1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2 Copyright 2018 The DPDK contributors
7 .. **Read this first.**
9 The text in the sections below explains how to update the release notes.
11 Use proper spelling, capitalization and punctuation in all sections.
13 Variable and config names should be quoted as fixed width text:
16 Build the docs and view the output file to ensure the changes are correct::
20 xdg-open build/doc/html/guides/rel_notes/release_18_11.html
26 .. This section should contain new features added in this release.
29 * **Add a title in the past tense with a full stop.**
31 Add a short 1-2 sentence description in the past tense.
32 The description should be enough to allow someone scanning
33 the release notes to understand the new feature.
35 If the feature adds a lot of sub-features you can use a bullet list
38 * Added feature foo to do something.
39 * Enhanced feature bar to do something else.
41 Refer to the previous release notes for examples.
43 Suggested order in release notes items:
44 * Core libs (EAL, mempool, ring, mbuf, buses)
45 * Device abstraction libs and PMDs
47 - cryptodev (lib, PMDs)
48 - eventdev (lib, PMDs)
51 * Apps, Examples, Tools (if significative)
53 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
54 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
55 =========================================================
57 * **Added support for using externally allocated memory in DPDK.**
59 DPDK has gained support for creating new ``rte_malloc`` heaps referencing
60 memory that was created outside of DPDK's own page allocator, and using that
61 memory natively with any other DPDK library or data structure.
63 * **Added hot-unplug handle mechanism.**
65 ``rte_dev_hotplug_handle_enable`` and ``rte_dev_hotplug_handle_disable`` are
66 for enabling or disabling hotplug handle mechanism.
68 * **Support device multi-process hotplug.**
70 Hotplug and hot-unplug for devices will now be supported in multiprocessing
71 scenario. Any ethdev devices created in the primary process will be regarded
72 as shared and will be available for all DPDK processes. Synchronization
73 between processes will be done using DPDK IPC.
75 * **Added new Flow API actions to rewrite fields in packet headers.**
77 Added new Flow API actions to:
79 * Modify source and destination IP addresses in the outermost IPv4/IPv6
81 * Modify source and destination port numbers in the outermost TCP/UDP
84 * **Added new Flow API action to swap MAC addresses in Ethernet header.**
86 Added new Flow API action to swap the source and destination MAC
87 addresses in the outermost Ethernet header.
89 * **Add support to offload more flow match and actions for CXGBE PMD**
91 Flow API support has been enhanced for CXGBE Poll Mode Driver to offload:
93 * Match items: destination MAC address.
94 * Action items: push/pop/rewrite vlan header,
95 rewrite IP addresses in outermost IPv4/IPv6 header,
96 rewrite port numbers in outermost TCP/UDP header,
97 swap MAC addresses in outermost Ethernet header.
99 * **Added a devarg to use the latest supported vector path in i40e.**
100 A new devarg ``use-latest-supported-vec`` was introduced to allow users to
101 choose the latest vector path that the platform supported. For example, users
102 can use AVX2 vector path on BDW/HSW to get better performance.
104 * **Added support for SR-IOV in netvsc PMD.**
106 The ``netvsc`` poll mode driver now supports the Accelerated Networking
107 SR-IOV option in Hyper-V and Azure. This is an alternative to the previous
108 vdev_netvsc, tap, and failsafe drivers combination.
110 * **Added a new net driver for Marvell Armada 3k device.**
112 Added the new ``mvneta`` net driver for Marvell Armada 3k device. See the
113 :doc:`../nics/mvneta` NIC guide for more details on this new driver.
115 * **Added NXP ENETC PMD.**
117 Added the new enetc driver for NXP enetc platform. See the
118 "ENETC Poll Mode Driver" document for more details on this new driver.
120 * **Added Ethernet poll mode driver for Aquantia aQtion family of 10G devices.**
122 Added the new ``atlantic`` ethernet poll mode driver for Aquantia XGBE devices.
123 See the :doc:`../nics/atlantic` nic driver guide for more details on this
126 * **Updated Solarflare network PMD.**
128 Updated the sfc_efx driver including the following changes:
130 * Added support for Rx scatter in EF10 datapath implementation.
