Subject: Re: Path forward for NFC in the kernel

From: Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:10:44 -0700

On Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:12:22 +0200 David Heidelberg wrote:
> > +Cc David Heidelberg recently trying to use Linux NFC stack,
> > 
> > Just "collecting" patches is not a big deal, I could do this, but
> > actually reviewing the patches with necessary due diligence is the
> > effort I could not provide in a reasonable time frame. And picking up
> > patches without proper review feels risky...  
> 
> Hello Krzystof, Jakub,
> 
> thanks for putting me into loop.
> 
> I can do limited reviews and basic maintenance. My knowledge about NFC is for 
> now somehow limited (but I'm willing to invest my limited time into learning more).
> 
> As "I & LLM" wrote [1] userspace very basic reader for GNOME and planning to do 
> more tight integration into GNOME, so would make sense to keep the kernel stack 
> alive.

Hi David!

Sorry for the delay, we (core maintainers) discussed the situation
off-list and since our choices are either delete all this code or give
you a chance, everyone agreed that the latter is strictly better :) 
It's a little unusual to designate someone who doesn't have a proven
track record acting as a de facto maintainer, but such are the times...

Our expectation would be that:
 - you'd create your own tree to gather NFC patches and send us
   periodic pull requests every 2 or 3 weeks, with what you gathered 
 - act upon submissions within 48h of posting (excluding weekends)

Of course we'll happy to provide any support and guidance you need,
specially for the first few months.

Is this what you had in mind? The phrase "limited reviews and basic
maintenance" is slightly worrying, we assumed it's an expression of
modesty rather than commitment? :)