Meeting Overview and Purpose

The DPDK Governing Board convened with quorum to review operational milestones from the past year and prepare for upcoming budget planning for the next calendar year. The session focused on evaluating ongoing support services, community outreach, lab infrastructure, and event planning to determine baseline allocations and explore potential new project initiatives ahead of a formal budget vote.

Minutes Approval

The Board formally reviewed and approved the meeting minutes from the prior September session without objection.

Marketing Review

Marketing initiatives focused on developer recruitment, engagement, and global reach. Growth was reported across social channels and newsletters, bolstered by a steady rollout of summit session recordings. Strategic revisions to the project website and mailing lists prioritized attracting patch reviewers and new code contributors. In addition, back-end enhancements, AI-assisted review tooling, and new regional social platforms supported by volunteer translation efforts helped expand the project’s presence across the Asia-Pacific region.

UNH Lab and Testing Infrastructure

The UNH-IOL team reported steady execution of continuous integration, unit, and performance testing, delivering automated verification and reporting directly into project pipelines. Updates included new architectural reporting on the graphical dashboard, an AI-assisted patch evaluation workflow, and dedicated testing support for security remediations. The test development team met baseline statement-of-work goals while delivering supplemental community test suites, expanding coverage across multiple subsystems and topologies, and regularly hosting community integration forums.

Program Management

Project program management maintained consistent member engagement, achieving sustained year-over-year member retention through dedicated outreach and joint governance-technical syncs. Key initiatives included managing Asia-Pacific volunteer onboarding, coordinating on-site event logistics, supporting technical marketing messaging, and executing a seamless coverage transition during a planned leave of absence.

Events Review and Future Planning

A recap of the Stockholm Summit highlighted strong overall growth in hybrid attendance, community session proposals, and technical program breadth, featuring real-world deployments alongside emerging technology tracks. Post-event attendee feedback was overwhelmingly favorable regarding session quality and networking opportunities. Extended digital asset distribution helped amplify content globally, including tailored channels for regions with limited access to mainstream video platforms. Preliminary planning for the upcoming Vienna Summit is progressing, with hotel accommodations held pending board budget approval.

Additional Business: Tooling Upgrades

Following a request from the Technical Board, the Governing Board agreed without objection to increase the monthly tooling allocation to support upgrades to advanced AI models utilized in lab testing, directing project management to incorporate the adjustment into current forecasts and future planning.

Action Items and Next Steps

Ahead of the scheduled budget vote, respective leads will circulate updated vendor and operational statements of work—including lab operations, developer hiring, marketing, and program management. Board leadership and project management will finalize the formal presentation and voting materials for the next meeting.

DPDK Governing Board Meeting Summary – September 16, 2026

Meeting Overview and Minutes Approval

The DPDK Governing Board convened virtually on Tuesday, September 16, 2026. Nathan Southern (The Linux Foundation) opened the meeting, displayed the Linux Foundation Antitrust Policy, and established quorum with eight of the ten board members present.

Board Chair Tim O’Driscoll (Intel) led the meeting. The board formally voted on and approved the minutes from the joint Technical and Governing Board meeting held on August 25, 2026.

Financial Update

Board Treasurer Keesang Song (AMD) delivered an update on the DPDK project’s financial standing as it approaches the end of Q3 2026:

• Financial Health & Retention: The project maintains a solid financial foundation as it rounds out the third quarter. For the fourth consecutive year, DPDK achieved 100% corporate member retention.

• Revenue & Budget Allocation: Revenues continue to be driven primarily by annual membership dues, along with event proceeds and quarterly interest disbursements. Annual budget allocations remain focused heavily on Community Engagement and Development/Community Support, with smaller portions dedicated to Staff & Operations and General & Administrative overhead.

• Major Investments: Key expenditures during the fiscal year include costs associated with the Stockholm Summit (inclusive of board travel coverage) and ongoing quarterly operational payments for the UNH Community Lab and DTS developers.

Operations and Ecosystem Updates

Nathan Southern outlined several upcoming operational milestones and strategic outreach plans:

• Budget & Renewal Season: The leadership team is preparing budget drafts for the upcoming year. As in past cycles, the board will vote separately on baseline operational necessities (PMO, marketing, UNH lab) and elective options (future summits, DTS developers). Member renewal notices will be issued in October. Early check-ins with member organizations have yielded positive responses and strong alignment on technical priorities.

• Upcoming Elections: Elections will launch in January for four key roles: Board Chair, Board Vice Chair, Board Treasurer, and the Silver Member Representative. All current incumbents are eligible to run.

• Ecosystem Expansion: Efforts to expand DPDK’s global footprint continue, including translating key membership materials into Mandarin to aid APAC outreach, as well as holding early discussions with a major cloud provider regarding deeper collaboration.

Marketing Updates

Ben Thomas (The Linux Foundation) summarized recent promotional activities and strategic initiatives:

• Semi-Annual Reporting & Website Growth: The H1 2026 Report and H2 2026 Plan are available, highlighting strong online engagement and website traffic improvements following recent design updates.

• Community Conversion: To convert mailing list participants into active code reviewers, an automated Call to Action (CTA) mechanism is being developed alongside lead maintainer Thomas Monjalon.

• APAC Engagement & Content: Monthly outreach calls and local channels (WeChat, Bilibili, Maimai) are active for the APAC region, along with localized newsletter content. An updated membership presentation deck is also being prepared.

2027 Summit Planning

Evi Harmon (The Linux Foundation) presented two primary options for the 2027 DPDK Summit:

1. Brussels, Belgium (Late January): Timed to precede FOSDEM to leverage broader developer attendance, though constrained by a tight promotional window and proximity to the Chinese New Year.

2. Vienna, Austria (Early May): Offers significantly more lead time for promotion and planning, though it enters a busier spring open-source conference schedule.

The board ended in an even split during the initial vote. Nathan Southern will collect the remaining offline votes from absent members via email to help decide the final location and timing.

The DPDK Governing Board convened virtually on June 16, 2026, with Vice Chair Ian Jolliffe (Red Hat) leading the meeting in place of Chair Tim O’Driscoll. Because a quorum was not established during the call, routine board approvals—including the approval of prior meeting minutes—were transitioned to an offline voting process.

Stockholm Summit Recap and Future Event Strategy

The meeting opened with a recap of the DPDK Summit in Stockholm. The event achieved strong engagement across both technical and end-user sessions, highlighted by a notable presentation from CERN and high overall attendee satisfaction. Post-event survey feedback indicated a strong desire for continued face-to-face gatherings, with community interest leaning toward future presentation topics such as security, AI-aided testing, and flow offloading.

Looking ahead to future events, the board evaluated options for 2027 and agreed to focus strategy on two regional summits: a spring event in Europe followed by a second event in Asia. European locations currently under consideration include Geneva—with potential collaboration alongside CERN—as well as Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon.

Technical Board Leadership and Release Updates

Transitioning to technical operations, the board announced that Jerin Jacob (Marvell) will assume the role of Technical Board representative to the Governing Board starting July 1, succeeding Hemant Agrawal.

On the development front, Release Candidate 1 (RC1) for DPDK 26.07 was issued on June 11, introducing 432 patches targeted at performance, virtualization, memory, and RISC-V improvements. The targeted final release remains scheduled for July 16, though reviewer bandwidth continues to be a central focus for maintaining patch flow. In addition, maintenance release 25.11.1 was recently published.

The board also reviewed the ongoing AI code review initiative. The non-blocking AI helper tool is currently active for the 26.07 RC1 cycle, and early feedback has been positive, showing success in catching logical issues while operating within planned cost limits. The Technical Board expects to issue a broader recommendation on long-term adoption following the July release.

Marketing Initiatives and Regional Growth

In marketing and digital initiatives, progress continues on redesigning the main website to improve user experience on the homepage and onboarding pages. The Linux Foundation is also deploying Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) across DPDK web properties to ensure project content is accurately indexed and cited by large language models. Post-summit content distribution is underway, including video rollouts on YouTube and Bilibili, developer spotlights, user stories, and the release of the Q2 newsletter.

Finally, the project is stepping up efforts to expand its presence across the Asia-Pacific region. DPDK is increasing its communication schedule on WeChat to foster engagement in China and is evaluating the establishment of a dedicated monthly APAC synchronization meeting.

Governing Board Meeting Summary – March  24,2026

Leadership and Governance Transitions The DPDK Governing Board convened in late March to address several key organizational changes and project updates. The board bid farewell to long-time member and contributor Gal Cohen of NVIDIA, who contributed to the project for over six years. In his place, the board welcomed Asaf Penso from NVIDIA, who brings a wealth of experience in research and development to the governing body.

