netdev - Re: [PATCH RFC ipsec-next] pfkey: Deprecate pfkey

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Message-ID: <7d95ac8b-2240-4d5a-8626-f17e4fae7131@strongswan.org>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2025 07:56:54 +0200
From: Tobias Brunner <tobias@...ongswan.org>
To: Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@...unet.com>,
 Herbert Xu <herbert@...dor.apana.org.au>, Paul Wouters <paul@...ats.ca>,
 Andreas Steffen <andreas.steffen@...ongswan.org>,
 Antony Antony <antony@...nome.org>, Tuomo Soini <tis@...bar.fi>,
 "David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>
Cc: netdev@...r.kernel.org, devel@...ux-ipsec.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC ipsec-next] pfkey: Deprecate pfkey

On 04.07.25 08:55, Steffen Klassert wrote:
> The pfkey user configuration interface was replaced by the netlink
> user configuration interface more than a decade ago. In between
> all maintained IKE implementations moved to the netlink interface.
> So let 'config NET_KEY' default to no in Kconfig. The pfkey code
> will be removed in a second step.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Steffen Klassert <steffen.klassert@...unet.com>
> ---
>  net/xfrm/Kconfig | 11 +++++++----
>  1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/net/xfrm/Kconfig b/net/xfrm/Kconfig
> index f0157702718f..aedea7a892db 100644
> --- a/net/xfrm/Kconfig
> +++ b/net/xfrm/Kconfig
> @@ -110,14 +110,17 @@ config XFRM_IPCOMP
>  	select CRYPTO_DEFLATE
>  
>  config NET_KEY
> -	tristate "PF_KEY sockets"
> +	tristate "PF_KEY sockets (deprecated)"
>  	select XFRM_ALGO
> +	default n
>  	help
>  	  PF_KEYv2 socket family, compatible to KAME ones.
> -	  They are required if you are going to use IPsec tools ported
> -	  from KAME.
>  
> -	  Say Y unless you know what you are doing.
> +	  The PF_KEYv2 socket interface is deprecated and
> +	  scheduled for removal. Please use the netlink
> +	  interface (XFRM_USER) to configure IPsec.
> +
> +	  If unsure, say N.
>  
>  config NET_KEY_MIGRATE
>  	bool "PF_KEY MIGRATE"

While we currently use this in our regression tests to test our PF_KEY
implementation (which is used on FreeBSD/macOS), I'm fine with
deprecating and eventually removing it.

Acked-by: Tobias Brunner <tobias@...ongswan.org>

Regards,
Tobias