> [ if flags short -> int ]
>
> I've promoted that field to an int (I wanted another flag bit for a
> completely different reason), and haven't seen any trouble short of, of
> course, needing to recompile everything.  (And having a bit of a flag
> day, since before-and-after kernels and userlands are compatible in
> neither direction.)

A properly done (for the purposes of committing to the source tree 8-)
fix would be binary compatible with old binaries.  It's just not very
hard...


chris