Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH] pipeline: remove experimental tag from API

["Dumitrescu, Cristian" <cristian.dumitrescu@intel.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 11:18 AM
> To: Dumitrescu, Cristian <cristian.dumitrescu@intel.com>
> Cc: dev@dpdk.org; mdr@ashroe.eu; Zhang, Roy Fan
> <roy.fan.zhang@intel.com>; Singh, Jasvinder <jasvinder.singh@intel.com>
> Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH] pipeline: remove experimental tag from API
> 
> 01/09/2021 14:20, Jasvinder Singh:
> > These APIs were introduced in 18.05, therefore removing
> > experimental tag to promote them to stable state.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Jasvinder Singh <jasvinder.singh@intel.com>
> > ---
> >  lib/pipeline/rte_port_in_action.h | 10 ----------
> >  lib/pipeline/rte_table_action.h   | 18 ------------------
> >  lib/pipeline/version.map          | 16 ++++++----------
> >  3 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 38 deletions(-)
> 
> Cristian, please can you check whether you intend to keep these functions in
> future?
> If they are candidate to be removed, there is no point to promote them.
> 
> 

Hi Thomas,

Yes, they are candidate for removal, as the new rte_swx_pipeline API evolves.

But removing them requires updating the drivers/net/softnic code to use the new API, which is not going to be completed in time for release 21.11.

So given this lag, it might be better to simply promote these functions to stable API now, as Ray suggests, instead of continuing to keep them experimental; then, once these functions are no longer used, then we can remove them, most likely in 22.11.

So I will ack these patches, but I am willing to reconsider if you feel strongly against this approach.

Regards,
Cristian