[RFC 0/7] regex/hs: introduce Hyperscan regex PMD

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:05:49 +0530
Prudvi Deti <prudvi.deti at intel.com> wrote:

> This RFC series adds a new regexdev PMD based on Hyperscan.
> 
> Goal: provide a software regex PMD for environments without regex HW,
> while keeping compatibility with the standard ``rte_regexdev`` API.
> The PMD is a virtual device, created with ``--vdev=regex_hs`` at EAL
> init.

There was ongoing discussion in TB that the regexdev PMD should
be deprecated and removed. It turns out that HW regex is slower
than software.

It is good to have a software alternative, but going through
DPDK API's to do regex seems like an awkward way to do it.
For applications simpler/faster to use regex libraries directly.