[RFC] Remove Kernel Network Interface (KNI)

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Fri, 13 Jan 2023 19:34:24 +0100
Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net> wrote:

> 13/01/2023 18:13, Stephen Hemminger:
> > On Fri, 13 Jan 2023 09:12:16 +0100
> > Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net> wrote:
> >   
> > > 13/01/2023 06:03, Stephen Hemminger:  
> > > > The Linux special network driver for kernel networking has been
> > > > a long term problem for DPDK. The performance benefits of KNI
> > > > are available via virtio-user and XDP, and the simpler kernel
> > > > interface via TAP is also available.
> > > > 
> > > > This driver has required lots of effort to keep up with the
> > > > kernel API changes. And the overall architecture of the driver
> > > > is fundamentally insecure and has unfixable locking and data
> > > > race problems. No developer has been willing to do extensive
> > > > tests or be the maintainer.
> > > > 
> > > > In short, the time has come to do some early spring cleaning
> > > > and remove KNI from DPDK 23.03.    
> > > 
> > > In doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst it is announced
> > > to be removed in 23.11. Let's keep this RFC for later :)
> > > 
> > >   
> > 
> > For 23.03 could we add a deprecation log message when library is
> > used and when kernel module is loaded.  
> 
> We already have a message in the lib:
> 
> int
> rte_kni_init(unsigned int max_kni_ifaces __rte_unused)
> {
> 	RTE_LOG(WARNING, KNI, "WARNING: KNI is deprecated and will be removed in DPDK 23.11\n");
> 
> It is a good idea to add a message in the kernel module loading.
> 
> 
> 
> 

No matter how much we tell users, guarantee someone will still miss it and complain :-)