[ovs-dev] OVS DPDK Latest & HWOL Branches

[Ian Stokes]

On 8/15/2018 10:51 AM, Ophir Munk wrote:
> Hi,
> Please find comments inline.
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ovs-dev-bounces at openvswitch.org [mailto:ovs-dev-
>> bounces at openvswitch.org] On Behalf Of Stokes, Ian
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 7:42 PM
>> To: Ben Pfaff (blp at ovn.org) <blp at ovn.org>
>> Cc: dev at openvswitch.org
>> Subject: [ovs-dev] OVS DPDK Latest & HWOL Branches
>>
>> Hi Ben,
>>
>> Recently at the OVS DPDK community meeting the case for 2 new branches
>> was raised.
>>
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>> These branches would be:
>>
>> (i) OVS DPDK Latest: This branch would essentially be OVS master using the
>> latest DPDK release (Including non LTS releases).
>>
>> The purpose of this branch would be to allow OVS DPDK developers to assess
>> the latest DPDK releases with OVS and provide feedback to the DPDK
>> community if changes are required. Currently OVS transitions between
>> supported DPDK releases using DPDK LTS releases only. DPDK LTS releases
>> happen annually. The next DPDK LTS release would be 18.11. However the
>> other non-lts DPDK releases (x.02, x.05, x.08) can introduce/change APIs that
>> impact OVS DPDK (Such as the HWOL). This feedback would be in place for
>> the next LTS release before OVS transitions to the next x.11 LTS.
>>
>> (ii) OVS DPDK HWOL: This branch would be forked from OVS DPDK Latest but
>> would encompass the HWOL development work that is ongoing.
>>
>> The feeling as regards the need for a OVS DPDK HWOL branch is that it
>> requires new features only available in the latest DPDK releases and that
>> there will be a lot of code rework required as its validated with various HW
>> devices over time before an acceptable solution will be in place.
>>
>> There was a question as regards the logistics of where the branches should
>> reside. It was suggested that they could be part of the OVS Repo to
>> centralize the development work but that is obviously something that would
>> have to be raised with yourself and the other project maintainers.
>>
> 
> If using OVS Repo for the 2 branches will also enable having frequent builds and
> running automated CI tests - that would greatly help to make sure the branches
> are backward compatible with master OVS.

I think this should be simple enough to enable.

> 
>> An alternative would be that it would be hosted on a developers GitHub repo
>> similar to how the dpdk_merge branches currently work.
>>
> 
> Where ever the branches are - I suggest using the patchwork mailing list
> for sending patches to these branches.
> We will need to decide on a header prefix to designate a specific patch to
> its relevant branch (e.g. "HWOL PATCH v1" or "DPDKLATEST PATCH v1").

Sure, I'm not familiar with the inner workings of patchwork but I 
believe it should work once a patch is sent to dev at openvswitch.org.

As you said we just need a to agree the header prefix to distinguish 
that it's not intended for the main OVS repo. (I was thinking 
"OVS_DPDK_LATEST" and "OVS_DPDK_HWOL"), using just DPDK could confuse 
people into think it's a patch for DPDK itself rather than ovs.

Ian
> 
>> Neither of the branches would be subject to releases as the end goal of the
>> development work carried out on them would make its way into OVS Master
>> eventually.
>>
>> Curious as to what your thoughts on this would be?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Ian
>>
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