Project Membership and Stability The project continues to demonstrate strong organizational health and high member retention. Updates provided during the session indicated that the vast majority of current members have successfully renewed their commitments for the year. This stability across both Gold and Silver membership tiers ensures that the project remains well-supported by its industry partners as it moves into the second quarter of the year.

Strategic Financial Oversight The board reviewed the comprehensive budget and resource allocation plan for 2026. Financial reporting indicated a healthy fiscal position, with significant investments directed toward community support, marketing, and developer engagement. While the board noted a minor technical gap between projected revenue and the total budget, the overall financial outlook remains robust. New leadership members were briefed on the budget’s composition to ensure transparency and continuity in fiscal oversight.

Brand Refresh and Digital Modernization A significant proposal was introduced regarding a visual brand refresh for the project. Since the project has not undergone a major aesthetic update since 2017, the board discussed a plan to modernize typography and color schemes to improve the experience for new developers and visitors. This initiative also includes a “Generative Engine Optimization” audit to ensure the project’s documentation and website remain accessible and high-performing when accessed by AI-driven search tools and bots.

Upcoming European Summit in Stockholm Preparations are reaching their final stages for the May 2026 European Summit in Stockholm. The board reviewed the successful conclusion of the Call for Proposals, which resulted in over twenty accepted submissions. With the official schedule now live and registration numbers climbing for both in-person and virtual attendance, the focus has shifted to logistical planning. This includes coordinating a joint meeting with the Tech Board in late April to finalize the agenda and ensuring all board travel arrangements are settled within established reimbursement guidelines.

Future Planning and Collaborative Goals The meeting concluded with a commitment to finalizing the scope of the brand refresh and ensuring all new board members are fully integrated into the project’s administrative processes. By prioritizing both the technical roadmap and the project’s public-facing image, the board aims to attract a broader pool of contributors and reviewers. The Governing Board is scheduled to reconvene in late April to continue overseeing these strategic initiatives.

Joint Forum Fosters Open Dialogue on Cross-Cutting Issues

The Governing Board and Technical Board convened for their quarterly joint meeting, providing a dedicated forum for transparent discussion on matters that span both the technical and governance aspects of the project. Board Chair Tim O’Driscoll welcomed attendees and emphasized the value of these sessions as an opportunity for open, and even occasionally conflicting, views to be aired in the interest of advancing the project. The meeting brought together leadership from across member organizations to address strategic priorities, resource planning, and community growth.

Member Resourcing and the Path to New Feature Development

A central topic of discussion was the challenge of turning ambitious roadmap proposals into reality. The Tech Board clarified that while it can provide guidance, wisdom, and direction, it does not control or allocate development resources. For new features to materialize, contributing member organizations must commit engineering resources. The most successful past initiatives, such as event and crypto devices, succeeded because one company took the lead with an initial prototype, after which others joined in with feedback and support. Alternative models were also explored, including the possibility of hiring paid contractors for critically needed work that no member company is pursuing organically, or member companies assigning dedicated resources to specific development areas.

Prioritizing the Roadmap with a New “DPDK Wishes” Tool

To bring greater structure to roadmap planning, the boards discussed a new tool in Bugzilla called “DPDK Wishes,” demonstrated by Lead Maintainer Thomas Monjalon. The tool is designed to collect and vet feature requests and new directions for the project. This will allow the boards to review, discuss, and prioritize submissions based on common interest across member organizations. A dedicated brainstorming session at the upcoming Q2 joint meeting in Stockholm was identified as the ideal forum to begin working through these priorities and discussing how resources might be aligned.

AI-Powered Assistant Aims to Onboard New Code Reviewers

The project showcased a new AI-powered code review assistant developed by Ben Thomas. Unlike automated review bots that evaluate code quality, this assistant is designed to help human reviewers—particularly newcomers—understand patches and learn how to provide meaningful feedback. By pasting a patch, users receive a plain-language explanation of what it does, what to focus on, and suggestions for comments. The tool walks users through a 30-minute review workflow and provides just enough DPDK context to get started. Stephen Hemminger, who has been refining a detailed “agents.md” file of coding style guidelines, will collaborate with Thomas to incorporate this rich context into the assistant, making it an even more powerful onboarding tool for the next generation of reviewers.

