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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst | 57 |
1 files changed, 34 insertions, 23 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst b/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst index c495294d..01b36247 100644 --- a/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst +++ b/doc/guides/contributing/versioning.rst @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause + Copyright 2018 The DPDK contributors + Managing ABI updates ==================== @@ -43,29 +46,6 @@ ABI versions are set at the time of major release labeling, and the ABI may change multiple times, without warning, between the last release label and the HEAD label of the git tree. -APIs marked as ``experimental`` are not considered part of the ABI and may -change without warning at any time. Since changes to APIs are most likely -immediately after their introduction, as users begin to take advantage of -those new APIs and start finding issues with them, new DPDK APIs will be -automatically marked as ``experimental`` to allow for a period of stabilization -before they become part of a tracked ABI. - -Note that marking an API as experimental is a multi step process. -To mark an API as experimental, the symbols which are desired to be exported -must be placed in an EXPERIMENTAL version block in the corresponding libraries' -version map script. -Secondly, the corresponding definitions of those exported functions, and -their forward declarations (in the development header files), must be marked -with the ``__rte_experimental`` tag (see ``rte_compat.h``). -The DPDK build makefiles perform a check to ensure that the map file and the -C code reflect the same list of symbols. -This check can be circumvented by defining ``ALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API`` -during compilation in the corresponding library Makefile. - -In addition to tagging the code with ``__rte_experimental``, -the doxygen markup must also contain the EXPERIMENTAL string, -and the MAINTAINERS file should note the EXPERIMENTAL libraries. - ABI versions, once released, are available until such time as their deprecation has been noted in the Release Notes for at least one major release cycle. For example consider the case where the ABI for DPDK 2.0 has been @@ -119,6 +99,37 @@ readability purposes should be avoided. follow the relevant deprecation policy procedures as above: 3 acks and announcement at least one release in advance. +Experimental APIs +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +APIs marked as ``experimental`` are not considered part of the ABI and may +change without warning at any time. Since changes to APIs are most likely +immediately after their introduction, as users begin to take advantage of +those new APIs and start finding issues with them, new DPDK APIs will be +automatically marked as ``experimental`` to allow for a period of stabilization +before they become part of a tracked ABI. + +Note that marking an API as experimental is a multi step process. +To mark an API as experimental, the symbols which are desired to be exported +must be placed in an EXPERIMENTAL version block in the corresponding libraries' +version map script. +Secondly, the corresponding definitions of those exported functions, and +their forward declarations (in the development header files), must be marked +with the ``__rte_experimental`` tag (see ``rte_compat.h``). +The DPDK build makefiles perform a check to ensure that the map file and the +C code reflect the same list of symbols. +This check can be circumvented by defining ``ALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API`` +during compilation in the corresponding library Makefile. + +In addition to tagging the code with ``__rte_experimental``, +the doxygen markup must also contain the EXPERIMENTAL string, +and the MAINTAINERS file should note the EXPERIMENTAL libraries. + +For removing the experimental tag associated with an API, deprecation notice +is not required. Though, an API should remain in experimental state for at least +one release. Thereafter, normal process of posting patch for review to mailing +list can be followed. + Examples of Deprecation Notices ------------------------------- |