chore: remove media-nixl feature (#5940)

Signed-off-by: Alexandre Milesi <milesial@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/workflows/container-validation-dynamo.yml

@@ -91,15 +91,15 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: ./deploy
         run: |
           docker compose up -d nats-server etcd-server
-      - name: Run Rust checks (block-manager + media-nixl + media-ffmpeg + integration tests)
+      - name: Run Rust checks (block-manager + media-ffmpeg + integration tests)
         run: |
           docker run --rm -w /workspace/lib/llm \
             --name ${{ env.CONTAINER_ID }}_rust_checks \
             ${{ steps.define_image_tag.outputs.image_tag }} \
             bash -ec 'rustup component add rustfmt clippy && \
                       cargo fmt -- --check && \
-                      cargo clippy --features block-manager,media-nixl,media-ffmpeg --no-deps --all-targets -- -D warnings && \
-                      cargo test --locked --all-targets --features=block-manager,media-nixl,media-ffmpeg,testing-nixl && \
+                      cargo clippy --features block-manager,media-ffmpeg --no-deps --all-targets -- -D warnings && \
+                      cargo test --locked --all-targets --features=block-manager,media-ffmpeg,testing-nixl && \
                       cargo test --locked --features integration -- --nocapture'
       - name: Cleanup services
         if: always()

container/README.md

@@ -272,8 +272,6 @@ The build process automatically:
 
 For more details, see [`deploy/inference-gateway/README.md`](../deploy/inference-gateway/README.md).
 
-**Note:** `--framework none` defaults `ENABLE_MEDIA_NIXL=false`.
-
 #### Frontend Image Contents
 
 The frontend image includes:

container/context.yaml

@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ dynamo:
   nixl_ucx_efa_ref: 9d2b88a1f67faf9876f267658bd077b379b8bb76
   nixl_libfabric_ref: v2.3.0
   enable_kvbm: "false"
-  enable_media_nixl: "false"
   enable_media_ffmpeg: "false"
   enable_gpu_memory_service: "false"
   ffmpeg_version: "7.1"
@@ -39,7 +38,6 @@ vllm:
   flashinf_ref: v0.5.3
   lmcache_ref: 0.3.12
   max_jobs: "10"
-  enable_media_nixl: "true"
   enable_media_ffmpeg: "true"
   enable_gpu_memory_service: "true"
   enable_kvbm: "true"
@@ -57,7 +55,6 @@ sglang:
   cuda13.0:
     base_image_tag: 25.11-cuda13.0-devel-ubuntu24.04
     runtime_image_tag: v0.5.8-cu130-runtime
-  enable_media_nixl: "true"
   enable_media_ffmpeg: "true"
   enable_gpu_memory_service: "true"
   enable_kvbm: "false"
@@ -67,7 +64,6 @@ trtllm:
   base_image_tag: 25.12-py3
   runtime_image: nvcr.io/nvidia/cuda-dl-base
   runtime_image_tag: 25.10-cuda13.0-runtime-ubuntu24.04
-  enable_media_nixl: "true"
   enable_media_ffmpeg: "true"
   enable_gpu_memory_service: "false"
   enable_kvbm: "true"

container/templates/args.Dockerfile

@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ ARG CARGO_BUILD_JOBS
 ARG NATS_VERSION={{ context.dynamo.nats_version }}
 ARG ETCD_VERSION={{ context.dynamo.etcd_version }}
 
-ARG ENABLE_MEDIA_NIXL={{ context[framework].enable_media_nixl }}
 ARG ENABLE_MEDIA_FFMPEG={{ context[framework].enable_media_ffmpeg }}
 ARG FFMPEG_VERSION={{ context.dynamo.ffmpeg_version }}
 ARG ENABLE_GPU_MEMORY_SERVICE={{ context[framework].enable_gpu_memory_service }}

container/templates/wheel_builder.Dockerfile

@@ -347,15 +347,8 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=aws-key-id,env=AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
     cd /opt/dynamo && \
     uv build --wheel --out-dir /opt/dynamo/dist && \
     cd /opt/dynamo/lib/bindings/python && \
-    FEATURES=""; \
-    if [ "$ENABLE_MEDIA_NIXL" = "true" ]; then \
-        FEATURES="$FEATURES dynamo-llm/media-nixl"; \
-    fi; \
     if [ "$ENABLE_MEDIA_FFMPEG" = "true" ]; then \
-        FEATURES="$FEATURES media-ffmpeg"; \
-    fi; \
-    if [ -n "$FEATURES" ]; then \
-        maturin build --release --features "$FEATURES" --out /opt/dynamo/dist; \
+        maturin build --release --features "media-ffmpeg" --out /opt/dynamo/dist; \
     else \
         maturin build --release --out /opt/dynamo/dist; \
     fi && \

lib/llm/Cargo.toml

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ readme.workspace = true
 description = "Dynamo LLM Library"
 
