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Unifying P4 with eBPF and DPDK via XDP2#

OCP Global Summit 2025 digest Program Core pick 13–16 October 2025

Abstract Recording

Speakers: Tom Herbert (XDPnet)

Play the recording: Unifying P4 with eBPF and DPDK via XDP2

  • Why: The PM's eBPF/datapath interest makes this directly relevant: XDP2 attacks the fragmentation between P4 (switch ASICs), eBPF/XDP (hosts), and DPDK (userspace fast paths) — a real pain point for anyone building programmable network functions across targets.
  • What: XDP2, a unified programming model that takes the best of P4, XDP/eBPF, and DPDK so users can program in their language of choice and run the same code unmodified across a variety of targets. (from abstract only)
  • How: A target-agnostic model that lets datapath code be written once and compiled to switch ASICs, kernel eBPF, and userspace/DPDK execution — the abstract does not describe the compiler/IR mechanism, so expect that in the talk.
  • Where applicable: General-purpose infrastructure programming; Tom Herbert's track record (XDP, XDPnet) lends credibility. Early-stage effort — the abstract is a vision plus workshop pointer rather than results, so judge maturity from the live demo.