{ "schema_version": 1, "snapshot": { "kernel_head_sha": "f5459048c38a00fc583658d6dcd0f894aff6df8f", "snapshot_date": "2026-04-21" }, "license": { "data": "CC-BY-4.0", "data_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "linux-drivers.example.org" }, "counts": { "total": 2028, "dossier": 2028, "stub": 0 }, "records": [ { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level accelerator subsystem directory containing framework/aggregation code rather than a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 56, "first_touch_ts": 1669115631, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761336459, "top_author": "Oded Gabbay", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/amdxdna", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "AMD XDNA NPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/accel/amdxdna/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation has a dedicated amdxdna driver section and states it supports the AMD NPU." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-1-6-amd-announces-expanded-consumer-and-commercial-ai-.html", "claim": "AMD said Ryzen AI 300 / PRO 300 systems with AMD XDNA 2 NPUs were expected to ship starting in Q1 2025, showing fresh commercial deployment in the target window." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-1-5-amd-introduces-ryzen-ai-embedded-processor-portfol.html", "claim": "AMD announced Ryzen AI Embedded processors in 2026 with XDNA 2 NPUs and an open software stack, indicating ongoing new embedded deployments beyond laptops." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local inspection via shell `sed` of Kconfig and `amdxdna_pci_drv.c` showed this is a real PCI DRM accel driver for AMD NPUs integrated into Ryzen AI client CPUs, with firmware entries and supported device IDs. Local git history via `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed active maintenance through 2026-03-10 with many bugfixes and no deprecation/removal discussion hits for the directory; the only 'remove' subjects were scoped internal cleanups such as dropping specific support paths, not driver retirement. URLs were obtained with web search plus `open`/`find`: kernel docs page for official upstream scope, AMD's 2025 CES press release for new-in-2025 Ryzen AI 300 availability, and AMD's 2026 embedded press release for continued current-market XDNA deployment. `lei`/lore MCP was unavailable in this environment, so upstream-attention checking used the local kernel history fallback instead of live lore queries.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 111, "substantive_commits_5y": 106, "first_touch_ts": 1732300886, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773168400, "top_author": "Lizhi Hou", "top_author_commits": 91, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/ethosu", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Arm Ethos-U65/U85 microNPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/10/15/1447", "claim": "The driver was added upstream in late 2025 as \"accel: Add Arm Ethos-U NPU driver\", so it is a newly introduced in-tree driver rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6133220.html", "claim": "As of April 1, 2026 there were still maintenance patches touching drivers/accel/ethosu, here adding an ARM/ARM64 hardware dependency hint in Kconfig." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg548845.html", "claim": "Rob Herring replied \"Applied, thanks.\" on April 2, 2026, showing active upstream maintenance rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg141799.html", "claim": "A March/April 2026 scheduler API update included drivers/accel/ethosu/ethosu_job.c and carried an Acked-by from Rob Herring, indicating ongoing treewide upkeep for the driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ACCEL_ARM_ETHOSU.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_DRM_ACCEL_ARM_ETHOSU for Arm Ethos-U65/U85 NPUs and compatible strings arm,ethos-u65 and arm,ethos-u85 in 6.19 and HEAD." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Arm%20Developer%20Community/PDF/Machine%20Learning/Arm_Ethos_U65_Product_Brief.pdf?hash=E74F379F875B4CE482702DACB8864DD525E23BF9&la=en&revision=77d8e008-ea37-4efc-b89e-b37f1d35fbf0", "claim": "Arm's Ethos-U65 product brief describes it as a current microNPU product for embedded devices, supporting new edge-AI deployments." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/Processors/Ethos-U85", "claim": "Arm still markets Ethos-U85 as a current processor/IP product, supporting the conclusion that covered hardware remains current rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/community/arm-community-blogs/b/ai-blog/posts/executorch-support-ethos-u85", "claim": "Arm's October 24, 2024 blog discusses active software enablement and upcoming platforms around Ethos-U85, consistent with ongoing/new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Search results were obtained via web search because lore-http MCP/lei were unavailable in this environment. LKML result shows the driver only landed in 2025; Spinics kernel/dri-devel/amd-gfx pages show active 2026 maintenance and no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in searched results, so any removal claim would be unsupported. Arm product pages/product brief/blog indicate U65/U85 are current Arm IP blocks aimed at new edge/embedded AI designs, but these are niche embedded NPUs rather than mass PC/server devices, so deployments today are low. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the same hardware; this is the hardware-specific upstream driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1761336459, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775161094, "top_author": "Rob Herring (Arm)", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/common", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Intel Habana / Gaudi AI accelerators (Goya, Gaudi, Gaudi2; Gaudi3 upstreaming in progress)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg515534.html", "claim": "A September 26, 2025 drm-next pull for accel/habanalabs states upstreaming is continuing with regular updates and new features for v6.18, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg528334.html", "claim": "A December 1, 2025 pull request for accel/habanalabs adds Gaudi3 support while continuing Gaudi2 fixes, showing the driver family is expanding upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/ai-accelerators/gaudi.html", "claim": "Intel's Gaudi product page says 'Now Shipping: Intel Gaudi 3 PCIe Card' and lists OEM and cloud availability, showing new hardware sales and deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/de/artificial-intelligence/intel-gaudi-3-expands-availability-drive-ai-innovation-scale", "claim": "Intel's May 19, 2025 newsroom post announces Dell AI Factory availability for Intel Gaudi 3 and describes enterprise deployment readiness." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is the actual PCI accel driver entry point (`habanalabs_drv.c` registers a PCI driver and describes Habana AI accelerators), not just a helper library. Lore-style upstream evidence was gathered via web search result snippets because `lei` and the `lore-http` MCP server were unavailable here: the Sept. 26, 2025 and Dec. 1, 2025 dri-devel pull requests show ongoing upstream feature work and no removal series. Intel product/news pages were opened via web tool and show Gaudi hardware still shipping and being deployed in 2025. Given active upstream development, ongoing product sales, and no natural replacement driver for the same devices, the correct outcome is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 233, "substantive_commits_5y": 224, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758780885, "top_author": "Tomer Tayar", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/common/mmu", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: common/mmu is an internal Habanalabs MMU helper/library subtree under the accel driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719125584, "top_author": "Farah Kassabri", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/common/pci", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared Habanalabs PCI helper code under common/, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719125159, "top_author": "Tomer Tayar", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/gaudi", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Intel Gaudi (first generation)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/ai-accelerators/gaudi1.html", "claim": "Intel still maintained a dedicated product page for the first-generation Intel Gaudi AI accelerator, describing cloud and on-prem options and stating Gaudi software supports first-gen Gaudi." }, { "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/dl1/", "claim": "AWS still listed DL1 instances powered by Gaudi accelerators, indicating ongoing deployability and availability in current cloud offerings." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/ai-accelerators/gaudi.html", "claim": "Intel's current Gaudi product-family page centers Gaudi 3 and compares against Gaudi 2, implying first-generation Gaudi is no longer the lead product for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Habana-Labs-6.18-Return", "claim": "Reported renewed upstream habanalabs activity for Linux 6.18 in late 2025 rather than removal, consistent with continued maintenance." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/accel/habanalabs/gaudi/", "claim": "The Gaudi directory is still present in a recent upstream Linux source snapshot, showing the support code remains in-tree." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this is real ASIC-specific kernel driver code under the habanalabs accelerator, with firmware declarations in gaudi.c and recent local git history continuing through 2025-09-25; no local sign of retirement. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` results: Intel gaudi1 page for product/support status, AWS DL1 page for present-day deployment evidence, Intel Gaudi family page for lineup positioning, Phoronix for the 2025 upstream-maintenance resumption report, and Codebrowser for current in-tree presence. Taken together, Gaudi1 looks older and likely niche for new buys, but still deployable and still maintained enough that deprecation/removal would be premature; annotate as legacy/low-volume instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758780570, "top_author": "Ohad Sharabi", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/gaudi2", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Intel Habana Gaudi2", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/accel/habanalabs/gaudi2", "claim": "Canonical upstream log URL for this directory; together with local git history, this indicates the gaudi2 code is actively maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ACCEL_HABANALABS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the habanalabs accel driver is still present in current kernels (6.3 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD)." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/ai-accelerators/gaudi2.html", "claim": "Intel still markets Gaudi 2 as a current product, with cloud and data-center purchase/deployment paths." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/training/run-an-inference-use-case.html", "claim": "Intel developer documentation updated on 2024-10-10 still documents running workloads on Gaudi accelerators via Intel Tiber Developer Cloud, showing ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/training/gaudi-2-powers-deep-learning-instances.html", "claim": "Intel article updated on 2024-10-25 describes Gaudi 2 cloud instances with Genesis Cloud, supporting continued real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirms this is a real hardware driver directory under habanalabs, not helper-only code. Local `git log` (shell) shows sustained non-treewide gaudi2 fixes/features through late 2024, and the user-provided history extends substantive touches into 2025; I used the canonical git.kernel.org log URL to cite that upstream history. Intel and LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search/open. Separate web searches against lore.kernel.org for gaudi2 removal/deprecation produced no visible hits, so I found no active upstream removal discussion. Gaudi3 is a hardware successor, but there is no distinct upstream replacement driver for Gaudi2; the same habanalabs stack remains the supported path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 129, "substantive_commits_5y": 125, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758780572, "top_author": "Ofir Bitton", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/habanalabs/goya", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Habana Goya / HL-1000", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ecda35d461f491f7aa2a0f2060a2c36a5950c3b7", "claim": "The goya directory was still receiving substantive upstream fixes in 2024-06, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5ae8b6b774732d38840dd7562dc14d1950530023", "claim": "A Goya-specific cleanup landed in 2024-02, showing direct file-level attention in the recent window." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Gaudi-AI-Accelerator/Question-about-the-SynapseAI-for-Goya/m-p/1717821/highlight/true?profile.language=en", "claim": "An Intel employee stated in September 2025 that the Goya platform is EOL." }, { "url": "https://docs.habana.ai/en/latest/Support_Matrix/Support_Matrix.html", "claim": "Current official Gaudi documentation support matrix lists only Gaudi 2 and Gaudi 3 supported configurations, with no Goya/HL-1000 entry." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/habana/hl", "claim": "Goya maps to the first-generation HL-1000 inference PCIe card family, an older 2018-era product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a phase-1 false positive: this is ASIC-specific driver code included by drivers/accel/habanalabs/Makefile (checked via exec_command/rg). Lore tooling was unavailable here, so upstream activity was approximated from local git history via exec_command; the two kernel.org commit URLs use the canonical git.kernel.org commit URL pattern derived from those hashes. Intel Community and docs.habana.ai URLs were obtained via web search/open. Evidence points to EOL hardware with likely only legacy deployments, but there was real upstream maintenance through 2024 and no removal discussion was found, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/EOL rather than deprecating for removal now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1674726730, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719125151, "top_author": "Ohad Sharabi", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/ivpu", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Intel client integrated NPU/VPU (Meteor Lake and newer)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ACCEL_IVPU.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_DRM_ACCEL_IVPU / module intel_vpu, for Meteor Lake and newer, with PCI IDs covering Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake, Lunar Lake, Panther Lake, and newer IDs added in recent kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/core-ultra/series-2.html", "claim": "Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 product page lists many current SKUs with launch dates in Q1 2025, Q3 2025, and Q1 2026, indicating ongoing new-system sales rather than legacy-only deployment." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/press-kit/press-kit-core-ultra-series-2", "claim": "Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 press kit ties current Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake client products to built-in NPUs and AI-PC positioning, matching the driver's supported Intel client NPU generations." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/client-computing/intel-unveils-panther-lake-architecture-first-ai-pc-platform-built-on-18a", "claim": "Intel states Panther Lake broad market availability starts in January 2026, showing the supported hardware family is still expanding into new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/embedded-processors/core-ultra.html", "claim": "Intel markets Core Ultra processors for edge applications with built-in acceleration for edge AI and graphics, supporting non-consumer deployment beyond initial laptop launches." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` against drivers/accel/ivpu showed `intel_vpu` and PCI IDs for MTL/ARL/LNL/PTL/WCL/NVL, confirming this is the active Intel client NPU driver. Shell `git -c safe.directory=/nas4/data/workspace/personal/linux-drivers/.kernel-snapshot log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/accel/ivpu` showed ongoing fixes and new-platform enablement through 2026-03-24, including Nova Lake support, which argues strongly against deprecation. I attempted lore-first collection via `lei q`, but `lei` is not installed; `lore-http` MCP was also unavailable in this session, so no direct lore removal-thread query could be run. Web tool opened LKDDb and Intel product/news pages; those pages show the driver covers current and upcoming Core Ultra NPU generations still shipping into 2025-2026. Natural replacement driver is absent because this is the upstream in-tree driver for these integrated NPUs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 345, "substantive_commits_5y": 341, "first_touch_ts": 1674122821, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774340968, "top_author": "Jacek Lawrynowicz", "top_author_commits": 92, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/qaic", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Cloud AI (AIC080/AIC100/AIC200)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=2feec5ae5df785658924ab6bd91280dc3926507c", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: qaic received a substantive fix on 2026-03-27 ('accel/qaic: Handle DBC deactivation if the owner went away')." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.6/accel/qaic/aic100.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies QAIC-supported hardware as Qualcomm Cloud AI 100/AIC100 PCIe AI accelerator cards, including multi-card server deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/artificial-intelligence/data-center", "claim": "Qualcomm's current data-center product page still markets Cloud AI 100 Ultra and lists active ecosystem/deployment channels such as Amazon EC2 DL2q, Cirrascale, and Core42; it also shows AI200 on the current roadmap." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2023/11/introducing-qualcomm-cloud-ai-100-ultra", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Cloud AI 100 Ultra in November 2023 as a new inference accelerator card, supporting that this family is modern rather than legacy-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection showed a real PCI/DRM accel driver with device IDs for AIC080/AIC100/AIC200 and Kconfig naming it 'Qualcomm Cloud AI accelerators'. Local `git log` showed sustained upstream work through 2026-03-27; the cited git.kernel.org URL was constructed from that local commit hash using the canonical kernel commit URL pattern. Web search plus `open` on Qualcomm and docs.kernel.org pages showed Cloud AI 100 Ultra is still a current offering with named cloud/on-prem deployments and no natural successor Linux driver; a web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion did not surface a public removal thread. Result: active, current niche datacenter accelerator driver, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 113, "substantive_commits_5y": 106, "first_touch_ts": 1680762183, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774630110, "top_author": "Pranjal Ramajor Asha Kanojiya", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accel/rocket", "subsystem": "accel", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RKNN NPU (RK3588 generation)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/16/1046", "claim": "May 16, 2025 LKML v3 cover letter introduces the Rocket DRM accel driver for Rockchip's RKNN NPU, says it supports the RK3588 NPU, and references Mesa userspace support." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/dri-devel%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg580595.html", "claim": "December 15, 2025 patch series fixes error-path bugs in accel/rocket, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.rockchips.net/product/rk3588/", "claim": "Current RK3588 product page advertises a 6 TOPS NPU for AI/edge use and presents the SoC as an actively sold product family." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-5-plus.html", "claim": "Orange Pi 5 Plus product page markets an RK3588 board with the integrated NPU, showing contemporary board-level deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local evidence via exec_command: Kconfig and module metadata identify this as a DRM accel driver for the Rockchip NPU IP, and local git history shows introduction in 2025-07 plus bug-fix traffic through 2026-01/02 with no removal commits. Obtained https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/16/1046 via web search and web open; it shows active bring-up of the driver and supported hardware. Obtained the mail-archive patch URL via web search snippet; it shows post-merge fix activity, so I back away from any deprecation signal. Obtained the Rockchip RK3588 page via web search and web open; obtained the Orange Pi page via web search snippet. Together they indicate the hardware is still sold for new SBC/edge-AI deployments in 2025/2026. No natural upstream replacement exists for this hardware-specific NPU driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1753458521, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768063754, "top_author": "Tomeu Vizoso", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accessibility/braille", "subsystem": "accessibility", "chipset_family": "VisioBraille serial braille displays", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/braille-console.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the feature is a braille console over serial and that only the VisioBraille device is supported." }, { "url": "https://www.visiobraille.com/", "claim": "Vendor site in 2025 advertises current braille products such as VarioUltra and VarioPro, indicating the brand is still active but with modern product lines." }, { "url": "https://www.visiobraille.com/index.php?article_id=30", "claim": "Current Vario 4 products are HID/USB-C braille displays, not the old 8250 serial device class this kernel code targets." }, { "url": "https://www.visiobraille.com/index.php?article_id=21", "claim": "Vendor driver/download page separates current and legacy support, with a 'Legacy product support' section for older VisioBraille/BAUM hardware." }, { "url": "https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/resolute/man1/vstp.1.html", "claim": "Current distro manpage for BRLTTY still documents VisioBraille support in userspace tooling, suggesting some residual legacy deployments remain." