Re: [RFC] STCP: secure-by-default transport (kernel-level, experimental)

On Mon, 22 Dec 2025 20:13:40 +0200 Lauri Jakku wrote:

STCP is an experimental, TCP-like transport protocol that integrates 
encryption and authentication directly into the transport layer, instead 
of layering TLS on top of TCP.

The motivation is not to replace TCP, TLS, or QUIC for general Internet 
traffic, but to explore whether *security-by-default at the transport 
layer* can simplify certain classes of systems—particularly embedded, 
industrial, and controlled environments—where TLS configuration, 
certificate management, and user-space complexity are a significant 
operational burden.

We tend to merge transport crypto protocol support upstream if:
 - HW integration is needed; or
 - some network filesystem/block device needs it.
Otherwise user space is a better place for the implementation.