131 * Added support for Rx descriptor status API in EF10 datapath implementation.
132 * Added support for TSO in EF10 datapath implementation.
133 * Added support for Tx descriptor status API in EF10 (ef10 and ef10_simple)
134 datapaths implementation.
136 * **Updated the enic driver.**
138 * Added AVX2-based vectorized Rx handler.
139 * Added VLAN and checksum offloads to the simple Tx handler.
140 * Added the count flow action.
141 * Enabled the virtual address IOVA mode.
143 * **Updated failsafe driver.**
145 Updated the failsafe driver including the following changes:
147 * Support for Rx and Tx queues start and stop.
148 * Support for Rx and Tx queues deferred start.
149 * Support for runtime Rx and Tx queues setup.
150 * Support multicast MAC address set.
152 * **Added a devarg to use PCAP interface physical MAC address.**
153 A new devarg ``phy_mac`` was introduced to allow users to use physical
154 MAC address of the selected PCAP interface.
156 * **Added TAP Rx/Tx queues sharing with a secondary process.**
158 A secondary process can attach a TAP device created in the primary process,
159 probe the queues, and process Rx/Tx in a secondary process.
161 * **Added classification and metering support to SoftNIC PMD.**
163 Added support for flow classification (rte_flow API), and metering and
164 policing (rte_mtr API) to the SoftNIC PMD.
166 * **Added Crypto support to Softnic PMD.**
168 The Softnic is now capable of processing symmetric crypto workloads such
169 as cipher, cipher-authentication chaining, and aead encryption and
170 decryption. This is achieved by calling DPDK Cryptodev APIs.
172 * **Added cryptodev port to port library.**
174 Cryptodev port is a shim layer in the port library that interacts with DPDK
175 Cryptodev PMDs including burst enqueuing and dequeuing crypto operations.
177 * **Added symmetric cryptographic actions to the pipeline library.**
179 In the pipeline library an added symmetric crypto action parsing and action
180 handler are implemented. The action allows automatically preparing the crypto
181 operation with the rules specified such as algorithm, key, and IV, etc for
182 the cryptodev port to process.
184 * **Added support for GEN3 devices to Intel QAT driver .**
186 Added support for the third generation of Intel QuickAssist devices.
188 * **Updated the QAT PMD.**
190 The QAT PMD was updated with additional support for:
192 * AES-CMAC algorithm.
194 * **Updated the AESNI MB PMD.**
196 The AESNI MB PMD has been updated with additional support for AES-GCM
199 * **Added NXP CAAM JR PMD.**
201 Added the new caam job ring driver for NXP platforms. See the
202 "NXP CAAM JOB RING (caam_jr)" document for more details on this new driver.
204 * **Added Event Ethernet Tx Adapter.**
206 Added event ethernet Tx adapter library that provides configuration and
207 data path APIs for the ethernet transmit stage of an event driven packet
208 processing application. These APIs abstract the implementation of the
209 transmit stage and allow the application to use eventdev PMD support or
210 a common implementation.
212 * **Added Distributed Software Eventdev PMD.**
214 Added the new Distributed Software Event Device (DSW), which is a
215 pure-software eventdev driver distributing the work of scheduling
216 among all eventdev ports and the lcores using them. DSW, compared to
217 the SW eventdev PMD, sacrifices load balancing performance to
218 gain better event scheduling throughput and scalability.
220 * **Added extendable bucket feature to hash library (rte_hash).**
222 This new “extendable bucket” feature provides 100% insertion guarantee to
223 the capacity specified by the user by extending hash table with extra
224 buckets when needed to accommodate the unlikely event of intensive hash
225 collisions. In addition, the internal hashing algorithm was changed to use
226 partial-key hashing to improve memory efficiency and lookup performance.
228 * **Added lock free reader/writer concurrency to hash library (rte_hash).**
230 Lock free reader/writer concurrency prevents the readers from getting
231 blocked due to a pre-empted writer thread. This allows the hash library
232 to be used in scenarios where the writer thread runs on control plane.