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-modules/thrd9.html", "claim": "Mailing-list index shows recent braille_console traffic was a treewide MODULE_LICENSE cleanup patch, not a dedicated feature or removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source and Kconfig shows this directory is a real built-in driver-like braille console implementation for a 8250 serial VisioBraille device, with no module entry point. Local git log shows only sparse maintenance touches through 2023, mostly compatibility/treewide cleanup rather than active feature work. Web search on lore-related terms found no active removal series; the cited spinics index was obtained via web search and supports that recent list traffic was just cleanup. The docs.kernel URL was obtained by web search and confirms only VisioBraille is supported. The VisioBraille URLs were obtained by web search and indicate current sales focus on newer USB/HID braille displays while older hardware is treated as legacy support. The Ubuntu manpage URL was obtained by web search and indicates BRLTTY still has userspace VisioBraille support, so deployments are likely low rather than none. With obsolete hardware targeting, no natural upstream in-kernel replacement, and only residual legacy use, deprecate fits better than keep or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1209569392, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681416833, "top_author": "Nick Alcock", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/accessibility/speakup", "subsystem": "accessibility", "chipset_family": "Speakup console speech synthesizers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250605050828.17011-1-jagadeesharm14@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/accessibility/speakup` still receives upstream work; `main.c` was touched by a 2025 patch series (`speakup: Standardize character attribute types to u16`)." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.11/admin-guide/abi-stable.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the Speakup soft synthesizer is 'currently the most commonly used', indicating the subsystem remains relevant even as hardware synths age out." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/accessibility", "claim": "Current Debian accessibility guidance still documents Speakup on the text console via `espeakup`/`speakup_soft`, and also notes hardware speech synthesizers remain supported through Speakup drivers." }, { "url": "https://linux-speakup.org/speakup.html", "claim": "The Speakup project page lists supported devices such as Accent PC/SA, Apollo II, DECtalk PC/Express, DoubleTalk PC/LT, Keynote Gold PC, and Speakout, i.e. mostly older serial/ISA-era synthesizers rather than current mainstream new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `exec_command` on local Kconfig showed multiple synth-specific modules plus `SPEAKUP_SYNTH_SOFT`; `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/accessibility/speakup/main.c` showed non-removal maintenance through 2025 and no evidence of an active removal push. Web search found kernel docs stating the soft synthesizer is the most commonly used, Debian's current accessibility page showing ongoing deployment, and the Speakup project page listing largely legacy serial/ISA hardware. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as serving mostly legacy hardware plus a still-used softsynth path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22177591491760068, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 57, "first_touch_ts": 1596024161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730710389, "top_author": "Samuel Thibault", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level ACPI subsystem containing core firmware/power-management infrastructure and multiple ACPI-related components, not a single hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01155498853568549, "commits_5y": 1335, "substantive_commits_5y": 1318, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774374430, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 304, "c_file_count": 83, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/acpica", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the ACPICA ACPI interpreter/core implementation used by the ACPI subsystem, not a kernel-bound hardware device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 137, "substantive_commits_5y": 134, "first_touch_ts": 1231489847, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773777073, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 177, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/apei", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "ACPI APEI / GHES firmware-first platform error handling", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20260417065021.4067113-1-mawupeng1@huawei.com/", "claim": "APEI core code is still receiving upstream fixes in 2026 ('ACPI: APEI: check return value of task_work_add to prevent memory leaks')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/CAJZ5v0gf9FBpouRcCFXqSa5dR+OtENbr7tA40gSd9+8aLyAr+Q@mail.gmail.com/", "claim": "APEI/GHES is seeing new feature work in 2026, including a v3 series for a device-managed GHES notifier and NVIDIA CPER handler." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/firmware-guide/acpi/apei/einj.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents APEI/EINJ and references modern ACPI 6.5 CXL error injection support, showing the subsystem remains relevant to current server RAS flows." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/dgx/dgxh100-fw-update-guide/troubleshooting.html", "claim": "NVIDIA maintains current DGX H100/H200 firmware documentation in 2026, supporting the inference that server platforms using firmware-mediated RAS paths remain in active deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep` because lore activity is strong and recent: lore_file_timeline on `drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c` showed heavy churn through 2026-04-17, and lore_regex on linux-acpi subjects surfaced multiple 2026 APEI/GHES/EINJ fix/feature threads, not a removal series. docs.kernel.org was obtained via web search and shows ongoing APEI/EINJ documentation with ACPI 6.5/CXL support. NVIDIA DGX firmware docs were obtained via web search; combined with current-tree Kconfig text read via shell (GHES NVIDIA handler for DGX/HGX), that supports continued use on new server platforms. This is platform firmware/RAS infrastructure rather than a legacy single-device driver, so there is no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04595659467783987, "commits_5y": 108, "substantive_commits_5y": 100, "first_touch_ts": 1274322870, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769632766, "top_author": "Shuai Xue", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/arm64", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "Arm SBSA/SBBR-compliant arm64 platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423191417.2031652-3-vidyas@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream work adds new IORT functionality, showing the directory is under active development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260108075636.524722-1-fj1078ii@aa.jp.fujitsu.com/", "claim": "AGDI support was still being extended in 2026, indicating ongoing enablement for current arm64 ACPI platforms." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Arm%20Developer%20Community/PDF/ServerReady/Arm_ServerReady_White_Paper_Dec2019.pdf?revision=da739bd2-50e7-4bee-a73f-9d68968b2644", "claim": "Arm ServerReady material states SBBR covers ACPI for Arm server systems, matching this directory's role as current firmware-interface support." }, { "url": "https://amperecomputing.com/en/briefs/ampereone-family-product-brief", "claim": "AmpereOne is a current Arm server-class processor family, showing new Arm server hardware remains in market." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/grace-cpu-superchip/", "claim": "NVIDIA Grace CPU is a current Arm server platform, further showing ongoing new deployments of Arm server hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed this directory is real arm64 ACPI platform support (IORT, GTDT, AGDI, APMT, MPAM, AMBA, cpuidle), not a dead compatibility shim. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_regex` and `lore_file_timeline`: recent 2025-2026 patches add features and fixes, and no removal signal was found; a `lei` removal query was attempted but failed due local socket permission restrictions. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on Arm ServerReady/SBBR and current AmpereOne/NVIDIA Grace product pages. Because ACPI remains the standard firmware contract for a meaningful slice of new Arm servers and the code is actively maintained, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051971046839855636, "commits_5y": 63, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1473708750, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769524302, "top_author": "Robin Murphy", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/dptf", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "Intel DPTF participants", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20251111004552.137984-3-srinivas.pandruvada@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream patch adds DPTF support for Nova Lake, indicating ongoing enablement for current/new Intel client platforms rather than sunset hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20251002113404.3117429-7-srosek@google.com/", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream work is refactoring INT340X enumeration into modules, showing active maintenance/rework rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DPTF_POWER.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DPTF_POWER remains present through current mainline/HEAD and binds ACPI IDs INT3407 and INT3532." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DPTF_PCH_FIVR.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DPTF_PCH_FIVR remains present through current mainline/HEAD and binds multiple INTC10xx ACPI IDs." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/Dynamic-Platform-and-Thermal-Framework/td-p/1306911", "claim": "Intel community thread includes a February 17, 2025 user report on Windows 11 with DPTF participant devices, evidencing an ongoing installed base on Intel laptops." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: Kconfig/Makefile plus module_platform_driver() in 2 .c files. `lore_file_timeline` on dptf_power.c and dptf_pch_fivr.c showed substantial 2025 traffic, including Nova Lake enablement and INT340X modularization; no removal-series signal surfaced. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search and confirm the configs are still carried in current kernels. The Intel Community URL was obtained via web search and is used only as installed-base evidence. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` is an inference from late-2025 upstream enablement for new Intel platforms; deployments are not universal, but still meaningful on Intel client systems exposing these ACPI participant IDs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12349821272210271, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1469101209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762978461, "top_author": "Sumeet Pawnikar", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/nfit", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "ACPI NFIT NVDIMM", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20260119184438.19942-1-Shubhakar_gowda.P_s@dell.com/", "claim": "Upstream NFIT work was still landing in 2026, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251027183526.282668104@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "NFIT fixes were still being backported to stable in late 2025, showing ongoing real-world maintenance value." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000093792/memory-and-storage/intel-optane-persistent-memory.html", "claim": "Intel states it canceled future Optane Persistent Memory products effective January 31, 2023 and points to CXL as the future direction, so NFIT-backed PMem is no longer a growth market." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/acpi_nvdimm.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents ACPI/NFIT-based NVDIMM support, so NFIT remains relevant for virtualized and test environments even as physical hardware declines." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig says it probes ACPI NFIT platforms and registers a libnvdimm tree. `lore_file_timeline` MCP on `drivers/acpi/nfit/core.c` showed recent 2025-2026 patches and stable backports; no removal signal surfaced from the fast lore pass. Intel support article was obtained via web search and shows future Optane PMem was canceled effective 2023-01-31, with CXL positioned as the successor direction; QEMU doc from web search shows continuing NFIT use in VM contexts. Net: physical NFIT hardware is legacy and likely no longer sold new in 2025, but the driver still has active upstream maintenance and some ongoing deployment, so keep it with legacy/low-growth annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0825902178040415, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1469372644, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766758044, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/numa", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: ACPI NUMA topology/parsing support code for platform memory locality, not a kernel-bound hardware device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 57, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1573137818, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762984075, "top_author": "Dave Jiang", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/pmic", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "Intel ACPI PMIC opregions (Bay Trail/Cherry Trail/Whiskey Cove/Crystal Cove/Dollar Cove) plus TI TPS68470 camera-module PMIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20260424035501.219946-1-m32285159@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity still exists in 2026 for this directory's core PMIC opregion code, and it is cleanup/maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/a6c9b1bcdf259adabbcaf91183d3f5ab87a98600.1719644292.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The directory saw multi-file maintenance in 2024, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS68470", "claim": "TI lists TPS68470 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least one chipset family covered by this directory is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TPS68470_PMIC_OPREGION.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_TPS68470_PMIC_OPREGION remains present through current kernel series, tied to drivers/acpi/pmic/tps68470_pmic.c and INTEL_SKL_INT3472 camera plumbing." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/acpi/pmic/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig shows this directory is a bundle of several old Intel tablet PMIC opregion drivers plus TPS68470 support, with no in-tree replacement driver for the same ACPI opregion role." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: shell inspection of drivers/acpi/pmic/Kconfig and file list showed real driver code and entry-point-backed PMIC opregion drivers. lore_activity on drivers/acpi/pmic/intel_pmic.c (tool: lore_activity) returned 2024 and 2026 maintenance patches, with no removal signal in that probe; a broader lore_regex removal scan timed out once and was not retried. Web open of TI's product page (tool: web search/open) showed TPS68470 marked ACTIVE, so the directory cannot be treated as purely dead tablet baggage. Canonical-recall kernel.org Kconfig URL and LKDDb web pages were used to confirm the directory still covers current kernels and that the same use case is ACPI PMIC-opregion glue, not something superseded by another upstream driver. Net: most Intel Bay/Cherry/Whiskey/Dollar-Cove deployments are legacy, but TPS68470 keeps the directory relevant; keep it, but annotate as mostly low-volume legacy hardware with one still-current niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3540671580448941, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1417041125, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722611108, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/riscv", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "RISC-V ACPI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/riscv/acpi.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation has a dedicated, current 'ACPI on RISC-V' page, indicating supported in-tree functionality rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/arch/riscv/boot.html", "claim": "Current RISC-V boot documentation states firmware may pass either devicetree or ACPI tables, so ACPI remains a live boot/configuration path for modern RISC-V systems." }, { "url": "https://uefi.org/press-release/uefi-forum-releases-uefi-210-specification-and-acpi-65-specification", "claim": "UEFI/ACPI standards added RISC-V support, showing this is an actively standardized platform model rather than obsolete hardware support." }, { "url": "https://www.ventanamicro.com/technology/risc-v-cpu-ip/", "claim": "Vendor material for current server-class RISC-V CPU/platform IP shows ongoing commercial development for new deployments in the 2025-2026 window." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains active ACPI/RISC-V platform code (e.g. device_initcall in cppc.c) and local git history shows substantive updates through 2026-03-03, with new RIMT and CPPC work rather than cleanup-only churn. URLs were obtained via web search/open for current kernel docs, UEFI standards news, and a current vendor page. No removal discussion was found in the limited lore-targeted web search, and the recent in-tree activity argues against deprecation. Deployments look low today because ACPI on RISC-V is still an emerging server/platform path, but it is clearly not obsolete and has no direct replacement driver; devicetree is an alternative firmware description path, not a drop-in replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1685634304, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775349483, "top_author": "Sunil V L", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/acpi/x86", "subsystem": "acpi", "chipset_family": "x86 ACPI platform quirks / Intel LPSS / Low Power S0 Idle", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/log/drivers/acpi/x86", "claim": "Directory has sustained upstream activity through 2024-2025, including LPSS, s2idle, and x86 quirk fixes; no removal/deprecation trend is visible." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/X86_INTEL_LPSS.html", "claim": "`drivers/acpi/x86/lpss.c` still maps current kernel support for Intel LPSS-related ACPI IDs and remains present through 6.19-rc/HEAD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MFD_INTEL_LPSS_ACPI.html", "claim": "Newer Intel LPSS ACPI-mode devices are also handled by `intel-lpss-acpi`, showing the area is still relevant upstream rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/modern-standby?linkId=65968877", "claim": "Low-power S0 idle (Modern Standby) is an increasing current-platform deployment class, supporting continued relevance of the directory's s2idle/LPS0 code." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/firmware-guide/acpi/lpit.html", "claim": "Linux kernel docs describe Low Power S0 idle/LPIT on Intel platforms, indicating this power-management path is current platform functionality, not purely legacy." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` file inspection shows this directory is a mixed ACPI x86 helper/quirk area (`apple.c`, `cmos_rtc.c`, `lpss.c`, `s2idle.c`), not a single removable legacy driver. `exec_command` git log with safe.directory shows substantive non-treewide changes in 2024-2026, including 2026-02-12 and 2026-01 s2idle updates. URLs were obtained by `web.search_query`: zx2c4 log query for `drivers/acpi/x86` activity, LKDDb queries for LPSS coverage, and Microsoft/kernel-doc queries for Low Power S0 deployment context. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the directory is active and still needed, but it is a heterogeneous x86 ACPI support bucket with some legacy quirk content rather than a clean standalone hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 101, "substantive_commits_5y": 98, "first_touch_ts": 1493244163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770896413, "top_author": "Mario Limonciello", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/amba", "subsystem": "amba", "chipset_family": "Arm AMBA bus / NVIDIA Tegra AHB", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260324005919.2408620-2-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/amba/bus.c` had upstream work in 2026 (`amba: use generic driver_override infrastructure`), indicating the directory is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026011947-everglade-defensive-bddf@gregkh/", "claim": "`drivers/amba/tegra-ahb.c` still appears in 2026 stable-tree traffic, consistent with ongoing support for deployed Tegra systems." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/architecture/system-architectures/amba", "claim": "Arm still presents AMBA as a current system architecture for modern Arm-based systems, so the underlying bus technology is not obsolete in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/develop/hardware", "claim": "NVIDIA still lists Jetson Orin modules and developer hardware, showing Tegra-family SoCs remain in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory contains the generic AMBA bus core (`bus.c`) plus a Tegra AHB driver (`tegra-ahb.c`), so it is a real driver directory. Lore evidence was gathered with `lore_file_timeline` on both files; it showed fresh 2026 activity and no removal-oriented signal in the checked history. Deployment evidence came from `web.open` on Arm's AMBA page and `web.search_query` on NVIDIA Jetson hardware pages. Because AMBA remains a foundational Arm bus and Tegra hardware is still sold, there is no natural replacement and removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10493080971260091, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1136645655, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763572010, "top_author": "Wang Kefeng", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/android", "subsystem": "android", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Android OS integration code (e.g. binder/IPC infrastructure), not a hardware-bound device driver for a chipset or peripheral.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 199, "substantive_commits_5y": 195, "first_touch_ts": 1413772215, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770135685, "top_author": "Carlos Llamas", "top_author_commits": 92, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/android/binder", "subsystem": "android", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Android Binder IPC framework code, a kernel software subsystem rather than hardware-bound device driver code", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1758267646, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774961936, "top_author": "Alice Ryhl", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ata", "subsystem": "ata", "chipset_family": "ATA/libata host controllers (PATA and SATA, especially AHCI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ide/20260425065509.733544-1-dayou5941@163.com/", "claim": "linux-ide carried an AHCI bug-fix patch on 2026-04-25 ('ata: ahci: fail probe if BAR too small for claimed ports'), showing current upstream maintenance in drivers/ata." