[dpdk-dev] DPDK Stable Releases and Long Term Support

[Mcnamara, John]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Panu Matilainen [mailto:pmatilai at redhat.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2016 1:30 PM
> To: Mcnamara, John <john.mcnamara at intel.com>; dev at dpdk.org
> Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] DPDK Stable Releases and Long Term Support
> 
> ...
>
> > ABI
> > ---
> >
> > The Stable Release should not be seen as a way of breaking or
> > circumventing the DPDK ABI policy.
> 
> I find this a strange thing to say about a stable/LTS release ABI. I had
> read the originating thread before seeing this, but it still made me go
> "Huh?" for several seconds. The problem perhaps being, the rest of the
> document addresses stable/LTS releases, but this statement speaks about
> normal development work going on elsewhere.
> 
> The earlier version had a mention about ABI/API breakage related to things
> what not to backport but that's entirely gone here. Given how important
> ABI + API stability is for stable/LTS releases, I think it deserves a
> special mention here. Maybe something more to the tune of:
> 
> ---
> ABI or API breakages are not permitted in stable releases, special care
> must be taken to when backporting.
> 
> The existence of stable release(s) does not lessen the need to comply to
> DPDK ABI policy in development work.
> ---

That seems reasonable. If I do an update to the doc or add it to the guides I'll update it with this.

> 
> With the exception of the ABI/API thing, this looks like a fair starting
> point to me. Time and experience will tell more.
> 

I also think that we will have to see how it goes. What is important is that we end up with something that is useful to the community and consumers.

John.
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