims regarding either source or binary compatibility for External interfaces between any two releases. Applications based on these interfaces might not work in future releases, including patches that contain External interfaces.

Unstable

The interface is provided to give developers early access to new or rapidly changing technology or to an implementation artifact that is essential for observing or debugging system behavior for which a more stable solution is anticipated in the future. Oracle makes no claims about either source or binary compatibility for Unstable interfaces from one minor release to another.

Evolving

The interface might eventually become Standard or Stable but is still in transition. When non-upward compatible changes become necessary, they will occur in minor and major releases. These changes will be avoided in micro releases whenever possible. If such a change is necessary, it will be documented in the release notes for the affected release, and when feasible, migration aids will be provided for binary compatibility and continued D program development.

Stable

The interface is a mature interface.

Standard

The interface complies with an industry standard. The corresponding documentation for the interface will describe the standard to which the interface conforms. Standards are typically controlled by a standards development organization, and changes can be made to the interface in accordance with approved changes to the standard. This stability level can also apply to interfaces that have been adopted (without a formal standard) by an industry convention. Support is provided for only the specified versions of a standard; support for later versions is not guaranteed.