Linux Patches Make The IPv6 Stack Less Modular To Lower Architectural Burden

A patch series submitted to the Linux kernel mailing list proposes changing CONFIG_IPV6 from a tristate to a boolean option, eliminating the ability to build IPv6 as a loadable kernel module. The rationale is that modular IPv6 (CONFIG_IPV6=m) is rarely used in practice — most deployments either build it in or disable it entirely. Removing the module option allows the kernel to eliminate stub infrastructure like ipv6_stub, ipv6_bpf_stub, and nf_ipv6_ops, replacing indirect calls with direct function calls. This reduces maintenance burden, improves security, and may yield performance gains.