Roadmap

Version 23.03 (2023 March)

• non-temporal memory copy
• index-based per core mempool cache
• memarea library
• PMD power management Arm implementation
• machine learning inference device library
• PDCP protocol library
• dmadev trace points
• direct-rearm of Rx side buffers
• Tx QoS marking API
• ethdev port type hint when creating transfer table
• ethdev trace points
• ethdev telemetry RSS, Rx/Tx burst mode info
• pipeline connection tracking improvements
• AVF software back-end driver with device emulation libraries
• memif performance optimization
• octeontx2 mirroring
• qede initial support for next generation hardware
• qede flow API support
• spnic driver for Ramaxel devices
• Intel AFU PMD based on rawdev
• mlx5 flow matching of all switch ports in one rule
• vhost small copy with CPU in DSA-accelerated vhost
• virtio hash reporting
• testpmd attach/detach on primary and secondary
• qat without dependency on OpenSSL-1.x
• control adapter and RX adapter enhancements in DLB driver
• DTS run “Hello World” application

Nice to have - Future

• lock-free l3fwd algorithms
• multi-process rework
• automatic UIO/VFIO binding
• infiniband driver class (ibdev)
• default configuration from files
• generic allow/blocklisting
• libedit integration
• UBSan in build
• regex driver based on libpcre
• IF proxy
• performance test for IP reassembly
• IPv6 in lookaside IPsec example
• anti-replay in inline IPsec example

Cycle model

A typical release should be done after 4 months.

It is designed to allow DPDK to keep evolving at a rapid pace while giving enough opportunity to review, discuss and improve the contributions.

The merge window will open once the previous release is complete. First version of a new feature must be submitted before the proposal deadline. Features that miss this first period will be deferred until the next release.

Updated versions of patches (v2, v3, etc.) will be submitted to address comments. The new features must be properly reviewed, tested and accepted before the integration deadline. Otherwise, they will be postponed to the next releases.

At the end of the merge windows, the first release candidates are out.

The last period is approximately 1 month long and is dedicated to bug fixing.

Scheduling

23.03

• Proposal deadline (RFC/v1 patches): 25 December 2022
• API freeze (-rc1): 8 February 2023
• PMD features freeze (-rc2): 1 March 2023
• Builtin applications features freeze (-rc3): 8 March 2023
• Release: 20 March 2023

23.07

• Proposal deadline (RFC/v1 patches): 15 April 2023
• API freeze (-rc1): 31 May 2023
• PMD features freeze (-rc2): 21 June 2023
• Builtin applications features freeze (-rc3): 28 June 2023
• Release: 12 July 2023

23.11

• Proposal deadline (RFC/v1 patches): 12 August 2023
• API freeze (-rc1): 29 September 2023
• PMD features freeze (-rc2): 20 October 2023
• Builtin applications features freeze (-rc3): 27 October 2023
• Release: 15 November 2023

Stable Releases

There is a documentation page describing the guidelines of the stable releases.

Stable point releases follow mainline releases.

After each -rc tag and after the final version, relevant bug fixes get backported by the stable maintainers into the respective branches in “bursts”.

Developers can provide stable-specific patches by sending them to stable@dpdk.org only (avoiding dev@dpdk.org). Further information on subject prefixes for this case is documented here.

After all the relevant bugfixes have been backported, regression tests are run, and if clear, the stable release is announced.

Typically a new stable release version follows a mainline release by 3-6 weeks, depending on the test results.