Hopefully this version is an acceptable compromise to the comments thus far. This patch enables TCP keepalives on VNC connections and TCP-based char devices. Changes v4 -> v5 - removed settings for the timers and counter such that OS defaults are used once the keepalive option is enabled - enabling keepalives is now an option for TCP char devices (piggy-backed on the nodelay option Paul mentioned) - forced on for vnc (making it an option for vnc is a big can of works that does not need to be opened) Signed-off-by: David Ahern david