Review Your First DPDK Patch in 30 Minutes
DPDK powers the networking layer of some of the fastest systems on the internet. No commit access needed. No prior experience required. Just open a patch, read it, and share what you notice.
The Best Way Into Open Source
Code review is how most DPDK contributors get started, and stay.
Learn Fast
Reviewing is the fastest way to understand how production-grade systems code actually works. Real decisions, not textbook examples.
Low Pressure
A review can be one sentence. A question, an observation, or a test result — any of these is a genuine contribution.
Real Impact
Your feedback becomes part of the permanent project record. Good reviews catch bugs and make the codebase better for everyone.
Three Steps. Thirty Minutes.
No setup required. No account needed to browse.
Step 1: Open Patchwork
Patchwork is where all submitted DPDK patches live. Browse recent submissions and look for something small and self-contained that matches your interests.
Step 2: Read a Patch
Start with the description — it explains what changed and why. Then look at the code. Does this do what it says? Is anything confusing? Are there edge cases?
Step 3: Reply with Your Thoughts
Click through to the email thread and share what you noticed. A question, an observation, or a test result — any of these counts.
What a Good Review Looks Like
The kinds of comments that actually make a difference. None of them are long:
Testing
“I tested this on [hardware] and it worked — no regressions on my setup.”
Clarity
“The conditional in lines 45–52 is hard to follow. Could this be a helper function?”
Edge Case
“What happens when the buffer pointer is null here? Looks like an unhandled path.”
Not Sure What to Look For?
The DPDK Review Assistant summarizes patches in plain language and highlights what matters — ABI changes, performance implications, missing tests. It won’t write your review, but it makes sure you know where to look.
Ready to Contribute?
The hardest part is opening the first patch. Everything after that is just reading, thinking, and maybe asking a question.
Open Patchwork → | Join the dev mailing list→
