network connection over thunderbolt bridge between linux and mac

It's hard finding any info about this, so I wanted to share here what I've found.

According to 01.org(Intels OSS stuff):

Networking over Thunderbolt cable was introduced in v4.15 kernel

This is a very new kernel (i.e. at 10April 2018 CoreOS only offers it on their Alpha-channel).

It does sound like it's perfectly possible if I must believe Phoronix with this new Linux-version:

The patch offers a new THUNDERBOLT_NET option to support creating a network between multiple computers using a Thunderbolt cable. This Linux driver supports the Apple ThunderboltIP protocol and supports any host using this protocol, including Windows and macOS.

lwn:

Thunderbolt Networking for Linux is compatible with Thunderbolt Networking on systems running macOS or Windows and also supports Thunderbolt generation 2 and 3 controllers.

1- https://01.org/thunderbolt-sw/overview

2- https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Thunderbolt-Network-Linux

3- https://lwn.net/Articles/705998/

I got this working with Ubuntu 18.10 on a Intel NUC (Hades Canyon). No setup required - I was trying and failing to get target display over Thunderbolt on a 2013 iMac and noticed that they both showed another networking interface and that the Mac's network shares were showing up in the Ubuntu file manager UI. And that was even using the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter.

Now if I could only get the iMac working as a remote display....