#1150209 linux-image-cloud-arm64: please enable CONFIG_PPP=m in the -cloud kernel

Package:
linux-image-cloud-arm64
Source:
linux-image-cloud-arm64
Submitter:
Robert Trebula
Date:
2026-10-14 14:27:08 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#1150209#5
Date:
2026-10-07 06:36:29 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

We would like to use openfortivpn on our AWS instances. These are
running the debian -cloud kernel and this does not have PPP enabled so
the tool does not work.

If you could kindly enable CONFIG_PPP=m in the debian -cloud kernels, it
would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Robert
#1150209#10
Date:
2026-10-07 07:00:46 UTC
From:
To:
According to upstream[1],  these both are required:

CONFIG_PPP=m
CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC=m

Thank you,
Robert

[1] https://github.com/adrienverge/openfortivpn
#1150209#21
Date:
2026-10-07 20:04:29 UTC
From:
To:
The goal of the cloud kernels is to include only drivers and
functionality commonly used in a cloud environment.  I'm not sure
CONFIG_PPP meets these criteria.

You can install the standard non-cloud kernel on your instances if you
require functionality not available in the cloud kernel.  Will that
address your use case?

noah
#1150209#26
Date:
2026-10-08 07:18:28 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Noah,

Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to do - run a lean cloud kernel on this appliance instead of the full generic kernel I have to use now.

As for whether this is common enough - I don't know, I am just one data point. I can explain:

The task is to connect to a fortinet VPN. These are very common in this part of the world.

The vendor provides a linux client but it is targeted for desktops. Pulls in gtk and a whole x11 stack as dependencies. Has a command line interface but even this needs a lot of handholding. Not really suitable for a cloud environment. Not lean.

Then I found openfortivpn. Open source, packaged in debian, cli only. One config file and will run unattended. No dependencies apart from pppd. Lean. This is what I run now.

You know what else is lean? The ppp modules:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  7428 Sep 28 12:18 ppp_async.ko.xz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4232 Sep 28 12:18 ppp_deflate.ko.xz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23364 Sep 28 12:18 ppp_generic.ko.xz

Maybe you can reconsider and add these to the cloud kernel, please?

Thank you,
Robert
#1150209#31
Date:
2026-10-08 21:17:00 UTC
From:
To:
Fortinet is likely not the only VPN that uses ppp.

Well, considering that we enable sctp in the cloud kernels, which likely
has much less real-world use in cloud deployments, I don't really see
any justification for leaving ppp disabled.

noah
#1150209#36
Date:
2026-10-09 16:02:35 UTC
From:
To:
Control: tags -1 + patch

Implemented in
https://salsa.debian.org/kernel-team/linux/-/merge_requests/2119

noah