[ofa-general] Re: [Ips] Calculating the VA in iSER header

[Roland Dreier]

 > Agree with the interpretation of the spec, and it's probably a bit
 > clearer that way too.  But we have working initiators and targets
 > that do it the "wrong" way.

Yes... I guess the key question is whether there are any initiators that
do things the "right" way.

 > 1. Flag day: all initiators and targets change at the same time.
 > Will see data corruption if someone unluckily runs one or the other
 > using old non-fixed code.

Seems unacceptable to me... it doesn't make sense at all to break every
setup in the world just to be "right" according to the spec.

 > 2. Rewrite the IB Annex to codify what's done in practice, and don't
 > "fix" any code.

If existing practice is universally to do things "wrong" then this seems
to me by far the best way to proceed.

 > 3. Start using the Hello messages and extend them to specify if the
 > VA marks the start of the buffer or the unsol offset.

this seems like a pain for not much benefit... every initiator and
target needs new code to handle the negotiation, and you don't get
anything except the satisfaction of following the letter of the spec.