2015-11-27 15:09, Panu Matilainen: > On 11/26/2015 03:51 PM, Doherty, Declan wrote: > > From: Thomas Monjalon [mailto:thomas.monjalon at 6wind.com] > >> 2015-11-26 10:00, Panu Matilainen: > >>> On 11/26/2015 09:39 AM, Panu Matilainen wrote: > >>>> I think an experimental library which declares itself exempt from the > >>>> ABI policy should not be compiled by default. That way anybody wanting > >>>> to try it out will be forced to notice the experimental status. > >>>> > >>>> More generally / longer term, perhaps there should be a > >>>> CONFIG_RTE_EXPERIMENTAL which wraps all experimental features and > >>>> defaults to off. > >>> > >>> On a related note, librte_mbuf_offload cannot be built if > >>> CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_CRYPTODEV is disabled. Which seems to suggest its (at > >>> least currently) so tightly couple to cryptodev that perhaps it too > >>> should be marked experimental and default to off. > >> > >> I think you are right. > >> Declan, what is your opinion? > > > > > > Hey Thomas, yes librte_mbuf_offload should also be set as experimental, it's > > probably one of the areas which will most likely change in the future. > > > > On the issue of turning off experimental libraries in the build by default, > > my > > preference would be not to turn them off unless the library has external > > dependencies, otherwise the possibility of patches being submitted which > > could break an experimental library will be much higher. In my opinion the > > fewer build configurations developers have to test against the better. > > What I'm more worried about is users and developers starting to rely on > it while still in experimental state, a single comment in the header is > really easy to miss.
There are some comments in the config, the header file, doxygen and the release notes. When using a feature, you have to read the header or the doc. So would it be better advertised by adding a comment in the doxygen section of some of the mandatory functions or structures? > So I'd like to see *some* mechanism which forces users and developers to > acknowledge the fact that they're dealing with experimental work. > Defaulting to off is one possibility, another one would be wrapping > experimental APIs behind a define which you have to set to be able to > use the API, eg: > > #if defined(I_KNOW_THIS_IS_EXPERIMENTAL_AND_MAY_EAT_BABIES) > [...] > #endif Are you sure about the babies? ;)
