Re: [PATCH 2/2] doc: use core lists rather than masks in guides

[David Marchand <david.marchand@redhat.com>]

Hello Bruce,

On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 3:35 PM Bruce Richardson
<bruce.richardson@intel.com> wrote:
>
> For the guides for applications and examples, use the "-l" flag rather
> than the "-c" flag to pass in core lists rather than core masks. While
> for the trivial examples given, core masks work fine and may be easier;
> in real-world cases, with potentially hundreds of cores, core lists are
> a much better fix, so update the docs to reflect this.
>
> Similarly replace instances of "-s <service-coremask>" with
> "-S <service-core-list>".
>
> Signed-off-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>

I have a few more changes.

I can squash them when applying if you double check them:


diff --git a/doc/guides/cryptodevs/mlx5.rst b/doc/guides/cryptodevs/mlx5.rst
index 9abbd3abda..f8b43823a7 100644
--- a/doc/guides/cryptodevs/mlx5.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/cryptodevs/mlx5.rst
@@ -136,11 +136,11 @@ DEK is passed in plaintext without keytag.

   The mlx5 crypto PMD can be verified by running the test application::
     Wrapped mode:
-      dpdk-test -c 1 -n 1 -w <dev>,class=crypto,wcs_file=<file_path>
+      dpdk-test -l 0 -n 1 -w <dev>,class=crypto,wcs_file=<file_path>
       RTE>>cryptodev_mlx5_autotest

     Plaintext mode:
-      dpdk-test -c 1 -n 1 -w <dev>,class=crypto
+      dpdk-test -l 0 -n 1 -w <dev>,class=crypto
       RTE>>cryptodev_mlx5_autotest


diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/cnxk.rst b/doc/guides/nics/cnxk.rst
index 2ba0c9e058..667a876710 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/cnxk.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/cnxk.rst
@@ -582,7 +582,7 @@ pattern.

 Example usage in testpmd::

-   ./dpdk-testpmd -c 3 -w 0002:02:00.0,switch_header=exdsa -- -i \
+   ./dpdk-testpmd -l 0,1 -w 0002:02:00.0,switch_header=exdsa -- -i \
                   --rx-offloads=0x00080000 --rxq 8 --txq 8
    testpmd> flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / raw relative is 0 pattern \
           spec ab pattern mask ab offset is 4 / end actions queue index 1 / end
diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst b/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
index a8f9d40042..c6531d5684 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ and add the ``--force-max-simd-bitwidth=64``
startup parameter to disable vector

 .. code-block:: console

-   examples/dpdk-ptpclient -c f -n 3 -a 0000:ec:00.1
--force-max-simd-bitwidth=64 -- -T 1 -p 0x1 -c 1
+   examples/dpdk-ptpclient -l 0-3 -n 3 -a 0000:ec:00.1
--force-max-simd-bitwidth=64 -- -T 1 -p 0x1 -c 1

 Tx Packet Pacing
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ For example:

 .. code-block:: console

-   dpdk-testpmd -a 0000:31:00.0 -c f -n 4 -- -i --tx-offloads=0x200000
+   dpdk-testpmd -a 0000:31:00.0 -l 0-3 -n 4 -- -i --tx-offloads=0x200000
    set fwd txonly
    set txtimes <inter_burst>,<intra_burst>
    start
diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/mvneta.rst b/doc/guides/nics/mvneta.rst
index 69aa98eafc..f999525902 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/mvneta.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/mvneta.rst
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ be passed as part of EAL arguments.

 .. code-block:: console

-   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 \
-    -c 3 -- -i --p 3 -a
+   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 -l 0,1 -- \
+     -i -p 3 -a


 Building MUSDK
@@ -144,12 +144,12 @@ In order to run testpmd example application
following command can be used:

 .. code-block:: console

-   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 -c 3 -- \
-     -i --p 3 -a --txd 256 --rxd 128 --rxq=1 --txq=1  --nb-cores=1
+   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 -l 0,1 -- \
+     -i -p 3 -a --txd 256 --rxd 128 --rxq=1 --txq=1  --nb-cores=1


 In order to run l2fwd example application following command can be used:

 .. code-block:: console

-   ./dpdk-l2fwd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 -c 3 -- -T 1 -p 3
+   ./dpdk-l2fwd --vdev=net_mvneta,iface=eth0,iface=eth1 -l 0,1 -- -T 1 -p 3
diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/mvpp2.rst b/doc/guides/nics/mvpp2.rst
index 4e42abd70e..07be97dfb8 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/mvpp2.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/mvpp2.rst
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ In order to run testpmd example application
following command can be used:

 .. code-block:: console

-   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2 -c 7 -- \
+   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2 -l 0-2 -- \
      --burst=128 --txd=2048 --rxd=1024 --rxq=2 --txq=2  --nb-cores=2 \
      -i -a --rss-udp

@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ Usage example
 .. code-block:: console

    ./dpdk-testpmd
--vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2,cfg=/home/user/mrvl.conf \
-     -c 7 -- -i -a --disable-hw-vlan-strip --rxq=3 --txq=3
+     -l 0-2 -- -i -a --disable-hw-vlan-strip --rxq=3 --txq=3

 .. _flowapi:

@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ Before proceeding run testpmd user application:

 .. code-block:: console

-   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2 -c 3 -- -i
--p 3 -a --disable-hw-vlan-strip
+   ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2 -l 0,1 -- -i
--p 3 -a --disable-hw-vlan-strip

 Example #1
 ^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -598,7 +598,7 @@ Usage example

    .. code-block:: console

-               ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2
-c 6 -- -i -p 3 -a --txd 1024 --rxd 1024
+               ./dpdk-testpmd --vdev=eth_mvpp2,iface=eth0,iface=eth2
-l 1,2 -- -i -p 3 -a --txd 1024 --rxd 1024

 #. Create meter profile:

@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ For a detailed usage description please refer to
"Traffic Management" section in

    .. code-block:: console

-               ./dpdk-testpmd
--vdev=net_mrvl,iface=eth0,iface=eth2,cfg=./qos_config -c 7 -- \
+               ./dpdk-testpmd
--vdev=net_mrvl,iface=eth0,iface=eth2,cfg=./qos_config -l 0-2 -- \
                -i -p 3 --disable-hw-vlan-strip --rxq 3 --txq 3 --txd
1024 --rxd 1024

 #. Stop all ports:
diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/octeontx.rst b/doc/guides/nics/octeontx.rst
index 66c5ce93e3..f963eca648 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/octeontx.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/octeontx.rst
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ for details.

    .. code-block:: console

-      ./<build_dir>/app/dpdk-testpmd -c 700 \
+      ./<build_dir>/app/dpdk-testpmd -l 8-10 \
                 --base-virtaddr=0x100000000000 \
                 --mbuf-pool-ops-name="octeontx_fpavf" \
                 --vdev='event_octeontx' \
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/packet_ordering.rst
b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/packet_ordering.rst
index 1eb9a478aa..f96c0ad697 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/packet_ordering.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/packet_ordering.rst
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ The application execution command line is:
     ./<build_dir>/examples/dpdk-packet_ordering [EAL options] -- -p PORTMASK /
     [--disable-reorder] [--insight-worker]

-The -c EAL CPU_COREMASK option has to contain at least 3 CPU cores.
+The -l EAL corelist option has to contain at least 3 CPU cores.
 The first CPU core in the core mask is the main core and would be assigned to
 RX core, the last to TX core and the rest to Worker cores.


-- 
David Marchand