[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v3] doc: plan splitting the ethdev ops struct

[Ferruh Yigit <ferruh.yigit@intel.com>]

For the ABI compatibility it is better to hide internal data structures
from the application as much as possible. But because of some inline
functions 'struct eth_dev_ops' can't be hidden completely.

Plan is to split the 'struct eth_dev_ops' into two as ones used by
inline functions and ones not used, and hide the second part that not
used by inline functions completely to the application.

Because of ABI break the work will be done in 20.11

Signed-off-by: Ferruh Yigit <ferruh.yigit@intel.com>
---
Cc: David Marchand <david.marchand@redhat.com>
Cc: Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>
Cc: Andrew Rybchenko <arybchenko@solarflare.com>

v2:
* Add target date for the work
* Give more detail on what will be done

v3:
* Drop the interim implementation, and target 20.11 with ABI break.
---
 doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst | 9 +++++++++
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
index 1339f54f5..0bb252f71 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
@@ -93,6 +93,15 @@ Deprecation Notices
   In 19.11 PMDs will still update the field even when the offload is not
   enabled.
 
+* ethdev: Split the ``struct eth_dev_ops`` struct to hide it as much as possible
+  will be done in 20.11.
+  Currently the ``struct eth_dev_ops`` struct is accessible by the application
+  because some inline functions, like ``rte_eth_tx_descriptor_status()``,
+  access the struct directly.
+  The struct will be separate in two, the ops used by inline functions will be moved
+  next to Rx/Tx burst functions, rest of the ``struct eth_dev_ops`` struct will be
+  moved to header file for drivers to hide it from applications.
+
 * cryptodev: support for using IV with all sizes is added, J0 still can
   be used but only when IV length in following structs ``rte_crypto_auth_xform``,
   ``rte_crypto_aead_xform`` is set to zero. When IV length is greater or equal
-- 
2.24.1