[dpdk-dev] [PATCH] doc: update docs for minimum kernel requirement.

John McNamara john.mcnamara at intel.com
Wed Nov 25 15:26:00 CET 2015


Update the documentation to reflect that the minimum Linux kernel
requirement for DPDK 2.2 has increased from 2.6.33 to 2.6.34.

Compatibility with kernel 2.6.33 was dropped, after discussion on
the mailing list, in the following commit:

    Commit: 2e6e9e215703 ("igb_uio: use existing PCI macros")

Signed-off-by: John McNamara <john.mcnamara at intel.com>
---

Original discussions leading to this patch:

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.networking.dpdk.devel/23523

 doc/guides/faq/faq.rst               | 19 -------------------
 doc/guides/linux_gsg/sys_reqs.rst    |  6 +-----
 doc/guides/rel_notes/release_2_2.rst |  3 +++
 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/guides/faq/faq.rst b/doc/guides/faq/faq.rst
index 0686e17..d58673b 100644
--- a/doc/guides/faq/faq.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/faq/faq.rst
@@ -160,25 +160,6 @@ This is especially true when using a large number (>512) of 2 MB huge pages. Ple
 This can be done either by issuing a ulimit command or editing the limits.conf file. Please consult Linux* manpages for usage information.
 
 
-Does my kernel require patching to run the DPDK?
-------------------------------------------------
-
-Any kernel greater than version 2.6.33 can be used without any patches applied. The following kernels may require patches to provide hugepage support:
-
-*   Kernel version 2.6.32 requires the following patches applied:
-
-    *   `mm: hugetlb: add hugepage support to pagemap <http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5dc37642cbce34619e4588a9f0bdad1d2f870956>`_
-
-    *   `mm: hugetlb: fix hugepage memory leak in walk_page_range() <http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d33b9f45bd24a6391bc05e2b5a13c1b5787ca9c2>`_
-
-    *   `hugetlb: add nodemask arg to huge page alloc, free and surplus adjust functions <http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6ae11b278bca1cd41651bae49a8c69de2f6a6262>`_
-        (not mandatory, but recommended on a NUMA system to support per-NUMA node hugepages allocation)
-
-*   Kernel version 2.6.31, requires the above patches plus the following:
-
-    *   `UIO: Add name attributes for mappings and port regions <http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8205779114e8f612549d191f8e151526a74ab9f2>`_
-
-
 VF driver for IXGBE devices cannot be initialized
 -------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/guides/linux_gsg/sys_reqs.rst b/doc/guides/linux_gsg/sys_reqs.rst
index ebed418..cf05983 100644
--- a/doc/guides/linux_gsg/sys_reqs.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/linux_gsg/sys_reqs.rst
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ System Software
 
 **Required:**
 
-*   Kernel version >= 2.6.33
+*   Kernel version >= 2.6.34
 
     The kernel version in use can be checked using the command:
 
@@ -119,10 +119,6 @@ System Software
 
         uname -r
 
-For details of the patches needed to use the DPDK with earlier kernel versions,
-see the DPDK FAQ included in the *DPDK Release Notes*.
-Note also that Red hat* Linux* 6.2 and 6.3 uses a 2.6.32 kernel that already has all the necessary patches applied.
-
 *   glibc >= 2.7 (for features related to cpuset)
 
     The version can be checked using the ldd --version command. A sample output is shown below:
diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_2_2.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_2_2.rst
index 8c77768..cd5c5e9 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_2_2.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_2_2.rst
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ Examples
 Other
 ~~~~~
 
+* This release drops compatibility with Linux kernel 2.6.33. The minimum
+  kernel requirement is now 2.6.34.
+
 
 Known Issues
 ------------
-- 
2.5.0



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