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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=====================
+Segmentation Offloads
+=====================
+
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+This document describes a set of techniques in the Linux networking stack
+to take advantage of segmentation offload capabilities of various NICs.
+
+The following technologies are described:
+ * TCP Segmentation Offload - TSO
+ * UDP Fragmentation Offload - UFO
+ * IPIP, SIT, GRE, and UDP Tunnel Offloads
+ * Generic Segmentation Offload - GSO
+ * Generic Receive Offload - GRO
+ * Partial Generic Segmentation Offload - GSO_PARTIAL
+ * SCTP acceleration with GSO - GSO_BY_FRAGS
+
+
+TCP Segmentation Offload
+========================
+
+TCP segmentation allows a device to segment a single frame into multiple
+frames with a data payload size specified in skb_shinfo()->gso_size.
+When TCP segmentation requested the bit for either SKB_GSO_TCPV4 or
+SKB_GSO_TCPV6 should be set in skb_shinfo()->gso_type and
+skb_shinfo()->gso_size should be set to a non-zero value.
+
+TCP segmentation is dependent on support for the use of partial checksum
+offload. For this reason TSO is normally disabled if the Tx checksum
+offload for a given device is disabled.
+
+In order to support TCP segmentation offload it is necessary to populate
+the network and transport header offsets of the skbuff so that the device
+drivers will be able determine the offsets of the IP or IPv6 header and the
+TCP header. In addition as CHECKSUM_PARTIAL is required csum_start should
+also point to the TCP header of the packet.
+
+For IPv4 segmentation we support one of two types in terms of the IP ID.
+The default behavior is to increment the IP ID with every segment. If the
+GSO type SKB_GSO_TCP_FIXEDID is specified then we will not increment the IP
+ID and all segments will use the same IP ID. If a device has
+NETIF_F_TSO_MANGLEID set then the IP ID can be ignored when performing TSO
+and we will either increment the IP ID for all frames, or leave it at a
+static value based on driver preference.
+
+
+UDP Fragmentation Offload
+=========================
+
+UDP fragmentation offload allows a device to fragment an oversized UDP
+datagram into multiple IPv4 fragments. Many of the requirements for UDP
+fragmentation offload are the same as TSO. However the IPv4 ID for
+fragments should not increment as a single IPv4 datagram is fragmented.
+
+UFO is deprecated: modern kernels will no longer generate UFO skbs, but can
+still receive them from tuntap and similar devices. Offload of UDP-based
+tunnel protocols is still supported.
+
+
+IPIP, SIT, GRE, UDP Tunnel, and Remote Checksum Offloads
+========================================================
+
+In addition to the offloads described above it is possible for a frame to
+contain additional headers such as an outer tunnel. In order to account
+for such instances an additional set of segmentation offload types were
+introduced including SKB_GSO_IPXIP4, SKB_GSO_IPXIP6, SKB_GSO_GRE, and
+SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL. These extra segmentation types are used to identify
+cases where there are more than just 1 set of headers. For example in the
+case of IPIP and SIT we should have the network and transport headers moved
+from the standard list of headers to "inner" header offsets.
+
+Currently only two levels of headers are supported. The convention is to
+refer to the tunnel headers as the outer headers, while the encapsulated
+data is normally referred to as the inner headers. Below is the list of
+calls to access the given headers:
+
+IPIP/SIT Tunnel::
+
+ Outer Inner
+ MAC skb_mac_header
+ Network skb_network_header skb_inner_network_header
+ Transport skb_transport_header
+
+UDP/GRE Tunnel::
+
+ Outer Inner
+ MAC skb_mac_header skb_inner_mac_header
+ Network skb_network_header skb_inner_network_header
+ Transport skb_transport_header skb_inner_transport_header
+
+In addition to the above tunnel types there are also SKB_GSO_GRE_CSUM and
+SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM. These two additional tunnel types reflect the
+fact that the outer header also requests to have a non-zero checksum
+included in the outer header.
+
+Finally there is SKB_GSO_TUNNEL_REMCSUM which indicates that a given tunnel
+header has requested a remote checksum offload. In this case the inner
+headers will be left with a partial checksum and only the outer header
+checksum will be computed.
+
+
+Generic Segmentation Offload
+============================
+
+Generic segmentation offload is a pure software offload that is meant to
+deal with cases where device drivers cannot perform the offloads described
+above. What occurs in GSO is that a given skbuff will have its data broken
+out over multiple skbuffs that have been resized to match the MSS provided
+via skb_shinfo()->gso_size.
+
+Before enabling any hardware segmentation offload a corresponding software
+offload is required in GSO. Otherwise it becomes possible for a frame to
+be re-routed between devices and end up being unable to be transmitted.
+
+
+Generic Receive Offload
+=======================
+
+Generic receive offload is the complement to GSO. Ideally any frame
+assembled by GRO should be segmented to create an identical sequence of
+frames using GSO, and any sequence of frames segmented by GSO should be
+able to be reassembled back to the original by GRO. The only exception to
+this is IPv4 ID in the case that the DF bit is set for a given IP header.
+If the value of the IPv4 ID is not sequentially incrementing it will be
+altered so that it is when a frame assembled via GRO is segmented via GSO.
+
+
+Partial Generic Segmentation Offload
+====================================
+
+Partial generic segmentation offload is a hybrid between TSO and GSO. What
+it effectively does is take advantage of certain traits of TCP and tunnels
+so that instead of having to rewrite the packet headers for each segment
+only the inner-most transport header and possibly the outer-most network
+header need to be updated. This allows devices that do not support tunnel
+offloads or tunnel offloads with checksum to still make use of segmentation.
+
+With the partial offload what occurs is that all headers excluding the
+inner transport header are updated such that they will contain the correct
+values for if the header was simply duplicated. The one exception to this
+is the outer IPv4 ID field. It is up to the device drivers to guarantee
+that the IPv4 ID field is incremented in the case that a given header does
+not have the DF bit set.
+
+
+SCTP acceleration with GSO
+===========================
+
+SCTP - despite the lack of hardware support - can still take advantage of
+GSO to pass one large packet through the network stack, rather than
+multiple small packets.
+
+This requires a different approach to other offloads, as SCTP packets
+cannot be just segmented to (P)MTU. Rather, the chunks must be contained in
+IP segments, padding respected. So unlike regular GSO, SCTP can't just
+generate a big skb, set gso_size to the fragmentation point and deliver it
+to IP layer.
+
+Instead, the SCTP protocol layer builds an skb with the segments correctly
+padded and stored as chained skbs, and skb_segment() splits based on those.
+To signal this, gso_size is set to the special value GSO_BY_FRAGS.
+
+Therefore, any code in the core networking stack must be aware of the
+possibility that gso_size will be GSO_BY_FRAGS and handle that case
+appropriately.
+
+There are some helpers to make this easier:
+
+- skb_is_gso(skb) && skb_is_gso_sctp(skb) is the best way to see if
+ an skb is an SCTP GSO skb.
+
+- For size checks, the skb_gso_validate_*_len family of helpers correctly
+ considers GSO_BY_FRAGS.
+
+- For manipulating packets, skb_increase_gso_size and skb_decrease_gso_size
+ will check for GSO_BY_FRAGS and WARN if asked to manipulate these skbs.
+
+This also affects drivers with the NETIF_F_FRAGLIST & NETIF_F_GSO_SCTP bits
+set. Note also that NETIF_F_GSO_SCTP is included in NETIF_F_GSO_SOFTWARE.