During a recent OVN community call, it was questioned what it means for a feature to be marked experimental. This documentation change aims to clarify what it means when a feature is marked experimental.
Signed-off-by: Mark Michelson <[email protected]> --- Documentation/faq/general.rst | 48 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 48 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/faq/general.rst b/Documentation/faq/general.rst index 831ca0445..a6292acd0 100644 --- a/Documentation/faq/general.rst +++ b/Documentation/faq/general.rst @@ -119,3 +119,51 @@ Q: How can I contribute to the OVN Community? questions. You can also suggest improvements to documentation. If you have a feature or bug you would like to work on, send a mail to one of the :doc:`mailing lists </internals/mailing-lists>`. + +Q: What does it mean when a feature is marked "experimental"? + + A: Experimental features are marked this way because of one of + several reasons: + + * The developer was only able to test the feature in a limited + environment. Therefore the feature may not always work as intended + in all environments. + + * During review, the potential for failure was noticed, but the + circumstances that would lead to that failure were hard to nail + down or were strictly theoretical. + + * What exists in OVN may be an early version of a more fleshed-out + feature to come in a later version. + + * The feature was developed against a draft RFC that is subject to + change when the RFC is published. + + * The feature was developed based on observations of how a specific + vendor implements a feature, rather than using IETF standards or + other documentated specifications. + + A feature may be declared experimental for other reasons as well, + but the above are the most common. When a feature is marked + experimental, it has the following properties: + + * The feature must be opt-in. The feature must be disabled by + default. When the feature is disabled, it must have no bearing + on other OVN functionality. + + * Configuration and implementation details of the feature are + subject to change between major or minor versions of OVN. + + * Users make use of this feature at their own risk. Users are free + to file issues against the feature, but developers are more likely + to prioritize work on non-experimental features first. + + * Experimental features may be removed. For instance, if an + experimental feature exposes a security risk, it may be removed + rather than repaired. + + The hope is that experimental features will eventually lose the + "experimental" marker and become a core feature. However, there is + no specific test or process defined for when a feature no longer + needs to be considered experimental. This typically will be decided + collectively by OVN maintainers. -- 2.45.2 _______________________________________________ dev mailing list [email protected] https://mail.openvswitch.org/mailman/listinfo/ovs-dev
