Re: [PATCH net] netrom: do some basic forms of validation on incoming frames
From: Craig
Date: Fri Apr 10 2026 - 18:52:59 EST
If the main concern here is ongoing maintenance of these Ham Radio related protocols/drivers, can we pause for a moment on anything as dramatic as removing from the tree entirely ?
There is a good cohort of capable kernel folks that either are or were ham radio operators who I believe, upon realising that things have got to this point, will be happy to redouble efforts to ensure this code maintained and tested to a satisfactory standard.
Or, alternatively, as a technical community it may be that the Ham Radio interested folks conclude that out of tree or user space solutions are a better way forward as others have proposed.
Give us a few days, please, for the word to be put around that we need to pull ourselves together a bit as a technical group :)
I, for one, really can't imagine pulling an entire network subsytem out of the kernel without any
knowledge of how/if/when it's used. Like intercontinental radio networks, global email, ax.25
keyboard-to-keyboard, BBS and other emergency-communication systems throughout the
world. If you're sure the Internet will never fail, I guess it makes sense removing all of this
since it's inconvenient to maintain.
Global AX.25 keyboard-to-keyboard on 14.105Mhz
https://qsl.net/kb9pvh/105.html
AX.25/netrom VHF routed networks spanning from Oregon to Los Angeles.
https://www.easymapmaker.com/map/80666c4898ec6e8fa0c35add5d03282d
Global radio email using AX.25
https://winlink.org/RMSChannels (1,336 AX.25 email packet nodes on the Earth and Space)
This is all in operation by Amateur Radio ARES emergency protocols/technologies. This
will not pass the headline test when it comes to Linux detractors.
Most of this is running on Raspberry Pi / Linux 24/7.
If we want to kill all these apps and somehow force them into user space,
it's akin to just switching to Windows - and flounder with the Microsoft folks
trying to do the same thing.
-craig
https://digipi.org/