Daemon Compatibility

Pathvector is one binary with one backend setting — backend: in pathvector.yml selects which routing daemon's native config is rendered and which control channel is driven. The peer model, templates, PeeringDB, IRR, communities, policy, and the optimizer are shared by every backend.

Every backend is verified against released daemon versions by automated test matrices that run on every change to dev/main.

Tested versions

Regenerate this table from the matrix version files with make compat (tests/compat-report.sh).

Regenerate the chart with tests/gen-compat-heatmap.py.

<details> <summary>Every version exercised</summary>

BIRD — v2.0.7 v2.0.12 v2.13.1 v2.14 v2.15.1 v2.16.2 v2.17.7 v2.18.4 v2.19.3 v2.20.0 v3.0.5 v3.1.9 v3.2.4 v3.3.3 v3.4.0

FRR — frr-9.1.3 frr-10.0.5 frr-10.1.5 frr-10.2.6 frr-10.3.4 frr-10.5.5 frr-10.7.1

Cairn — 0.1.1

</details>

Checking your daemon

Run pathvector compat on the router to query the installed daemon's version and compare it against the tested range:

$ pathvector compat
Backend:      bird
Daemon:       BIRD
Version:      3.4.0
Tested range: v2.0.7 – v3.4.0
Status:       supported

Status is supported inside the tested range, newer-than-tested above it (probably fine, but not CI-covered — report issues), older-than-tested below the minimum, or unreachable/unknown when the daemon can't be queried. Run it on the router itself — generate is often run on a separate config host where the daemon isn't installed.

What each matrix entry checks

For every version in versions.txt the matrix:

1. Generates Pathvector's config for that backend.
2. Validates it with the daemon's own checker — bird -p, vtysh -C/vtysh -b, or cairnd --check.
3. Runs a live daemon on the generated config.
4. Drives the control channel — status, restart, diff, and the metrics endpoint.

On top of the per-version matrices, tests/e2e runs a full dual-stack BGP lab (IPv4 + IPv6 sessions, route propagation both directions, IRR filtering, optimizer probing, all CLI commands) against BIRD, and tests/cairn-e2e runs the equivalent lab against Cairn.

Support policy

• BIRD — minimum v2.0.7 (supportedMin in pkg/bird/bird.go), enforced at runtime. No maximum: BIRD 3.x is fully supported.
• FRR — the generated config targets ≥ 10.1. FRR ≤ 10.0 works with rpki-enable: false (the rpki cache tcp keywords were added in 10.1). FRR 7.x/8.x predate libyang 2 and can't build on the modern toolchain.
• Cairn — experimental. Cairn is early-release/private-beta; its .deb isn't publicly distributed, so tests/cairn-e2e needs a local package.

Known limitations

These are documented, version-specific gaps — not silent failures:

Adding a version

Append the release tag to the matching file — CI picks it up automatically:

• tests/bird-matrix/versions.txt — BIRD git tags (vX.Y.Z)
• tests/frr-matrix/versions.txt — FRR git tags (frr-X.Y.Z), with an optional second field for a source-built libyang ref on older releases
• tests/cairn-e2e/ — Cairn releases (requires the private .deb)

If a new version exposes an incompatibility, add it to the matching xfail.txt with a reason rather than silently skipping it — an unexpected pass (XPASS) fails the build so stale entries get cleaned up.