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ide/20260420122321.4161027-3-philpem@philpem.me.uk/", "claim": "linux-ide carried libata core work on 2026-04-20 ('ata: libata-scsi: convert dev->sdev to per-LUN array'), indicating ongoing non-trivial development in the subsystem." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/libata.html", "claim": "The kernel's libATA documentation describes libata as the in-kernel support layer for ATA host controllers and devices, including ATA/ATAPI and SCSI-ATA translation." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SATA_AHCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SATA_AHCI remains present through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with ahci/libahci modules still current in mainline configuration data." }, { "url": "https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B850-AORUS-STEALTH", "claim": "A current GIGABYTE B850 motherboard product page lists '2 x SATA 6Gb/s', showing new consumer-platform systems still shipping SATA host-controller functionality." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: lore_file_timeline on drivers/ata/libata-core.c and drivers/ata/ahci.c showed fresh activity through 2026-04-20 and 2026-04-25, with hundreds of matching patch mails since 2023 and recent fixes/refactoring rather than retirement. Sources obtained via lore-http MCP (lore_file_timeline) for the two lore URLs, web search for docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, and the GIGABYTE product page. The 'still sold new in 2025' judgment is an inference from current 2026 product listings of new B850 boards still exposing SATA ports, plus libata/AHCI remaining first-class documented and configured kernel support. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same ATA/SATA host-controller role across this directory; NVMe is adjacent storage transport, not a driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.007273750529997117, "commits_5y": 766, "substantive_commits_5y": 755, "first_touch_ts": 1155209497, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775547406, "top_author": "Damien Le Moal", "top_author_commits": 199, "c_file_count": 115, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ata/pata_parport", "subsystem": "ata", "chipset_family": "Parallel-port IDE/ATAPI adapter ASICs (EPAT/BPCK/KBIC/OnSpec/FIT/etc.)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2003, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/blockdev/paride.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents `pata_parport`, its protocol modules, and supported parallel-port IDE devices, indicating the driver remains supported upstream for legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20230123190954.5085-1-linux%40zary.sk/", "claim": "The driver was introduced in 2023 as the libata-based replacement for the old PARIDE subsystem, so it is itself the modern in-tree solution for this legacy niche rather than a removal candidate inherited from older code." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-ide/thrd10.html", "claim": "The linux-ide archive shows a substantial 2023 cleanup/rework series for `pata_parport`, demonstrating real review and maintenance activity after merge." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6169219.html", "claim": "A patch posted on April 24, 2026 updates `pata_parport` for driver-core correctness, showing ongoing upstream attention and no sign of abandonment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperDisk", "claim": "One representative supported product family, SuperDisk/LS-120, ceased manufacturing in 2003, which is consistent with this driver's hardware base being long obsolete and not sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/ata/pata_parport` showed a real libata/parport driver plus 14 protocol modules for legacy parallel-port IDE adapters. Web search found current kernel docs (`web.search_query`) confirming active documentation and supported device classes; Patchew (`web.search_query`) showed the 2023 introduction as a PARIDE replacement; spinics thread index (`web.search_query`) showed 2023 cleanup traffic; and a spinics patch from 2026 (`web.search_query`) showed continuing fixes. A removal/deprecation-oriented web search did not surface a `pata_parport` removal series; the removal discussion was for old PARIDE being replaced by this driver. Hardware demand is therefore legacy-only, but upstream maintenance is still real, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 83, "substantive_commits_5y": 79, "first_touch_ts": 1675164649, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1720017862, "top_author": "Ondrej Zary", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/atm", "subsystem": "atm", "chipset_family": "Legacy ATM PCI/SBUS adapters and PHYs (ENI, IDT/NICStAR, ForeRunner, Interphase, Solos)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260423235422.1541768-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/atm/` still appeared in recent netdev-maintainer traffic in April 2026, indicating the code is not abandoned outright." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/atm/Kconfig", "claim": "The subsystem still exposes configuration for legacy ATM boards and test/transport helpers such as ENI155P, NICStAR, IDT77252, Interphase, ForeRunner, ForeRunnerHE, and Solos PCI." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_Transfer_Mode", "claim": "ATM is a legacy networking/telecom technology that has largely been displaced by Ethernet/IP/MPLS in mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep-annotate: static evidence supplied with the task shows non-trivial upstream maintenance (40 substantive commits in 5 years, most recent substantive touch 2026-02-13, 27 authors), and my lore check found a 2026 netdev pull mentioning `drivers/atm/` rather than a clear removal series. Local source inspection (`exec_command` on `drivers/atm/Kconfig`) shows this directory targets old PCI/SBUS ATM adapters plus synthetic helpers (`atmtcp`, `adummy`), which points to residual legacy/industrial/lab use rather than healthy new-hardware demand. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no indexed events, so removal evidence is inconclusive rather than positive. URL acquisition: lore URL via `lore_regex`; kernel.org Kconfig URL by canonical recall of the upstream source tree after local file inspection; Wikipedia ATM URL by canonical recall for deployment context. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `deployments_today=low` are inference-based from the legacy ATM market position and the specific old adapter families still listed in Kconfig, not from a direct vendor EOL page.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04767127737755402, "commits_5y": 49, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770951422, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/auxdisplay", "subsystem": "auxdisplay", "chipset_family": "Mixed auxiliary display controllers (HD44780-compatible LCDs, KS0108, MAX6959, HT16K33, CFAG12864B, panel/charlcd)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/auxdisplay/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a live subsystem menu for multiple auxiliary-display drivers and core helpers, not one orphaned single-device driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250919145750.3448393-9-ethan.w.s.graham@gmail.com/", "claim": "Auxdisplay code still receives upstream work in 2025, including new KFuzzTest coverage for charlcd parsing logic." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max6959.html", "claim": "MAX6959 display-controller hardware supported by this directory remained in production and orderable when crawled." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/181", "claim": "HD44780-compatible character LCD modules were still sold new and in stock, indicating ongoing niche new-hardware availability for a major auxdisplay use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/auxdisplay` is an active mixed-hardware subsystem rather than a dead single driver, so removal is not justified. Evidence: local `exec_command` on Kconfig/file list showed multiple independent drivers plus shared cores; kernel.org Kconfig URL added by canonical recall for a stable source. `lore_activity(file=drivers/auxdisplay/charlcd.c)` returned 2025 upstream test work (lore URL obtained via MCP tool), which argues against deprecation/removal. Web search found Analog's MAX6959 page marked PRODUCTION and an Adafruit HD44780 LCD product page in stock, supporting that some supported hardware is still sold, but mainly for hobbyist/industrial niches. No natural single replacement driver covers the whole directory; annotate as niche/legacy-heavy but maintained.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016038450815091174, "commits_5y": 126, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1171219884, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774601671, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/base", "subsystem": "base", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: core driver-model / device-base infrastructure under drivers/base, not a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006374580991265886, "commits_5y": 789, "substantive_commits_5y": 777, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 125, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/base/firmware_loader", "subsystem": "base", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the generic firmware loading core/helpers under drivers/base, not a hardware-bound device driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08428531672846946, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 57, "first_touch_ts": 1521534526, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764163930, "top_author": "Russ Weight", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/base/firmware_loader/builtin", "subsystem": "base", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: built-in firmware loader support code under the driver core, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1548148998, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1634904833, "top_author": "Luis Chamberlain", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/base/power", "subsystem": "base", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Linux driver-core power-management infrastructure code, not a kernel-bound hardware device driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 214, "substantive_commits_5y": 209, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773689589, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 76, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/base/regmap", "subsystem": "base", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the regmap core/helper library used by many drivers, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 253, "substantive_commits_5y": 249, "first_touch_ts": 1311404163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773669034, "top_author": "Mark Brown", "top_author_commits": 43, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bcma", "subsystem": "bcma", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCMA (BCM47xx/BCM43xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251203152457.698226521@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "BCMA still receives upstream maintenance and stable backports; a 2025 patch updated core device-registration behavior." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCMA.html", "claim": "BCMA is an in-tree Broadcom-specific AMBA bus driver covering older Broadcom PCI Wi-Fi parts such as BCM4313/4331/4360 and remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCMA_HOST_SOC.html", "claim": "BCMA also supports Broadcom BCM47xx-family SoC integration via the BCMA host-SoC path." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.broadcom.bcm47xx?s%5B%5D=open&s%5B%5D=router", "claim": "OpenWrt documents BCMA-based Broadcom BCM47xx/53xx router hardware as legacy router/AP platforms, indicating surviving field deployments rather than mainstream new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/bcma` is a real driver directory (local `rg` on Kconfig/source showed Broadcom AMBA bus support plus host PCI/SoC entry points). Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/bcma/main.c`, which returned a 2025 stable backport URL, so the code is maintained rather than abandoned. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on LKDDb and OpenWrt pages: LKDDb ties BCMA to older BCM43xx PCI Wi-Fi and BCM47xx SoCs; OpenWrt places BCMA in Broadcom router generations that persist in hobbyist/embedded use. I found no positive removal evidence in the limited lore checks, so this looks legacy-but-still-maintained: keep it, but annotate as low-deployment legacy support with no obvious replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13000871709820844, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1305057294, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760961255, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "Mixed virtual and legacy block-device drivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260423121739.7694-1-hare@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work is still landing in this directory (ublk persistent device links, April 23, 2026)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260419090348.1817082-1-dawei.feng@seu.edu.cn/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix traffic also touches long-lived production drivers here (rbd null-ptr-deref fix, April 19, 2026)." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/blockdev/zram.html", "claim": "zram is current kernel-documented functionality for swap/tmp/cache use, indicating active real-world deployment rather than archival status." }, { "url": "https://docs.ceph.com/docs/master/rbd/rbd-ko/", "claim": "The kernel RBD driver remains part of current Ceph operations guidance for mapping block images." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU still recommends VirtIO devices for virtual machines, supporting ongoing deployment relevance of virtio_blk." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a single obsolete hardware family but an umbrella directory mixing active virtual/pseudo block drivers (virtio_blk, ublk, rbd, loop, nbd, zram, Xen back/front) with some clearly legacy platform code (PS3, Amiga/Atari/Mac floppies, AoE, sunvdc, z2ram). Local shell inspection via `rg --files drivers/block` and marker grep showed that mix. Lore evidence was obtained with `mcp__lore_http__.lore_regex` over patch diffs touching `drivers/block/`, which returned fresh 2026 linux-block patches for ublk, rbd, and null_blk; that is strong evidence against directory-level deprecation/removal. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on docs.kernel.org, docs.ceph.com, and qemu.org. Because the directory as a whole is active and still relevant in VM/cloud/storage deployments, removal is not justified; annotate or split out stale legacy members instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017544046679230582, "commits_5y": 978, "substantive_commits_5y": 962, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773063456, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 236, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/aoe", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "ATA over Ethernet (AoE) / Coraid EtherDrive", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250625154818.215991-1-larry.bassel@oracle.com/", "claim": "AoE still receives upstream bug-fix traffic, including a 2025 stable backport for a potential deadlock in set_capacity." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20241002040616.25193-2-jlee@suse.com/", "claim": "AoE saw non-trivial maintenance work in 2024, including net_device lifetime/reference tracking changes." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EtherDrive", "claim": "EtherDrive was the Coraid AoE storage product line; the page records Coraid's 2015 foreclosure/IP transfer, indicating the original hardware line is long out of its mainstream commercial era." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_over_Ethernet", "claim": "AoE is a niche layer-2 storage protocol with native Linux support and historically limited vendor ecosystem centered on Coraid/EtherDrive." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: Kconfig/Makefile in-tree identify it as 'ATA over Ethernet' support for Coraid EtherDrive (found via local rg). Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/block/aoe/aoeblk.c after lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no hits; the 2024-2025 lore URLs show ongoing fixes/adaptation, so removal/deprecation would be premature. Web URLs were obtained via web.search_query; they are historical/product-context evidence, not proof of current retail availability. I infer 'not still sold new in 2025' and last widespread availability around 2015 from the dated public product history plus absence of current mainstream vendor evidence in the search budget. Deployments are likely low: legacy/lab/industrial Linux SAN niches rather than new broad deployments. No natural in-kernel replacement exists for the same AoE protocol, so annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13379206229660556, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758489737, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/drbd", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "DRBD distributed replicated block device", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260407173356.873887-5-christoph.boehmwalder@linbit.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream patch touching 13 DRBD files in April 2026 shows active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260327223820.2244227-17-christoph.boehmwalder@linbit.com/", "claim": "Large March 2026 DRBD core rework for DRBD 9 transport and multi-peer support indicates ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://linbit.com/drbd/", "claim": "Vendor describes DRBD as actively developed replicated block storage software, implemented as a kernel driver and used for HA/software-defined storage." }, { "url": "https://linbit.com/downloads/", "claim": "Vendor download page lists current DRBD 9.x releases in 2026, indicating ongoing shipping and real-world supported deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real kernel block driver, but it is software-defined replication rather than hardware-specific silicon; therefore hardware-obsolescence signals do not apply and `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is false with no meaningful 'last widely available year'. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/block/drbd/drbd_main.c` returned the two lore URLs above, showing fresh 2026 upstream work including substantial refactoring. Web `search_query` returned the LINBIT product and download pages, showing DRBD is still marketed, released, and deployed for HA/cloud clusters. A local `git log --since=5 years ago -- drivers/block/drbd | rg -i 'remove|deprecat|obsolete'` found no removal-themed history. No in-tree replacement driver covers the same replicated-block-device use case, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03322025923765665, "commits_5y": 136, "substantive_commits_5y": 125, "first_touch_ts": 1254424669, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771596546, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/mtip32xx", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "Micron RealSSD P320h/P420m PCIe SSD", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": "nvme", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20251012184010.198891-1-alok.a.tiwari@oracle.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream attention in linux-block; a 2025 patch touched mtip32xx." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20250827131228.2826678-1-zhangheng@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "Another 2025 linux-block patch updated mtip32xx, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-worlds-fastest-enterprise-solid-state-storage", "claim": "Micron announced the RealSSD P320h in 2011, establishing this driver as support for an early-2010s PCIe SSD family." }, { "url": "https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-unveils-new-pcie-io-accelerator", "claim": "Micron announced the P420m in 2013, showing the supported hardware family was marketed in the early 2010s." }, { "url": "https://www.micron.com/products/storage/ssd/data-center-ssd", "claim": "Micron's 2025/2026 current data-center SSD lineup lists modern NVMe products and does not list P320h/P420m-class devices, supporting that this hardware is no longer sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the source tree identified the device family as Micron RealSSD PCIe SSDs (P320H/P320M/P320S/P325M/P420H/P420M/P425M). lore evidence came from MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/block/mtip32xx/mtip32xx.c`, which showed recent 2025 activity; I cite two exact lore patch URLs surfaced there. Micron launch history and present-day product lineup came from web search results on Micron investor/product pages. No removal/deprecation thread was found in the limited lore budget; combined with recent fixes, that argues against deprecate/remove. Hardware appears obsolete and replaced in new deployments by standard NVMe SSDs, but legacy enterprise systems may still exist, so `keep-annotate` fits best.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15148066452297013, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1320478510, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755068369, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/null_blk", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "null_blk synthetic block device", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260424224201.1949243-13-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "Upstream development is active in 2026; null_blk recently gained REQ_OP_COPY_* support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/block/null_blk.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes null_blk as a benchmark and test block driver that emulates block devices rather than controlling physical hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BLK_DEV_NULL_BLK.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NULL_BLK across current kernel series through 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating it remains a supported in-tree option." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Synthetic test driver, not hardware-facing. `exec_command` on local Kconfig showed prompt 'Null test block driver'; `lore_activity` on drivers/block/null_blk/main.c showed multiple substantive 2026 patches, so this is actively maintained and not a removal candidate. Web search opened docs.kernel.org and LKDDb pages confirming its role as a virtual benchmark/test device and continued presence in current kernels. Because it has no sellable hardware lifecycle but still has meaningful CI, benchmarking, and block-layer test use, keep it with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05065308989587775, "commits_5y": 129, "substantive_commits_5y": 126, "first_touch_ts": 1607387764, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768314277, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/rnbd", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "Generic RDMA NICs (InfiniBand/RoCE/iWARP via RTRS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20260304194843.760669-11-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "RNBD is still seeing upstream maintenance in 2026; a linux-block patch added lock-context annotations to rnbd." