[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v4] mbuf: support dynamic fields and flags

[Thomas Monjalon]

26/10/2019 14:39, Olivier Matz:
> Many features require to store data inside the mbuf. As the room in mbuf
> structure is limited, it is not possible to have a field for each
> feature. Also, changing fields in the mbuf structure can break the API
> or ABI.
> 
> This commit addresses these issues, by enabling the dynamic registration
> of fields or flags:
> 
> - a dynamic field is a named area in the rte_mbuf structure, with a
>   given size (>= 1 byte) and alignment constraint.
> - a dynamic flag is a named bit in the rte_mbuf structure.
> 
> The typical use case is a PMD that registers space for an offload
> feature, when the application requests to enable this feature.  As
> the space in mbuf is limited, the space should only be reserved if it
> is going to be used (i.e when the application explicitly asks for it).
> 
> The registration can be done at any moment, but it is not possible
> to unregister fields or flags.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Olivier Matz <olivier.matz at 6wind.com>
> Acked-by: Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net>
> Acked-by: Konstantin Ananyev <konstantin.ananyev at intel.com>

Applied, thanks, this is a new major feature.