Re: [dpdk-dev] [pull-request] dpdk-next-build 18.02-rc2

[Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>]

On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 12:05:17PM +0100, Thomas Monjalon wrote:
> 24/01/2018 12:38, Bruce Richardson:
> > Hi Thomas,
> > 
> > the new build system for DPDK using meson and ninja is now ready for merge
> > as EXPERIMENTAL into the 18.02 release.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > /Bruce
> > 
> > The following changes since commit bf375b4d51170cd58ca50c646781cb6de17766ea:
> > 
> >   version: 18.02-rc1 (2018-01-22 01:59:14 +0100)
> > 
> > are available in the Git repository at:
> > 
> >   http://dpdk.org/git/draft/dpdk-next-build 
> 
> Pulled in master.
> 
> Thanks for the huge work, Bruce.
> The meson build system is now available in beta stage.
> We have to complete it and fill the gaps to plan the removal of the
> make-based build system in future.
> 
> More info: http://dpdk.org/browse/dpdk/tree/doc/build-sdk-meson.txt

Thanks, Thomas.

Just by way of info, the *biggest* gap right now is to get the remainder
of the PMDs ported over. A reasonable number have already been done, but
quite a few remain.

Within the Intel team here we have a few patches in draft and some areas are
being looked at including:
* fixing FreeBSD build
* generalizing the app/ directory build, to add in remaining apps and
  reduce duplication
* getting the docs building using meson
* splitting tests in the test app into benchmark tests and unit tests so
  that "meson test" runs faster
Hope to push up patches for all these soon/early in 18.05.

Other things, apart from drivers, that we could do with help with is:
* clean up unit test failures
* add support for the sample apps that are currently unsupported
* add in the new device types, e.g. bbdev, rawdev, to meson build
* more documentation - e.g. programmers guide section
* more testing, e.g. new platforms or other/older compilers
* integration of the new experimental tag checks recently introduced
  into the "make" build

For those wanting to experiment with other things one can do with meson,
the following features look interesting:
* Code coverage reports when using the unit tests 
  [Ref: http://mesonbuild.com/Unit-tests.html]
* The SIMD module for different code paths for different instruction
  sets. [Ref: http://mesonbuild.com/Simd-module.html]
* Using DPDK as a subproject dependency within other projects.
  [Ref: http://mesonbuild.com/Subprojects.html]

Thanks for any and all help provided. Please test this new build system
out - I can highly recommend it for day-to-day development due to its
speed at incremental builds - and provide all feedback.

Regards,
/Bruce