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260115164237.883966937@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "RNBD client fixes were backported to stable in January 2026, indicating the code is maintained and deployed enough to warrant stable support." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/blockdev/rnbd.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes RNBD as an RDMA Network Block Device over RTRS using RDMA transports such as InfiniBand, RoCE, and iWARP." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7vpi", "claim": "Modern RDMA-capable adapter families were still current in the mid-2020s, supporting the underlying hardware class RNBD depends on." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig/README inspection via shell shows RNBD is a real block driver pair (client/server) for remote block over RTRS on RDMA. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity tool calls showed frequent recent touches through 2026-03 and stable backports in 2026-01, with no evidenced removal/deprecation thread; lore_regex attempts for removal signals timed out rather than producing hits. kernel.org RNBD admin-guide URL and NVIDIA ConnectX-7 URL are canonical recall sources used for deployment context; together they support that RNBD targets still-sold RDMA hardware, but as a niche datacenter feature rather than mass-market storage hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04545249038049167, "commits_5y": 115, "substantive_commits_5y": 109, "first_touch_ts": 1589752635, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769573711, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/xen-blkback", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "Xen paravirtual block backend", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/xen-devel/20241210-converge-secs-to-jiffies-v3-12-ddfefd7e9f2a@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists for xen-blkback; lore history shows a 2024 xen/blkback patch rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/unstable/man/xl-disk-configuration.5.html", "claim": "Current Xen documentation still describes backend domains and Xen disk backend implementations, indicating ongoing real-world Xen block-backend deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/XEN_BLKDEV_BACKEND.html", "claim": "CONFIG_XEN_BLKDEV_BACKEND remains present through current kernel series/HEAD, so the driver is still shipped and configurable upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Virtual backend, not physical hardware, so 'sold new' is not applicable and is marked false. Recommendation is keep-annotate: active lore evidence shows recent maintenance, while deployment is a niche Xen dom0/driver-domain role rather than broad new hardware deployment. No clear same-role upstream replacement driver surfaced; Xen can also use other backend implementations/toolstack options, but not as a direct in-kernel replacement for xen-blkback. URLs obtained via lore_file_timeline (lore URL) and web search plus open on Xen Project docs and LKDDb.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2446375527639052, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1303151426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736742063, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/block/zram", "subsystem": "block", "chipset_family": "zram compressed RAM block device", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/blockdev/zram.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes zram as a compressed RAM-backed block device used for swap, /tmp, and caches; it is a virtual software block driver rather than hardware support." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/31/230", "claim": "A 2025 patch series proposed asynchronous writeback support for zram, showing active upstream feature development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1062130/", "claim": "An RFC patch series from March 2026 discusses letting zram compression backends manage their own streams, further indicating ongoing upstream work." }, { "url": "https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/SwapOnZRAM", "claim": "Fedora documents swap-on-zram as a default system feature, demonstrating mainstream current deployment." }, { "url": "https://github.com/systemd/zram-generator", "claim": "The systemd zram-generator project documents packaged support for Fedora, Debian 12+, and Arch, indicating ongoing new deployments across current distributions." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) confirmed `drivers/block/zram` is the kernel's compressed RAM block-device driver with current docs and feature Kconfig options. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable in shell, so lore/mailing-list evidence was gathered with web search: LKML/Spinics/LWN results showed 2025-2026 feature work and cleanups, and I found no removal/deprecation series in those searches. Deployment evidence came from web search results for Fedora's SwapOnZRAM change page and the systemd `zram-generator` project, which show current distro use. Because zram is a virtual software driver, `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is false and `last_widely_available_year` is null. There is no clear one-for-one upstream replacement driver; `zswap` is adjacent but not equivalent.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016894422582194472, "commits_5y": 205, "substantive_commits_5y": 202, "first_touch_ts": 1391129815, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774139793, "top_author": "Sergey Senozhatsky", "top_author_commits": 102, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bluetooth", "subsystem": "bluetooth", "chipset_family": "Bluetooth HCI controllers and adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mediatek/d5d33658e20fc0ad4cfe80df185d31fecad66fcf.1777059145.git.pav@iki.fi/", "claim": "April 2026 patch updates `drivers/bluetooth/btusb.c` for MediaTek MT7925 invalid ISO RX packets, showing active bug-fix maintenance for current hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-bluetooth/20260424122522.402953-1-zhangchen200426@163.com/", "claim": "April 2026 patch adds a new Realtek RTL8922AE VID/PID to `btusb.c`, showing ongoing enablement for newly shipping Bluetooth hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.mercusys.com/en/product/details/ma530/", "claim": "MERCUSYS markets the MA530 as a Bluetooth 5.3/5.4 nano USB adapter, evidence that USB Bluetooth adapters covered by this subtree are still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BT_HCIBTUSB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_BT_HCIBTUSB` remains present in current kernel series and maps `btusb` to a large set of supported USB Bluetooth devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree, not a helper library: local `drivers/bluetooth/Kconfig` and file list show transport/vendor drivers across USB/UART/SDIO/PCIe/virtio (Intel, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Broadcom, Realtek, Marvell, NXP, legacy PCMCIA). Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_activity(file=drivers/bluetooth/btusb.c)`, which returned fresh 2026 fixes and new-device-ID patches; that strongly argues against deprecation or removal. Deployment evidence was obtained with one web search call, yielding the official MERCUSYS MA530 product page and LKDDb entry. No natural replacement driver exists for the subtree as a whole; it is the in-tree family of Bluetooth HCI transport drivers for widely deployed consumer, laptop, embedded, and some virtualized use cases.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009353035052518952, "commits_5y": 792, "substantive_commits_5y": 783, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775076347, "top_author": "Kiran K", "top_author_commits": 66, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bus", "subsystem": "bus", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level subsystem directory containing multiple unrelated bus driver implementations, not one specific hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.018602111823665415, "commits_5y": 232, "substantive_commits_5y": 218, "first_touch_ts": 1345638709, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773775857, "top_author": "Tony Lindgren", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bus/fsl-mc", "subsystem": "bus", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale DPAA2 Management Complex (fsl-mc)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20260413134345.2855417-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists: April 2026 fix for a refcount leak in fsl-mc core code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260413155819.436681483@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving fixes and stable backports in 2026, indicating active supported use rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the Management Complex (MC) as the control plane for DPAA2 hardware resources and objects used by Linux drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP's LX2160A product page was active in 2026 search results and advertises DPAA2, showing relevant hardware still marketed new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` listed multiple .c files and `fsl-mc-bus.c` identifies this as the Freescale/NXP Management Complex bus driver, so it is a real driver directory. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/bus/fsl-mc/fsl-mc-bus.c` showed dense activity through 2025-2026, with cited April 2026 fixes from lore URLs above; that supports `keep`, not deprecate. `web.search_query` found current kernel DPAA2 docs and NXP's active LX2160A page, supporting ongoing new-hardware relevance; deployments are niche embedded/networking rather than mass-market, hence `medium`. `lore_regex`/`lore_substr_subject` removal probes timed out and `lei` was blocked by sandbox, so the lack of a removal discussion is an inference from available evidence, not exhaustive proof.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04818719012772719, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1519308650, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769963834, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bus/mhi/ep", "subsystem": "bus", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm SDX55/SDX6x-class MHI modem endpoints over PCIe", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/bus/mhi/ep/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this as the MHI bus endpoint implementation and explicitly cites endpoint devices such as the SDX55 modem connected to a host over PCIe." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/bus/mhi/ep", "claim": "The directory has ongoing upstream commit history rather than abandonment, consistent with continued maintenance into late 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/mhi/mhi.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes MHI as a Qualcomm-developed protocol used primarily with PCIe-based modem devices." }, { "url": "https://www.quectel.com/product/5g-rm520n-series/", "claim": "Current Quectel RM520N 5G modules are still marketed with PCIe and Linux driver support for industrial, gateway, laptop, and signage deployments, indicating the underlying MHI-style modem endpoint use case remains current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: local `rg` on the directory found MHI endpoint bus code and Kconfig text naming SDX55 modem endpoints. Upstream activity is strong: local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/bus/mhi/ep` showed many non-removal commits through late 2025; the kernel.org log URL is cited as the canonical stable page for that history. No removal signal was found in the accessible evidence, so active maintenance outweighs any deprecation concern. Deployment is not broad consumer-PC scale but still material in embedded/industrial WWAN, routers, gateways, and similar PCIe modem products; that supports `medium` deployments and `keep`. URL acquisition: kernel.org Kconfig/log URLs by canonical recall, MHI docs and Quectel product page via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1649047670, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767178633, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/bus/mhi/host", "subsystem": "bus", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm MHI host controllers for PCIe modems (SDX24/35/55/61/65/72 class and related MHI devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/mhi/mhi.html", "claim": "MHI is an active Linux bus/protocol primarily used by host processors to control and communicate with modem devices, especially PCIe-based devices." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-arm-msm/07cc4ee2-4a13-495c-bc4d-8837d6b54414%40oss.qualcomm.com/T/", "claim": "drivers/bus/mhi/host saw substantive upstream design discussion and code changes in 2025, including a large init.c rework for MHI control configuration allocation." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5761674.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch series added PF/VF split controller configuration support to bus: mhi: host, showing ongoing feature development rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.sierrawireless.com/iot-modules/5g-modules/em9191/", "claim": "Sierra Wireless markets the EM9191 5G M.2 module, one class of hardware supported by this driver family, indicating new-deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.telit.com/devices/fn990b40/", "claim": "Telit markets the FN990B40 5G M.2 modem, another supported modem class, indicating hardware is still sold for current deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command of Kconfig and pci_generic.c shows this is the MHI host/controller driver, not a helper library, with live PCI IDs for Quectel/Sierra/Telit/Foxconn/Cinterion devices. Upstream attention was checked first using web search/open on lore/archive results: the 2025 lore thread on init.c and the 2025 PF/VF patch series show active maintenance and new functionality; I found no removal/deprecation thread in the performed lore-targeted searches. Deployment evidence came from vendor product pages obtained by web search/open for Sierra EM9191 and Telit FN990B40, both current M.2 cellular modem products matching hardware families enumerated in pci_generic.c. Because the directory is young, heavily touched recently, and still gaining modem IDs/features for currently sold hardware, the defensible recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 127, "substantive_commits_5y": 117, "first_touch_ts": 1647608574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767178633, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cache", "subsystem": "cache", "chipset_family": "SoC cache-maintenance controllers (SiFive CCACHE, StarFive StarLink, Andes AX45MP, HiSilicon HHA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-premier-p550", "claim": "SiFive lists the HiFive Premier P550 as 'Available Now' and sells a current board based on an ESWIN EIC7700X SoC with SiFive P550 cores, indicating current hardware using this driver family remains on the market." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-five", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/Five as Active with product longevity to 2033 and identifies it as using an Andes AX45MP core, supporting that AX45MP-based deployments are still current." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive/Doc_Center/jh7110.html", "claim": "StarFive documentation presents JH7110 as a current SoC and ties it to VisionFive 2, supporting ongoing StarFive platform relevance for the cache driver family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIFIVE_CCACHE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SIFIVE_CCACHE in current kernels and maps it to active compatible strings including ESWIN EIC7700 and StarFive JH7100-related hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/STARFIVE_STARLINK_CACHE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_STARFIVE_STARLINK_CACHE present in current kernels (6.11-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD), indicating ongoing upstream support rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` inspection found four driver objects and platform-driver/module registrations in `drivers/cache/*.c`. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/cache` showed substantive commits through 2026-02-06 across multiple files/authors, with recent fixes and new hardware enablement, so upstream activity is current. Lore-specific tools were unavailable here (`lei` missing; web lore queries returned no indexed removal/deprecation thread), so I treated the absence of removal evidence plus recent git activity as a strong signal against deprecation. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`/`web.open`; kernel support URLs show configs still present in current kernels, and vendor pages show relevant SiFive/StarFive/Andes-based hardware still shipping. Recommendation is `keep` because the code is young, recently maintained, and still tied to new-niche embedded/RISC-V/server deployments rather than abandoned legacy hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1693584539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770407680, "top_author": "Samuel Holland", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cdrom", "subsystem": "cdrom", "chipset_family": "MMC/ATAPI optical-disc core plus Sega/Yamaha GD-ROM", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423194132.693271-4-fuchsfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "`gdrom.c` still sees non-trivial upstream fixes in 2026, so the directory is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/cdrom/cdrom-standard.html", "claim": "`cdrom.c` is the kernel's uniform CD-ROM layer, i.e. shared infrastructure for Linux optical-drive support rather than a dead single-device stub." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD-ROM", "claim": "GD-ROM is Dreamcast-era proprietary optical media tied to legacy Sega hardware, indicating the Sega-specific part is niche/obsolete even though generic optical support remains relevant." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed `drivers/cdrom` contains shared `cdrom.c` plus the Sega Dreamcast `gdrom.c`, and `drivers/scsi/sr.c` still calls `register_cdrom`/`cdrom_ioctl`, so this directory is still on a live code path. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/cdrom/gdrom.c` returned fresh 2026 patch traffic, which argues against deprecation/removal. I attempted removal-talk discovery with `lore_regex`, `lore_path_mentions`, and `lei`, but the lore regex/path queries timed out and local `lei` could not start under sandbox constraints; I found no positive removal evidence. `docs.kernel.org` URL is canonical recall for the subsystem documentation; the Wikipedia GD-ROM URL was obtained via web search. Net: keep the directory, but annotate that the Sega-specific hardware is legacy/niche while the generic optical-disc core still supports hardware that remains sold and deployed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14798381211208056, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753233017, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cdx", "subsystem": "cdx", "chipset_family": "AMD Versal CDX bus / Versal Net adaptive SoC fabric devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1055076.html", "claim": "v10 upstream patch series introduced the AMD CDX bus in 2023 for dynamically discovered FPGA fabric devices exposed to embedded CPUs." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5769287.html", "claim": "In July 2025, upstream discussion showed an actively reproduced linux-next build issue in drivers/cdx with an explicit maintainer response promising a fix, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/linuxppc-dev%40lists.ozlabs.org/msg251662.html", "claim": "A March 2026 patch updated drivers/cdx/cdx.c to use generic driver_override infrastructure, showing post-merge bug-fix attention in current development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CDX_CONTROLLER.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps the CDX controller to OF compatible xlnx,versal-net-cdx and shows support present from Linux 6.4 through current HEAD." }, { "url": "https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1226/amd-announces-versal-premium-series-gen-2-enabling-new", "claim": "AMD announced new Versal Premium Series Gen 2 devices in November 2024, supporting that the broader Versal family was still being launched and sold into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/cdx shows a real bus subsystem for AMD FPGA devices, with comments in cdx.c identifying CDX as AMD FPGA architecture and recent local git history through 2026-02-04. Web search found no removal/deprecation thread; instead it found 2025-2026 maintenance traffic on spinics/mail-archive and LKDDb entries tying the driver to xlnx,versal-net-cdx. AMD product/IR pages obtained by web search show Versal family hardware still marketed/new in 2025+, so this is not legacy-only. Deployment is likely low rather than medium/high because CDX targets specialized embedded/adaptive-SoC fabric use, not commodity PCs/servers. No natural replacement driver exists because CDX is the bus framework for this hardware class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1680085592, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770173893, "top_author": "Abhijit Gangurde", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cdx/controller", "subsystem": "cdx", "chipset_family": "AMD Versal CDX", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8b0d03129b61", "claim": "Upstream activity remained real in 2025 with a functional CDX-controller change: symbol export and MCDI/RPC initialization work landed on 2025-09-08." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0e439ba38e61", "claim": "The driver gained MSI support in 2024, indicating active feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.12/admin-guide/abi-testing.html", "claim": "Kernel ABI documentation includes /sys/bus/cdx interfaces, showing CDX is an exposed supported bus/userspace interface rather than dead code." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD continued marketing the Versal adaptive SoC family, including Gen 2 variants, in and after 2025; the underlying hardware family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/am011-versal-acap-trm/Subsystems-Overview", "claim": "AMD Versal documentation describes both APU and RPU subsystems, matching the CDX driver's APU/RPU split architecture used for controller communication." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper library: local source inspection via shell showed module/platform-driver code in cdx_rpmsg.c and CDX bus/controller logic tied to AMD FPGA devices. Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` (lei/lore tooling unavailable here): recent non-treewide commits in 2025 include functional fixes and exports, and I found no removal-oriented history. URLs for the two kernel commits are canonical git.kernel.org commit pages inferred from the local commit IDs; AMD product/TRM URLs and kernel ABI doc were obtained via web search. Hardware is still current but niche embedded/FPGA infrastructure, so deployments today are low rather than none. No obvious replacement driver exists because this is the bus/controller implementation for CDX itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1680085592, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757945909, "top_author": "Nipun Gupta", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level character-device subsystem directory containing many unrelated drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026000956167720506, "commits_5y": 372, "substantive_commits_5y": 363, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771874328, "top_author": "Jason A. Donenfeld", "top_author_commits": 150, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/agp", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "AGP host bridge / GART chipsets (Intel 440LX/BX/I8xx/E7x05, VIA, SiS, ALi, AMD, NVIDIA nForce, UniNorth, PA-RISC Quicksilver)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hardening/20240123002814.1396804-36-keescook@chromium.org/", "claim": "AGP core still receives upstream maintenance in 2024, but the visible work is hardening/refactoring rather than new hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/kernel-janitors/20210908052855.GA28725@kili/", "claim": "AGP core also saw a real bug fix in 2021 (integer overflow handling), showing the code is not completely abandoned." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port", "claim": "AGP is an obsolete graphics interconnect, progressively displaced by PCI Express from 2004 onward; by mid-2008 only a few AGP models remained widely available." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/char/agp/Kconfig", "claim": "The subsystem targets legacy AGP bridge chipsets on x86 plus a few older Alpha/PA-RISC/PowerPC platforms, indicating a legacy-hardware support role rather than a current deployment path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on drivers/char/agp/generic.c; they show patches through 2024, mostly janitorial/hardening plus at least one real overflow fix, and I found no concrete removal series within the tool budget. Deployment evidence came from web search to Wikipedia, which describes AGP as obsolete and largely displaced by PCIe, with broad market fade by 2008. Kconfig scope is cited via canonical recall of the kernel.org tree URL. Net: hardware is obsolete and not sold new in 2025, but upstream still does occasional maintenance for legacy systems, so keep the driver annotated as legacy rather than deprecate/remove now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15544069702480687, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752038589, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/hw_random", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "Mixed hardware RNG/TRNG blocks (SoC, CPU/chipset, and virtio guest devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/e12b133a762f68628e29ac358a3a0605731ab7bd.1776702734.git.daniel@makrotopia.org/", "claim": "April 2026 feature work adds Mediatek hwrng support via SMCCC, showing active upstream development for current SoCs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260418131110-mutt-send-email-mst@kernel.org/", "claim": "April 2026 virtio-rng bugfix traffic shows the subsystem is still maintained for virtualized deployments." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260327-schneider-v7-0-rc1-crypto-v1-13-5e6ff7853994@bootlin.com/", "claim": "March 2026 enablement for Renesas RZ/N1D through the omap hwrng path indicates continuing use on shipping embedded platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.9/admin-guide/hw_random.html", "claim": "The Linux hw_random framework exposes /dev/hwrng and supports multiple hardware-specific RNG drivers through one core subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU recommends virtio devices for virtual machines, supporting the case that virtio-rng remains relevant in new VM deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: this directory is an active umbrella subsystem, not a dead single-chip driver. Local Kconfig inspection shows many current and legacy backends plus virtio/optee/platform drivers. Lore evidence was gathered with lore_regex on patch diffs for drivers/char/hw_random and shows fresh 2026 feature and bugfix traffic; no removal evidence was found, and an attempted lei query for removal/deprecation discussion failed due local sandboxed lei socket startup. Kernel hw_random and QEMU virtio URLs were obtained via web search. Deployment remains high because new embedded SoCs and VMs still need hardware/para-virtual RNG support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03491657522321922, "commits_5y": 258, "substantive_commits_5y": 252, "first_touch_ts": 1151341099, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770375142, "top_author": "Martin Kaiser", "top_author_commits": 49, "c_file_count": 48, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/ipmi", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "IPMI BMC and system-interface controllers (KCS/SMIC/BT/SSIF/IPMB; including ASPEED and Nuvoton BMC-side variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260415115930.3428942-1-matt@readmodwrite.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance in 2026 on ipmi_msghandler.c shows the subsystem is still actively fixed." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260327-ipmi-v1-1-d4a4417140b2@gmail.com/", "claim": "Another 2026 bug-fix patch against ipmi_msghandler.c indicates ongoing bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's current server-management lineup still markets new BMC SoCs (including AST2700 series), showing BMC hardware remains actively sold." }, { "url": "https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=sd00005342en_us&docLocale=en_US&page=GUID-D7147C7F-2016-0901-06D0-0000000025E0.html", "claim": "HPE iLO 7 documentation states current server management still provides IPMI 2.0 capabilities, indicating ongoing deployment on modern servers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: provided static history already shows 182 substantive commits in 5y, 54 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-02-23. I confirmed recent upstream attention with lore_activity on drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_msghandler.c, which returned 2026 fixes at the cited lore URLs. I checked removal/deprecation talk with lore_regex twice, but both subject scans timed out; no positive removal evidence was obtained. A local shell read of drivers/char/ipmi/Kconfig shows this directory still covers active host-side and BMC-side interfaces (IPMI_SI, SSIF, IPMB, watchdog/poweroff, ASPEED KCS/BT BMC, NPCM7xx KCS, SSIF BMC), so there is no single upstream replacement driver. Deployment is medium, not high, because Redfish increasingly displaces IPMI for new management workflows, but official web.search_query results show both current BMC silicon sales (ASPEED server-management pages) and ongoing modern-server IPMI exposure (HPE iLO 7 docs).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.029496749583752726, "commits_5y": 192, "substantive_commits_5y": 182, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771858848, "top_author": "Corey Minyard", "top_author_commits": 82, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/tpm", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "Trusted Platform Module (TPM 1.2/2.0, including CRB/TIS/fTPM/vTPM transports)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-integrity/20260409172108.11600-1-gunnarku@amazon.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream TPM core maintenance continued in 2026; lore timeline for drivers/char/tpm/tpm-chip.c showed activity through 2026-04-09 and heavy traffic across 2024-2026." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/oem-tpm", "claim": "Microsoft's OEM guidance says new device models have had to implement and enable TPM 2.0 by default since 2016, indicating TPM hardware remains standard in modern PC deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/products/security-smart-card-solutions/optiga-embedded-security-solutions/optiga-tpm", "claim": "Infineon still markets new OPTIGA TPM 2.0 products for PCs, servers, IoT, and industrial systems, showing the hardware family is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active, non-obsolescent subsystem. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/char/tpm/tpm-chip.c` returned 290 matches from 2024-04-29 through 2026-04-09, including a 2026 linux-integrity fix URL cited above. `lore_regex` on linux-integrity subjects for TPM + remove/deprecate/obsolete/orphan returned no hits, so I found no active removal discussion. `web.search_query` found the Microsoft Learn TPM 2.0 OEM requirement page and Infineon OPTIGA TPM product page, supporting both current physical deployments and new hardware sales. Local `exec_command` inspection of `drivers/char/tpm/Kconfig` also shows ongoing support for discrete TPMs plus Xen/IBM/AMD SVSM vTPM and firmware TPM paths, so there is no single replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03676799606007148, "commits_5y": 246, "substantive_commits_5y": 235, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770078992, "top_author": "Jarkko Sakkinen", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/tpm/eventlog", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: TPM event log parsing/measurement support code under the TPM subsystem, not a hardware-bound kernel driver for a distinct device.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1525866346, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753226598, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/tpm/st33zp24", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics ST33 TPM 1.2 family (ST33ZP24)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228180011.1568201-18-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver received a real bug fix in 2026 ('Fix missing cleanup on get_burstcount() error') and that fix was backported to stable trees, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-integrity/20240906163325.321610-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The directory still sees upstream churn in 2024, though at least some of it is treewide API cleanup rather than feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st33tphf2ei2c.html", "claim": "ST still sells newer TPM parts for the same market/use case, but the marketed current part is ST33TPHF2EI2C, not the older ST33ZP24 named by this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/campaigns/st33ktpm-new-tpm-for-consumer-and-industrial-z26.html", "claim": "ST's current TPM marketing points customers to the newer ST33KTPM line for new designs, suggesting the Linux driver target is legacy silicon rather than a current flagship deployment choice." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TCG_TIS_ST33ZP24_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this exact driver family remains present in current kernel series, so it is not already removed upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell grep identified this as an STMicroelectronics TPM 1.2 I2C/SPI driver for ST33ZP24. lore_activity on st33zp24.c/i2c.c showed recent real maintenance and stable backports in 2026, which argues against deprecate/remove. Attempts to use lore_regex for explicit removal-thread detection timed out; no removal evidence was obtained. Web search found current ST product pages for newer ST33 TPM families (ST33TPHF2, ST33KTPM), but not a current ST33ZP24 sales page, so I infer the exact hardware is legacy while deployments likely persist in older embedded/industrial systems. Replacement is null because migration is to newer TPM hardware/standards, not a drop-in upstream driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07618235931039849, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1426714986, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770078992, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/xilinx_hwicap", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "Xilinx OPB/XPS HWICAP for Virtex/Virtex-II Pro/Virtex-4/5/6-era MicroBlaze systems", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/ef647a9c-b1b7-4338-9bc0-28165ec2a367@moroto.mountain/", "claim": "Upstream still takes functional fixes for this driver; a NULL-vs-IS_ERR bugfix was posted in February 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240411153126.16201-37-axboe@kernel.dk/", "claim": "The driver also received treewide API adaptation in April 2024, indicating it is still kept buildable in mainline." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/api/khub/documents/lowpZg4yTZBFfJG6wi_MZw/content", "claim": "The XPS HWICAP product spec is an older PLB-based core (DS586, June 22 2011) for Spartan-6 and Virtex-4/5/6-class devices, matching the Linux driver's legacy OPB/XPS bindings rather than current AMD FPGA flows." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/pg134-axi-hwicap/AXI-HWICAP-v3.0-LogiCORE-IP-Product-Guide", "claim": "AMD still documents HWICAP in 2025, but as AXI HWICAP v3.0; this suggests current new designs use AXI-era IP, not the OPB/XPS cores this Linux driver binds." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed only legacy OF compatibles (xlnx,opb-hwicap-1.00.b and xlnx,xps-hwicap-1.00.a) and family strings up to virtex6 in xilinx_hwicap.c. Activity evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/char/xilinx_hwicap/xilinx_hwicap.c, which showed 2024-2025 fixes/treewide churn rather than removal. Product URLs were obtained by web search on docs.amd.com; DS586 identifies the older XPS HWICAP core, while PG134 shows the modern AXI HWICAP line. Conclusion: legacy hardware/IP with low present-day deployment, but still enough upstream maintenance that deprecate/remove would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09626873930581205, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1202318632, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577764, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/char/xillybus", "subsystem": "char", "chipset_family": "Xillybus FPGA host-interface IP cores (PCIe / Device Tree / USB variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251107163755.356187-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance touched this driver in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://xillybus.com/", "claim": "Vendor still markets Xillybus/XillyUSB as current FPGA-to-host products for PCIe, AXI, and USB, with Linux support." }, { "url": "https://xillybus.com/pcie-download", "claim": "Vendor still publishes current PCIe demo bundles targeting modern FPGA boards such as UltraScale+, Versal, and Zynq platforms." }, { "url": "https://xillybus.com/xillyusb/", "claim": "Vendor still offers the XillyUSB variant and states an adapter kit is available for purchase." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows real driver code for PCIe, OF/DT, and USB-backed Xillybus endpoints. lore_file_timeline on `drivers/char/xillybus/xillyusb.c` returned active hits through 2025-11-07 (obtained via MCP), so this is still seeing upstream maintenance rather than removal. Official vendor pages were obtained via web search on `xillybus.com`; they show the product line is still sold/marketed for new FPGA designs in 2025, but the use case is niche: custom FPGA systems, dev boards, lab/industrial appliances, not mass consumer hardware. There is no obvious in-tree replacement driver for the same vendor-specific FPGA IP-core stack, so removal would strand active though specialized users; annotate rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10675338945125856, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1411541056, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764166183, "top_author": "Eli Billauer", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level clock subsystem containing common framework/core code and many vendor clock-controller drivers, not a single removable hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0311624326540531, "commits_5y": 593, "substantive_commits_5y": 579, "first_touch_ts": 1290768664, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770183358, "top_author": "Maxime Ripard", "top_author_commits": 65, "c_file_count": 83, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/actions", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Actions Semi OWL S500/S700/S900 clock controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20250813161517.4746-3-wsa+renesas@sang-engineering.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream touches in 2025; owl-common.c was part of a 2025 clk treewide cleanup series, so it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20220414110843.681575567@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The Actions clock code had a real bug fix backported to stable in 2022, indicating maintained deployed users rather than dead code." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/bubblegum-96/", "claim": "Bubblegum-96 is a real Actions S900 board, tying the driver family to shipping developer hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ucrobotics.com.tw/96-boards", "claim": "A current retailer page still lists Bubblegum-96 hardware, supporting that at least some Actions S900 hardware remained sold new into the 2025 timeframe, albeit as a niche board." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig says 'Clock driver for Actions Semi SoCs' and SoC-specific objects exist for S500/S700/S900. lore_file_timeline on drivers/clk/actions/owl-common.c showed 23 matches with newest touch on 2025-08-13 and no removal signal in returned events. lore_activity on drivers/clk/actions/owl-s900.c surfaced stable backports including the 2022 sentinel fix, showing ongoing maintenance for deployed systems. web search returned the 96Boards Bubblegum-96 product page and a current uCRobotics sales page; that supports niche ongoing availability, but only for older dev boards, so deployments today look low rather than none. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the SoC-specific CMU/clock provider for Actions OWL parts. Recommendation is keep-annotate: upstream attention exists, removal evidence was not found, but the hardware family appears niche and legacy-skewed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07213651919021813, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1523049323, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096905, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/analogbits", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains a reusable Analog Bits WRPLL helper library exporting symbols for other clock/IP drivers, with no device binding or driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1556900448, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737063829, "top_author": "Bo Gan", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/aspeed", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST24xx/25xx/26xx/27xx BMC SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5978616.html", "claim": "Ryan Chen's v16 patch series in December 2025 adds AST2700 support and explicitly reorganizes ASPEED clock drivers into drivers/clk/aspeed for future additions, indicating active upstream investment rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6033908.html", "claim": "Stephen Boyd replied on February 2, 2026 that the ASPEED clock updates, including the subdirectory reorganization and new driver support, were pulled into clk-next." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6054087.html", "claim": "A February 18, 2026 fix patch targets drivers/clk/aspeed/clk-ast2700.c, showing ongoing post-merge maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's server-management product page still lists AST2600/2620 and AST2700/2720/2750 as current server-management/BMC products, with AST2700-series marked 'Sample Ongoing'." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2700/", "claim": "AST2700 is marketed by ASPEED as its 8th-generation server-management/BMC SoC, confirming the family is current-generation hardware rather than legacy-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real common-clock driver directory with Kconfig entries for ASPEED BMC SoCs and AST2700. Local git log showed the directory itself is new because the code was moved into a subdirectory in late 2025, so the young directory age is not evidence of obsolescence. Public history was obtained via web search because `lei` was unavailable: spinics result msg5978616 shows a long-running AST2700 enablement series and the explicit subdirectory split for future maintenance; msg6033908 shows clk-next pull acceptance on 2026-02-02; msg6054087 shows a follow-up fix on 2026-02-18. Vendor deployment evidence was obtained via web search on aspeedtech.com pages showing AST2600 and AST2700-series products still sold/current. No natural replacement driver exists for the same ASPEED BMC clock-control role; newer SoCs extend this directory instead of replacing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1770183358, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770183427, "top_author": "Ryan Chen", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/at91", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Microchip/Atmel AT91 SAM9/SAMA5/SAMA7 PMC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5762727.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch series actively updates drivers/clk/at91 core files, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-September/1059869.html", "claim": "The 2025 linux-arm-kernel thread updates sam9x7 clock support, indicating new SoC enablement still lands in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/SAM9X60", "claim": "Microchip lists SAM9X60 as 'Status: In Production', so AT91-family hardware covered here was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microcontrollers-and-microprocessors/32-bit-mpus/sam9", "claim": "Microchip's current SAM9 family page lists active SAM9X7 and SAM9X60 products, supporting continued present-day embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is kernel clock-provider driver code for AT91-family SoCs. Local shell inspection of the directory and local git log (git -c safe.directory ... log -- drivers/clk/at91) showed continued substantive activity into 2025-2026. The two mailing-list URLs were obtained via web search for AT91 clk patch traffic and show active maintenance/new SoC work; no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced in those searches. The Microchip URLs were obtained via web search, then opened/found to confirm current product-family status and 'In Production' for SAM9X60. Because the hardware family is still sold and upstream work is active, this should be kept, with no obvious replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 69, "first_touch_ts": 1385994673, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764011747, "top_author": "Claudiu Beznea", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/axis", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Axis ARTPEC-6", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/3d4a76c5c0cc23cd8c0232173c169a33407b5027.1459761338.git.larper@axis.com/", "claim": "Initial upstream posting identifies this as the ARTPEC-6 clock controller driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20220222195153.3817625-1-trix@redhat.com/", "claim": "Most recent lore activity touching the file is a 2022 comment-cleanup patch, indicating very low recent upstream attention and no visible removal thread." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.axis.com/article/artpec-foundation-quality", "claim": "Axis states ARTPEC-6 was its sixth-generation SoC released in 2017, and by late 2024 the company had reached ARTPEC-9." }, { "url": "https://www.axis.com/solutions/system-on-chip", "claim": "Axis's current SoC marketing focuses on ARTPEC-8 and ARTPEC-7, with no ARTPEC-6 positioning as a current platform." }, { "url": "https://www.axis.com/en-us/products/axis-q1726", "claim": "A current Axis product page shows new devices shipping on ARTPEC-9, supporting the view that new deployments have moved to later generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: local file inspection via exec_command showed a DT/platform clock driver for compatible \"axis,artpec6-clkctrl\". Lore history came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/clk/axis/clk-artpec6.c: it shows introduction in 2016 and only a minor cleanup in 2022, with no evidence of active bug-fix traffic or removal discussion in the returned timeline. Deployment evidence came from web search results on Axis's own pages: ARTPEC-6 is an older 2017 SoC generation, while current products and marketing center on ARTPEC-8/9. That points to legacy installed-base use rather than new 2025 sales. No natural replacement driver exists because this clock controller is SoC-specific; deprecation is more defensible than removal because deployed surveillance/embedded systems likely still exist.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.4867716941652385, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1460761336, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1647051735, "top_author": "Tom Rix", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/axs10x", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Synopsys ARC AXS10x / AXS103 SDP PLL clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20250811-clk-for-stephen-round-rate-v1-77-b3bf97b038dc@redhat.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is recent: this driver saw a functional API conversion patch in August 2025, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/processor-solutions/arc-software-development-platform.html", "claim": "Synopsys still listed the AXS103 Software Development Platform as a current product page in 2026, so the associated AXS10x board hardware was still being sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/processor-solutions/arc-development-tools/development-systems.html", "claim": "Synopsys describes AXS103 as a ready-to-use ARC software development platform, confirming this is niche development-kit hardware rather than broad commodity deployment." }, { "url": "https://foss-for-synopsys-dwc-arc-processors.github.io/platforms.html", "claim": "embARC platform documentation still documents the ARC AXS103 platform and its Linux software package, supporting continued though specialized use." }, { "url": "https://foss-for-synopsys-dwc-arc-processors.github.io/embarc_osp/doc/build/html/board/axs.html", "claim": "embARC OSP still documents the ARC Software Development Platform board family, reinforcing that present-day deployments are mainly vendor/SDK and lab use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell rg tied the directory to DT compatibles for Synopsys AXS10x/AXS103 SDP PLL clocks. `lore_activity` on `drivers/clk/axs10x/pll_clock.c` produced the cited linux-clk URL and showed a substantive 2025 maintenance patch; no removal evidence surfaced. Web search produced the Synopsys and embARC URLs, which show AXS103 still marketed/documented in 2026. Conclusion: hardware is still sold, but deployments are limited to ARC development platforms and prototypes, so keep the driver but annotate as niche/low-deployment rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2714459599024773, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1462556104, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338889, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/bcm", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260424-clk-bcm-fix-pi3-v1-1-8a734e94cecb@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance is still landing for this directory via clk: bcm: rpi changes in April 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260312-v3d-power-management-v7-1-9f006a1d4c55@igalia.com/", "claim": "The BCM/Raspberry Pi clock code is seeing nontrivial active development, including a v7 patch series in March 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 uses Broadcom BCM2711 and is stated to remain in production until at least January 2034." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4s/", "claim": "Compute Module 4S is another BCM2711 product still marketed for industrial customers, with production promised until at least January 2034." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/clk/bcm` is real SoC clock-driver code, not helper-only content. Local inspection of `drivers/clk/bcm/Kconfig` shows live support for BCM2711/BCM2835, BCM63xx, Kona, and iProc families, including `CLK_RASPBERRYPI`. Upstream activity was checked with `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clk/bcm/clk-raspberrypi.c`, which returned dense 2022-2026 traffic and recent lore URLs above; this argues against deprecation or removal. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` on official Raspberry Pi product pages showing BCM2711 CM4/CM4S still sold and supported into 2034. Because these are board/SoC-specific clock drivers, there is no generic replacement driver; removal would strand current Raspberry Pi and embedded Broadcom platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12120787865650762, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1393267426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758470991, "top_author": "Maxime Ripard", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/berlin", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Marvell Berlin2 / Berlin2CD / Berlin2Q (Armada 1500-class Berlin SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/arm/marvell%2Cberlin.yaml", "claim": "Current kernel DT binding still documents Berlin SoCs and names legacy products including Google Chromecast, Valve Steam Link, Sony NSZ-GS7, and Berlin2Q DMP." }, { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2304.0/02603.html", "claim": "A 2023 clk patch series included a Berlin-specific functional change ('clk: berlin: div: Add a determine_rate hook'), indicating some upstream maintenance rather than total abandonment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link", "claim": "Steam Link hardware used a Marvell DE3005-A1 SoC and the hardware product was discontinued in 2018." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromecast", "claim": "Chromecast 1st generation was part of the supported Berlin device family and that hardware generation is long discontinued." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on the directory showed `CLK_OF_DECLARE` and Marvell Berlin compatible strings, so this is a real SoC clock driver, not a helper library. Shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/clk/berlin` showed only two substantive local-history touches in the window (2022 fix, 2023 determine_rate hook) plus treewide churn, so activity is sparse but nonzero. `lei` was unavailable, so lore evidence was approximated with `web.search_query`: I found a 2023 Berlin clk patch URL, but no removal/deprecation discussion in the searched lore terms. `web.search_query` also found the current DT binding and discontinued end products (Chromecast/Steam Link), supporting a legacy-installed-base assessment: not sold new in 2025, low residual deployments, and no generic replacement because the driver is tied to these specific SoC clock blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1401381016, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1686274766, "top_author": "Maxime Ripard", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/davinci", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "TI DaVinci DA850 / OMAP-L138 / AM18xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250826110950.642743683@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver saw upstream-worthy maintenance recently; a davinci clock fix was backported to stable in August 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OMAP-L138", "claim": "OMAP-L138, one of the SoCs explicitly covered by this driver family, was listed by TI as ACTIVE and orderable." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM1808", "claim": "AM1808, another DA850-family part covered by this driver family, was listed by TI as ACTIVE and supports Linux/RTOS use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMS320C6748", "claim": "TMS320C6748, closely related DA850-family silicon, was listed by TI as ACTIVE, indicating the platform family is not fully obsolete in new industrial/embedded designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper-only directory: local `rg`/`sed` inspection shows platform clock driver code and DT compatibles for `ti,da850-*`; file headers name 'TI DA850/OMAP-L138/AM18XX'. MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clk/davinci/psc.c` showed activity through 2025-08-28 and exposed the cited stable backport URL, with no removal/deprecation evidence surfaced. TI product URLs were obtained via web search results and show the DA850-family parts still marked ACTIVE in 2025. Conclusion: niche legacy-industrial deployments remain, but there is still shipping hardware and ongoing maintenance, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1218646918394528, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1521566186, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763484774, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/eswin", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "ESWIN EIC7700 / EIC7700X", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists 'ESWIN EIC7700 CLOCK DRIVER', marks it Maintained, and assigns files including drivers/clk/eswin/." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6074714.html", "claim": "An active 2026 patch series '[PATCH v15 3/4] clk: eswin: Add eic7700 clock driver' shows ongoing upstream work rather than removal or abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lkml.rescloud.iu.edu/2505.2/03082.html", "claim": "ESWIN EIC7700 platform bring-up discussion referenced separate posted clock patches, indicating active upstream enablement work around this driver area." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-premier-p550", "claim": "SiFive's HiFive Premier P550 board page says the board is powered by the ESWIN EIC7700X SoC and is commercially offered with current Linux-oriented software support." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/press/sifive-unveils-the-hifive-premier-p550-the-first-commercially", "claim": "SiFive's April 9, 2024 press release describes the HiFive Premier P550 as a commercially available board built around the Eswin EIC7700 SoC for ongoing developer deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an obsolescence candidate. Local shell inspection found ESWIN EIC7700 DTS content in-tree even though this snapshot lacks drivers/clk/eswin itself, pointing to a very recent/new enablement path rather than a legacy orphan. The kernel.org MAINTAINERS page was obtained via web search and marks drivers/clk/eswin as Maintained. The spinics patch URL was obtained via web search and shows an active v15 clock-driver series in 2026, with no removal discussion found in searched lore-adjacent results. The LKML archive URL was obtained via web search and confirms clock support was being actively posted as part of EIC7700 upstreaming. SiFive product and press pages were obtained via web search and show EIC7700X hardware sold as a current development platform, so hardware is still sold new in 2025+; deployments are likely low because this is a niche modern RISC-V dev board family, not a mass legacy installed base. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific clock-controller support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/hisilicon", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Hi35xx/Hi36xx/Hi37xx SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/hisilicon/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory covers multiple HiSilicon SoC-specific clock drivers including HI3516CV300, HI3519, HI3559A, HI3660, HI3670, HI3798CV200, and HI6220, plus reset support." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/documentation/consumer/hikey/hikey960/getting-started/", "claim": "HiKey960 documentation remains published, indicating at least residual developer-board deployment for a Hi3660/Hi3670-era platform." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/smart-media/stb", "claim": "HiSilicon still markets newer STB chipsets in the same broad product area, implying the use-case persists even though the exact older CV200-era parts in this driver are not the current focus." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed platform clock/reset drivers, not helpers. lore_subsystem_churn(path:drivers/clk/hisilicon/) produced no lore-visible patch-mail churn or removal signal, and the prompt's own stats show 17 substantive commits in the last 5 years with a 2026-01-22 latest touch, so this does not look abandoned. The supported SoCs are older HiSilicon phone/STB/CCTV generations; current public evidence points to residual field use and dev-board presence rather than strong new-design momentum. Recommendation is keep-annotate, not deprecate/remove. URL provenance: git.kernel.org URL by canonical recall; 96Boards and HiSilicon URLs obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07681722741702829, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1386153405, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096905, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/imgtec", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "MIPS Boston development board clocks", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/COMMON_CLK_BOSTON.html", "claim": "CONFIG_COMMON_CLK_BOSTON is the clock driver for MIPS Boston boards and is tied to the single Boston board DT compatible." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/target-mips.html", "claim": "Current QEMU still documents Boston board emulation, indicating some ongoing niche lab/emulation use." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/u-boot/%2B/42be04a611913784c1b2683c147114bd0ee1eded/doc/README.boston", "claim": "Boston is an FPGA-based MIPS development board, a successor to Malta, not a mass-market product line." }, { "url": "https://www.imaginationtech.com/news/press-release/completion-of-sale-of-mips/", "claim": "Imagination completed the sale of its MIPS business in 2017, which strongly suggests Boston-era Imagination MIPS dev hardware was already legacy by then." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains one real clock provider, clk-boston.c, registered via CLK_OF_DECLARE for DT compatible img,boston-clock. Local shell git history (git log on drivers/clk/imgtec) showed very little real activity: initial 2017 bring-up, two 2018 fixes, then mostly treewide churn, with only a 2025 allocator API conversion as the recent substantive touch. Lore MCP/lei were unavailable here, so I used web search on lore terms and found no removal discussion or active maintenance thread; that argues against 'remove'. Sources obtained via web search: LKDDb for scope, QEMU docs for present-day niche deployment, U-Boot Boston board doc for hardware nature, and Imagination's 2017 MIPS-sale notice to bound likely commercial relevance. Net: old single-board support, not sold new in 2025, still potentially useful in emulation or legacy bring-up, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1499775186, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741119325, "top_author": "Onkarnath", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/imx", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-processors/i-mx-9-processors/i-mx-93-applications-processor-family-arm-cortex-a55-ml-acceleration-power-efficient-mpu%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX93 as Active in 2025, showing the family covered by this driver directory is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX95 as an active/current family page in 2025; the directory already contains i.MX95 clock driver support, indicating ongoing enablement for current silicon." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/imx", "claim": "Canonical kernel tree location for the i.MX clock driver directory; matches the local directory contents spanning many i.MX generations including recent parts such as i.MX91/i.MX93/i.MX95." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/clk/imx", "claim": "Canonical kernel history page for this directory; consistent with the local git history showing substantial non-removal development activity through 2025-2026 rather than deprecation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an asset/helper-only subtree: local `rg` showed many `CLK_OF_DECLARE` and `module_platform_driver` entry points across SoC-specific files. Upstream attention is active: local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/clk/imx` showed many functional commits in 2024-2026, including new i.MX91/i.MX95 work and bug fixes, with no credible removal/deprecation signal; the shell `lei` path was unavailable (`lei: command not found`), and web lore searches did not surface removal threads. Deployment outlook is strong because NXP product pages obtained via web search show current i.MX93 and i.MX95 families still marketed in 2025. Source acquisition: NXP URLs came from `web.search_query`; kernel.org URLs are canonical recall used to anchor the directory/tree and history pages.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01779470583823783, "commits_5y": 287, "substantive_commits_5y": 279, "first_touch_ts": 1433313873, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773775857, "top_author": "Peng Fan", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 55, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/ingenic", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Ingenic XBurst / JZ47xx-X1000-X1830", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/2202.1/02312.html", "claim": "2022 upstream patch discussion shows active maintenance across multiple files in drivers/clk/ingenic, including bug fixes for critical clocks on JZ47xx/X1000/X1830." }, { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/2205.2/04914.html", "claim": "2022 clk patch review for ingenic-tcu fixes a real X1000 regression, indicating the driver was still being debugged and merged rather than targeted for removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INGENIC_CGU_X1830.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INGENIC_CGU_X1830 present through current kernel HEAD, so this directory still has live mainline coverage." }, { "url": "https://en.ingenic.com.cn/products", "claim": "Ingenic's official products page still lists X1000 in its current X-series lineup, implying at least some covered XBurst-era SoCs remained marketed in 2025." }, { "url": "https://jlcpcb.com/partdetail/Ingenic-X1000/C2689394", "claim": "A current electronics distributor/assembly catalog still carries an X1000 entry with pricing and ordering metadata, supporting ongoing niche availability for new builds." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Confirmed locally with shell `rg` that this directory contains DT clock-provider driver code (`CLK_OF_DECLARE_DRIVER`) for Ingenic JZ47xx/X1000/X1830 SoCs, so it is a real driver subtree. Lore-first evidence was gathered via web search to lore-derived LKML archive pages: I found maintenance/fix traffic in 2022 and no removal/deprecation discussion in the limited query budget. Combined with the prompt's recent substantive touches through 2025-09-08, that points to an actively maintained niche driver, not a removal candidate. Deployment appears low because these are older MIPS/XBurst embedded SoCs, but official Ingenic product listings and current distributor catalog entries indicate at least X1000-family parts were still marketed/obtainable for new embedded designs in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists because these clock blocks are SoC-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1434916395, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338887, "top_author": "Aidan MacDonald", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/keystone", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Texas Instruments Keystone / K2 and K3 SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/2025-11/20251127134243.1486-1-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/clk/keystone/syscon-clk.c` still received a targeted upstream fix in late 2025 (`clk: keystone: syscon-clk: fix regmap leak on probe failure`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/2025-01/20250123181913.597304-1-afd@ti.com/", "claim": "The same file had non-mechanical maintenance in 2025 (`Do not use syscon helper to build regmap`), indicating active ownership rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/2023-11/20231115220133.501814442@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`drivers/clk/keystone/pll.c` fixes were backported to stable, showing the legacy Keystone PLL side still mattered enough for supported kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625", "claim": "TI still marketed the AM62x family as ACTIVE, and local source inspection shows this directory contains `syscon-clk.c` support for `ti,am62-*` compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6548", "claim": "TI still marketed the AM65x family as ACTIVE; local source inspection and LKDDb tie this directory to `ti,am654-ehrpwm-tbclk` support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_KEYSTONE.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this directory to active DT compatibles spanning older Keystone/K2 (`ti,k2g-sci-clk`) and newer K3-era compatibles (`ti,am62-*`, `ti,am64-*`, `ti,am654-*`)." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local shell inspection of `drivers/clk/keystone` showed real clock-driver code plus K3-era compatibles in `syscon-clk.c` and `sci-clk.c`. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so I used `lore_activity` on individual files instead; that produced 2025 maintenance on `syscon-clk.c` and stable-tracked fixes on `pll.c`. A `lei` removal-discussion query could not run in this sandbox, and the lore regex attempt timed out, so absence of removal talk is an inference from positive maintenance evidence rather than a direct negative search result. TI product pages obtained via web search show AM62x/AM65x parts still ACTIVE, so the directory still serves currently sold embedded SoCs. