SOCKMAP - TCP splicing of the future

This post introduces SOCKMAP, a Linux kernel feature that enables highly efficient TCP socket splicing directly within the kernel. It explores how SOCKMAP can be used to eliminate userspace involvement and syscall overhead for data forwarding, potentially revolutionizing the architecture of data-heavy applications like software proxies. The post details the birthing pains of L7 proxies, compares naive, splice, and io_submit approaches, and then dives into the mechanics and potential of SOCKMAP, including its eBPF integration and initial benchmark results.