Re: [dpdk-dev] Solarflare PMD submission question

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

Hi,

First of all, welcome to DPDK!

2016-10-27 09:34, Andrew Rybchenko:
> Hi,
> 
> we would like to include Solarflare libefx-based PMD in the DPDK 17.02 
> and start the upstreaming process.
> The driver supports Solarflare SFN7xxx and SFN8xxx families of 10/40 
> Gbps adapters.
> The driver has base driver. It is just fresh version of the same code 
> which is used in the FreeBSD [1], illumos [2] and some other Solarflare 
> drivers.

Unfortunately it is common to have some big base drivers in DPDK.
Note that some PMD rely on their kernel counterpart for the control path.
It is a way to avoid code duplication.
As far as I understand, it is easier to share queues with DPDK from kernel
when the device supports an IOMMU.

> The question is how to submit the base driver which is pretty big. Mail 
> size of the patch which imports it is about 2 Mb.

First answer is a question:
Have you thought about cooperating with the kernel driver for your PMD?
If you really cannot use this approach, then we have to maintain this
whole base driver in DPDK.
It will be easier to read, understand and reference if it is a bit split.
Could you try to send it as 10 to 20 patches explaining the role of each
part and giving some design details?

It would be also really appreciated to provide a design documentation
in doc/guides/nics. Are the datasheets open? A link in the doc would help.

> Further changes in the base driver will go in small patches (as it is 
> done, for example, in the FreeBSD).
> The PMD itself is split into small and, I hope, readable and nice patches.

Good to know. Thanks

Please be prepare to work on several iterations of the patch series.

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