Re: [PATCH v2] doc: update matching list for i40e and ice driver

[Kevin Traynor <ktraynor@redhat.com>]

On 11/11/2022 05:27, Qiming Yang wrote:
> Add recommended matching list for ice PMD in DPDK 22.07 and
> i40e PMD in DPDK 22.07 and 22.11.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Qiming Yang <qiming.yang@intel.com>
> ---
>   doc/guides/nics/i40e.rst | 8 ++++++++
>   doc/guides/nics/ice.rst  | 2 ++
>   2 files changed, 10 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/i40e.rst b/doc/guides/nics/i40e.rst
> index a0992dbc6c..a6c7dbd080 100644
> --- a/doc/guides/nics/i40e.rst
> +++ b/doc/guides/nics/i40e.rst
> @@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ For X710/XL710/XXV710,
>      +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      | DPDK version | Kernel driver version | Firmware version |
>      +==============+=======================+==================+
> +   |    22.11     |         2.20.12       |       9.01       |
> +   +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
> +   |    22.07     |         2.19.3        |       8.70       |
> +   +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      |    22.03     |         2.17.15       |       8.30       |
>      +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      |    21.11     |         2.17.4        |       8.30       |
> @@ -156,6 +160,10 @@ For X722,
>      +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      | DPDK version | Kernel driver version | Firmware version |
>      +==============+=======================+==================+
> +   |    22.11     |         2.20.12       |       6.00       |
> +   +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
> +   |    22.07     |         2.19.3        |       5.60       |
> +   +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      |    22.03     |         2.17.15       |       5.50       |
>      +--------------+-----------------------+------------------+
>      |    21.11     |         2.17.4        |       5.30       |


The text above the table says:

"It is highly recommended to upgrade the i40e kernel driver and firmware 
to avoid the compatibility issues with i40e PMD. Here is the suggested 
matching list which has been tested and verified. The detailed 
information can refer to chapter Tested Platforms/Tested NICs in release 
notes."

The table is only showing the out-of-tree Kernel driver versions. The 
tested section shows that in-tree Kernel drivers are tested with as well.

The issue is that this section says "Here is the suggested matching 
list" and only lists out-of-tree drivers.

It is probably just a left over from when in-tree drivers had version 
numbers but it is causing some confusion for users as it implies that 
the Intel recommendation is to use out-of-tree drivers and not in-tree.

So I suggest that another column is added here to also show the in-tree 
kernel driver tested with.

What do you think ?

> diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst b/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
> index c7f82c261d..ce075e067c 100644
> --- a/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
> +++ b/doc/guides/nics/ice.rst
> @@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ The detailed information can refer to chapter Tested Platforms/Tested NICs in re
>      +-----------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+
>      |    22.03  |     1.8.3     |      1.3.28     |  1.3.35   |    1.3.8     |    3.2    |
>      +-----------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+
> +   |    22.07  |     1.9.11    |      1.3.30     |  1.3.37   |    1.3.10    |    4.0    |
> +   +-----------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+-----------+
>   
>   Pre-Installation Configuration
>   ------------------------------