Re: [dpdk-dev] [RFC 1/3] ethdev: add ptype as an Rx offload

[Andrew Rybchenko <arybchenko@solarflare.com>]

On 8/6/19 11:02 AM, pbhagavatula@marvell.com wrote:
> From: Pavan Nikhilesh <pbhagavatula@marvell.com>
>
> Add ptype to DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_* flags which can be used to enable/disable
> packet type parsing.
>
> Signed-off-by: Pavan Nikhilesh <pbhagavatula@marvell.com>

I like the idea. I think there are few more Rx features which
lack Rx offload bit:
  - delivery of RSS hash in mbuf (it is not always required when
    RSS is used to distribute packets across Rx queues)
  - maybe Rx mark, since it is an extra information which could
    be passed by NIC to CPU and it is better to know in advance
    at Rx queue setup if it should be requested and processed

API breakage should be considered here. I think it is OK to
introduce it in the next release cycle in a dummy way which
does not affect packet type delivery for existing PMDs
(i.e. add offload capability and advertise in PMD, but do not
take it into account when Rx mbuf is filled in) and
submit deprecation notice that it may be taken into account
by PMDs in 20.02 to avoid packet type delivery if the offload
is not requested. It will allow applications to make transition
smoother.

Acked-by: Andrew Rybchenko <arybchenko@solarflare.com>