[dpdk-dev] rte_eal_init() alternative?

[Montorsi, Francesco]

Hi,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Monjalon [mailto:thomas.monjalon at 6wind.com]
> Sent: mercoledì 2 settembre 2015 15:10
> To: Montorsi, Francesco <fmontorsi at empirix.com>
> Cc: dev at dpdk.org; Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson at intel.com>
> Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] rte_eal_init() alternative?
> 
> 2015-09-02 13:56, Bruce Richardson:
> > On Wed, Sep 02, 2015 at 12:49:40PM +0000, Montorsi, Francesco wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Currently it seems that the only way to initialize EAL is using rte_eal_init()
> function, correct?
> > >
> > > I have the problem that rte_eal_init() will call rte_panic() whenever
> something fails to initialize or in other cases it will call exit().
> > > In my application, I would rather like to attempt DPDK initialization. If it
> fails I don't want to exit.
> > > Unfortunately I cannot even copy&paste the rte_eal_init() code into my
> application (removing rte_panic and exit calls) since it uses a lot of DPDK
> internal private functions.
> > >
> > > I think that my requirements (avoid abort/exit calls when init fails) is a
> basic requirement... would you accept a patch that adds an alternative
> rte_eal_init() function that just returns an error code upon failure, instead of
> immediately exiting?
> > >
> > > Thanks for your hard work!
> > >
> > > Francesco Montorsi
> > >
> > I, for one, would welcome such a patch. I think the code is overly
> > quick in many places to panic or exit the app, when an error code would be
> more appropriate.
> > Feel free to also look at other libraries in DPDK too, if you like :-)
> 
> Yes but please, do not create an alternative init function.
> We just need to replace panic/exit with error codes and be sure that apps
> and examples handle them correctly.

To maintain compatibility with existing applications I think that perhaps the best would be to have a core initialization function rte_eal_init_raw() that never calls rte_panic() and returns an error code. Then we can maintain compatibility having an rte_eal_init() function that does call rte_panic() if rte_eal_init_raw() fails.

Something like the attached patch. 

Note that the attached patch exposes also a way to skip the argv/argc configuration process by directly providing a populated configuration structure...

Let me know what you think about it (the patch is just a draft and needs more work).

Thanks,
Francesco