An engineer from SUSE proposed a series of patches for inclusion in the linux-next branch, which forms the basis for the functionality of the Linux kernel 7.1, removing the ability to build the IPv6 stack as a kernel module. The reasons mentioned include a desire to eliminate complexities and simplify maintenance. The ability to build IPv6 as a module remains in the kernel mainly for historical reasons and is not practically used in modern distributions (IPv6 is either built into the kernel or completely disabled).
The essence of the problem is that when the kernel supports building IPv6 as a kernel module (CONFIG_IPV6=m), many subsystems are forced to add unnecessary handlers in case the IPv6 module is unloaded. Therefore, it is proposed to limit the options for embedding IPv6 into the kernel (CONFIG_IPV6=y) and completely disabling IPv6 (CONFIG_IPV6=n), which will relieve the networking subsystem, BPF, Netfilter, and some drivers from having to handle module unloading.
Source: opennet.ru
