A new version of the Linux kernel, version 7.2, is set to be released in mid-August after Linus Torvalds accepted the latest patches. These patches include changes for the network subsystem, as the kernel continues to undergo cleaning of outdated drivers and subsystems. One significant change is the removal of the AppleTalk protocol stack implementation from the kernel, which has been in use since 1985 and was replaced by TCP/IP in the 1990s. Apple discontinued support for AppleTalk in its Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” release in 2009.
The decision to remove AppleTalk from the kernel was due to unfixed bugs in its implementation. Developers received fixes for these issues, but with no maintainers for the subsystem, the decision was made to remove AppleTalk from the kernel. For those who still need the code for modules like AppleTalk, ATM, AX.25, ISDN, and hamradio, they have been moved to a separate repository on GitHub called mod-orphan.
In addition to AppleTalk, other components related to data transfer technology have also been removed from the kernel 7.2 code base, such as ATM not related to PPPoATM, TLS integration with sockmap, and support for 5/10 MHz frequency bands in the cfg80211/mac80211 wireless stack. Due to issues with blocking and the lack of maintainers, a specific implementation of TLS processing acceleration based on the TCP Offload Engine has been removed. Compatibility code for 32-bit x_tables on 64-bit systems has been disabled and is set for removal.