Compiling DPL Applications

This section describes how to use the NVIDIA DPL compiler to compile DPL applications.

Introduction

DOCA Programming Language (DPL) applications are an educational resource provided as a guide on how to program on the NVIDIA® BlueField® networking platform (DPU or SuperNIC) using DPL.
The NVIDIA DPL compiler (dplp4c.sh) is provided as an executable in a self contained docker image. The docker image is available to partners by logging into the NVIDIA NGC system and downloading the most recent DPL docker containers.

Installation

Please refer to the DPL Runtime Service for the system requirements and DPL Installation Guide on how to install the compiler. For information on the development environment, refer to the and the DPL System Overview.

Dependencies

BlueField-3 is required
Ubuntu 22.04 hosts (x86) or greater
A P4Runtime controller based on API version 1.3.0 or greater

Compiling Applications

The DPL compiler is provided with all its dependencies in the dpl-dev container. For details on how to obtain and install the docker images see DPL Installation Guide.

A shell script, dplp4c.sh, is provided for a convenient way to execute the DPL compiler from the dpl-dev container:

./dplp4c.sh [--mount dir]* dplp4c_args*

--mount – (optional) directory to be mounted into the container
dplp4c_args – arguments to be passed to the compiler (e.g., sample.p4)

For example, compiling the "hello_packet" DPL example is as simple as:

local-user@vm-1:~/p4-samples/dpu/hello_packet$ dplp4c.sh hello_packet.p4
Generating compiler output in "_out"
updating: MANIFEST.json (deflated 40%)
updating: hello_packet.program.json (deflated 87%)
updating: hello_packet.debug.json (deflated 96%)

The following files in this example are produced in the _out directory:


`compiler.log`	Log of any compiler warnings or errors to the specified program
`hello_packet.dplconfig`	Binary blob, containing all the data needed for the DPL Runtime daemon to load the program
`hello_packet.p4info.txt`	P4Runtime protobuf file, in text format

Additional NVIDIA® BlueField®-specific arguments include:

--help                                  Print this help message
--version                               Print compiler version
-I path                                 Specify include path (passed to preprocessor)
-D arg=value                            Define macro (passed to preprocessor)
-U arg                                  Undefine macro (passed to preprocessor)
-E                                      Preprocess only, do not compile (prints program on stdout)
-M                                      Output `make` dependency rule only (passed to preprocessor)
-MD                                     Output `make` dependency rule to file as side effect (passed to preprocessor)
-MF file                                With -M, specify output file for dependencies (passed to preprocessor)
-MG                                     with -M, suppress errors for missing headers (passed to preprocessor)
-MP                                     with -M, add phony target for each dependency (passed to preprocessor)
-MT target                              With -M, override target of the output rule (passed to preprocessor)
-MQ target                              Like -Mt, override target but quote special characters (passed to preprocessor)
-g                                      Enable debugging via DPL Nspect
--nocpp                                 Skip preprocess, assume input file is already preprocessed.
--Wdisable[=diagnostic]                 Disable a compiler diagnostic, or disable all warnings if no diagnostic is specified.
--Winfo[=diagnostic]                    Report an info message for a compiler diagnostic.
--Wwarn[=diagnostic]                    Report a warning for a compiler diagnostic, or treat all info messages as warnings if no diagnostic is specified.
--Werror[=diagnostic]                   Report an error for a compiler diagnostic, or treat all warnings as errors if no diagnostic is specified.
--maxErrorCount errorCount              Set the maximum number of errors to display before failing.
--target target                         Compile for the specified target device.
--odir out_directory                    Write output to out directory
--enable feature[,feature]*|--help      Enable a feature, or comma-separated list of features
--disable feature[,feature]*|--help     Disable a feature, or comma-separated list of features

See section Compiling DPL Applications for examples of how to use the dplp4c.sh to compile.

The binary <sample_name>. is created under _out/<sample_name>.dplconfig.

The P4Runtime file is created under _out/<sample_name>.p4info.txt.

Compiling Applications in Debug Mode

To enable packet debugging, you must ensure the following:

Compile your DPL program with the -g flag. This enables parsing for a debug flow.
Ensure you have at least one nv_send_debug_pkt() call in your DPL program. A debug packet will be emitted where nv_send_debug_pkt() is placed, and represent the program state at that point.

Please note packet debugging is only available on the RX direction. Debug packets will not be produced on TX. You may optionally include a "cookie", within your debug extern call, i.e.: nv_send_debug_pkt(8w0x42). This cookie may help differentiate between different debug extern calls, and will appear in your debugging output.

Last updated: February 19, 2025