1w ago

bad news ipv4 fans

Source: https://rivals.space/@deuxnise/115032302416832519

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239 comments

Followup:
- I'm glad that Linus clarified that it was High Resolution Timers. I was honestly thinking they were arguing about Hormone Replacement Therapy.
  
  Given the demographics of Linux devs, it probably would be the latter.
  
  I know! It seemed totally plausible! There is a very odd discrepancy between that and the general population.
  
  Trans people are either writing kernel code or playing hearts of iron 4. Nothing else is allowed.
  
  It ended up that way though
- THE TOASTER WILL BE REPLACED.
  Fucking legendary quote from Linus.
  
  It's a shame it's fake.
  
  do you have proof that it's fake though
  
  There is the rule number one of the linux kernel: "We don't break userspace." Linux has refused fixes for buggy behavior in the past because of this rule. This would most certainly break userspace.
  Also the alt text of the original image states this is fake.
- Chat, is this real?
  
  Check the alt text.
  
  Aw, dang it. I don't know shit about IPv6 vs IPv4 other than how it be written, but I wanted some chaos
  
  I'm sure he emails the kernel he works on regularly
- Thanks for the alt text & transcript in OP. It's missing here, though. ::: spoiler Transcript
  From: Linus Torvalds torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
  To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
  Subject: [RFC] Remove IPv4 support from kernel, effective next merge window
  Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2025 10:42:00 -0700
  Message-ID: 20250815-drop-ipv4@linux-foundation.org>
  Hey folks,
  After yet another deeply technical and entirely calm discussion about HRT (High-Resolution Timers) that somehow devolved into 200+ replies, personal insults, and at least one GIF of a raccoon, I have decided it's time to take drastic measures.
  Effective next merge window, we will be removing IPv4 support from the kernel. This will both (a) resolve the maintainers' scheduling disputes, and (b) force the world into the IPV6 utopia we were promised back in 1998.
  If you need IPv4 after this point, you can either:
  run an ancient kernel from before the change (good luck with the bugs), or
  rewrite your applications to use IPv6 and learn to love colons in your addresses.
  Yes, I realize this will break roughly *everything *.
  No, I don't care. I have already switched all my machines to IPv6-only, except for the toaster, which unfortunately still insists on using a 192. 168. x. x address. The toaster will be replaced.
  If you disagree with this decision, I suggest you take it up with the HRT maintainers. But please keep it civil this time. (Or at least keep the raccoon GIFs under 1MB.)
  Linus :::
  
  What a bunch of babies. They can't work together so they make the world suffer.
  Got it
  Edit. I looked. It's a joke. They got me. I'm leaving this to show my shame
- Is the raccoon gif real?
  
  none of this is.
- Truly a Solomonic decision.
- A highly nuclear option. I hope that those developers get their act together in time.
  
  this is a joke btw.
  
  I noticed. But sometimes, LT can be a bit explosive, and we all know that devs can be removed about their code. I would not put it past Linus that he actally threatens some fully nuclear option to bring some boneheads to reason.
- Well I'm not going to switch away my perfectly functional mesh routers that uses IPv4 as using IPv6 on a local net that I may sometimes need to type in manually is rather stupid. And that would also bin my routers, so I'm not doing that either.
  Oh well, I guess it's been fun guys, no more Linux for me due to potential future security issues.
  
  Do you even DNS?
  
  No. But if this is true (which I do doubt completely, Linus can't be this dumb to singlehandedly cripple his OS), this should also affect every intranet address.
  The current description of IPv6 intranet is just ridiculously dumb anyway. Should I want to ssh into a local device, I'll have to type in for example fd9e:9aa0:c00f:1::a, with only the fd part being the same for all intranets rather than 192.168.1.10 with 192.168 generally always being the same.
  Edit: wait... Are you telling me to set DNS redirects on all my local devices? Yeah, that'll work, but why the even...
  
  I don't think I've entered an IP address for a local device in years. Everything is accessible using <hostname>.local thanks to mDNS. Avahi has been doing this for... 20 years I think?
  
  Cool. My mesh doesn't have that though (I think?). But admittedly that's a tangent. If IPv4 ever depreciates, I'll have to toss my mesh anyway.
  
  Pihole automatically adds clients that get an IP from its DHCP component. All my clients are server.local, client1.local, tv1.local, etc. So I can use their DNS name everywhere.
  Even if it don't want to use pihole(why?), you can edit the SSH config and add addresses for each host so you can just type
  undefined
  
  ssh server
  
  Or I could also just edit /etc/hosts if I'm just accessing stuff from my computer. I mean, I understand there are ways around this pain point. But, on IPv4, I wouldn't have to do anything? Can't really beat that, right?
  
  if this is true (which I do doubt completely
  I really want to believe that you doubt it completely.
  
  Yeah, I really have put too much time into replying to all these based solely on a hypothetical. But I did learn something from all these comments (technical something, not me being an idiot), so it's all good.
  
  wait... Are you telling me to set DNS redirects on all my local devices? Yeah, that'll work, but why the even...
  What do you mean by that? I'm pretty sure people are telling you to run a DNS server and set up entries for any clients you want to regularly connect to.
  with only the fd part being the same for all intranets
  Why?
  
  I think ipv4 for internal networks is fine.
  
  You will do as you're told!
  
  Yes daddy!
- Truly a legend, if true

239 comments