Deprecation Notices
-------------------
-* The ethdev hotplug API is going to be moved to EAL with a notification
- mechanism added to crypto and ethdev libraries so that hotplug is now
- available to both of them. This API will be stripped of the device arguments
- so that it only cares about hotplugging.
-
-* Structures embodying pci and vdev devices are going to be reworked to
- integrate new common rte_device / rte_driver objects (see
- http://dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2016-January/031390.html).
- ethdev and crypto libraries will then only handle those objects so that they
- do not need to care about the kind of devices that are being used, making it
- easier to add new buses later.
-
-* The EAL function pci_config_space_set is deprecated in release 16.04
- and will be removed from 16.07.
- Macros CONFIG_RTE_PCI_CONFIG, CONFIG_RTE_PCI_EXTENDED_TAG and
- CONFIG_RTE_PCI_MAX_READ_REQUEST_SIZE will be removed.
- The /sys entries extended_tag and max_read_request_size created by igb_uio
- will be removed.
-
-* ABI changes are planned for struct rte_pci_id, i.e., add new field ``class``.
- This new added ``class`` field can be used to probe pci device by class
- related info. This change should impact size of struct rte_pci_id and struct
- rte_pci_device. The release 16.04 does not contain these ABI changes, but
- release 16.07 will.
-
-* The following fields have been deprecated in rte_eth_stats:
- ibadcrc, ibadlen, imcasts, fdirmatch, fdirmiss,
- tx_pause_xon, rx_pause_xon, tx_pause_xoff, rx_pause_xoff
-
-* The xstats API and rte_eth_xstats struct will be changed to allow retrieval
- of values without any string copies or parsing.
- No backwards compatibility is planned, as it would require code duplication
- in every PMD that supports xstats.
-
-* ABI changes are planned for adding four new flow types. This impacts
- RTE_ETH_FLOW_MAX. The release 2.2 does not contain these ABI changes,
- but release 2.3 will. [postponed]
-
-* ABI change is planned for the rte_mempool structure to allow mempool
- cache support to be dynamic depending on the mempool being created
- needing cache support. Saves about 1.5M of memory per rte_mempool structure
- by removing the per lcore cache memory. Change will occur in DPDK 16.07
- release and will skip the define RTE_NEXT_ABI in DPDK 16.04 release. The
- code affected is app/test/test_mempool.c and librte_mempool/rte_mempool.[ch].
- The rte_mempool.local_cache will be converted from an array to a pointer to
- allow for dynamic allocation of the per lcore cache memory.
-
-* ABI will change for rte_mempool struct to move the cache-related fields
- to the more appropriate rte_mempool_cache struct. The mempool API is
- also changed to enable external cache management that is not tied to EAL
- threads. Some mempool get and put calls are removed in favor of a more
- compact API. The ones that remain are backwards compatible and use the
- per-lcore default cache if available. This change targets release 16.07.
-
-* The rte_mempool struct will be changed in 16.07 to facilitate the new
- external mempool manager functionality.
- The ring element will be replaced with a more generic 'pool' opaque pointer
- to allow new mempool handlers to use their own user-defined mempool
- layout. Also newly added to rte_mempool is a handler index.
- The existing API will be backward compatible, but there will be new API
- functions added to facilitate the creation of mempools using an external
- handler. The 16.07 release will contain these changes.
-
-* The rte_mempool allocation will be changed in 16.07:
- allocation of large mempool in several virtual memory chunks, new API
- to populate a mempool, new API to free a mempool, allocation in
- anonymous mapping, drop of specific dom0 code. These changes will
- induce a modification of the rte_mempool structure, plus a
- modification of the API of rte_mempool_obj_iter(), implying a breakage
- of the ABI.
-
-* ABI changes are planned for struct rte_port_source_params in order to
- support PCAP file reading feature. The release 16.04 contains this ABI
- change wrapped by RTE_NEXT_ABI macro. Release 16.07 will contain this
- change, and no backwards compatibility is planned.
-
-* A librte_vhost public structures refactor is planned for DPDK 16.07
- that requires both ABI and API change.
- The proposed refactor would expose DPDK vhost dev to applications as
- a handle, like the way kernel exposes an fd to user for locating a
- specific file, and to keep all major structures internally, so that
- we are likely to be free from ABI violations in future.
+* ring: Changes are planned to rte_ring APIs in release 17.05. Proposed
+ changes include:
+
+ - Removing build time options for the ring:
+ CONFIG_RTE_RING_SPLIT_PROD_CONS
+ CONFIG_RTE_RING_PAUSE_REP_COUNT
+ - Adding an additional parameter to enqueue functions to return the
+ amount of free space in the ring
+ - Adding an additional parameter to dequeue functions to return the
+ number of remaining elements in the ring
+ - Removing direct support for watermarks in the rings, since the
+ additional return value from the enqueue function makes it
+ unneeded
+ - Adjusting the return values of the bulk() enq/deq functions to
+ make them consistent with the burst() equivalents. [Note, parameter
+ to these functions are changing too, per points above, so compiler
+ will flag them as needing update in legacy code]
+ - Updates to some library functions e.g. rte_ring_get_memsize() to
+ allow for variably-sized ring elements.
+
+* 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 PCI and VDEV subsystems will be converted as drivers 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``.
+
+* ABI changes are planned for 17.05 in the ``rte_mbuf`` structure: some fields
+ may be reordered to facilitate the writing of ``data_off``, ``refcnt``, and
+ ``nb_segs`` in one operation, because some platforms have an overhead if the
+ store address is not naturally aligned. Other mbuf fields, such as the
+ ``port`` field, may be moved or removed as part of this mbuf work. A
+ ``timestamp`` will also be added.
+
+* 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.
+
+* vhost: API/ABI changes are planned for 17.05, for making DPDK vhost library
+ generic enough so that applications can build different vhost-user drivers
+ (instead of vhost-user net only) on top of that.
+ Specifically, ``virtio_net_device_ops`` will be renamed to ``vhost_device_ops``.
+ Correspondingly, some API's parameter need be changed. Few more functions also
+ need be reworked to let it be device aware. For example, different virtio device
+ has different feature set, meaning functions like ``rte_vhost_feature_disable``
+ need be changed. Last, file rte_virtio_net.h will be renamed to rte_vhost.h.
+
+* ABI changes are planned for 17.05 in the ``rte_cryptodev_ops`` structure.
+ A pointer to a rte_cryptodev_config structure will be added to the
+ function prototype ``cryptodev_configure_t``, as a new parameter.
+
+* cryptodev: A new parameter ``max_nb_sessions_per_qp`` will be added to
+ ``rte_cryptodev_info.sym``. Some drivers may support limited number of
+ sessions per queue_pair. With this new parameter application will know
+ how many sessions can be mapped to each queue_pair of a device.
+
+* distributor: library API will be changed to incorporate a burst-oriented
+ API. This will include a change to ``rte_distributor_create``
+ to specify which type of instance to create (single or burst), and
+ additional calls for ``rte_distributor_poll_pkt_burst`` and
+ ``rte_distributor_return_pkt_burst``, among others.
+
+* The architecture TILE-Gx and the associated mpipe driver are not
+ maintained and will be removed in 17.05.