The sequence of steps to build a SWX pipeline object are:
1. Create the specification file (pipeline.p4 -> pipeline.spec): This text file
represents the
pipeline program that is typically generated by the P4 compiler or sometimes
manually created.
2. Generate the C source code file (pipeline.spec -> pipeline.c): The C file
contains a C function
for every pipeline action and several C functions for the pipeline main
program. It allows the C
compiler to generate optimized code by having access to the entire pipeline
program rather than
using the small pre-build functions corresponding to the individual
instructions
3. Build the shared object library (pipeline.c -> pipeline.o -> pipeline.so).
4. Load the shared object library (pipeline.so): At initialization, the
pipeline object is “patched”
with the optimized C functions from the shared object library.
Previously, steps 2., 3. and 4. were implemented under the hood by the pipeline
library at the
initialization time in a completely hard-coded and non-customizable way. The
user was not able to
select the C compiler (GCC was assumed), the compiler version, the build flags,
the file locations,
etc. The code generation (step 2.) and library build (step 3.) were done
on-the-fly at init and
could potentially fail for many setup related reasons.
Now, this process is no longer done under the hood by the pipeline library and
the individual steps
are explicitly supported by the API functions. The code generation (step 2.) is
done off-line at any
time before the pipeline execution. The library build (step 3.) is also done
off-line and is now
fully customizable by the user, who is able to gracefully access the generated
C code and decide on
the various build options.
We also take the opportunity to streamline the pipeline I/O port configuration
by introducing an I/O
specification file. Essentially, the pipeline is now configured and build based
on two files:
a) The shared object library file (pipeline.so): It defines how the packets are
processed by the
program through tables and actions; the same P4 program can be executed by
many pipelines.
b) The I/O specification file (pipeline.io): High level text file defining how
the packets are
received and transmitted by the pipeline; this is not part of the P4
program, which is completely
agnostic about the pipeline I/O ports. This is defined differently for each
pipeline object when
initialized.
Change log:
V6:
-Added the cover letter. No code changes.
V5:
-Fixed more style issues reported by the CI/CD.
V4:
-Fixed style issues reported by the CI/CD.
V3:
-Added support for the pipeline I/O specification file.
V2:
-Fixed style issues reported by the CI/CD.
Cristian Dumitrescu (17):
pipeline: add pipeline name
pipeline: move specification data structures to internal header
pipeline: add pipeline specification data structure
pipeline: rework the specification file-based pipeline build
pipeline: generate the code for pipeline specification structure
pipeline: add support for pipeline I/O specification
pipeline: add API for pipeline code generation
pipeline: add API for shared library-based pipeline build
examples/pipeline: add CLI command for pipeline code generation
examples/pipeline: add CLI command for shared library build
examples/pipeline: remove the obsolete pipeline create CLI command
examples/pipeline: remove the obsolete port configuration CLI commands
examples/pipeline: remove the obsolete mirroring configuration CLI
command
examples/pipeline: use the pipeline name query API
examples/pipeline: rework the link CLI command
examples/pipelines: remove obsolete tap CLI command
examples/pipeline: call the code generation and build CLI commands
examples/pipeline/cli.c | 1133 +++------
examples/pipeline/examples/ethdev.io | 27 +
examples/pipeline/examples/fib.cli | 44 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/hash_func.cli | 41 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/l2fwd.cli | 44 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/l2fwd_macswp.cli | 44 +-
.../pipeline/examples/l2fwd_macswp_pcap.cli | 35 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/l2fwd_pcap.cli | 35 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/learner.cli | 43 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/meter.cli | 58 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/mirroring.cli | 46 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/pcap.io | 27 +
examples/pipeline/examples/recirculation.cli | 41 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/registers.cli | 53 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/selector.cli | 55 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/varbit.cli | 41 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/vxlan.cli | 48 +-
examples/pipeline/examples/vxlan_pcap.cli | 39 +-
examples/pipeline/obj.c | 172 +-
examples/pipeline/obj.h | 46 -
examples/pipeline/thread.c | 65 +-
examples/pipeline/thread.h | 9 +-
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_ctl.c | 99 +
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_ctl.h | 15 +
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline.c | 464 ++--
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline.h | 71 +-
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline_internal.h | 2 +
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline_spec.c | 2050 +++++++++++++++--
lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline_spec.h | 280 +++
lib/pipeline/version.map | 7 +-
30 files changed, 3430 insertions(+), 1704 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 examples/pipeline/examples/ethdev.io
create mode 100644 examples/pipeline/examples/pcap.io
create mode 100644 lib/pipeline/rte_swx_pipeline_spec.h
--
2.34.1
