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+      <path d="M0 595.28c38.98 0 99.97 0 129.15 23.13 24.61 19.52 26.58 55.51 26.74 83.21v.36" class="st9" id="path206"/>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1042-140" transform="translate(1272.76 -283.465)">
+      <path d="M0 595.28c15.13 0 20.44 0 23.89-5.12 6.37-9.46 6.37-36.42 6.37-61.42 0-27.19 0-52.06 16.86-64.04 15.08-10.73 43.68-11.14 101.75-11.16h.36" class="st9" id="path211"/>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1043-145" transform="translate(1485.35 -425.197)">
+      <path d="M0 595.28c17.72 0 46.05 0 59.28 9.06 9.19 6.29 11.09 16.97 11.48 26.42l.01.36" class="st9" id="path216"/>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1044-150" transform="translate(624.567 -479.055)">
+      <path d="M0 566.93a28.346 28.346 0 1 1 56.69 0 28.346 28.346 0 0 1-56.69 0z" class="st3" id="path221"/>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1045-152" transform="translate(624.567 -379.843)">
+      <path d="M0 566.93a28.346 28.346 0 1 1 56.69 0 28.346 28.346 0 0 1-56.69 0z" class="st1" id="path226"/>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1046-154" transform="translate(695.501 -493.654)">
+      <path class="st11" id="rect233" d="M0 567.78h90.709v27.496H0z"/>
+      <text x="4.67" y="586.93" class="st12" id="text235">Next hop A</text>
+    </g>
+    <g id="shape1047-157" transform="translate(697.019 -394.441)">
+      <path class="st11" id="rect242" d="M0 567.78h90.709v27.496H0z"/>
+      <text x="4.99" y="586.93" class="st12" id="text244">Next hop B</text>
+    </g>
+  </g>
+</svg>
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/index.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/index.rst
index 89af28dacb..0a53ec71c8 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/index.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/index.rst
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ Programmer's Guide
     member_lib
     lpm_lib
     lpm6_lib
+    rib_lib
     flow_classify_lib
     packet_distrib_lib
     reorder_lib
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/rib_lib.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/rib_lib.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e8bb35a2b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/rib_lib.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+    Copyright(c) 2021 Intel Corporation.
+
+RIB Library
+===========
+
+The Routing Information Base (RIB) library provides a data store for routing information.
+This library is intended for use in control or management plane applications.
+There are more suitable libraries for use in data plane applications such as
+:ref:`LPM <LPM_Library>` or FIB.
+
+
+Implementation details
+----------------------
+
+RIB implements a key-value store for routing information.
+
+Routing information is represented by a prefix (key) and a next hop ID (value).
+The prefix type depends on the address family. IPv4 addresses are represented by
+``uint32_t`` values. IPv6 addresses are represented as ``uint8_t[16]`` values.
+Next hop IDs are represented by ``uint64_t`` values.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The API and implementation are very similar for IPv4's ``rib`` library and IPv6's ``rib6``
+   library, therefore only the ``rib`` library will be discussed here.
+   Everything within this document except for the size of the prefixes is applicable to  the
+   ``rib6`` library.
+
+Internally RIB is represented as a binary tree as shown in :numref:`figure_rib_internals`:
+
+.. _figure_rib_internals:
+
+.. figure:: img/rib_internals.*
+
+   RIB internals overview
+
+The binary tree consists of two types of nodes:
+
+* Actual Routes.
+
+* Intermediate Nodes which are used internally to preserve the binary tree structure.
+
+
+RIB API Overview
+----------------
+
+RIB has two configuration parameters:
+
+* The maximum number of nodes.
+
+* The size of the extension block within each node. This space is used to store
+  additional user defined data.
+
+The main methods within the ``rib`` library are:
+
+* ``rte_rib_insert()``: Add new routes.
+
+* ``rte_rib_remove()``: Delete an existing route.
+
+* ``rte_rib_lookup()``: Lookup an IP in the structure using longest match.
+
+* ``rte_rib_lookup_exact()``: Lookup an IP in the structure using exact match.
+
+* ``rte_rib_lookup_parent()``: Find a parent prefix within the structure.