 [features]
-default = ["media-nixl", "block-manager"]
+default = ["block-manager"]
 # todo(ops): get this working in CI as a default.
 # default = ["block-manager", "testing-full"]
 
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@ block-manager = ["dep:nixl-sys", "dep:cudarc", "dep:nix", "dep:aligned-vec"]
 block-manager-bench = ["block-manager", "testing-full", "dep:clap", "dep:indicatif"]
 cuda = ["dep:cudarc"]
 integration = ["dynamo-runtime/integration"]
-media-nixl = ["dep:nixl-sys", "dep:flate2"]
-media-ffmpeg = ["dep:video-rs", "dep:ffmpeg-next", "dep:memfile", "media-nixl"]
+media-ffmpeg = ["dep:video-rs", "dep:ffmpeg-next", "dep:memfile"]
 bench = ["dynamo-kv-router/bench"]
 kv-router-stress = ["dep:clap", "dep:indicatif", "bench"]
 
@@ -117,8 +116,8 @@ nixl-sys = { version = "=0.9.0", optional = true }
 cudarc = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 nix = { version = "0.26", optional = true }
 
-# media-nixl (zlib compression for NIXL metadata)
-flate2 = { version = "1", optional = true }
+# media (zlib compression for NIXL metadata)
+flate2 = { version = "1" }
 
 # block_manager_bench
 clap = { version = "4.5.49", features = ["derive"], optional = true }

lib/llm/src/preprocessor.rs

@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ use std::{collections::HashMap, pin::Pin, sync::Arc};
 use tracing;
 
 use crate::model_card::{ModelDeploymentCard, ModelInfo};
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
 use crate::preprocessor::media::MediaLoader;
 use crate::preprocessor::prompt::OAIChatLikeRequest;
 use crate::protocols::common::preprocessor::{
@@ -141,7 +140,6 @@ pub struct OpenAIPreprocessor {
     /// Per-model runtime configuration propagated to response generator (e.g., reasoning/tool parser)
     runtime_config: crate::local_model::runtime_config::ModelRuntimeConfig,
     tool_call_parser: Option<String>,
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     media_loader: Option<MediaLoader>,
 }
 
@@ -177,7 +175,6 @@ impl OpenAIPreprocessor {
         // // Initialize runtime config from the ModelDeploymentCard
         let runtime_config = mdc.runtime_config.clone();
 
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         let media_loader = match mdc.media_decoder {
             Some(media_decoder) => Some(MediaLoader::new(media_decoder, mdc.media_fetcher)?),
             None => None,
@@ -191,7 +188,6 @@ impl OpenAIPreprocessor {
             lora_name,
             runtime_config,
             tool_call_parser,
-            #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
             media_loader,
         }))
     }
@@ -336,7 +332,6 @@ impl OpenAIPreprocessor {
         builder: &mut PreprocessedRequestBuilder,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         let mut media_map: MultimodalDataMap = HashMap::new();
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         let mut fetch_tasks: Vec<(String, ChatCompletionRequestUserMessageContentPart)> =
             Vec::new();
 
@@ -366,7 +361,6 @@ impl OpenAIPreprocessor {
                     _ => continue,
                 };
 
-                #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
                 if self.media_loader.is_some() {
                     fetch_tasks.push((type_str, content_part.clone()));
                     continue;
@@ -381,7 +375,6 @@ impl OpenAIPreprocessor {
         }
 
         // Execute all fetch tasks
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         if !fetch_tasks.is_empty() {
             let loader = self.media_loader.as_ref().unwrap();
             let media_io_kwargs = request.media_io_kwargs();

lib/llm/src/preprocessor/media.rs

@@ -10,6 +10,4 @@ pub use common::EncodedMediaData;
 pub use decoders::{Decoder, ImageDecoder, MediaDecoder};
 pub use loader::{MediaFetcher, MediaLoader};
 
-pub use rdma::{DecodedMediaData, RdmaMediaDataDescriptor};
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
-pub use rdma::{get_nixl_agent, get_nixl_metadata};
+pub use rdma::{DecodedMediaData, RdmaMediaDataDescriptor, get_nixl_agent, get_nixl_metadata};

lib/llm/src/preprocessor/media/README.md

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ register_llm(
 ## Known Limitations
 
 > [!WARNING]
-> **Incompatible with `Dockerfile.frontend`**: Frontend media decoding (enabled with `--features media-nixl`) is not supported when using `Dockerfile.frontend`. The frontend image built from `Dockerfile.frontend` does not enable the feature + include the required NIXL/UCX dependencies.
+> **Incompatible with `Dockerfile.frontend`**: Frontend media decoding is not supported when using `Dockerfile.frontend`. The frontend image built from `Dockerfile.frontend` does not include the required NIXL/UCX dependencies.
 
