EAL threads

[Bruce Richardson]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 10:39:15AM +0200, Mattias Rönnblom wrote:
> I have some lcore-related questions:
> 
> The documentation make use of the term "non-EAL thread". Is a non-EAL thread
> the same thing as a non-lcore thread? I.e., are there EAL threads that are
> not lcore threads?

Yes, there are some threads created by EAL which are not lcore threads.
These are generally for background tasks, such as interrupts or telemetry,
and are given a coremask to be kept away from the dataplane lcore threads.
Therefore, I think you are right to try and get clear terminology for the
threads. In most cases, I think non-EAL thread is referring to threads
created by the app itself, but it may in some cases refer to the 'non-lcore
threads' as you call them.

Personally, I would suggest terms like:
* dataplane threads
* background eal threads
* app threads

for clarity, since I think the term EAL thread is ambiguous. However,
you or others might have been ideas for terms.

> 
> I also have a question related to rte_register_thread(): shouldn't the
> documentation say the user is assumed to pin the calling thread to some
> core? That is the expectation, correct?

Probably, but it's not mandatory.