From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Return-Path: <dev-bounces@dpdk.org>
Received: from dpdk.org (dpdk.org [92.243.14.124])
	by inbox.dpdk.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B0AFEA0350;
	Mon, 29 Jun 2020 18:15:47 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from [92.243.14.124] (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by dpdk.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 048361BF6C;
	Mon, 29 Jun 2020 18:15:47 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from mga04.intel.com (mga04.intel.com [192.55.52.120])
 by dpdk.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69BF81BEDE
 for <dev@dpdk.org>; Mon, 29 Jun 2020 18:15:45 +0200 (CEST)
IronPort-SDR: 4SPmNjwTqOv+koVqjeiPA8whufOCP6hEENB2IT179jRc3GB5uHbUhdoE7ikHXvU0//AcYu1gCZ
 msPA10XFfo/g==
X-IronPort-AV: E=McAfee;i="6000,8403,9666"; a="143474275"
X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.75,295,1589266800"; d="scan'208";a="143474275"
X-Amp-Result: SKIPPED(no attachment in message)
X-Amp-File-Uploaded: False
Received: from orsmga004.jf.intel.com ([10.7.209.38])
 by fmsmga104.fm.intel.com with ESMTP/TLS/ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384;
 29 Jun 2020 09:15:44 -0700
IronPort-SDR: mkeLFwH0RttUJduZIh8L9ROwtMTtLkyGDeK/AXj1DaxnlzaW7I3pD8y7DF6tpXrf6QStSB7R4B
 zHITxTzIJoRg==
X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.75,295,1589266800"; d="scan'208";a="424867117"
Received: from bricha3-mobl.ger.corp.intel.com ([10.251.82.47])
 by orsmga004-auth.jf.intel.com with ESMTP/TLS/ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA;
 29 Jun 2020 09:15:42 -0700
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2020 17:15:38 +0100
From: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>
To: Stephen Hemminger <stephen@networkplumber.org>
Cc: dev@dpdk.org
Message-ID: <20200629161538.GE572@bricha3-MOBL.ger.corp.intel.com>
References: <20200626145957.722089-1-bruce.richardson@intel.com>
 <20200626100542.1c87c2c9@hermes.lan>
 <20200629091158.GA572@bricha3-MOBL.ger.corp.intel.com>
 <20200629091910.GB572@bricha3-MOBL.ger.corp.intel.com>
 <20200629084146.6951685c@hermes.lan>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <20200629084146.6951685c@hermes.lan>
Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH] eal: don't use default library path for
 static binaries
X-BeenThere: dev@dpdk.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15
Precedence: list
List-Id: DPDK patches and discussions <dev.dpdk.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://mails.dpdk.org/options/dev>,
 <mailto:dev-request@dpdk.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/>
List-Post: <mailto:dev@dpdk.org>
List-Help: <mailto:dev-request@dpdk.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://mails.dpdk.org/listinfo/dev>,
 <mailto:dev-request@dpdk.org?subject=subscribe>
Errors-To: dev-bounces@dpdk.org
Sender: "dev" <dev-bounces@dpdk.org>

On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 08:41:46AM -0700, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
> On Mon, 29 Jun 2020 10:19:10 +0100
> Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 10:11:58AM +0100, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 10:05:42AM -0700, Stephen Hemminger wrote:  
> > > > On Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:59:57 +0100
> > > > Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com> wrote:
> > > >   
> > > > > When using statically linked DPDK binaries, the EAL checks the default PMD
> > > > > path and tries to load any drivers there, despite the fact that all drivers
> > > > > are normally linked into the binary.  This behaviour can cause issues if
> > > > > the PMD path and lib dir is configured to a non-standard location which is
> > > > > not in the ld.so.conf paths, e.g. a build with prefix set to a home
> > > > > directory location. In a case such as this, EAL will try and
> > > > > (unnecessarily) load the .so driver files but that load will fail as their
> > > > > dependent libraries, such as ethdev, for example, will not be found.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Because of this, it is better if statically linked DPDK apps do not load
> > > > > drivers from the standard paths automatically. The user can always have
> > > > > this behaviour by explicitly specifying the path using -d flag, if so
> > > > > desired.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Not loading the libraries automatically can also prevent potential issues
> > > > > with a user building and running a statically-linked DPDK binary based off
> > > > > a private copy of DPDK, while there exists on the same machine a
> > > > > system-wide installation of DPDK in the default locations. Without this
> > > > > change, the system-installed drivers will be loaded to the binary alongside
> > > > > the statically-linked drivers, which is not what the user would have
> > > > > intended.
> > > > > 
> > > > > To detect whether we are in a statically or dynamically linked binary, we
> > > > > can have EAL try to get a dlopen handle to its own shared library, by
> > > > > calling dlopen with the RTLD_NOLOAD flag. This will return NULL if there is
> > > > > no such shared lib loaded i.e. the code is executing from a static library,
> > > > > or a handle to the lib if it is loaded.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>  
> > > > 
> > > > But what if the majority of the DPDK is statically linked but the
> > > > application wants also load a dynamically linked driver?
> > > >   
> > > They use the -d flag as now. The only change here is that we don't
> > > *automatically* (and silently) attempt to load all drivers from a system
> > > location when you have a static binary.  
> > 
> > I'd also make a couple of additional points:
> > 1. If you have a static app and you have extra drivers in your EAL_PMD_PATH
> > directory you have no way of preventing the loading of them.
> > 
> > 2. Since all DPDK apps try to load all files in that directory, all one has
> > to do is put a non-loadable file into the DPDK PMD directory and suddenly
> > all DPDK apps on the system will fail to run.  [Patchset
> > http://patches.dpdk.org/project/dpdk/list/?series=10553 will also help
> > here]
> > 
> > 3. Since this is a behaviour change, perhaps it needs to be deferred to
> > 20.11? Ideally I think we should fix this now, because I think the current
> > behaviour doesn't make sense and causes more problems than it solves, but
> > if it needs to be deferred, so be it.
> 
> 
> Thanks, just trying to poke the corners of this change.
> Please make sure the documentation and web site match the behavior.
> 
> Acked-by: Stephen Hemminger <stephen@networkplumber.org>

This appears to be a gap, since I looked through the docs and couldn't find
any reference to this behaviour at all. However, I may well have missed
something so please flag if so.

Regards,
/Bruce