Roadmap

Version 21.08 (2021 August)

• auxiliary bus
• Arm CRC32 in generic API
• Aarch32 cross-compilation support
• Tx QoS marking API
• l3fwd performance improvements
• testpmd multi-process
• multi-queue capability for PMD power enhancements
• AVF software back-end driver with device emulation libraries
• bnxt AVX2, rte_flow RSS, redirection and dynamic queue
• bonding Tx prepare
• hns3 link up/down, PFC disabling, multiple TC MAC pause
• hns3 VF VLAN filter, push mode for Tx
• IAVF PMD support for Windows
• ice PMD support for ETS based HQoS for VF
• ice PMD support for FDIR/RSS on GTP over GRE for VF
• i40e performance improvements on Arm
• mlx5 performance improvements on Arm
• mlx5 Scalable Function (SF)
• mlx5 flow rule insertion performance improved
• mlx5 metering rule extended, duplicate rule rejection
• mlx5 inline IPsec ESP crypto
• octeontx2 mirroring
• octeontx3 driver for ethdev and rte_flow support
• qede initial support for next generation hardware
• qede flow API support
• Wangxun driver for 1Gb NICs
• enhanced async support for vhost library
• testpmd multi-process support
• QuickAssist symmetric crypto driver for 4th generation devices
• mlx5 AES-XTS look-aside crypto
• event vector support in SW Rx eventdev adapter
• CPPC power driver
• C11 atomic built-ins in app/test

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 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

21.08

• Proposal deadline (RFC/v1 patches): 2 June 2021
• API freeze (-rc1): 5 July 2021
• PMD features freeze (-rc2): 19 July 2021
• Release: 3 August 2021

21.11

• Release: November 2021

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.