Plans Take Shape for the DPDK Stockholm Summit

With the CFP deadline extended to March 1, the Stockholm Summit has received approximately 20 submissions, meeting the minimum threshold. Attendee numbers are growing, and the program is expected to diversify beyond traditional presentations. Inspired by positive feedback from the Prague event, organizers are actively encouraging demos and Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions to increase interactivity. Patrick Robb of UNH previewed a planned demo where he will live-apply a patch, run the flow rule test suite, and demonstrate how the output aids in debugging. The boards were asked to consider additional non-traditional formats to make the program engaging for all participants.

Strategic Focus on Asia-Pacific Community Growth

The project continues to see robust growth in Asian participation, reflected in both contributor numbers and the substantial volume of Chinese drivers in recent releases. Efforts to deepen engagement include Mandarin-language articles in the quarterly newsletter and videos on the new Bilibili channel, led by two community members based in China. Looking ahead, the boards discussed the possibility of an Asian summit in 2026, either as a standalone event or co-located with a preestablished conference. Success would require on-the-ground planning support from Asian stakeholders, and further discussions with the Linux Foundation Events team are planned to assess feasibility.

DPDK Project Update: Highlights from the February 17, 2026 Governing Board Meeting

Technical Focus Shifts to Code Hardening and Quality

The DPDK project’s technical roadmap for the upcoming 26.03 release is prioritizing stability and correctness over the introduction of major new features. Currently in the pre-release candidate phase, the development cycle is characterized by significant “code hardening” and refactoring efforts. Approximately half of all commits in this cycle are dedicated to fixes and backports, reflecting a strategic emphasis on reinforcing the software’s foundation. This focus on a Q1 release is in line with the project’s typical cadence, where the year-end .11 release serves as the primary Long Term Stable (LTS) version.

AI-Powered Code Reviews Show Promising Early Results

The integration of artificial intelligence into the code review process is progressing rapidly and yielding tangible benefits. The project team reported that AI-assisted reviews are already proving valuable, consistently identifying bugs and raising pertinent questions that manual reviews might miss. To operationalize this, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) lab will host the new AI review system. It will be implemented as an additional quality gate, reviewing only those patches that have first passed the project’s standard automated tests. This initiative is expected to significantly enhance code quality and evolve the role of human reviewers over time.

Strategic Marketing Push to Cultivate Reviewers and Contributors

The project unveiled its 2026 marketing strategy, which sets a clear goal to revitalize the community by strengthening both the contributor and reviewer pipelines. Following a year-on-year dip in commits, the board acknowledged a historical over-emphasis on attracting new contributors at the expense of cultivating new reviewers. The new plan aims to correct this imbalance by creating a more intuitive “new reviewer journey” on the project website. Key performance indicators will track engagement and growth, with the ultimate objective of fostering a healthier ecosystem where participants are encouraged to both contribute code and participate in the review process.

Preparations Underway for the DPDK Stockholm Summit

Plans are advancing for the upcoming DPDK Summit, to be held in Stockholm on May 12-13. The Call for Proposals (CFP) has been extended to March 1st to maximize participation and ensure a diverse and engaging program. A highlight of the summit will be a live demonstration from the UNH lab, showing how developers can integrate the DPDK Test Suite (DTS) into their local workflows to validate new features like flow offload support. The event will also feature collaborative working sessions for the Governing and Technical Boards, reinforcing the community-driven approach that guides the project’s development.

Meeting Overview and 2026 Planning:
The DPDK Governing Board met on December 16, 2025, to review the project’s 2026 budget and key initiatives. The session built upon the operational budget approved in November and addressed optional investments for the coming year, including test suite development and promotional activities.

UNH Lab and Test Suite Development Vote:
The Board discussed a proposal to continue funding student developers at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab to expand the DPDK Test Suite (DTS). While the members present were in favor, the vote did not reach the required quorum during the meeting. The resolution will be circulated to absent Governing Board members for a final decision via email and LFX.

LinkedIn Promotional Spend Vote:
A second proposal concerned a budget allocation for LinkedIn advertising to promote the 2026 Summit, developer recruitment, and the project’s 15th anniversary. After discussion, the vote during the meeting did not reach majority approval. This item will also be circulated to the full Governing Board for an off-meeting vote.

2026 DPDK Euro Summit – Stockholm:
Detailed planning for the 2026 DPDK Euro Summit is progressing. The event will be held at the Hotel Scandic Grand Central in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 12-13, 2026, with a maximum capacity of 150 attendees. A hotel room block will be available from May 11-14. The agenda will follow the successful format of previous summits, including a Tech Board meeting on May 11 and a joint Governing Board/Tech Board working dinner.

