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Build & Run DPDK on Linux

DPDK applications run in user space and rely on:

  • Hugepages
  • CPU affinity/pinning
  • A NIC driver model (kernel driver or user-space bound device, depending on setup)

Typical prerequisites​

  • Linux (recommended)
  • A supported NIC
  • Root privileges (or appropriate permissions) for hugepages and device access
  • DPDK installed (from packages or built from source)

Common workflow (high level)​

  1. Configure hugepages
  2. Ensure your NIC is available to DPDK
  3. Run a known-good sample app (like dpdk-testpmd)
  4. Build and run your own minimal app

This guide’s examples repo includes CMake-based examples that link against installed DPDK.

Next: EAL & mbufs