Arm backend: Clarify which scripts are not part of public API (pytorch#20784)

Signed-off-by: Sebastian Larsson <sebastian.larsson@arm.com>

Author: Sebastian-Larsson

backends/arm/README.md

@@ -23,6 +23,19 @@ In addition, the following deployment paths are supported by this backend:
 
 More information on TOSA can be found here: https://www.mlplatform.org/tosa/tosa_spec.html.
 
+## Public API Boundary
+
+The Arm backend public Python API is the set of symbols tracked in
+`backends/arm/public_api_manifests/api_manifest_running.toml`. Other modules,
+helpers, scripts, and directory layouts in this subtree are implementation
+details and may change without deprecation.
+
+In particular, `backends/arm/tosa` contains shared lowering implementation for
+Arm backends. It is not a stable public package except for symbols explicitly
+listed in the public API manifest. Prefer the target-specific public APIs in
+`executorch.backends.arm.ethosu` and `executorch.backends.arm.vgf` for
+application code.
+
 ## Directory Layout
 
 Below is an overview of the key folder and files in this directory:

backends/arm/scripts/TOSA_minimal_example.ipynb

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
     "\n",
     "This guide walks through the complete process of running a module on Arm TOSA using ExecuTorch, with a focus on TOSA lowering exploration. \n",
     "This workflow is intended for validating and experimenting with model lowering to TOSA, and is aimed at contributors and developers, rather than production deployment.\n",
+    "This notebook uses code that is not part of the stable public API. If the TOSA flow changes, this notebook should be checked and updated too.\n",
     "It’s important to note that the compilation flow and passes applied can vary based on the target, so this flow does not necessarily produce TOSA flatbuffers and PTE files which are optimal (or even compatible) with any one target.\n",
     "If something is not working for you, please raise a GitHub issue and tag Arm.\n",
     "\n",

backends/arm/scripts/build_direct_drive_fvp.sh

@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer build helper. This command-line interface is not a public API and
+# may change without deprecation.
 
 apply_patch_if_needed () {
   local patch="$1"

backends/arm/scripts/build_executor_runner.sh

@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer build helper. This command-line interface is not a public API and
+# may change without deprecation.
 
 set -eu
 
@@ -36,6 +39,7 @@ build_with_etdump_flags=" -DEXECUTORCH_ENABLE_EVENT_TRACER=OFF "
 
 help() {
     echo "Usage: $(basename $0) [options]"
+    echo "Note: this developer build script is not a stable public API."
     echo "Options:"
     echo "  --pte=<PTE_FILE>|<ADDR>|semihosting  Set to a pte file (generated by the aot_arm_compier) to include the model in the elf."
     echo "                                       Or a hex address in the format of 0x00000000 if placed in memory you need to place it on this ADDR on your target, with your flash tool or other means."

backends/arm/scripts/build_executor_runner_vkml.sh

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# Copyright 2025 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
+# Copyright 2025-2026 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer build helper. This command-line interface is not a public API and
+# may change without deprecation.
 
 set -eu
 
@@ -23,11 +26,12 @@ source "${script_dir}/utils.sh"
 
 help() {
     echo "Usage: $(basename $0) [options]"
+    echo "Note: this developer build script is not a stable public API."
     echo "Options:"
     echo "  --build_type=<TYPE>         Build with Release, Debug or RelWithDebInfo, default is ${build_type}"
     echo "  --etdump                    Adds Devtools etdump support to track timing, etdump area will be base64 encoded in the log"
     echo "  --extra_build_flags=<FLAGS> Extra flags to pass to cmake. Default: none "
-    echo "  --output=<FOLDER>           Output folder Default: $(output_folder)"
+    echo "  --output=<FOLDER>           Output folder Default: ${output_folder}"
     echo "  --bundleio                  Support BundleIO using Devtools with Input/RefOutput included"
     exit 0
 }

backends/arm/scripts/build_executorch.sh

@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer build helper. This command-line interface is not a public API and
+# may change without deprecation.
 
 # Optional parameter:
 # --build_type= "Release" | "Debug" | "RelWithDebInfo" | "UndefinedSanitizer" | "AddressSanitizer"
@@ -30,6 +33,7 @@ target_cpu=""
 
 help() {
     echo "Usage: $(basename $0) [options]"
+    echo "Note: this developer build script is not a stable public API."
     echo "Options:"
     echo "  --et_build_root=<FOLDER>  Build output root folder to use, defaults to ${et_build_root}"
     echo "  --build_type=<TYPE>       Build with Release, Debug, RelWithDebInfo, UndefinedSanitizer or AddressSanitizer, default is ${build_type}"

backends/arm/tosa/__init__.py

@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
-# Copyright 2025 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
+# Copyright 2025-2026 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 #
+"""Shared TOSA lowering implementation for the Arm backend.
+
+Only symbols listed in the Arm public API manifest are public API. Other
+modules under ``executorch.backends.arm.tosa`` are implementation details and
+may change without notice.
+
+"""
 
 from .specification import TosaSpecification
 

examples/arm/export_standalone_tosa_graph.py

@@ -3,10 +3,19 @@
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 
-""" This example demonstrates how to export a standalone TOSA graph with multiple outputs, where the outputs of the delegate
-are reordered during partitioning. The example uses a simple convolutional network with three outputs of different shapes,
-applies quantization, partitions for TOSA, and then checks the output shapes in the exported graph match the expected output
-shapes from the original FX graph. """
+"""Demonstrate standalone TOSA graph export with reordered delegate outputs.
+
+This file is an example for contributors and lowering experiments. It uses
+TOSA implementation modules that are not public API unless the symbol is listed
+in the Arm public API manifest. Prefer target-specific public APIs for
+application code.
+
+The example uses a simple convolutional network with three outputs of different
+shapes, applies quantization, partitions for TOSA, and then checks the output
+shapes in the exported graph match the expected output shapes from the original
+FX graph.
+
+"""
 
 import operator
 

examples/arm/run.sh

@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer build-and-run helper. This command-line interface is not a public
+# API and may change without deprecation.
 
 set -eu
 
@@ -58,6 +61,7 @@ parallel_jobs=1
 
 function help() {
     echo "Usage: $(basename $0) [options]"
+    echo "Note: this developer workflow script is not a stable public API."
     echo "Options:"
     echo "  --model_name=<MODEL>                   Model file .py/.pth/.pt, builtin model or a model from examples/models. Passed to aot_arm_compiler"
     echo "  --model_input=<INPUT>                  Provide model input .pt file to override the input in the model file. Passed to aot_arm_compiler"

examples/arm/setup.sh

@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+#
+# Developer setup helper. This command-line interface is not a public API and
+# may change without deprecation.
 
 set -u
 
@@ -67,6 +70,7 @@ OPTION_LIST=(
 
 function print_usage() {
     echo "Usage: $(basename "$0") [OPTIONS]"
+    echo "Note: this developer setup script is not a stable public API."
     echo
     echo "Available options:"
     for entry in "${OPTION_LIST[@]}"; do