Re: Time to retire some ancient network pseudo-interfaces?

["Jonathan A. Kollasch" <jakllsch%kollasch.net@localhost>]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 11:10:03AM -0700, Jason Thorpe wrote:
> Hey folks --
> 
> I think it's time to retire some of the ancient network pseudo-interfaces that still linger in our tree.  Specifically, strip and sl.
> 
> -- strip -- Starmode Radio IP -- this was an operation mode of the Metricom Ricochet radios back in the mid-to-late-90s.  Metricom is no longer around, and I seriously doubt anyone is using these radios anymore.  (I tossed mine in an e-recycling bin many years ago.)
> 
> -- sl -- SLIP, or Serial Line IP -- This was ancient and crufty even in the 90s, as it had been obsoleted even then by PPP over serial lines.  I think the main users of SLIP on NetBSD were folks with pc532s (you could count the number of those people on one hand) as those systems had only serial lines[*] for communicating to the outside world ([*] Well, technically, I think a few people might have had a Cabletron SCSI-to-Ethernet interface, but that only reinforces my point :-)  In any case, pc532 has been relegated to the Attic, and I think SLIP should be, as well.

I would sooner not see SLIP support disappear already.  There are, for
instance, old 3Com Fast Ethernet managed switches (like the 3C16980 I
have sitting around still) that implement SLIP for access to their web
interface.  It's probably easier to keep it with the existing sl(4) than
to reimplement it via tun(4) and a hypothetical sliptun(8).

	Jonathan Kollasch