When a change makes really hard to keep ABI compatibility,
instead of waiting next release to break the ABI, it is smoother
to introduce the new code as a preview and disable it when packaging.
The flag RTE_NEXT_ABI must be used to "ifdef" the new code.
When the release is out, a dynamically linked application can use
the new shared libraries with the old ABI while developpers can prepare
their application for the next ABI by reading the deprecation notice
and easily testing the new code.
When starting the next release cycle, the "ifdefs" will be removed
and the ABI break will be marked by incrementing LIBABIVER. The map
files will also be updated.
The default value is enabled to be developer compliant.
The packagers must disable it as done in pkg/dpdk.spec.
When enabled, all shared library numbers are incremented by appending
a minor .1 to the old ABI number. In the next release, only impacted
libraries will have a major +1 increment.
The impacted libraries must provide an alternative map file to use
with this option.
The ABI policy is updated.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon@6wind.com>
Acked-by: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
Fix for a minor Sphinx build warning in the ABI guidelines docs:
versioning.rst:126: WARNING: Bullet list ends without a
blank line; unexpected unindent.
Signed-off-by: John McNamara <john.mcnamara@intel.com>
People have been asking for ways to use the ABI macros, heres some docs to
clarify their use. Included is:
* An overview of what ABI is
* Details of the ABI deprecation process
* Details of the versioning macros
* Examples of their use
* Details of how to use the ABI validator
Thanks to John Mcnamara, who duplicated much of this effort at Intel while I was
working on it. Much of the introductory material was gathered and cleaned up by
him.
Signed-off-by: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
CC: John McNamara <john.mcnamara@intel.com>
Acked-by: Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon@6wind.com>
Add coding standards document to guides directory. This document
codifies the current DPDK C coding conventions, to make it easier for
contributors to see the format their code should be in.
Signed-off-by: Siobhan Butler <siobhan.a.butler@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>
Acked-by: John McNamara <john.mcnamara@intel.com>
Acked-by: Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon@6wind.com>
