[dpdk-announce] release candidate 18.05-rc1

[Thomas Monjalon]

A new DPDK release candidate is ready for testing:
	https://dpdk.org/browse/dpdk/tag/?id=v18.05-rc1

1138 patches: more than 18.02-rc2 which was really huge!
This is one of the explanations for the big delay in this release.

The release notes so far:
	http://dpdk.org/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_05.html
Some highlights of 18.05-rc1:
	- memory subsystem rework
	- mempool bucket driver
	- improved logging control
	- uevent support for hotplug
	- generic multi-process channel (IPC)
	- secondary process support in virtual devices
	- ethdev API for recommended Rx/Tx parameters
	- ethdev API for various tunnels offloads
	- ethdev API for interconnect/switch offloads
	- ethdev port representor
	- axgbe AMD driver
	- bnxt update for Broadcom NetXtreme-S (Stingray)
	- cxgbe VF driver for Chelsio T5/T6
	- mlx5 striding RQ (multi packets buffer)
	- mlx5 tunnels offloads extended
	- sfc update for Solarflare XtremeScale X2xxx
	- ifcvf vDPA driver for accelerated virtio with Intel FPGA
	- vhost selective datapath
	- vhost interrupt mode
	- virtio-user server mode
	- virtio-crypto driver
	- bonding support of flow API
	- ccp AMD crypto driver
	- eventdev timer adapter
	- IP pipeline enhancements

Some features are expected in 18.05-rc2:
	- proper runtime files directory
	- compressdev
	- eventdev crypto adapter
	- NXP devices blacklisting
	- DPAA2 QDMA raw driver
	- DPAA2 Command Interface raw driver
	- Intel FPGA bus
	- Hyper-V bus and NetVSC driver
	- TAP TSO
	- BPF
	- testpmd simulation of noisy host

Some planned features are postponed to 18.08:
	- new devargs syntax
	- libedit integration
	- clean-up of panic calls

Please be aware that there are some API changes in 18.05:
	http://dpdk.org/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_05.html#api-changes
You are especially encouraged to look closely at:
	- ethdev/PMD interface update;
	- flow API update, which may effect applications and PMDs.
As a consequence, PMD developpers must test in depth their offloads
and flow API support.

Given the number of features pending for RC2, we can expect the next
release candidate in two weeks, the 11th of May (which is late).
Usually we need two more weeks of bug fixing in RC3 and RC4,
and few more days of validation before the release.
It means the release will happen during the last days of May.
The cycle for 18.08 may need to be shortened, and the release lighter.
If we are good at validations, and we do not invent too many new bugs,
we can try to speed up that (realistic) schedule.

Please do your best at testing and fixing this fat release.
When finding a new bug, please report it on bugzilla:
	http://dpdk.org/tracker/

Thank you everyone