Linus Torvalds [off-list ref] writes:

On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 3:16 PM Linus Torvalds
[off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

It goes back to forever, it looks like. I can't find a reason.

mincore() was originally added in 2.3.52pre3, it looks like. Around
2000 or so. But sadly before the BK history.

Yeah, it's here in the commit titled "Import 2.3.52pre3" (takes a second
or two to load):

  https://github.com/mpe/linux-fullhistory/commit/a1bcda3256956318c95c8da8bee09f79190bb034#diff-fd2d793b8b4760b4887c8c7bbb3451d7R1730

But no further detail.

(Instructions for using that tree https://github.com/mpe/linux-fullhistory/wiki)

cheers