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same hardware-specific clock control blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11602139805097518, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1381194981, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764533145, "top_author": "Andrew Davis", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/mediatek", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "MediaTek SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/u-boot/20260317-clk-mtk-unify-mux-parents-v3-7-a4760f5b0a80@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 patch traffic still touches MediaTek clock driver code, indicating the family is actively maintained rather than heading for removal." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-9400", "claim": "MediaTek was still marketing new flagship Dimensity SoCs in 2025-era product pages, showing the underlying hardware family is current, not legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-720", "claim": "MediaTek Genio 720 is a current IoT/embedded SoC with Linux support and long-lifecycle positioning, implying ongoing new deployments that depend on MediaTek SoC infrastructure such as clocks." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-unveils-genio-720-and-genio-520-iot-platforms-for-generative-ai-applications", "claim": "MediaTek announced new Genio 720/520 IoT platforms on March 11, 2025, confirming fresh embedded deployments in 2025 rather than purely installed-base support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory: 210 C files under drivers/clk/mediatek and platform-driver entry macros were already identified in the provided static features. Keep, not deprecate: the supplied history summary already shows 359 substantive commits in the last 5 years and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-23, which is strong live-upstream evidence. A lore_file_timeline MCP query on drivers/clk/mediatek/clk-mt8183.c returned 2025-2026 patch activity and a 2026 lore URL; the visible 'remove' subjects were refactors removing internal flags, not driver retirement. Web search found current MediaTek product pages for Dimensity 9400 and Genio 720 plus a 2025 Genio 720/520 launch press release, showing MediaTek SoCs are still sold into smartphones and embedded/industrial designs in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific clock controller drivers for many MediaTek chips, not a superseded legacy bus/device class. Source acquisition: lore URL via MCP lore_file_timeline; MediaTek URLs via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03825443602026033, "commits_5y": 371, "substantive_commits_5y": 359, "first_touch_ts": 1430891431, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769132813, "top_author": "AngeloGioacchino Del Regno", "top_author_commits": 119, "c_file_count": 210, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/meson", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260105204710.447779-3-martin.blumenstingl@googlemail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued into 2026 with a functional fix for the Meson G12A clock controller." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20250825-meson-clk-cleanup-24-v2-1-0f402f01e117@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The Meson clock code was still receiving nontrivial refactoring/cleanup work in 2025 rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/COMMON_CLK_G12A.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows Meson G12A clock-controller support still present through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, covering shipping Meson SoCs such as S905D2/S905X2/S905Y2/SM1." }, { "url": "https://www.khadas.com/product-page/vim4", "claim": "Khadas still sells the VIM4 SBC using the Amlogic A311D2 SoC, demonstrating ongoing new-hardware availability for Meson-family platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-c4/", "claim": "Hardkernel still sells the ODROID-C4 based on the Amlogic S905X3, showing continued new deployments for Meson-family hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an asset/helper: local `rg` showed multiple `module_platform_driver` / `CLK_OF_DECLARE_DRIVER` entries across gxbb/meson8b/axg/g12a/a1/s4/c3/t7 files. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/clk/meson/g12a.c,list=linux-clk,since=5y)`, which returned 32 recent linux-clk messages including 2025 cleanup series and a 2026 bug fix; I found no removal/deprecation thread in the inspected recent hits. Deployment evidence URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show Amlogic Meson boards still sold new in 2025-era commerce. Because the code is actively maintained and the hardware remains in current embedded/SBC use, the correct disposition is keep, with no replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05503444643220942, "commits_5y": 126, "substantive_commits_5y": 113, "first_touch_ts": 1433550128, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767689541, "top_author": "Jerome Brunet", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/microchip", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Microchip PIC32MZ DA and PolarFire SoC (MPFS) clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20251029-surfboard-refocus-ca9b135ab123@spud/", "claim": "The MPFS clock driver saw substantial upstream work in late 2025 ('clk: microchip: mpfs: use regmap for clocks'), indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260225-puzzle-cargo-9d23eedf7957@spud/", "claim": "The PIC32-side Microchip clock code was still being touched in 2026 ('clk: microchip: rename clk-core to clk-pic32'), showing the directory remains live upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "Microchip was still marketing PolarFire SoC FPGAs as current products, including Linux-capable devices and current evaluation platforms, which supports ongoing new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microcontrollers/32-bit-mcus/pic32m/pic32mz-da", "claim": "Microchip still listed the PIC32MZ DA MCU family and associated development boards/starter kits, indicating the hardware family was still available for new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of filenames/code identified two real hardware families in this directory: PIC32MZ DA (`clk-pic32mzda.c`) and PolarFire SoC/MPFS (`clk-mpfs*.c`). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on those exact files, yielding the cited linux-clk URLs with recent 2025-2026 changes. Vendor availability evidence came from `web.search_query` results on microchip.com for PolarFire SoC and PIC32MZ DA product pages. Broad removal-discussion checks were attempted via `lore_regex` and `lei`, but the regex timed out and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox; with strong positive maintenance signals and current product pages, the correct disposition is to keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04800880327866172, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1463146225, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770738539, "top_author": "Conor Dooley", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/mmp", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Marvell MMP/PXA clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/mmp/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Linux still carries CONFIG_COMMON_CLK_PXA1908 in drivers/clk/mmp, confirming this directory is the clock driver block for Marvell PXA1908-class SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-launches-highly-integrated-quad-core-64-bit-armada-mobile-pxa1908-platform-for-the-fast-growing-5-mode-4g-lte-worldwide-mass-market.html", "claim": "Marvell announced the PXA1908 mobile SoC in November 2014, indicating this family belongs to mid-2010s smartphone hardware rather than current products." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/samsung-launches-new-global-mass-market-galaxy-j1-lte-smartphone-powered-by-marvells-industry-leading-armada-mobile-pxa1908-platform.html", "claim": "Marvell tied PXA1908 to Samsung Galaxy J1 LTE launches in March 2015, a practical marker for the family's last broad consumer deployment window." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-extends-its-4g-lte-leadership-with-the-introduction-of-the-64-bit-single-chip-mobile-processor-with-production-ready-5-mode-modem.html", "claim": "Marvell announced the related PXA1928 SoC in February 2014, showing the directory covers another 2014-era ARMADA Mobile/PXA branch." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Core_Prime_VE_LTE_%28samsung-coreprimevelte%29", "claim": "Community mainlining still exists for at least one PXA1908 phone, but it is a 2014 handset with broken areas, which points to residual legacy/hobbyist use rather than new-volume deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/clk/mmp/Kconfig identified Marvell PXA1908 support; kernel.org URL cited via canonical recall. Web search results turn1search0/turn1search3/turn1search1 and turn2search1 supplied the Marvell and postmarketOS URLs. lore_file_timeline on the directory prefix returned no matches, likely because it wants exact file paths; I therefore relied on the provided static history (32 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2025-09-21, 11 authors) as evidence this code is still maintained and not under obvious removal. Hardware looks commercially obsolete, but upstream activity is recent enough that removal would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1315643388956965, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1346188454, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758476924, "top_author": "Duje Mihanović", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/mstar", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "MStar/SigmaStar MSC313", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.62, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20250811-clk-for-stephen-round-rate-v1-84-b3bf97b038dc@redhat.com/", "claim": "The driver saw an upstream functional/API-maintenance patch in August 2025 for `msc313-cpupll`, so it is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20210211052206.2955988-5-daniel@0x0f.com/", "claim": "The MPLL support was introduced specifically for MStar/SigmaStar MSC313-family hardware in the upstream clock subsystem." }, { "url": "https://openipc.org/cameras/vendors/mstar?locale=zh", "claim": "OpenIPC still lists MStar MSC313E among supported camera SoCs, indicating ongoing niche deployment in aftermarket IP-camera use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`exec_command`) shows both files are SoC-specific PLL drivers for `mstar,msc313-*`, and Kconfig describes them as MStar/SigmaStar SoCs. `lore_activity` on `clk-msc313-cpupll.c` produced the 2025 linux-clk patch URL; `lore_activity` on `clk-msc313-mpll.c` produced the 2021 introduction URL. A fast `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no directory-level history signal, and no removal evidence surfaced in the limited lore checks. `web.search_query` + `open` produced the OpenIPC URL showing MSC313E in current community firmware support, which suggests low but non-zero legacy deployment. Because upstream still does occasional maintenance and there is no natural replacement for this SoC-specific clock block, removal/deprecation looks premature; annotate as legacy/niche instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3508387996056082, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1613335080, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338890, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/mvebu", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Marvell MVEBU / ARMADA SoC clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260310123625.163846-1-ben.dooks@codethink.co.uk/", "claim": "Upstream linux-clk traffic still touched this directory in 2026 ('clk: mvebu: armada-37xx-periph: fix __iomem casts in structure init'), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets ARMADA/OCTEON TX2 processors including ARMADA 7040 and OCTEON TX2 CN9130 on a current product page, showing the broader MVEBU-derived platform family remains commercially relevant." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-embedded-processors-armada-37xx-hardware-specifications.pdf", "claim": "A current Marvell-hosted ARMADA 3700 datasheet describes 88F3710/88F3720 devices, directly matching SoCs served by this clock driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile and DT-compatible clock drivers for Marvell MVEBU SoCs (local shell inspection). lore_activity on drivers/clk/mvebu/armada-37xx-periph.c returned a 2026 linux-clk fix, so there is active upstream attention and no evidence here of removal. Web search found current Marvell ARMADA/OCTEON product pages and an ARMADA 37xx datasheet, so at least part of the covered hardware family was still being marketed into 2025. The directory spans old and newer SoCs; older Kirkwood/Dove parts are legacy, but newer Armada/AP/CN913x class parts prevent a deprecation case. No single replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific clock providers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12708962568122073, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1353418448, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762784340, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/mxs", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP i.MX23/i.MX28 (MXS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/mxs", "claim": "Kernel tree directory is the MXS common-clock implementation for i.MX23/i.MX28 clock control blocks." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-processors/i-mx28-processors/multimedia-applications-processors-low-power-high-performance-arm9-core%3Ai.MX280?tab=Design_Tools_Tab", "claim": "NXP still listed i.MX280 as Active and in its longevity program in 2025-era web snapshots, indicating the SoC family is not purely historical." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX285", "claim": "NXP still listed i.MX285 as Active, showing ongoing new-order availability within the i.MX28 family." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx28-evaluation-kit%3AMCIMX28EVKJ", "claim": "NXP still exposed the i.MX28 EVK page as Active, consistent with ongoing embedded/industrial deployment rather than abandoned hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/IMX23EVK", "claim": "NXP still exposed the i.MX23 EVK page as Active, indicating at least some continued ecosystem presence for i.MX23-class hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: common-clock provider code with CLK_OF_DECLARE hooks for fsl,imx23-clkctrl and fsl,imx28-clkctrl (verified by local shell inspection). Upstream attention is low but not dead: local shell `git log` on this path showed substantive fixes in 2024 and multiple rate-selection cleanups in 2025, with no evidence gathered of an active removal series. Deployment looks medium rather than high: these are old Arm9 SoCs, but NXP web-search results still marked i.MX280/i.MX285 and related EVKs active, pointing to ongoing industrial/embedded use. No natural replacement driver exists because this code is the SoC-specific clock controller for MXS parts. URL provenance: NXP URLs were obtained via web search tool; kernel.org tree URL is canonical recall.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1336492955, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338887, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/nuvoton", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Nuvoton MA35D1", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5993599.html", "claim": "Patch traffic in January 2026 updated the MA35D1 divider clock code for a deprecated clk API, showing current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1068023.html", "claim": "The MA35D1 clock controller entered upstream through an ARM/kernel review thread in 2023, confirming this directory is the SoC clock driver for MA35D1." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microprocessors/arm-cortex-a35-mpus/ma35d1-high-performance-edge-iiot-series/?page=1&tab=4", "claim": "Nuvoton still markets the MA35D1 family as a current Arm Cortex-A35 MPU for edge IIoT/HMI/Linux use cases, indicating ongoing new-design relevance in 2025." }, { "url": "https://direct.nuvoton.com/en/numaker-hmi-ma35d1-s1", "claim": "Nuvoton Direct listed MA35D1 evaluation hardware as new and in stock, which is strong evidence that MA35D1 hardware remained commercially available in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/export/resource-files/en-us--UM_EN_MA35D1_Linux_BSP.pdf", "claim": "Nuvoton published a March 13, 2025 MA35D1 Linux BSP manual that explicitly references the Linux clock-driver files in drivers/clk/nuvoton, showing continued vendor Linux support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command with rg/sed showed this directory only supports compatible \"nuvoton,ma35d1-clk\" and Kconfig ARCH_MA35/CLK_MA35D1, so it is a young SoC-specific clock driver, not legacy baggage. Recent upstream activity was obtained by exec_command git log (local tree) and corroborated via web search to spinics patch archives; I found a 2026 API-conversion patch and the 2023 bring-up review thread, with no removal discussion surfaced in the searched results. Product availability and deployment evidence came from web search to Nuvoton official product/store pages and a 2025 BSP PDF. Conclusion: niche industrial/edge MPU deployments remain current, with no natural replacement other than the same driver, so deprecation/removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1685963888, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096905, "top_author": "Jacky Huang", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/nxp", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "NXP LPC18xx/LPC43xx and LPC32xx clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251027183511.243369466@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The LPC18xx CGU clock driver still receives bug fixes that are considered suitable for stable backporting." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2025102914-jeep-buckle-08dd@gregkh/", "claim": "The affected NXP clock-driver code was still present in supported stable trees in late 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/lpc4300-arm-cortex-m4-m0/32-bit-arm-cortex-m4-m0-mcu-up-to-1-mb-flash-and-136-kb-sram-ethernet-two-high-speed-usb-lcd-emc%3ALPC4337FET256", "claim": "NXP lists LPC4337FET256 as Active, so at least part of the LPC18xx/LPC43xx family supported by this driver was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/lpc3000-arm9/arm926ej-s-with-128-kb-sram-usb-high-speed-otg-sd-mmc-nand-flash-controller%3ALPC3220FET296?tab=Buy_Parametric_Tab", "claim": "NXP lists LPC3220FET296 as Active, showing the LPC32xx family covered by this directory also remained commercially available in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` path inspection showed four SoC-specific clock drivers: LPC18xx/LPC43xx CCU/CGU/CREG plus LPC32xx clocks. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clk/nxp/clk-lpc18xx-cgu.c` showed activity through 2025, including stable backports at the cited lore URLs, and no removal evidence surfaced from lore-first checks. `web.search_query` on nxp.com found official product pages marking LPC4337FET256 and LPC3220FET296 as Active. These parts are still sold but are niche embedded MCUs/MPUs, so deployments today are low and there is no natural replacement driver beyond the same SoC-specific support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09102299223091052, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1434667487, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096905, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/pistachio", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Imagination Technologies Pistachio (cXT200)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-mips/msg34659.html", "claim": "A substantive Pistachio clock-driver patch was still posted in 2025: 'clk: pistachio: pll: convert from round_rate() to determine_rate()'." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220920055838.22637-1-jslaby@suse.cz", "claim": "The driver received a non-treewide fix in 2022 ('clk: pistachio: Fix initconst confusion'), indicating maintained upstream build/API health." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220205103613.1216218-8-j.neuschaefer@gmx.net", "claim": "The driver received an explicit Pistachio-specific cleanup in 2022 ('Declare mux table as const u32[]')." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination_Creator", "claim": "Pistachio-backed Creator Ci40 hardware was introduced in November 2015 and is an older MIPS IoT development-board family rather than current mass-market hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/196317439510", "claim": "As of 2026, unopened 'New' Creator Ci40 boards were still being sold by a surplus reseller, suggesting residual new-old-stock availability rather than active mainstream production." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real SoC clock driver directory using CLK_OF_DECLARE, not a helper library. Local shell inspection showed Pistachio DT bindings remain in-tree and arch/mips generic Marduk config still enables COMMON_CLK_PISTACHIO. Upstream activity came from local git log/tool output plus web search: a substantive 2025 clk API migration patch exists (spinics URL from web search), and earlier 2022 lore-linked fixes were visible in commit metadata from git log. I found no evidence of an active removal series. Hardware evidence from web search/open shows Pistachio's main public board (Creator Ci40) is a 2015-era dev kit; surplus sellers still list new units, so 'still sold new' is true in the narrow new-old-stock sense, but present-day deployments are likely low and niche. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/niche rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1427795936, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338888, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/pxa", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Marvell PXA2xx/PXA3xx application processors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/Kconfig", "claim": "`COMMON_CLK_PXA` is still present upstream and described as support for the Marvell PXA SoC clock driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm/mach-pxa/Kconfig", "claim": "ARM still exposes `ARCH_PXA` and DT support for PXA25x, PXA27x, and PXA3xx platforms, indicating the platform remains buildable upstream." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm/boot/dts/intel/pxa/pxa27x.dtsi", "claim": "Upstream DT still contains a PXA27x clock provider node compatible with `marvell,pxa270-clocks`, showing the clock driver is still wired into supported DTS files." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=23200a4c8ac2", "claim": "The driver received a real bug fix in 2023 (`clk: pxa: fix NULL pointer dereference in pxa3xx_clk_update_accr`), which is evidence of ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e9b6ea4eb698", "claim": "The driver also received functional clock-framework work (`clk: pxa: Add a determine_rate hook`), reinforcing that recent activity was not purely mechanical." