Re: [dpdk-dev] Napatech pmd

[Michael Lilja <ml@napatech.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
> Sent: 19. april 2020 23:16
> To: Michael Lilja <ml@napatech.com>
> Cc: Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>; Finn Christensen
> <fc@napatech.com>; dev@dpdk.org; Bent Kuhre <bk@napatech.com>;
> techboard@dpdk.org
> Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] Napatech pmd
> 
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 04:38:42AM +0000, Michael Lilja wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
> > > Sent: 17. april 2020 04:55
> > > To: Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>
> > > Cc: Finn Christensen <fc@napatech.com>; dev@dpdk.org; Bent Kuhre
> > > <bk@napatech.com>; Michael Lilja <ml@napatech.com>;
> > > techboard@dpdk.org
> > > Subject: Re: [dpdk-dev] Napatech pmd
> > >
> > > On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 10:07:12PM +0200, Thomas Monjalon wrote:
> > > > 31/03/2020 21:56, Neil Horman:
> > > > > On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 02:29:08PM +0200, Thomas Monjalon
> wrote:
> > > > > > 31/03/2020 14:17, Neil Horman:
> > > > > > > On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 01:25:25PM +0200, Thomas Monjalon
> > > wrote:
> > > > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Raising this topic again.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > As said in the past, it is better to have this PMD
> inside
> > > DPDK.
> > > > > > > > We discussed some concerns, but I think the consensus
> was
> > > > > > > > to integrate Napatech PMD anyway.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I am sad that you did not feel welcome enough to follow
> up
> > > > > > > > with patches during all these years.
> > > > > > > > Please would you like to restart the upstreaming
> process?
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Whats changed here?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Nothing changed, except years.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > I still don't see what the advantage is to accepting this
> > > > > > > code
> > > in the DPDK tree.
> > > > > > > No one will be able to use it without accepting Napatechs
> > > > > > > license for their underlying library.  As such, the code
> > > > > > > can't really be maintained at all by anyone other than
> > > > > > > Napatech in
> > > the
> > > > > > > community, and so may as well just be maintained as an out
> > > > > > > of
> > > tree driver.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > You are the only one having this concern.
> > > > > I don't think its wise to assume that silence implies
> acceptance.
> > > > >
> > > > > > Nobody from the Technical Board looks to be against the
> > > acceptance.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The advantage is simple: Napatech customers will be able to
> > > > > > run
> > > any DPDK version.
> > > > > Why is that not possible by having napatech maintain an out-
> of-
> > > tree
> > > > > PMD?  Theres no reason that can't be done.
> > > >
> > > > They are maintaining an out-of-tree PMD:
> > > > https://github.com/napatech/dpdk/releases
> > > >
> > > > I'm just trying to improve the situation, avoiding DPDK forks.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > Apologies, I completely missed responding to this note
> > >
> > > I took a look at the PMD above.  Its not an open source
> > > implementation of their driver, its the same thing they offered 4
> > > years ago, a skeleton pmd that still uses the same closed licensed
> library.
> > >
> > > It was my understanding that they were working on a completely
> open
> > > sourced PMD that could be generally useful to the community.  If
> > > that exists, then yes, by all means, lets take a look at it, and
> > > consider merging it.  That effort deserves consideration.
> > >
> > > This however, is the same thing we saw last time.  Theres no
> benefit
> > > in including that
> > >
> > > Neil
> > I understand the confusion. The PMD in our github is still, as you
> correctly state, based on our closed source driver and only a
> skeleton. We are working on a open source version, but currently that
> is WIP and not pushed yet. I'll let you know when there is something
> to look at.
> >
> 
> So, I have to ask.  I referenced this email from 2016 earlier in this
> thread:
> https://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/2016-September/046522.html
> 
> Where a colleague of yours from Napatech noted that you were working
> on an fully open source driver.  Given that you have been working on
> this to some degree since then, I would presume that you could share
> what code you have thus far.  Can you place the code you have written
> thus far in a public repository so we can start reviewing it?
> 
> Thanks
> Neil
Actually the open-source driver development has been on hold until just recently, due to other priorities. We just recently allocated a new team to do the open source driver, a team of people who has not been working with DPDK before, so the learning curve is steep for these guys. I will check up on how far they are and if they are ready to share something. 

Michael