13. ABI and API Deprecation

See the guidelines document for details of the ABI policy. API and ABI deprecation notices are to be posted here.

13.1. Deprecation Notices

  • eal: the following functions are deprecated starting from 17.05 and will be removed in 17.08:

    • rte_set_log_level, replaced by rte_log_set_global_level
    • rte_get_log_level, replaced by rte_log_get_global_level
    • rte_set_log_type, replaced by rte_log_set_level
    • rte_get_log_type, replaced by rte_log_get_level

  • igb_uio: iomem mapping and sysfs files created for iomem and ioport in igb_uio will be removed, because we are able to detect these from what Linux has exposed, like the way we have done with uio-pci-generic. This change targets release 17.05.

  • vfio: Some functions are planned to be exported outside librte_eal in 17.05. VFIO APIs like vfio_setup_device, vfio_get_group_fd can be used by subsystem other than EAL/PCI. For that, these need to be exported symbols. Such APIs are planned to be renamed according to rte_* naming convention and exported from librte_eal.

  • The VDEV subsystem will be converted as driver of the new bus model. It will imply some EAL API changes in 17.05.

  • eth_driver is planned to be removed in 17.05. This currently serves as a placeholder for PMDs to register themselves. Changes for rte_bus will provide a way to handle device initialization currently being done in eth_driver. Similarly, rte_pci_driver is planned to be removed from rte_cryptodev_driver in 17.05.

  • ethdev: An API change is planned for 17.05 for the function _rte_eth_dev_callback_process. In 17.05 the function will return an int instead of void and a fourth parameter void *ret_param will be added.

  • ethdev: for 17.05 it is planned to deprecate the following nine rte_eth_dev_* functions and move them into the ixgbe PMD:

    rte_eth_dev_bypass_init, rte_eth_dev_bypass_state_set, rte_eth_dev_bypass_state_show, rte_eth_dev_bypass_event_store, rte_eth_dev_bypass_event_show, rte_eth_dev_wd_timeout_store, rte_eth_dev_bypass_wd_timeout_show, rte_eth_dev_bypass_ver_show, rte_eth_dev_bypass_wd_reset.

    The following fields will be removed from struct eth_dev_ops:

    bypass_init_t, bypass_state_set_t, bypass_state_show_t, bypass_event_set_t, bypass_event_show_t, bypass_wd_timeout_set_t, bypass_wd_timeout_show_t, bypass_ver_show_t, bypass_wd_reset_t.

    The functions will be renamed to the following, and moved to the ixgbe PMD:

    rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_init, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_state_set, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_state_show, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_event_set, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_event_show, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_timeout_set, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_timeout_show, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_ver_show, rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_reset.

  • The mbuf flags PKT_RX_VLAN_PKT and PKT_RX_QINQ_PKT are deprecated and are respectively replaced by PKT_RX_VLAN_STRIPPED and PKT_RX_QINQ_STRIPPED, that are better described. The old flags and their behavior will be kept until 17.02 and will be removed in 17.05.

  • ethdev: the legacy filter API, including rte_eth_dev_filter_supported(), rte_eth_dev_filter_ctrl() as well as filter types MACVLAN, ETHERTYPE, FLEXIBLE, SYN, NTUPLE, TUNNEL, FDIR, HASH and L2_TUNNEL, is superseded by the generic flow API (rte_flow) in PMDs that implement the latter. Target release for removal of the legacy API will be defined once most PMDs have switched to rte_flow.

  • crypto/scheduler: the following two functions are deprecated starting from 17.05 and will be removed in 17.08:

    • rte_crpytodev_scheduler_mode_get, replaced by rte_cryptodev_scheduler_mode_get
    • rte_crpytodev_scheduler_mode_set, replaced by rte_cryptodev_scheduler_mode_set