When IPv6 ECMP support first appeared in Linux kernel, it used different
API than IPv4 ECMP. Individual next hops were updated and announced
separately, instead of using RTA_MULTIPATH as in IPv4. This has several
drawbacks and requires complex code to merge received notifications to
one multipath route.
When Linux came with IPv6 RTA_MULTIPATH support, the initial versions
were somewhat buggy, so we kept using the old API for updates (splitting
multipath routes to sequences of route updates), while accepting both
old-style routes and RTA_MULTIPATH routes in scans / notifications.
As IPv6 RTA_MULTIPATH support is here for a long time, this patch fully
switches Netlink to the IPv6 RTA_MULTIPATH API and removes old complex
code for handling individual next hop announces.
The required Linux version is at least 4.11 for reliable operation.