 > [!WARNING]
 > **Requires GPU node**: The frontend must run on a node with GPU access. During media processing, decoded tensors are written to GPU memory via NIXL, which requires `libcuda.so.1` to be available. Running the frontend on a CPU-only node will fail with something like: `Failed to initialize required backends: [UCX: No UCX plugin found]`.

lib/llm/src/preprocessor/media/loader.rs

@@ -7,15 +7,11 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 use anyhow::Result;
 
 use dynamo_async_openai::types::ChatCompletionRequestUserMessageContentPart;
+use dynamo_memory::nixl::NixlAgent;
 
-use super::decoders::MediaDecoder;
-use super::rdma::RdmaMediaDataDescriptor;
-
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
-use {
-    super::common::EncodedMediaData, super::decoders::Decoder, super::rdma::get_nixl_agent,
-    dynamo_memory::nixl::NixlAgent,
-};
+use super::common::EncodedMediaData;
+use super::decoders::{Decoder, MediaDecoder};
+use super::rdma::{RdmaMediaDataDescriptor, get_nixl_agent};
 
 const DEFAULT_HTTP_USER_AGENT: &str = "dynamo-ai/dynamo";
 const DEFAULT_HTTP_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(30);
@@ -75,7 +71,6 @@ pub struct MediaLoader {
     http_client: reqwest::Client,
     #[allow(dead_code)]
     media_fetcher: MediaFetcher,
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     nixl_agent: NixlAgent,
 }
 
@@ -91,14 +86,12 @@ impl MediaLoader {
 
         let http_client = http_client_builder.build()?;
 
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         let nixl_agent = get_nixl_agent()?;
 
         Ok(Self {
             media_decoder,
             http_client,
             media_fetcher,
-            #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
             nixl_agent,
         })
     }
@@ -108,20 +101,14 @@ impl MediaLoader {
         oai_content_part: &ChatCompletionRequestUserMessageContentPart,
         media_io_kwargs: Option<&MediaDecoder>,
     ) -> Result<RdmaMediaDataDescriptor> {
-        #[cfg(not(feature = "media-nixl"))]
-        anyhow::bail!(
-            "NIXL is not supported, cannot decode and register media data {oai_content_part:?} with media_io_kwargs {media_io_kwargs:?}"
-        );
-
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
-        {
         // fetch the media, decode and NIXL-register
         let decoded = match oai_content_part {
             ChatCompletionRequestUserMessageContentPart::ImageUrl(image_part) => {
-                    let mdc_decoder =
-                        self.media_decoder.image.as_ref().ok_or_else(|| {
-                            anyhow::anyhow!("Model does not support image inputs")
-                        })?;
+                let mdc_decoder = self
+                    .media_decoder
+                    .image
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("Model does not support image inputs"))?;
 
                 let url = &image_part.image_url.url;
                 self.media_fetcher.check_if_url_allowed(url)?;
@@ -135,13 +122,12 @@ impl MediaLoader {
             #[allow(unused_variables)]
             ChatCompletionRequestUserMessageContentPart::VideoUrl(video_part) => {
                 #[cfg(not(feature = "media-ffmpeg"))]
-                    anyhow::bail!(
-                        "Video decoding requires the 'media-ffmpeg' feature to be enabled"
-                    );
+                anyhow::bail!("Video decoding requires the 'media-ffmpeg' feature to be enabled");
 
                 #[cfg(feature = "media-ffmpeg")]
                 {
-                        let mdc_decoder = self.media_decoder.video.as_ref().ok_or_else(|| {
+                    let mdc_decoder =
+                        self.media_decoder.video.as_ref().ok_or_else(|| {
                             anyhow::anyhow!("Model does not support video inputs")
                         })?;
 
@@ -150,8 +136,8 @@ impl MediaLoader {
                     let data = EncodedMediaData::from_url(url, &self.http_client).await?;
 
                     // Use runtime decoder if provided, with MDC limits enforced
-                        let decoder = mdc_decoder
-                            .with_runtime(media_io_kwargs.and_then(|k| k.video.as_ref()));
+                    let decoder =
+                        mdc_decoder.with_runtime(media_io_kwargs.and_then(|k| k.video.as_ref()));
                     decoder.decode_async(data).await?
                 }
             }
@@ -164,10 +150,9 @@ impl MediaLoader {
         let rdma_descriptor = decoded.into_rdma_descriptor(&self.nixl_agent)?;
         Ok(rdma_descriptor)
     }
-    }
 }
 
