[PATCH v2 4/4] ethdev: fix promoted flow metadata symbols

[Dariusz Sosnowski]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Marchand <david.marchand at redhat.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2026 9:45 AM
> To: Dariusz Sosnowski <dsosnowski at nvidia.com>
> Cc: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson at intel.com>; NBU-Contact-Thomas
> Monjalon (EXTERNAL) <thomas at monjalon.net>; Andrew Rybchenko
> <andrew.rybchenko at oktetlabs.ru>; Ori Kam <orika at nvidia.com>;
> dev at dpdk.org; Yu Jiang <yux.jiang at intel.com>
> Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 4/4] ethdev: fix promoted flow metadata symbols
> 
> External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
> 
> 
> On Wed, 24 Jun 2026 at 15:15, Dariusz Sosnowski <dsosnowski at nvidia.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Offending commit stabilized the following symbols related to flow
> > metadata:
> >
> > - 1 function symbol:
> >     - rte_flow_dynf_metadata_register
> > - 2 variable symbols:
> >     - rte_flow_dynf_metadata_offs
> >     - rte_flow_dynf_metadata_mask
> >
> > Any application using experimental flow metadata symbols, which was
> > linked dynamically against 25.11 version of ethdev library and using
> > current version of ethdev library would fail to start on symbol lookup
> > error:
> >
> > /tmp/dpdk-25.11/usr/local/bin/dpdk-testpmd:
> >   symbol lookup error: /tmp/dpdk-25.11/usr/local/bin/dpdk-testpmd:
> >     undefined symbol: rte_flow_dynf_metadata_offs, version
> > EXPERIMENTAL
> >
> > This patch addresses that issue by restoring EXPERIMENTAL version on
> > the global variables to keep ABI compatibility [1].
> > Related inline helpers and variable declarations are kept as stable
> > (i.e., no __rte_experimental marker).
> > EXPERIMENTAL version will be removed from these global variables in
> > 26.11 release cycle on next ABI version bump.
> >
> > Standard function symbol versioning is also applied on
> > rte_flow_dynf_metadata_register() function.
> >
> > [1]:
> > https://inbox.dpdk.org/dev/m7s3jl2566kibbapr2mfa2ic2opuc6b4ok2g67j3il5
> > dgduzih at cz5wcdstb75n/
> >
> > Bugzilla ID: 1957
> > Fixes: 4ee2f5c1cedf ("ethdev: promote flow metadata API to stable")
> >
> > Reported-by: Yu Jiang <yux.jiang at intel.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Dariusz Sosnowski <dsosnowski at nvidia.com>
> 
> Acked-by: David Marchand <david.marchand at redhat.com>
> 
> Once this series is merged, could you send a patch against 26.11 dropping this
> compat and marking the variables as stable?
> I'll mark it as deferred in patchwork, this is just to have a reminder to clean this
> up.

Of course, I'll send it once merged.

Best regards,
Dariusz Sosnowski