11. ABI and API Deprecation

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

11.1. Deprecation Notices

  • igb_uio: iomem mapping and sysfs files created for iomem and ioport in igb_uio will be removed, because we are able to detect these from what Linux has exposed, like the way we have done with uio-pci-generic. This change targets release 17.02.

  • ABI/API changes are planned for 17.02: rte_device, rte_driver will be impacted because of introduction of a new rte_bus hierarchy. This would also impact the way devices are identified by EAL. A bus-device-driver model will be introduced providing a hierarchical view of devices.

  • eth_driver is planned to be removed in 17.02. This currently serves as a placeholder for PMDs to register themselves. Changes for rte_bus will provide a way to handle device initialization currently being done in eth_driver.

  • In 17.02 ABI changes are planned: the rte_eth_dev structure will be extended with new function pointer tx_pkt_prepare allowing verification and processing of packet burst to meet HW specific requirements before transmit. Also new fields will be added to the rte_eth_desc_lim structure: nb_seg_max and nb_mtu_seg_max providing information about number of segments limit to be transmitted by device for TSO/non-TSO packets.

  • In 17.02 ABI change is planned: the rte_eth_dev_info structure will be extended with a new member fw_version in order to store the NIC firmware version.

  • ethdev: an API change is planned for 17.02 for the function _rte_eth_dev_callback_process. In 17.02 the function will return an int instead of void and a fourth parameter void *ret_param will be added.

  • ethdev: for 17.02 it is planned to deprecate the following five functions and move them in ixgbe:

    rte_eth_dev_set_vf_rxmode

    rte_eth_dev_set_vf_rx

    rte_eth_dev_set_vf_tx

    rte_eth_dev_set_vf_vlan_filter

    rte_eth_set_vf_rate_limit

  • ABI changes are planned for 17.02 in the rte_mbuf structure: some fields may be reordered to facilitate the writing of data_off, refcnt, and nb_segs in one operation, because some platforms have an overhead if the store address is not naturally aligned. Other mbuf fields, such as the port field, may be moved or removed as part of this mbuf work. A timestamp will also be added.

  • The mbuf flags PKT_RX_VLAN_PKT and PKT_RX_QINQ_PKT are deprecated and are respectively replaced by PKT_RX_VLAN_STRIPPED and PKT_RX_QINQ_STRIPPED, that are better described. The old flags and their behavior will be kept until 16.11 and will be removed in 17.02.

  • mempool: The functions rte_mempool_count and rte_mempool_free_count will be removed in 17.02. They are replaced by rte_mempool_avail_count and rte_mempool_in_use_count respectively.

  • mempool: The functions for single/multi producer/consumer are deprecated and will be removed in 17.02. It is replaced by rte_mempool_generic_get/put functions.