Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH 0/2] cmdline: add polling mode for command line

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pawel Wodkowski [mailto:pwodkowx@stargo]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 12:10 PM
> To: dev@dpdk.org
> Cc: Dumitrescu, Cristian; Jastrzebski, MichalX K
> Subject: [PATCH 0/2] cmdline: add polling mode for command line
> 
> This patchset adds the ability to process console input in the same thread
> as packet processing by using poll() function and fixes some minor issues.
> 
> Pawel Wodkowski (2):
>   cmdline: fix missing include files
>   cmdline: add polling mode for command line
> 
>  lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.c               | 35
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline.h               |  4 ++++
>  lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_rdline.h        |  1 +
>  lib/librte_cmdline/cmdline_vt100.h         |  2 ++
>  lib/librte_cmdline/rte_cmdline_version.map |  1 +
>  5 files changed, 43 insertions(+)
> 
> --
> 1.9.1

Acked by: Cristian Dumitrescu <cristian.dumitrescu@intel.com>

The existing cmdline API requires a thread to be completely consumed for running the CLI, so it is not possible to push any other tasks (typically slow tasks, control plane related) on the same thread. This is because the cmdline_interact() function implements an infinite loop internally, so once called after initialization, it only returns when the application is terminated (e.g. as result of quit CLI command).

This patch removes this limitation by providing an alternative function called cmdline_poll(), which allows the application to own the thread dispatch loop and work with the CLI in polling mode, hence making it possible for the application to push additional work on the same thread. The thread dispatch loop should be owned by the application, and not by the cmdline library.