234 * **Added Traffic Pattern Aware Power Control Library**
236 Added an experimental library. This extend Power Library and provide
237 empty_poll APIs. This feature measure how many times empty_poll are
238 executed per core, use the number of empty polls as a hint for system
241 See the :doc:`../prog_guide/power_man` section of the DPDK Programmers
242 Guide document for more information.
244 * **Added JSON power policy interface for containers.**
246 Extended the Power Library and vm_power_manager sample app to allow power
247 policies to be submitted via a FIFO using JSON formatted strings. Previously
248 limited to Virtual Machines, this feature extends power policy functionality
249 to containers and host applications that need to have their cores frequency
250 controlled based on the rules contained in the policy.
252 * **Added ability to switch queue deferred start flag on testpmd app.**
254 Added a console command to testpmd app, giving ability to switch
255 ``rx_deferred_start`` or ``tx_deferred_start`` flag of the specified queue of
256 the specified port. The port must be stopped before the command call in order
257 to reconfigure queues.
259 * **Add a new sample for vDPA**
261 The vdpa sample application creates vhost-user sockets by using the
262 vDPA backend. vDPA stands for vhost Data Path Acceleration which utilizes
263 virtio ring compatible devices to serve virtio driver directly to enable
264 datapath acceleration. As vDPA driver can help to set up vhost datapath,
265 this application doesn't need to launch dedicated worker threads for vhost
266 enqueue/dequeue operations.
272 .. This section should contain API changes. Sample format:
274 * Add a short 1-2 sentence description of the API change.
275 Use fixed width quotes for ``function_names`` or ``struct_names``.
278 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
279 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
280 =========================================================
282 * eal: ``rte_memseg_list`` structure now has an additional flag indicating
283 whether the memseg list is externally allocated. This will have implications
284 for any users of memseg-walk-related functions, as they will now have to skip
285 externally allocated segments in most cases if the intent is to only iterate
286 over internal DPDK memory.
287 ``socket_id`` parameter across the entire DPDK has gained additional meaning,
288 as some socket ID's will now be representing externally allocated memory. No
289 changes will be required for existing code as backwards compatibility will be
290 kept, and those who do not use this feature will not see these extra socket
291 ID's. Any new API's must not check socket ID parameters themselves, and must
292 instead leave it to the memory subsystem to decide whether socket ID is a
295 * eal: The following devargs functions, which were deprecated in 18.05,
296 were removed in 18.11:
297 ``rte_eal_parse_devargs_str()``, ``rte_eal_devargs_add()``,
298 ``rte_eal_devargs_type_count()``, and ``rte_eal_devargs_dump()``.
300 * eal: The parameters of the function ``rte_devargs_remove()`` have changed
301 from bus and device names to ``struct rte_devargs``.
303 * eal: The deprecated functions attach/detach were removed in 18.11.
304 ``rte_eal_dev_attach`` can be replaced by
305 ``rte_dev_probe`` or ``rte_eal_hotplug_add``.
306 ``rte_eal_dev_detach`` can be replaced by
307 ``rte_dev_remove`` or ``rte_eal_hotplug_remove``.
309 * eal: The scope of ``rte_eal_hotplug_add()``/``rte_dev_probe()``
310 and ``rte_eal_hotplug_remove()``/``rte_dev_remove()`` is extended.
311 In multi-process model, they will guarantee that the device is
312 attached or detached on all processes.
314 * mbuf: The ``__rte_mbuf_raw_free()`` and ``__rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg()``
315 functions were deprecated since 17.05 and are replaced by
316 ``rte_mbuf_raw_free()`` and ``rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg()``.
318 * ethdev: The deprecated functions attach/detach were removed in 18.11.
319 ``rte_eth_dev_attach`` can be replaced by ``RTE_ETH_FOREACH_MATCHING_DEV``
320 and ``rte_dev_probe`` or ``rte_eal_hotplug_add``.
321 ``rte_eth_dev_detach`` can be replaced by
322 ``rte_dev_remove`` or ``rte_eal_hotplug_remove``.
324 * ethdev: A call to ``rte_eth_dev_release_port()`` has been added in
325 ``rte_eth_dev_close()``. As a consequence, a closed port is freed
326 and seen as invalid because of its state ``RTE_ETH_DEV_UNUSED``.
