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Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 11:09:36 -0800
From: Tyler Retzlaff <roretzla@linux.microsoft.com>
To: dev@dpdk.org
Cc: thomas@monjalon.net
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Subject: [dpdk-dev] officially support building driver plugins externally
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Hi,

Recently installation of driver headers and export of functions was                                       pulled back from being public to private                                                                  (commit df96fd0d73955bdc7ca3909e772ff2ad903249c6). From a discussion                                      with Thomas Monjalon we understand that it was not the design intent                                      to ever have these headers exposed publicly, but it was allowing us to                                    maintain the drivers we do implement outside of the normal dpdk tree.

We would like to propose that building driver plugins external to the                                     dpdk source tree be officially supported / restored and it is is our                                      understanding there there are asks from other DPDK consumers for the                                      same.  We understand the main concern is that it might incorrectly convey                                 that the API/ABI of the driver interface is stable or promised to be                                      compatible when no such promise exists.

Can the broader community help us with an acceptable solution to building                                 the drivers out of the tree? Aside from installing the needed headers                                     what other mechanical things can we do to achieve this?  We are happy to                                  do the work/submit the required patches as necessary.

Thank you