Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH] doc: announce xstats api change for 16.07

[Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon@6wind.com>]

2016-04-06 11:16, Van Haaren, Harry:
> From: Thomas Monjalon [mailto:thomas.monjalon@6wind.com]
> > > The issue we are going to fix is that currently PMDs copy strings when retrieving
> > statistics, which causes unnecessary overhead. The implementation is not decided yet, but
> > using an int->value mapping seems logical.
> 
> > I am not sure performance is so much critical when retrieving statistics.
> 
> In the previous discussion David was concerned about performance impact
> of string copies, are those concerns still present David?
> 
> > The extended stats can be infinitely extended. So a string identifier seems
> > a lot more natural.
> 
> I'm not suggesting that the string identifier is removed totally.
> 
> > I do not agree to add a new numeric identifier in the API each time a driver
> > wants to report a specific statistic for debugging purpose. 
> 
> And I agree - the ints are just an index to xstats arrays, no eth-dev wide enums here.
> The proposal is to make the API more flexible, see example:
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.networking.dpdk.devel/31728/focus=32795
> 
> This more flexible API would allow other types of information about
> statistics be retrieved too.

OK I think I start to understand.

> For now, the sent patch announces that the API/ABI may change, and we can
> discuss details of API as development starts.

This should not be the normal process.
It is important to understand what should be the changes to decide of
announcing or not a deprecation.
In the case of the mempool reworks, the patch have been sent and discussed
on the mailing list.
Given the previous explanations (and knowing you did good job on stats),
I give my
Acked-by: Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon@6wind.com>