-#[cfg(all(test, feature = "media-nixl", feature = "testing-nixl"))]
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "testing-nixl"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::super::decoders::ImageDecoder;
     use super::super::rdma::DataType;

lib/llm/src/preprocessor/media/rdma.rs

@@ -2,18 +2,14 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 use anyhow::Result;
+use base64::{Engine as _, engine::general_purpose};
+use dynamo_memory::SystemStorage;
+use dynamo_memory::nixl::{self, NixlAgent, NixlDescriptor, RegisteredView};
+use flate2::{Compression, write::ZlibEncoder};
 use ndarray::{ArrayBase, Dimension, OwnedRepr};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
-use {
-    base64::{Engine as _, engine::general_purpose},
-    dynamo_memory::SystemStorage,
-    dynamo_memory::nixl::{self, NixlAgent, NixlDescriptor, RegisteredView},
-    flate2::{Compression, write::ZlibEncoder},
-    std::io::Write,
-    std::sync::Arc,
-};
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use super::decoders::DecodedMediaMetadata;
 
@@ -33,7 +29,6 @@ pub struct MediaTensorInfo {
 // Decoded media data (image RGB, video frames pixels, ...)
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct DecodedMediaData {
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     pub(crate) data: SystemStorage,
     pub(crate) tensor_info: MediaTensorInfo,
 }
@@ -43,10 +38,8 @@ pub struct DecodedMediaData {
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Debug)]
 pub struct RdmaMediaDataDescriptor {
     // b64 agent metadata
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     pub(crate) nixl_metadata: String,
     // tensor descriptor
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     pub(crate) nixl_descriptor: NixlDescriptor,
 
     #[serde(flatten)]
@@ -55,12 +48,10 @@ pub struct RdmaMediaDataDescriptor {
     // reference to the actual data, kept alive while the rdma descriptor is alive
     #[serde(skip, default)]
     #[allow(dead_code)]
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     pub(crate) source_storage: Option<Arc<nixl::NixlRegistered<SystemStorage>>>,
 }
 
 impl DecodedMediaData {
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     pub fn into_rdma_descriptor(self, nixl_agent: &NixlAgent) -> Result<RdmaMediaDataDescriptor> {
         let source_storage = self.data;
         let registered = nixl::register_with_nixl(source_storage, nixl_agent, None)
@@ -88,17 +79,13 @@ impl<D: Dimension> TryFrom<ArrayBase<OwnedRepr<u8>, D>> for DecodedMediaData {
     fn try_from(array: ArrayBase<OwnedRepr<u8>, D>) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
         let shape = array.shape().to_vec();
 
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         let (data_vec, _) = array.into_raw_vec_and_offset();
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         let mut storage = SystemStorage::new(data_vec.len())?;
-        #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
         unsafe {
             std::ptr::copy_nonoverlapping(data_vec.as_ptr(), storage.as_mut_ptr(), data_vec.len());
         }
 
         Ok(Self {
-            #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
             data: storage,
             tensor_info: MediaTensorInfo {
                 shape,
@@ -113,7 +100,6 @@ impl<D: Dimension> TryFrom<ArrayBase<OwnedRepr<u8>, D>> for DecodedMediaData {
 // Returns zlib-compressed, base64-encoded metadata in format: "b64:<compressed_base64>"
 // This format matches what Python nixl_connect expects for RdmaMetadata.nixl_metadata
 // TODO: pre-allocate a fixed NIXL-registered RAM pool so metadata can be cached on the target?
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
 pub fn get_nixl_metadata(agent: &NixlAgent, _storage: &SystemStorage) -> Result<String> {
     // WAR: Until https://github.com/ai-dynamo/nixl/pull/970 is merged, can't use get_local_partial_md
     let nixl_md = agent.raw_agent().get_local_md()?;
@@ -130,7 +116,6 @@ pub fn get_nixl_metadata(agent: &NixlAgent, _storage: &SystemStorage) -> Result<
     Ok(format!("b64:{}", b64_encoded))
 }
 
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
 pub fn get_nixl_agent() -> Result<NixlAgent> {
     let name = format!("media-loader-{}", uuid::Uuid::new_v4());
     let nixl_agent = NixlAgent::with_backends(&name, &["UCX"])?;

lib/llm/src/protocols/common/preprocessor.rs

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use super::timing::RequestTracker;
 use super::{OutputOptions, SamplingOptions, StopConditions};
 use crate::kv_router::RouterConfigOverride;
-#[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
 use crate::preprocessor::media::RdmaMediaDataDescriptor;
 use crate::protocols::TokenIdType;
 
@@ -78,7 +77,6 @@ pub struct PrefillResult {
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug, Clone)]
 pub enum MultimodalData {
     Url(url::Url),
-    #[cfg(feature = "media-nixl")]
     Decoded(RdmaMediaDataDescriptor),
 }