+
+* ``rte_rib_get_nxt()``: Traverse a subtree within the structure.
+
+Given a RIB structure with the routes depicted in :numref:`figure_rib_internals`,
+here are several usage examples:
+
+* The best route for ``10.0.0.1`` can be found by calling:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+      struct rte_rib_node *route = rte_rib_lookup(rib, RTE_IPV4(10,0,0,1));
+
+This returns an ``rte_rib_node`` pointing to the ``10.0.0.0/29`` prefix.
+
+* To find an exact match route:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+      struct rte_rib_node *route = rte_rib_lookup_exact(rib, RTE_IPV4(10,0,0,128), 25);
+
+This returns an ``rte_rib_node`` pointing to the ``10.0.0.128/25`` prefix.
+
+and
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+      struct rte_rib_node *route = rte_rib_lookup_exact(rib, RTE_IPV4(10,0,0,0), 24);
+
+This returns ``NULL`` as no exact match can be found.
+
+* To retrieve a group of routes under the common prefix ``10.0.0.0/24``
+  (yellow triangle in :numref:`figure_rib_internals`):
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+      struct rte_rib_node *route = NULL;
+      do {
+         route = rte_rib_get_nxt(rib, RTE_IPV4(10,0,0,0), 24, route, RTE_RIB_GET_NXT_ALL);
+      } while (route != NULL)
+
+This returns 3 ``rte_rib_node`` nodes pointing to ``10.0.0.0/29``, ``10.0.0.160/27``
+and ``10.0.0.128/25``.
+
+Extensions usage example
+------------------------
+
+Extensions can be used for a wide range of tasks.
+By default, an ``rte_rib_node`` node contains only crucial information such as the prefix and
+next hop ID, but it doesn't contain protocol specific information such as
+metrics, administrative distance and other routing protocol information.
+These examples are application specific data and the user can decide what to keep
+and how it is stored within the extension memory region in each ``rte_rib_node``.
+
+It is possible to implement a prefix independent convergence using the RIB extension feature.
+If the routing daemon can provide a feasible next hop ID along with a best (active) next hop ID,
+it is possible to react to a neighbour failing relatively fast.
+Consider a RIB with a number of routes with different next hops (A and B) as
+shown in :numref:`figure_rib_pic`. Every route can have a feasible next hop
+provided by the routing daemon.
+
+.. _figure_rib_pic:
+
+.. figure:: img/rib_pic.*
+
+   RIB prefix independent convergence
+
+In case of a next hop failure, we need to replace an active failed next hop with a
+feasible next hop for every corresponding route without waiting for the routing daemon
+recalculation process to complete.
+To achieve this we can link all existing routes with the same active next hop in a linked list,
+saving the feasible next hop ID and a pointer inside the extension space of each ``rte_rib_node``.
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+      struct my_route_ext {
+         struct rte_rib_node *next;
+         uint64_t feasible_nh;
+      };
+
+      struct rte_rib_conf conf;
+      conf.ext_sz = sizeof(struct my_route_ext);
+      rib = rte_rib_create("test", 0, &conf);
+      ...
+      /* routing daemon task */
+      struct rte_rib_node *route = rte_rib_insert(rib, RTE_IPV4(192,0,2,0), 24);
+      rte_rib_set_nh(route, active_nh_from_rd);
+      struct my_route_ext *ext = rte_rib_get_ext(route);
+      ext->feasible_nh = feasible_nh_from_rd;
+      list_insert(nh_table[active_nh_from_rd].list_head, route);
+      ...
+      /* dataplane monitoring thread */
+      /* nexthop id fail_nh fails */
+      route = NULL;
+      do {
+         route = get_next(nh_table[fail_nh].list_head, route);
+         uint32_t ip;
+         uint8_t depth;
+         rte_rib_get_ip(route, &ip);
+         rte_rib_get_depth(route, &depth);
+         ext = rte_rib_get_ext(route);
+         uint64_t new_nh = ext->feasible_nh;
+         /* do update to the dataplane, for example to the fib */
+         rte_fib_add(fib, ip, depth, new_nh);
+         /* update nexthop if necessary */
+         rte_rib_set_nh(route, new_nh);
+      } while (route != NULL);
+
