Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH v1 5/5] ixgbe: Add LRO support

[Stephen Hemminger <stephen@networkplumber.org>]

On Tue,  3 Mar 2015 21:48:43 +0200
Vlad Zolotarov <vladz@cloudius-systems.com> wrote:

> +	next_desc:
> +		/*
> +		 * The code in this whole file uses the volatile pointer to
> +		 * ensure the read ordering of the status and the rest of the
> +		 * descriptor fields (on the compiler level only!!!). This is so
> +		 * UGLY - why not to just use the compiler barrier instead? DPDK
> +		 * even has the rte_compiler_barrier() for that.
> +		 *
> +		 * But most importantly this is just wrong because this doesn't
> +		 * ensure memory ordering in a general case at all. For
> +		 * instance, DPDK is supposed to work on Power CPUs where
> +		 * compiler barrier may just not be enough!
> +		 *
> +		 * I tried to write only this function properly to have a
> +		 * starting point (as a part of an LRO/RSC series) but the
> +		 * compiler cursed at me when I tried to cast away the
> +		 * "volatile" from rx_ring (yes, it's volatile too!!!). So, I'm
> +		 * keeping it the way it is for now.
> +		 *
> +		 * The code in this file is broken in so many other places and
> +		 * will just not work on a big endian CPU anyway therefore the
> +		 * lines below will have to be revisited together with the rest
> +		 * of the ixgbe PMD.
> +		 *
> +		 * TODO:
> +		 *    - Get rid of "volatile" crap and let the compiler do its
> +		 *      job.
> +		 *    - Use the proper memory barrier (rte_rmb()) to ensure the
> +		 *      memory ordering below.

This comment screams "this is broken".
Why not get proper architecture independent barriers in DPDK first.