OSS + ELC EU 2026

XDP (eXpress Data Path) is about running eBPF programs on network packets as early as possible. The goal of such an approach is performance: we minimise operating system networking stack overhead by letting the user decide which packets should reach it.

XSK is an extension to XDP allowing zero-copy redirect from the Ethernet driver directly to userspace processes. This approach approximates kernel-bypass solutions while remaining well integrated into the Linux networking stack for less critical traffic.

Both bring benefits but require adaptations on an Ethernet MAC driver standpoint; we'll dig into those. Quite some ground will be covered:
- allocators, their allocation patterns and memory layout,
- networking subsystem callbacks to be implemented,
- scheduling logic at runtime,
- performance numbers,
- etc.

Experience has been acquired through the upstreaming process of XDP & XSK support to the MACB/GEM controller driver, after having added Mobileye EyeQ5 support to the same driver.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express_Data_Path
https://ebpf.io/
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/af_xdp.html