16. ABI and API Deprecation

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

16.1. Deprecation Notices

  • eal: DPDK runtime configuration file (located at /var/run/.<prefix>_config) will be moved. The new path will be as follows:

    • if DPDK is running as root, path will be set to /var/run/dpdk/<prefix>/config
    • if DPDK is not running as root and $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is set, path will be set to $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/dpdk/<prefix>/config
    • if DPDK is not running as root and $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set, path will be set to /tmp/dpdk/<prefix>/config

  • eal: both declaring and identifying devices will be streamlined in v18.08. 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
      • rte_eal_devargs_parse will change its format and use.

  • 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

  • eal: a new set of mbuf mempool ops name APIs for user, platform and best mempool names have been defined in rte_mbuf in v18.02. The uses of rte_eal_mbuf_default_mempool_ops shall be replaced by rte_mbuf_best_mempool_ops. The following function is deprecated since 18.05, and will be removed in 18.08:

    • rte_eal_mbuf_default_mempool_ops

  • 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: a new Tx and Rx offload API was introduced on 17.11. In the new API, offloads are divided into per-port and per-queue offloads. Offloads are disabled by default and enabled per application request.

    In later releases the old offloading API will be deprecated, which will include: - removal of ETH_TXQ_FLAGS_NO* flags. - removal of txq_flags field from rte_eth_txconf struct. - removal of the offloads bit-field from rte_eth_rxmode struct.

  • ethdev: A new offloading flag DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC will be added in v18.08, This will replace the usage of not setting DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_CRC_STRIP flag and will be implemented in PMDs accordingly. In v18.08 both DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC and DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_CRC_STRIP flags will be available, usage will be: CRC_STRIP: Strip CRC from packet KEEP_CRC: Keep CRC in packet Both CRC_STRIP & KEEP_CRC: Invalid No flag: Keep CRC in packet

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • cryptodev: The following changes will be made in the library for 18.08:

    • Removal of sym structure in rte_cryptodev_info structure, containing fields not relevant anymore since the session mempool is not internal in the crypto device anymore.
    • Replacement of pci_dev field with the more generic rte_device structure.
    • Functions rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_attach_sym_session() and rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_dettach_sym_session() will be deprecated from 18.05 and removed in 18.08, as there are no drivers doing anything useful with them.
    • Functions rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_start() and rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_stop() will be deprecated from 18.05 and removed in 18.08, as there are no drivers doing anything useful with them.
    • Some feature flags such as RTE_CRYPTODEV_FF_MBUF_SCATTER_GATHER are ambiguous, so some will be replaced by more explicit flags.
    • Function rte_cryptodev_get_header_session_size() will be deprecated in 18.05, and it gets replaced with rte_cryptodev_sym_get_header_session_size(). It will be removed in 18.08.
    • Function rte_cryptodev_get_private_session_size() will be deprecated in 18.05, and it gets replaced with rte_cryptodev_sym_get_private_session_size(). It will be removed in 18.08.