{"id":210794,"date":"2026-02-06T16:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/linux-kernel-pulls-the-plug-on-ibms-smc-tcp-networking-code-after-years-of-neglect\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:35:07","slug":"linux-kernel-pulls-the-plug-on-ibms-smc-tcp-networking-code-after-years-of-neglect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/linux-kernel-pulls-the-plug-on-ibms-smc-tcp-networking-code-after-years-of-neglect\/","title":{"rendered":"Linux Kernel Pulls the Plug on IBM’s SMC-TCP Networking Code After Years of Neglect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linux Kernel Pulls the Plug on IBM’s SMC-TCP Networking Code After Years of Neglect<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.webpronews.com\/linux-kernel-pulls-the-plug-on-ibms-smc-tcp-networking-code-after-years-of-neglect\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-06 16:23:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.webpronews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

In a move that underscores the Linux kernel community\u2019s uncompromising stance on code maintenance and quality, a significant chunk of IBM-originated networking infrastructure is being ripped out of the kernel. The SMC-TCP Upper Layer Protocol (ULP) functionality \u2014 once positioned as a transparent performance optimization for TCP connections \u2014 is now slated for removal, marking a rare instance of established kernel code being fully reverted due to sustained neglect and unresolved technical debt.<\/p>\n

The decision, which has been building for months, reflects a broader tension in open-source development: what happens when a major corporation contributes complex subsystem code to a critical project and then fails to adequately maintain it? For Linux, the answer is increasingly clear \u2014 the code gets shown the door, regardless of the contributor\u2019s stature.<\/p>\n

What SMC-TCP Was Supposed to Do \u2014 and Why It Mattered<\/strong><\/h2>\n

SMC, or Shared Memory Communications, is a protocol family developed by IBM that was designed to leverage high-speed Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) hardware to accelerate network communications. The SMC-TCP ULP component specifically aimed to provide a transparent acceleration layer for existing TCP applications. In theory, applications could benefit from RDMA-class performance without any code changes \u2014 the kernel\u2019s Upper Layer Protocol mechanism would intercept TCP connections and, where possible, route them over SMC\u2019s shared-memory transport instead.<\/p>\n

The technology had particular relevance for IBM\u2019s own hardware ecosystem, including its mainframe (System z) and Power platforms, where RDMA-capable interconnects are common. By integrating SMC-TCP as a ULP in the Linux kernel, IBM sought to make these performance benefits available broadly, positioning Linux as a first-class citizen on its enterprise hardware. The code was merged into the mainline kernel and has been shipping in stable releases for several years.<\/p>\n

The Rot Sets In:…<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linux Kernel Pulls the Plug on IBM’s SMC-TCP Networking Code After Years of Neglect https:\/\/www.webpronews.com\/linux-kernel-pulls-the-plug-on-ibms-smc-tcp-networking-code-after-years-of-neglect\/…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.webpronews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/article-9524-1770412987.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-210794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux","tag-linux"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210796,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210794\/revisions\/210796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}