[Ns-developers] Design Review of ns-3-ipv6-1st (ns-3.3 new feature)

[Mathieu Lacage]

hi craig, all,

At this point, my main concern is that I would like to know what the
plan is to deal with the ipv4 API rework under way in tom's tree. i.e.,
if we merge this ipv6 API which is rather closely structured on the
current ipv4 API, and, if we change the ipv4 API just after merging this
ipv6 API, we are going to have two different ipv/ipv6 APIs for next
release. I have to confess that I would find this suboptimal so, I
wonder if we could get some sort of commitment from the relevant
maintainers to work together to ensure that the ipv6 and ipv4 APIs are
aligned before the next release. I could go as far as suggesting that we
make this a blocker for next release.

regards,
Mathieu

On Thu, 2008-10-09 at 11:06 -0700, craigdo at ee.washington.edu wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> We have received a request to merge a new feature into ns-3.3 (the upcoming
> stable release of ns-3 scheduled for release in December).  Based on our
> recently updated release process, we have to do a design review of the
> feature addition, and the current maintainers of the ns-3 codebase have to
> sign off on it, before we merge it into ns-3-dev and then into ns-3.3.
> 
> I sent the below email to the maintainers yesterday requesting an "official"
> design review for Sebastien Vincent's ns-3-ipv6-1st feature.  The
> maintainers are in general agreement that they want to do the review in a
> public setting and also solicit input from people on the ns-developers
> mailing list.  This means some technical emails will probably start flying
> around regarding possibly abstract questions of IPv6 support in ns-3.  I
> wanted to provide some context before that happens.
> 
> So, this email is an introduction to the design review thread for the first
> piece of the IPv6 support in ns-3.  As far as timing goes, this all needs to
> be wrapped up by about the end of the month.  Anyone reading should feel
> free to take a look at the submitted code and voice opinions.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -- Craig
> 
> > You are receiving this email because you are a maintainer of 
> > ns-3 and a new
> > feature addition is being considered for ns-3.3.
> > 
> > We have a submission of "ns-3-ipv6-1st" to be considered as a 
> > new feature
> > addition for ns-3.3.  As indicated in our release process, 
> > this submission
> > crosses maintainer responsibilities and so a design review 
> > should be done.
> > Also this could be a fairly significant change in terms of 
> > usability and API
> > that could be very visible in the future.
> > 
> > Before proceeding I'll need some kind of positive 
> > acknowledgement from each
> > of you that you don't have any issues and that we should go 
> > ahead and merge
> > this patch.
> > 
> > If there are any discussions about the change, it would 
> > probably be good to
> > copy everyone.
> > 
> > The following is the email from Sebastien 
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Sébastien Vincent [mailto:vincent at clarinet.u-strasbg.fr] 
> > > Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 2:30 AM
> > > To: craigdo at u.washington.edu
> > > Cc: 'Tom Henderson'; 'Mathieu Lacage'; 'Craig Dowell'
> > > Subject: ns-3-ipv6-1st 
> > > 
> > > Hi Craig,
> > > 
> > > Code :
> > > ====
> > > 
> > > The repository that contains the first chunk of IPv6 is located at 
> > > http://code.nsnam.org/vincent/ns-3-ipv6-1st/ and it is 
> > > synchronized with 
> > > ns-3-dev. The corresponding patch file is attached.
> > > 
> > > Summary of changes :
> > > ==============
> > > 
> > > The features of this first chunk of IPv6 provide the addresses, the 
> > > routes, the IPv6 header and some changes in *NetDevice to 
> > > allow specific 
> > > ethernet multicast addresses to be forward up to layer 3.
> > > 
> > > Files added : 
> > > - src/node/ipv6-route.cc/h;
> > > - src/node/ipv6-address.cc/h;
> > > - src/node/inet6-socket-address.cc,h;
> > > - src/node/ipv6-header.cc,h;
> > > - src/node/icmp-socket.cc,h;
> > > - example/test-ipv6.cc.
> > > 
> > > Changes on existing code :
> > > - Add virtual method GetMulticast6 and MakeMulticast6Address  in 
> > > NetDevice and all of its subclasses (CsmaNetDevice, ...);
> > > - In CsmaNetDevice, we declare some ethernet representation of 
> > > well-known IPv6 multicast address, and forward up all packet 
> > > (that match 
> > > these addresses) to layer 3.
> > > 
> > > This first chunk is not sufficient to do IPv6 simulations, 
> > it is just 
> > > the addresses and the changes in NetDevice. In very old 
> > > previous mail, 
> > > we planned to include the layer 3 (Ipv6L3Protocol, ...) in 
> > > the second chunk.
> > > 
> > > Maybe it will be good to have IPv6 layer 3 protocol, ICMPv6 / 
> > > Neighbor 
> > > Discovery protocol and a Ping6 application & example. What do 
> > > you think ?
> > > 
> > > Regards,
> > > --
> > > Sebastien Vincent
> > > Network and Research team -  University of Strasbourg
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> 
>