[ovs-dev] [PATCH] ovs-vswitchd: Better document that ovs-vswitchd manages its own datapaths.

[Ben Pfaff]

More explicitly discourage users from managing them themselves.

Signed-off-by: Ben Pfaff <blp at ovn.org>
---
 lib/dpctl.man              |  9 +++++++--
 vswitchd/ovs-vswitchd.8.in | 11 ++++++-----
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/dpctl.man b/lib/dpctl.man
index 9e9d2dc17978..50623c4a91b0 100644
--- a/lib/dpctl.man
+++ b/lib/dpctl.man
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+Do not use commands to add or remove or modify datapaths if
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is running because this interferes with
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR's own datapath management.
 .TP
 \*(DX\fBadd\-dp \fIdp\fR [\fInetdev\fR[\fB,\fIoption\fR]...]
 Creates datapath \fIdp\fR, with a local port also named \fIdp\fR.
@@ -89,8 +92,10 @@ The following commands are primarily useful for debugging Open
 vSwitch.  The flow table entries (both matches and actions) that they
 work with are not OpenFlow flow entries.  Instead, they are different
 and considerably simpler flows maintained by the Open vSwitch kernel
-module.  Use \fBovs\-ofctl\fR(8), instead, to work with OpenFlow flow
-entries.
+module.  Do not use commands to add or remove or modify datapath flows
+if \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is running because it interferes with
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR's own datapath flow management.  Use
+\fBovs\-ofctl\fR(8), instead, to work with OpenFlow flow entries.
 .
 .PP
 The \fIdp\fR argument to each of these commands is optional when
diff --git a/vswitchd/ovs-vswitchd.8.in b/vswitchd/ovs-vswitchd.8.in
index b6f1929908a6..7fea6e20efbc 100644
--- a/vswitchd/ovs-vswitchd.8.in
+++ b/vswitchd/ovs-vswitchd.8.in
@@ -59,11 +59,12 @@ Only a single instance of \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is intended to run at a time.
 A single \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR can manage any number of switch instances, up
 to the maximum number of supported Open vSwitch datapaths.
 .PP
-\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR does all the necessary management of Open vSwitch datapaths
-itself.  Thus, external tools, such \fBovs\-dpctl\fR(8), are not needed for
-managing datapaths in conjunction with \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR, and their use
-to modify datapaths when \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is running can interfere with
-its operation.  (\fBovs\-dpctl\fR may still be useful for diagnostics.)
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR does all the necessary management of Open vSwitch
+datapaths itself.  Thus, \fBovs\-dpctl\fR(8) (and its userspace
+datapath counterparts accessible via \fBovs\-appctl
+dpctl/\fIcommand\fR) are not needed with \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR and should
+not be used because they can interfere with its operation.  These
+tools are still useful for diagnostics.
 .PP
 An Open vSwitch datapath kernel module must be loaded for \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR
 to be useful.  Refer to the documentation for instructions on how to build and
-- 
2.16.1