[dpdk-dev] [PATCH 4/4] pmd_hw_support.py: Add tool to query binaries for hw support information

[Panu Matilainen]

On 05/18/2016 03:38 PM, Thomas Monjalon wrote:
> 2016-05-18 14:48, Panu Matilainen:
>> Calling up on the list of requirements from
>> http://dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2016-May/038324.html, I see a pile of
>> technical requirements but perhaps we should stop for a moment to think
>> about the use-cases first?
>>
>> To name some from the top of my head:
>> - user wants to know whether the hardware on the system is supported
>
> supported by what?
> * by a statically linked app
> * by a DPDK he has downloaded and built
> * by a DPDK provided as shared library by its Linux vendor

All three?

> In the first 2 cases he knows where the files are.
> In the Linux distribution case, there can be a default directory set
> by the Linux vendor for the script looking at the infos. Only the Linux
> vendor knows where the PMDs files are.

For case 3), EAL and the DPDK build system know where the PMDs are via 
CONFIG_RTE_EAL_PMD_PATH (if set of course, otherwise there's not much hope)

>
>> - user wants to know which package(s) need to be installed to support
>> the system hardware
>
> You mean "which DPDK packages"?

Yes. This is of course only relevant if PMDs are split across several 
different packages (splitting might not make much sense yet, but as the 
number grows that might well change)

> Are some informations showed when doing "packager search dpdk"?
> or "packager show dpdk-driverX"?
> Do you want to show the PCI ids in the description of the packages?

Something along those lines - such things are being done by distros for 
eg firmware, printer drivers, kernel drivers by modalias etc.

>> - user wants to list all supported hardware before going shopping
>
> Why doing shopping? For a DPDK usage or for a specific application?

To buy hardware which is supported by DPDK, in a general case.

> The application should mentions the supported hardware.
> For more general DPDK information, there is this this page:
> 	http://dpdk.org/doc/nics
> But it may be not enough accurate for some PCI id exceptions.
> For more details, he must use a listing tool.

Yes. The point is, what kind of tool/solution can be made to behave 
identically between shared and static configs, in a user-friendly way. I 
just listed a few obvious (to me at least) use-cases, and was asking for 
others that I didn't think of.

	- Panu -