17. ABI and API Deprecation

See the guidelines document for details of the ABI policy. API and ABI deprecation notices are to be posted here.

17.1. Deprecation Notices

  • eal: certain structures will change in EAL on account of upcoming external memory support. Aside from internal changes leading to an ABI break, the following externally visible changes will also be implemented:

    • rte_memseg_list will change to include a boolean flag indicating whether a particular memseg list is externally allocated. This will have implications for any users of memseg-walk-related functions, as they will now have to skip externally allocated segments in most cases if the intent is to only iterate over internal DPDK memory.
    • socket_id parameter across the entire DPDK will gain additional meaning, as some socket ID’s will now be representing externally allocated memory. No changes will be required for existing code as backwards compatibility will be kept, and those who do not use this feature will not see these extra socket ID’s.

  • eal: both declaring and identifying devices will be streamlined in v18.11. New functions will appear to query a specific port from buses, classes of device and device drivers. Device declaration will be made coherent with the new scheme of device identification. As such, rte_devargs device representation will change.

    • The enum rte_devtype was used to identify a bus and will disappear.
    • Functions previously deprecated will change or disappear:
      • rte_eal_devargs_type_count

  • pci: Several exposed functions are misnamed. The following functions are deprecated starting from v17.11 and are replaced:

    • eal_parse_pci_BDF replaced by rte_pci_addr_parse
    • eal_parse_pci_DomBDF replaced by rte_pci_addr_parse
    • rte_eal_compare_pci_addr replaced by rte_pci_addr_cmp

  • mbuf: The opaque mbuf->hash.sched field will be updated to support generic definition in line with the ethdev TM and MTR APIs. Currently, this field is defined in librte_sched in a non-generic way. The new generic format will contain: queue ID, traffic class, color. Field size will not change.

  • mbuf: the macro RTE_MBUF_INDIRECT() will be removed in v18.08 or later and replaced with RTE_MBUF_CLONED() which is already added in v18.05. As EXT_ATTACHED_MBUF is newly introduced in v18.05, RTE_MBUF_INDIRECT() can no longer be mutually exclusive with RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() if the new experimental API rte_pktmbuf_attach_extbuf() is used. Removal of the macro is to fix this semantic inconsistency.

  • ethdev: In v18.11 DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_CRC_STRIP offload flag will be removed, default behavior without any flag will be changed to CRC strip. To keep CRC DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC flag is required. KEEP_CRC: Keep CRC in packet No flag: Strip CRC from packet

  • ethdev: the legacy filter API, including rte_eth_dev_filter_supported(), rte_eth_dev_filter_ctrl() as well as filter types MACVLAN, ETHERTYPE, FLEXIBLE, SYN, NTUPLE, TUNNEL, FDIR, HASH and L2_TUNNEL, is superseded by the generic flow API (rte_flow) in PMDs that implement the latter. Target release for removal of the legacy API will be defined once most PMDs have switched to rte_flow.

  • ethdev: In v18.11 rte_eth_dev_attach() and rte_eth_dev_detach() will be removed. Hotplug functions rte_eal_hotplug_add() and rte_eal_hotplug_remove() should be used instread. Function rte_eth_dev_get_port_by_name() may be used to find identifier of the added port.

  • eal: In v18.11 rte_eal_dev_attach() and rte_eal_dev_detach() will be removed. Hotplug functions rte_eal_hotplug_add() and rte_eal_hotplug_remove() should be used directly.

  • pdump: As we changed to use generic IPC, some changes in APIs and structure are expected in subsequent release.

    • rte_pdump_set_socket_dir will be removed;
    • The parameter, path, of rte_pdump_init will be removed;
    • The enum rte_pdump_socktype will be removed.

  • ethdev: flow API function rte_flow_copy() will be deprecated in v18.11 in favor of rte_flow_conv() (which will appear in that version) and subsequently removed for v19.02.

    This is due to a lack of flexibility and reliance on a type unusable with C++ programs (struct rte_flow_desc).