3. Source Organization

This section describes the organization of sources in the DPDK framework.

3.1. Libraries

Libraries are located in subdirectories of dpdk/lib. By convention a library refers to any code that provides an API to an application. Typically, it generates an archive file (.a), but a kernel module would also go in the same directory.

3.2. Drivers

Drivers are special libraries which provide poll-mode driver implementations for devices: either hardware devices or pseudo/virtual devices. They are contained in the drivers subdirectory, classified by type, and each compiles to a library with the format librte_X_Y.a where X is the device class name and Y is the driver name.

Note

Several of the driver/net directories contain a base sub-directory. The base directory generally contains code the shouldn’t be modified directly by the user. Any enhancements should be done via the X_osdep.c and/or X_osdep.h files in that directory. Refer to the local README in the base directories for driver specific instructions.

3.3. Applications

Applications are source files that contain a main() function. They are located in the dpdk/app and dpdk/examples directories.

The app directory contains sample applications that are used to test DPDK (such as autotests) or the Poll Mode Drivers (test-pmd).

The examples directory contains Sample applications that show how libraries can be used.