[ofa-general] Re: How to tell what OFED rev a distro derived IB modules?

[Jack Morgenstein]

On Sunday 26 April 2009 15:58, Sasha Khapyorsky wrote:
> On 14:31 Sun 26 Apr     , Jack Morgenstein wrote:
> > > 
> > > It should be compatible with the OFED 1.4 userspace.
> > > 
> > Beware -- you should not use OFED userspace with a non-ofed kernel for ConnectX HCAs.
> 
> I don't think that it is affected all userspace packages (personally I'm
> never using OFED kernels).
> 
> > In general, you should not use OFED userspace libraries with non-OFED kernel distributions.
> 
> In general such requirement seems fundamentally bad for me. OFED goal is
> to provide support for IB and iWARP, and not to develop its own linux
> kernel.
> 
> Sasha
>
The OFED distributions may contain features that the mainstream kernels and libraries do not support.
These features frequently require changes in the Infiniband kernel modules.  Such changes are in the form
of kernel patches which are applied to the base mainstream kernel on which the OFED release is based.
A lag between the mainstream kernel and the OFED kernel is unavoidable, since the new features are first
released in the OFED distributions -- and later, gradually (and hopefully), these features make there way
into the upstream kernel.

The integrated OFED package undergoes extensive QA.  There is no QA performed on ofed/non-ofed mixtures.

If you are using a non-OFED kernel, you should also be using non-OFED userspace libraries.
If you need features that are only in OFED, you should be using the entire package and not pieces of it.

- Jack