+/* caller is responsible for freeing the returned string */
+static char *
+available_cores(void)
+{
+ char *str = NULL;
+ int previous;
+ int sequence;
+ char *tmp;
+ int idx;
+
+ /* find the first available cpu */
+ for (idx = 0; idx < RTE_MAX_LCORE; idx++) {
+ if (!lcore_config[idx].detected)
+ continue;
+ break;
+ }
+ if (idx >= RTE_MAX_LCORE)
+ return NULL;
+
+ /* first sequence */
+ if (asprintf(&str, "%d", idx) < 0)
+ return NULL;
+ previous = idx;
+ sequence = 0;
+
+ for (idx++ ; idx < RTE_MAX_LCORE; idx++) {
+ if (!lcore_config[idx].detected)
+ continue;
+
+ if (idx == previous + 1) {
+ previous = idx;
+ sequence = 1;
+ continue;
+ }
+
+ /* finish current sequence */
+ if (sequence) {
+ if (asprintf(&tmp, "%s-%d", str, previous) < 0) {
+ free(str);
+ return NULL;
+ }
+ free(str);
+ str = tmp;
+ }
+
+ /* new sequence */
+ if (asprintf(&tmp, "%s,%d", str, idx) < 0) {
+ free(str);
+ return NULL;
+ }
+ free(str);
+ str = tmp;
+ previous = idx;
+ sequence = 0;
+ }
+
+ /* finish last sequence */
+ if (sequence) {
+ if (asprintf(&tmp, "%s-%d", str, previous) < 0) {
+ free(str);
+ return NULL;
+ }
+ free(str);
+ str = tmp;
+ }
+
+ return str;
+}
+