- * These definitions are equivalent to those in the Linux 2.6 kernel headers,
- * without requiring those headers to be available. */
+ * Netlink is a message framing format described in RFC 3549 and used heavily
+ * in Linux to access the network stack. Open vSwitch uses AF_NETLINK sockets
+ * for this purpose on Linux. But on all platforms, Open vSwitch uses Netlink
+ * message framing internally for certain purposes.
+ *
+ * This header provides access to the Netlink message framing definitions
+ * regardless of platform. On Linux, it includes the proper headers directly;
+ * on other platforms it directly defines the structures and macros itself.
+ */