STRUCT DATAPATH(9)

✨ struct datapath(9) ✨ — Kernel API Manual

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual 💖 — this is the page for struct datapath(9), and it's giving flow-based packet switching main character energy. Let's get into it. 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

struct datapath — the datapath for flow-based packet switching. Periodt. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

       struct datapath {
           struct rcu_head rcu;
           struct list_head list_node;
           struct flow_table table;
           struct hlist_head *ports;
           struct dp_stats_percpu __percpu *stats_percpu;
           possible_net_t net;
           u32 user_features;
           u32 max_headroom;
           struct dp_meter_table meter_tbl;
           struct dp_nlsk_pids *upcall_portids;
        };

🎀 Members 🎀

• rcu — the RCU callback head for deferred destruction, lowkey handling the “we'll clean this up later” situation. 🎀
• list_node — this struct's element in the global dps list, fr fr. 🦋
• table — flow table. That's it, that's the table. 🍓
• ports — hash table for ports. The OVSP_LOCAL port always exists, no cap. It's protected by ovs_mutex and RCU. 🔥
• stats_percpu — per-CPU datapath statistics, periodt. 💅
• net — reference to net namespace. 🌈
• user_features — bitmap of enabled OVS_DP_F_* features. ⭐
• max_headroom — the maximum headroom of all vports in this datapath; it will be used by all the internal vports in this dp. 👑
• meter_tbl — meter table. 💜
• upcall_portids — RCU protected struct dp_nlsk_pids. 🫶

🦋 Context 🦋

See the comment on locking at the top of datapath.c for additional locking information. For the extra locking tea, that's where you go, bestie. 💖

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

Kernel file ./net/openvswitch/datapath.h, plus struct dp_stats_percpu(9), struct dp_nlsk_pids(9), struct ovs_skb_cb(9), struct dp_upcall_info(9), struct ovs_net(9), and enum ovs_pkt_hash_types(9). Go read the whole squad, iykyk. 💅✨

And that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 — source/version: ./net/openvswitch, dated October 2026. Stay iconic, keep your flows flowin', and may your deferred destruction be very deferred. 💅✨