[dpdk-dev] [PATCH 0/3] ring: provide rte_ring_as_ethdev API

[Richardson, Bruce]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Neil Horman [mailto:nhorman at tuxdriver.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2014 7:54 PM
> To: Richardson, Bruce
> Cc: dev at dpdk.org
> Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH 0/3] ring: provide rte_ring_as_ethdev API
> 
> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 07:15:11PM +0100, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> >
> NAK, I don't think this makes sense.  If you want to encapsulate a ring pair as
> an ethdev, then write a pmd that does so.  That will give you a standardized
> ethdev that you can create using the existing --vdev librte_eal command line
> options without having to widen your API surface, or having to write
> applications that specifically know about the fact that your ethdev is composed
> of rings under the covers.
> 

The objective is not to "encapsulate a ring pair", but instead allow a ring to be "type-cast" to an ethdev for the purposes of rx and tx. 
If this is provided, we can provide standard functions which work to take packets in using rx_burst and which send packets out after processing using tx_burst. The same code can then be used unmodified without worrying about whether the packets come from/to a NIC or from another core (via ring).