In response to community feedback, the 2026 Summit will feature a more diverse format, including panel sessions, birds-of-a-feather discussions, and individual speaker talks, in addition to upholding the Linux Foundation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion standards. While virtual presentations will be permitted, in-person talks will be strongly encouraged to enhance engagement.

The Call for Papers will open on January 13 and run through February 22, with speaker notifications scheduled for March 11. The full schedule will be published on March 18, 2026. Attendees can expect uniquely Swedish speaker gifts, and the project will provide travel reimbursements for eligible contributors.

2025 Year-End Review and Forward Look:
The Board highlighted a successful year for DPDK in 2025, marked by 100% member retention, significant growth in social media engagement, and the well-received Prague Summit. Key technical strides were made in AI-assisted code review tools and the authoring of DPDK Life Cycle documentation. The collaboration with the UNH Lab yielded substantial improvements to the DPDK Test Suite (DTS), including a simplified setup process and more than double the number of test suites, helping to identify issues and standardize behavior across drivers. Goals for 2026 will be circulated to the Board for further discussion and refinement.

The DPDK Governing Board convened on September 16, 2025, with a quorum of members present. The meeting covered a wide range of project updates and strategic initiatives. A Tech Board update was provided, highlighting that the release candidate for DPDK v.25.11 is on track for October. The deprecation of the 32-bit x86 architecture has been postponed, as testing for this compilation will continue due to ongoing benefits. The ecosystem is growing, with a new IronCore project, dpservice, now listed on the DPDK website for its use of the Graph framework.

A key topic of discussion was the evolving approach to AI-generated code contributions. The board confirmed that such code is currently permissible under the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) policy, aligning with Linux Foundation standards. While the Tech Board is considering options for tagging AI-assisted code in the future, the practicality of this is in question, and legal responsibility for any submission remains with the developer. The project is also evaluating the effectiveness of AI code review tools and the potential for developing a customized, DPDK-specific solution.

UNH Interoperability Lab is making significant progress with the DPDK Test Suite (DTS), and the board is currently evaluating whether it wishes to continue to hire DTS Student Developers in 2026 as an elective expense. With this in mind, UNH Lab representative Patrick Robb presented the progress of the 2025 developers to the board. He stated that the 2025 student developer program has been successful, more than doubling the number of test suites and delivering substantial framework improvements that simplify setup and usage. If the program continues in 2026, it would focus on advancing testing priorities, including virtio/virtualization, RTE_FLOW, and cryptodev coverage. The Governing Board will review a formal proposal to approve this elective expense at a future meeting.

DPDK marketing efforts continue to gain momentum with a robust content pipeline focused on the project’s 15th-anniversary, including user stories and technical blogs. The strategic shift to distributing news primarily via LinkedIn on a quarterly cadence has resulted in significantly increased engagement. On the events front, planning is underway for a major DPDK summit in Europe for Spring 2026, and several possible European cities with corresponding venues are being evaluated for availability, cost, and accessibility.

On August 19, 2025, the DPDK Governing Board convened with a quorum present (8 out of 11 voting members) to discuss a range of project matters. The session began with standard administrative procedures, including an introduction from the newest board member. The agenda was then addressed, covering strategic planning for the remainder of the year and key operational updates from various project functions.

The discussion began with a review of the strategy for future summits. The cancellation of a planned event in Santa Clara prompted a review of the project’s event model. There was strong consensus on the success of the previous European conference in Prague and a preference for holding a single, accessible annual summit in Europe, coordinated by Linux Foundation Event Management Services. The conversation also explored the potential benefits of co-locating with networking-themed  Linux Foundation events to share resources and reach different audiences. A decision was made to pursue a European summit for the following year.

Financial and marketing updates were also provided. The project was reported to be in a solid financial position, with a noted improvement in aligning expenses with revenue after several cost-saving measures were implemented.

The marketing lead reported a successful shift in strategy for the project newsletter, moving it to a different platform and focusing on a campaign for the 15th anniversary of the project, which resulted in significantly increased engagement metrics.

Finally, technical and operational updates were given. The UNH Interoperability Lab reported positive progress on test suite development and community lab operations. An update was also provided on the exploration of AI tools for code review, resulting in a plan to trial a low-cost option.

The meeting concluded with the approval of the previous minutes from July 15, 2025, and then formally adjourned.