DOCA Compatibility Policy
This page details the DOCA compatibility policy which governs how different components of the DOCA software stack—spanning the host, device, firmware, and hardware—and interact across different releases.
The DOCA compatibility policy provides customers with high velocity and flexibility during updates, enabling them to update specific layers of their system without requiring a full stack overhaul.
Key motivations:
Decoupled updates – Supporting customers who have different teams managing separate parts of the software stack (e.g., firmware vs. user-space applications).
Targeted upgrades – Allowing upgrades relevant to only a subset of devices on a server.
Reduced maintenance – Minimizing downtime and complexity by only updating necessary components.
Investment protection – Guaranteeing that customer applications will continue to operate successfully after updating to a newer DOCA software release.
This policy applies to all NVIDIA network device products and their associated software and firmware stacks.
Compatibility is defined by the relationship between two layers when one is updated while the other remains unchanged. This relationship is defined using three key parameters: Layers, type, and direction.
Layers
Compatibility involves two interacting layers of the software/firmware stack running on either the host server or the network device.
Type of Compatibility
Source compatibility (API persistence) – The ability to re-compile older source code without errors against newer platform libraries. This ensures that the published interfaces (APIs) remain consistent.
Binary compatibility (symbols persistence) – The ability to run an older compiled program (binary) without errors against newer platform runtime libraries.
Behavioral compatibility – Preserving the logical output and function of the code at runtime. Given the same input for the same interface, the same logical behavior is expected.
Direction of Compatibility
Backward compatibility – The functionality continues to work when the lower layer (e.g., device firmware) is updated while the upper layer (e.g., host application) remains the same.
Forward compatibility – The functionality continues to work when the upper layer is updated while the lower layer remains the same.
DOCA product releases follow a structured cadence and versioning scheme to clearly communicate the scope of changes.
Release cadence – The software platform package is released quarterly (e.g., Jan, Apr, July, Oct) as "General Availability (GA) releases," which include new features, performance enhancements, and bug fixes.
Long-term support (LTS) – The October release of each year is designated as an LTS version.
LTS versions are supported for three years.
They receive updates that contain only bug fixes, no new features.
An LTS version receives seven total updates ("LTS train") – three in the first year and two in each of the subsequent two years.
Semantic versioning – NVIDIA follows the Semantic Versioning scheme (X.Y.Z), where:
X – Major version – Incremented when incompatible API changes may be introduced.
Y – Minor version – Incremented when new functionality is added in a backward compatible manner.
Z – Patch version – Incremented for backward compatible bug fixes.
DOCA defines specific compatibility policies based on the user role:
DOCA Dependency Compatibility Policy – Designed for DOCA Administrators
DOCA SDK Compatibility Policy – Designed for DOCA Developers
The following subpages describe these policies in more detail: