eal: register non-EAL threads as lcores

[dpdk.git] / doc / guides / prog_guide / env_abstraction_layer.rst

diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
index cd8e300..f64ae95 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ set of API's under the ``rte_extmem_*`` namespace.
 
 These API's are (as their name implies) intended to allow registering or
 unregistering externally allocated memory to/from DPDK's internal page table, to
-allow API's like ``rte_virt2memseg`` etc. to work with externally allocated
+allow API's like ``rte_mem_virt2memseg`` etc. to work with externally allocated
 memory. Memory added this way will not be available for any regular DPDK
 allocators; DPDK will leave this memory for the user application to manage.
 
@@ -475,6 +475,9 @@ devices would fail anyway.
     ``RTE_PCI_DRV_NEED_IOVA_AS_VA`` flag is used to dictate that this PCI
     driver can only work in RTE_IOVA_VA mode.
 
+    When the KNI kernel module is detected, RTE_IOVA_PA mode is preferred as a
+    performance penalty is expected in RTE_IOVA_VA mode.
+
 IOVA Mode Configuration
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -561,9 +564,13 @@ It's also compatible with the pattern of corelist('-l') option.
 non-EAL pthread support
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-It is possible to use the DPDK execution context with any user pthread (aka. Non-EAL pthreads).
-In a non-EAL pthread, the *_lcore_id* is always LCORE_ID_ANY which identifies that it is not an EAL thread with a valid, unique, *_lcore_id*.
-Some libraries will use an alternative unique ID (e.g. TID), some will not be impacted at all, and some will work but with limitations (e.g. timer and mempool libraries).
+It is possible to use the DPDK execution context with any user pthread (aka. non-EAL pthreads).
+There are two kinds of non-EAL pthreads:
+
+- a registered non-EAL pthread with a valid *_lcore_id* that was successfully assigned by calling ``rte_thread_register()``,
+- a non registered non-EAL pthread with a LCORE_ID_ANY,
+
+For non registered non-EAL pthread (with a LCORE_ID_ANY *_lcore_id*), some libraries will use an alternative unique ID (e.g. TID), some will not be impacted at all, and some will work but with limitations (e.g. timer and mempool libraries).
 
 All these impacts are mentioned in :ref:`known_issue_label` section.
 
@@ -610,9 +617,9 @@ Known Issues
 + rte_mempool
 
   The rte_mempool uses a per-lcore cache inside the mempool.
-  For non-EAL pthreads, ``rte_lcore_id()`` will not return a valid number.
-  So for now, when rte_mempool is used with non-EAL pthreads, the put/get operations will bypass the default mempool cache and there is a performance penalty because of this bypass.
-  Only user-owned external caches can be used in a non-EAL context in conjunction with ``rte_mempool_generic_put()`` and ``rte_mempool_generic_get()`` that accept an explicit cache parameter.
+  For unregistered non-EAL pthreads, ``rte_lcore_id()`` will not return a valid number.
+  So for now, when rte_mempool is used with unregistered non-EAL pthreads, the put/get operations will bypass the default mempool cache and there is a performance penalty because of this bypass.
+  Only user-owned external caches can be used in an unregistered non-EAL context in conjunction with ``rte_mempool_generic_put()`` and ``rte_mempool_generic_get()`` that accept an explicit cache parameter.
 
 + rte_ring
 
@@ -657,15 +664,15 @@ Known Issues
 
 + rte_timer
 
-  Running  ``rte_timer_manage()`` on a non-EAL pthread is not allowed. However, resetting/stopping the timer from a non-EAL pthread is allowed.
+  Running  ``rte_timer_manage()`` on an unregistered non-EAL pthread is not allowed. However, resetting/stopping the timer from a non-EAL pthread is allowed.
 
 + rte_log
 
-  In non-EAL pthreads, there is no per thread loglevel and logtype, global loglevels are used.
+  In unregistered non-EAL pthreads, there is no per thread loglevel and logtype, global loglevels are used.
 
 + misc
 
-  The debug statistics of rte_ring, rte_mempool and rte_timer are not supported in a non-EAL pthread.
+  The debug statistics of rte_ring, rte_mempool and rte_timer are not supported in an unregistered non-EAL pthread.
 
 cgroup control
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~