Re: [PATCH v3] ethdev: deprecate header fields and metadata flow actions

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

On 11/24/2021 3:37 PM, Viacheslav Ovsiienko wrote:
> diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
> index 6d087c64ef..d04a606b7d 100644
> --- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
> +++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
> @@ -101,6 +101,20 @@ Deprecation Notices
>     is deprecated as ambiguous with respect to the embedded switch. The use of
>     these attributes will become invalid starting from DPDK 22.11.
>   
> +* ethdev: Actions ``OF_SET_MPLS_TTL``, ``OF_DEC_MPLS_TTL``, ``OF_SET_NW_TTL``,
> +  ``OF_COPY_TTL_OUT``, ``OF_COPY_TTL_IN`` are deprecated as not supported by
> +  PMDs, will be removed in DPDK 22.11.
> +
> +* ethdev: Actions ``OF_DEC_NW_TTL``, ``SET_IPV4_SRC``, ``SET_IPV4_DST``,
> +  ``SET_IPV6_SRC``, ``SET_IPV6_DST``, ``SET_TP_SRC``, ``SET_TP_DST``,
> +  ``DEC_TTL``, ``SET_TTL``, ``SET_MAC_SRC``, ``SET_MAC_DST``, ``INC_TCP_SEQ``,
> +  ``DEC_TCP_SEQ``, ``INC_TCP_ACK``, ``DEC_TCP_ACK``, ``SET_IPV4_DSCP``,
> +  ``SET_IPV6_DSCP``, ``SET_TAG``, ``SET_META`` are deprecated as superseded
> +  by generic MODIFY_FIELD action, will be removed in DPDK 22.11.
> +
> +* ethdev: Actions ``OF_SET_VLAN_VID``, ``OF_SET_VLAN_PCP`` are deprecated
> +  as superseded by generic MODIFY_FIELD action.
> +


I have a question about ABI/API related issue for rte_flow support,

If a driver removes an flow API item/action support, it directly impacts
the user application. The application previously working may stop working
and require code update, this is something we want to prevent with
ABI policy. And this kind of changes are not caught by our tools.

Do we have a process to deprecate/remove a flow API item/action support?
Like they can be only removed on ABI break release...


Thanks,
ferruh