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Minor correction:</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">This story ran in <b>Amateur Radio Daily</b>:</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://daily.hamweekly.com/2026/04/linux-kernel-removes-ax25-hamradio-subsystem-support/">https://daily.hamweekly.com/2026/04/linux-kernel-removes-ax25-hamradio-subsystem-support/</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><i>Not</i> Southgate Amateur Radio News (which ceased publication upon the death of its author).</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">That URL now redirects to Amateur Radio Daily:</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://daily.hamweekly.com">https://daily.hamweekly.com</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Steve Stroh N8GNJ</div><div dir="ltr">(Fan of Amateur Radio Daily and Amateur Radio Weekly)</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Apr 25, 2026 at 08:54:15, Boudewijn (Bob) Tenty <<a href="mailto:bob@tenty.ca">bob@tenty.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div>
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<p>This is from Southgate Amateur Radio News,</p>
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<p>Earlier today Linus Torvalds <a href="https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=64edfa65062dc4509ba75978116b2f6d392346f5">merged</a> a pull request to <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Removes-Old-Net">remove AX.25 and hamradio subsystem
support from the Linux kernel</a>. While the headline sounds
ominous, most modern AX.25 implementations occur in software at
the user level without relying on the kernel level
implementation. <a href="https://github.com/wb2osz/direwolf">Direwolf</a>, for example, does not
require kernel level AX.25 support. Other software relying on
AX.25 may take advantage of dedicated AX.25 Python libraries.</p>
<p>The change comes as a result of AI based bug detection services
capable of identifying critical issues among code that may no
longer be maintained or utilized by end users. Torvalds <a href="https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=64edfa65062dc4509ba75978116b2f6d392346f5">stated</a> that the amateur radio
related code in the Linux kernel no longer had any active
maintainers:</p>
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<p>Amateur radio did have occasional users (or so I think) but
most users switched to user space implementations since its
all super slow stuff. Nobody stepped up to maintain the kernel
code.</p>
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<p>According to <a href="https://linux-commits-search.typesense.org/?commits%5Bquery%5D=ax25">typesense</a> the last Linux kernel
commit related to AX.25 was 6 years ago.</p>
<p>Additional code removed includes ISDN support, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_mouse">bus mouse</a> support, and various
network drivers including support for old 3Com devices.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Removes-Old-Net">Phoronix</a></p>
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<p>We are toasted because all my programs are glued together by the
ax25 utilities.</p>
<p>Boudewijn VE3TOK</p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="0">--
There is nothing permanent except change
Heraclitus<br></pre>
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</blockquote></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system;font-size:13px">Steve Stroh (he / him / his)<br></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system;font-size:13px"><a href="mailto:steve.stroh@gmail.com" target="_blank">steve.stroh@gmail.com</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system;font-size:13px"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system">For Amateur Radio / Zero Retries / Conference:</div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><b>Steve Stroh N8GNJ</b></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><div dir="ltr">Editor</div><div><b>Zero Retries Newsletter</b><br></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><a href="mailto://steve@zeroretries.net" target="_blank">steve@zeroretries.net</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><a href="https://www.zeroretries.org" target="_blank">www.zeroretries.org</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="-apple-system"><span><i>Radios are Computers - With Antennas!</i></span></font><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><b>Zero Retries Digital Conference</b><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><a href="https://www.zeroretries.org/p/conference" target="_blank">https://www.zeroretries.org/p/conference</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"></div><div dir="ltr" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system"><i>Discussing and creating new technologies in Amateur Radio</i><br></div></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>