327 This new behaviour is enabled per driver for a migration period.
329 * A new device flag, RTE_ETH_DEV_NOLIVE_MAC_ADDR, changes the order of
330 actions inside rte_eth_dev_start regarding MAC set. Some NICs do not
331 support MAC changes once the port has started and with this new device
332 flag the MAC can be properly configured in any case. This is particularly
333 important for bonding.
335 * The default behaviour of CRC strip offload changed. Without any specific Rx
336 offload flag, default behavior by PMD is now to strip CRC.
337 DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_CRC_STRIP offload flag has been removed.
338 To request keeping CRC, application should set ``DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC`` Rx
341 * eventdev: Type of 2nd parameter to ``rte_event_eth_rx_adapter_caps_get()``
342 has been changed from uint8_t to uint16_t.
348 .. This section should contain ABI changes. Sample format:
350 * Add a short 1-2 sentence description of the ABI change
351 that was announced in the previous releases and made in this release.
352 Use fixed width quotes for ``function_names`` or ``struct_names``.
355 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
356 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
357 =========================================================
359 * eal: added ``legacy_mem`` and ``single_file_segments`` values to
360 ``rte_config`` structure on account of improving DPDK usability when
361 using either ``--legacy-mem`` or ``--single-file-segments`` flags.
363 * eal: EAL library ABI version was changed due to previously announced work on
364 supporting external memory in DPDK:
365 - structure ``rte_memseg_list`` now has a new field indicating length
366 of memory addressed by the segment list
367 - structure ``rte_memseg_list`` now has a new flag indicating whether
368 the memseg list refers to external memory
369 - structure ``rte_malloc_heap`` now has a new field indicating socket
370 ID the malloc heap belongs to
371 - structure ``rte_mem_config`` has had its ``malloc_heaps`` array
372 resized from ``RTE_MAX_NUMA_NODES`` to ``RTE_MAX_HEAPS`` value
373 - structure ``rte_malloc_heap`` now has a ``heap_name`` member
374 - structure ``rte_eal_memconfig`` has been extended to contain next
375 socket ID for externally allocated segments
377 * eal: The structure ``rte_device`` got a new field to reference a ``rte_bus``.
378 It is changing the size of the ``struct rte_device`` and the inherited
379 device structures of all buses.
385 .. This section should contain removed items in this release. Sample format:
387 * Add a short 1-2 sentence description of the removed item
390 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
391 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
392 =========================================================
395 Shared Library Versions
396 -----------------------
398 .. Update any library version updated in this release
399 and prepend with a ``+`` sign, like this:
402 + librte_cfgfile.so.2
405 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
406 =========================================================
408 The libraries prepended with a plus sign were incremented in this version.
414 librte_bitratestats.so.2
416 + librte_bus_dpaa.so.2
417 + librte_bus_fslmc.so.2
418 + librte_bus_ifpga.so.2
419 + librte_bus_pci.so.2
420 + librte_bus_vdev.so.2
421 + librte_bus_vmbus.so.2
424 librte_compressdev.so.1
425 librte_cryptodev.so.5
426 librte_distributor.so.1
429 + librte_ethdev.so.11
430 + librte_eventdev.so.6
431 librte_flow_classify.so.1
439 librte_latencystats.so.1
453 librte_pmd_ixgbe.so.2
454 librte_pmd_dpaa2_qdma.so.1
456 librte_pmd_softnic.so.1
457 librte_pmd_vhost.so.2
473 .. This section should contain new known issues in this release. Sample format:
475 * **Add title in present tense with full stop.**
477 Add a short 1-2 sentence description of the known issue
478 in the present tense. Add information on any known workarounds.
480 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
481 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
482 =========================================================
484 * When using SR-IOV (VF) support with netvsc PMD and the Mellanox mlx5 bifurcated
485 driver; the Linux netvsc device must be brought up before the netvsc device is
486 unbound and passed to the DPDK.
492 .. This section should contain a list of platforms that were tested
497 * <vendor> platform with <vendor> <type of devices> combinations
502 * Other relevant details...
504 This section is a comment. Do not overwrite or remove it.
505 Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
506 =========================================================