Roadmap
Major known features and milestones may be noted here. This is not a commitment but plan of work. This list is obviously neither complete nor guaranteed.
Version 20.05 (2020 May)
- mlx5 memory consumption reduced
- rte_tm enhancement for OCTEON TX2
- eventdev example in ipsec-secgw
- chachapoly symmetric crypto algorithm in Intel QAT devices
- additional crypto algorithms in Nitrox PMD
- regexdev
- UBSan in build
Nice to have - Future
- RCU API for deferred resource reclamation
- integrate RCU deferred resource reclamation API with LPM and hash libraries
- lock-free l3fwd algorithms
- multi-process rework
- automatic UIO/VFIO binding
- infiniband driver class (ibdev)
- default configuration from files
- generic white/blacklisting
- libedit integration
Cycle model
A typical release should be done after 3 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 window, the first release candidate is out.
The last period is 1 month long and is dedicated to bug fixing.
Scheduling
20.05
- Proposal deadline: March 18, 2020
- Integration deadline: April 17, 2020
- Release: May 20, 2020
20.08
- Release: August 2020
20.11
- Release: November 2020
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).
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 1-2 weeks, depending on the test results.
| Current version | Next version | Next version Date | End of life | Maintainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.11.6 | 18.11.7 | April 2020 | November 2020 (LTS) | Kevin Traynor |
| 19.11.1 | 19.11.2 | June 2020 | November 2021 (LTS) | Luca Boccassi |