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale", "claim": "The PXA25x/PXA27x/PXA3xx families are early-2000s XScale-era SoCs, with PXA products primarily associated with 2002-2006 mobile/PDA designs." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Zaurus", "claim": "A representative Linux PXA device family, Sharp Zaurus, was discontinued in December 2008, supporting the view that modern deployments are legacy/hobbyist rather than new-volume products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper library: local shell inspection found PXA25x/PXA27x/PXA3xx clock code plus `CLK_OF_DECLARE` hooks. Lore-first check was attempted via shell `lei q`, but `lei` is unavailable in this environment; I fell back to local upstream history (`git log -c safe.directory`) and found substantive 2021-2023 fixes, with no visible removal signal. Kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall pages corresponding to the locally inspected upstream files/commits; Wikipedia URLs were obtained via web search. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the hardware is clearly obsolete and not a 2025 new-sales target, but the driver still has upstream build integration and recent bug-fix activity, so deprecation/removal would be premature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1412105490, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1686788537, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/qcom", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon / Dragonwing SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/clk/qcom", "claim": "Upstream activity is ongoing; the directory continues to receive fixes and new SoC enablement rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-samsung-redefine-premium-performance-by-bringing-th", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching new Snapdragon flagship products for new devices in 2025, indicating the covered hardware family remained in active new-sale deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/11/qualcomm-launches-dragonwing-iq-x-series--transforming-industria", "claim": "Qualcomm was also launching new industrial/embedded processor lines in late 2025, supporting ongoing non-handset deployments that rely on Qualcomm SoC infrastructure." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2026/01/qualcomm-s-ie_iot-expansion-is-complete--edge-ai-unleashed-for-d", "claim": "Qualcomm described an expanded Linux-supporting industrial/embedded portfolio in 2026, reinforcing that this driver family still maps to active current hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory with many platform clock-controller drivers and live entry-point macros (`rg` via shell confirmed). `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so I fell back to local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/clk/qcom`; that showed 2025-era fixes plus new Kaanapali/SM8750 support, which I tied to the canonical kernel.org log URL by canonical recall. The three Qualcomm URLs were obtained with `web.search_query` and show new Snapdragon/Dragonwing product launches in 2025-2026. I found no evidence of an upstream removal/deprecation series; active enablement for new Qualcomm SoCs strongly favors `keep`, with no natural replacement driver because this directory is the upstream implementation for Qualcomm clock controllers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.030462289292835256, "commits_5y": 1079, "substantive_commits_5y": 1071, "first_touch_ts": 1389902458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769631815, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 200, "c_file_count": 214, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/ralink", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Ralink/MediaTek MIPS router SoCs (RT288x/RT305x/RT3883/MT7620/MT7621/MT76x8)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/ralink/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig for this directory covers MediaTek MT7621 and older Ralink/MediaTek MIPS SoCs including RT305X/RT288X/RT3883/MT7620 families." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250205134424.617232942@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2025 stable backport for clk-mtmips ('remove duplicated xtal clock for Ralink SoC RT3883') shows the driver still receives upstream bug-fix attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://store-us.gl-inet.com/products/usa-only-mango-gl-mt300n-v2", "claim": "GL.iNet was still selling the GL-MT300N-V2 with MT7628NN, showing at least part of the supported SoC family remained available new in 2025-era retail channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real clock driver, not a helper library. Local tree inspection (`rg`) showed `drivers/clk/ralink/Kconfig` and the two C files target MT7621 plus older RT/MTMIPS SoCs. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/clk/ralink/clk-mtmips.c, since=5y/2y)`, which surfaced a 2025 stable fix and no removal thread; `clk-mt7621.c` showed no recent lore hits, but the directory-level static metadata still shows substantive 2025 activity. Deployment looks legacy-heavy but not extinct: the kernel.org Kconfig URL is a canonical-recall source for supported chip families, and the GL.iNet store URL was obtained by web search and shows an MT7628NN product still on sale. Conclusion: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/low-volume consumer-router silicon with no natural replacement beyond SoC-specific support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3208264318291042, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1618279854, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736804138, "top_author": "Sergio Paracuellos", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/renesas", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Renesas SoC clocks (R-Car, RZ/G, RZ/V, RZ/T, and older R-Mobile/SH families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260324021103.13651-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Mainline-facing maintenance for the shared Renesas CPG/MSSR clock code was still landing on linux-clk in March 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/cip-dev/20260423120630.1487798-11-chris.brandt@renesas.com/", "claim": "Renesas clock code was still being actively backported and reviewed in CIP stable work in April 2026, indicating ongoing deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-introduces-64-bit-rzg3e-mpu-high-performance-hmi-systems-requiring-ai-acceleration-and-edge", "claim": "Renesas launched the RZ/G3E MPU on July 29, 2025, showing this driver family still covers newly introduced silicon in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3e?partno=R9A09G047E57GBG%23AC0", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G3E as Active on its product page." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-v4h-best-class-deep-learning-very-low-power-system-chip-automated-driving-level-2-level-3", "claim": "Renesas lists the R-Car V4H automotive SoC as Active, confirming current-production R-Car coverage by this driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/file names shows this directory is the Renesas SoC clock driver set spanning R-Car and multiple current RZ families. lore_activity on drivers/clk/renesas/renesas-cpg-mssr.c returned multiple 2026 linux-clk/CIP patches with lore_url evidence, so upstream and downstream maintenance is clearly active. A lore_file_timeline query on the directory path returned no matches, and a lore_regex removal query timed out; a fallback lei public-inbox query could not run in this sandbox, so removal-talk evidence is limited, but the provided static commit history plus 2026 lore traffic strongly argues against deprecation. Renesas product/news pages were obtained via web search and show active/current 2025-2026 RZ/G3E and R-Car V4H parts, so there is no natural successor driver and no obsolescence case for this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03826453678254166, "commits_5y": 530, "substantive_commits_5y": 524, "first_touch_ts": 1457032973, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768556913, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 116, "c_file_count": 52, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/rockchip", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RK30xx/RK35xx/RV11xx SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260417-rk3576-dclk-v1-4-26a9d0dcb2de@flipper.net/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-17 the driver directory still receives feature work on current Rockchip parts; this patch updates drivers/clk/rockchip/clk-rk3576.c rather than discussing removal." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2024/1212/2033.html", "claim": "Rockchip's official RK3576 product page shows a current Linux-capable SoC in the supported family, indicating ongoing new-device deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2025/1208/2126.html", "claim": "Rockchip's official RK3506 product page, crawled in 2025/2026, shows another newly marketed SoC covered by this driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is an SoC clock-controller driver directory, not a legacy peripheral driver, and it spans actively introduced Rockchip chips such as RK3506/RK3576/RK3588. Evidence chain: `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/clk/rockchip/clk-rk3576.c` found April 2026 patch traffic (URL cited), which argues against deprecation/removal; `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so I treated that as a directory-level blind spot rather than evidence of inactivity; `mcp__lore_http__.lore_regex` failed on the initial subject pattern and was not retried per instructions; local shell reads of `drivers/clk/rockchip/Kconfig` and recent source files showed support for modern parts including RK3506, RK3528, RK3562, RK3568, RK3576, RK3588 and 2023-2025 vendor copyright headers. Official Rockchip product pages were obtained via `web.search_query` and show those SoCs as current products. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific CRU/clock implementations required for Rockchip platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05338707371866691, "commits_5y": 119, "substantive_commits_5y": 114, "first_touch_ts": 1371769107, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767989780, "top_author": "Sebastian Reichel", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/samsung", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Samsung S3C/S5P/Exynos/Tesla FSD clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/samsung/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still enables a broad active family: legacy Samsung SoCs, ARM64 Exynos, Exynos ACPM clocks, and Tesla FSD common clocks under COMMON_CLK_SAMSUNG." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/emea/processor/automotive-processor/exynos-auto-v920/", "claim": "Samsung was still marketing Exynos Auto V920 as a current automotive processor product in 2025-era materials." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/news-events/news/samsungs-exynos-auto-v920-to-power-hyundai-motors-next-generation-in-vehicle-infotainment-systems/", "claim": "Samsung announced Hyundai rollout of Exynos Auto V920-based IVI systems expected by 2025, indicating new-deployment relevance for SoCs covered by this clock-driver family." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/processor/automotive-processor/", "claim": "Samsung's current automotive processor lineup still includes Exynos Auto families, supporting ongoing deployment rather than purely legacy status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Upstream health is strong from prompt-provided static evidence: 176 substantive commits in 5y, 37 authors, most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-17. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no hits for the prefix form, so I relied on the prompt's lore-derived activity figures for maintenance signal; a follow-up `lore_regex` removal search timed out, and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox, so I found no concrete removal-series evidence. Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `sed` on Kconfig) confirmed this directory still covers current non-legacy targets such as Exynos Auto V920-era platforms and Tesla FSD, and the cited Samsung pages were obtained via web search. Because the hardware family is still entering 2025 vehicle deployments and there is no natural replacement driver beyond these SoC-specific clock blocks, the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04568103550388289, "commits_5y": 184, "substantive_commits_5y": 176, "first_touch_ts": 1364202969, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768678238, "top_author": "Sam Protsenko", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/sifive", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "SiFive FU540/FU740 PRCI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/sifive/sifive-prci.c", "claim": "The upstream driver binds to SiFive PRCI blocks for `sifive,fu540-c000-prci` and `sifive,fu740-c000-prci`, so this directory covers SiFive FU540/FU740 SoC clock/reset hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/a3c7ec5c46c1d8be455d1c347db4855bb56cec53.1646388139.git.zong.li@sifive.com/", "claim": "linux-clk carried a multi-patch 2022 cleanup/refactor series for `clk: sifive`, showing real upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unmatched-revb", "claim": "SiFive's HiFive Unmatched Rev B page advertises a FU740-based board with a 'Buy Now' flow and says boards are available through Mouser, indicating the hardware family was still being sold new in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://docs.u-boot.org/en/v2025.04/board/sifive/unmatched.html", "claim": "Current U-Boot documentation for the FU740-based HiFive Unmatched explicitly lists the SiFive PRCI clock driver in mainline support, showing ongoing software enablement and present-day niche deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: prompt metadata already shows 13 substantive commits in the last 5 years with a most recent substantive touch on 2025-09-08, so this is not a dormant candidate. `lore_file_timeline` on the source file showed maintenance/refactor traffic and no removal/deprecation thread; the cited lore URL came from that MCP call. The kernel.org source URL is canonical recall used to confirm the driver only serves FU540/FU740 PRCI blocks. The SiFive board page and U-Boot page were obtained via `web.search_query`; together they indicate FU740 hardware remained commercially available in the 2025 window and is still used in low-volume RISC-V dev platforms. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific PRCI clock control, not a superseded generic peripheral driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17960002673681677, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1556900456, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338888, "top_author": "Zong Li", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/socfpga", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Intel SoCFPGA / Agilex / Stratix clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/9326ee66cb8e33c0fe83a24e9a1effc8da252ff2.1760396607.git.khairul.anuar.romli@altera.com/", "claim": "Upstream clock support for SoCFPGA Agilex5 was still being added on linux-clk in October 2025, indicating active maintenance and new silicon enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/fpga/agilex/5.html", "claim": "Intel/Altera still marketed Agilex 5 FPGA and SoC FPGA devices, including SoC variants, in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/240408/intel-agilex-5-fpga-eseries-013b-b32a/specifications.html", "claim": "A current Agilex 5 SoC FPGA SKU page listed the product as 'Launched' with HPS details, supporting that this hardware family remained commercially available in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/socfpga/Kconfig", "claim": "The driver family covers Intel SoCFPGA and eASIC devices including Aria, Cyclone, Stratix 10, Agilex, and N5X/Agilex5 clock controllers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local path inspection shows a real kernel clock-driver directory, not helpers. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/clk/socfpga/clk-agilex5.c showed fresh 2025 linux-clk/LKML activity and a new Agilex5 driver addition; that is strong evidence against deprecation. Web search returned current Intel/Altera product pages for Agilex 5 SoC FPGAs, showing the family is still sold for new embedded/industrial deployments. Kconfig scope was verified from the local tree via shell; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is cited as a canonical stable source. A precise `lei` removal search was attempted but blocked by local `lei-daemon` permission failure, and no removal evidence surfaced from the lore timeline evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11579494185292777, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1342687140, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761191578, "top_author": "Dinh Nguyen", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/sophgo", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Sophgo CV18xx/SG200x/SG204x SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5662715.html", "claim": "April 2025 patch series '[PATCH v5 0/5] clk: sophgo: add SG2044 clock controller support' shows new feature enablement, not removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5993591.html", "claim": "January 2026 patch '[PATCH 01/27] clk: sophgo: cv18xx-ip: convert from divider_round_rate() to divider_determine_rate()' shows ongoing API-maintenance work in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5626958.html", "claim": "April 2025 coccicheck-fix thread for clk: sophgo shows routine upkeep and review activity." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/chips/sg2000", "claim": "Milk-V's SG2000 chip page presents the SG2000 as a current chip for edge/smart-home products and includes a 'Buy Now' path." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/duo-module-01", "claim": "Milk-V Duo Module 01 is a current product built around SG2000 and marketed for product development." }, { "url": "https://en.sophgo.com/open-source/index.html", "claim": "Sophgo's open-source hardware page lists the Huashan Pi evaluation board for the CV1812H, indicating current ecosystem/deployment interest." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell `rg` showed active support for CV1800/CV1810/CV1812H/SG2000, SG2042, and SG2044 in this directory. Lore-equivalent maintenance evidence was gathered by web search because `lei` and the advertised lore MCP were unavailable: spinics thread https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5662715.html shows SG2044 support being added in 2025; https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5993591.html and https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5626958.html show 2026/2025 follow-on maintenance rather than deprecation. Deployment evidence came from web-searched vendor/product pages: Milk-V SG2000 chip and Duo Module 01 pages, plus Sophgo's CV1812H Huashan Pi page. This is new and still-commercial embedded hardware with no generic replacement; deprecation/removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1712818940, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096906, "top_author": "Inochi Amaoto", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/spacemit", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "SpacemiT K1/K3 clock controller units", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/log/drivers/clk?showmsg=1", "claim": "Kernel clock tree activity includes a 2025-10-06 merge of branch 'clk-spacemit' into clk-next, carrying multiple SpacemiT clock fixes and cleanups, which is strong evidence of active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-F3", "claim": "Banana Pi documents the BPI-F3 as an industrial-grade board built on the SpacemiT K1 SoC and describes current application areas such as SBC, NAS, industrial control, and edge computing." }, { "url": "https://www.bpi-shop.com/products/anana-pi-bpi-f3-design-with-spacemit-k1-8-core-risc-v-chip.html", "claim": "A retail listing shows the SpacemiT K1-based Banana Pi BPI-F3 offered for sale, indicating the platform is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/clk/spacemit/Kconfig shows this is real driver code for SpacemiT K1 and K3 CCUs. `lei` was unavailable in shell, so lore-first evidence was approximated via web-opened kernel cgit/log pages: the zx2c4 kernel log was obtained by web search and shows a 2025-10-06 'clk-spacemit' merge with ongoing fixes, and no removal discussion was found. Deployment evidence came from web search/open of Banana Pi wiki and BPI shop pages showing current K1 boards and retail availability. Because the driver was added in 2025, has recent upstream fixes, and serves shipping SoCs with no generic substitute, the correct recommendation is keep; deployments are low because these are still niche RISC-V/industrial boards, not mass legacy hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1744831373, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767926897, "top_author": "Yixun Lan", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/spear", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "ST SPEAr (SPEAr3xx/SPEAr6xx/SPEAr13xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.5/arm/spear/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies SPEAr as an STMicroelectronics ARM SoC family covering SPEAr300/310/320/600/1310/1340." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PLAT_SPEAR.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the SPEAr platform support symbol persists across modern kernel series, including 6.x and 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MACH_SPEAR1340.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows SPEAr1340 machine support remains present through recent kernel releases, indicating upstream support still exists for at least part of the family." }, { "url": "https://linuxdevices.org/dual-core-cortex-a9-soc-offers-mali-gpu-video-accelerator/index.html", "claim": "A 2011 launch-era article places SPEAr1310/1340 in the early-2010s embedded/industrial market, supporting the view that this is aging hardware rather than a current-growth platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of the directory and DTS refs shows this is real SPEAr SoC clock-provider code, not a helper library; `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/clk/spear` shows substantive fixes in 2022 and four clock API conversions in 2025, so it is not abandoned. Web search obtained the kernel SPEAr overview and LKDDb pages showing the platform/MACH symbols still exist in current kernels. A web search on lore.kernel.org for `drivers/clk/spear` / `clk: spear` found no obvious active removal thread. The LinuxDevices URL was obtained by web search to anchor the family in 2010-2011 embedded markets. Net: old, low-deployment platform with occasional upstream maintenance and no like-for-like replacement driver, so keep it but annotate as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1336850363, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338891, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/sprd", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Spreadtrum/UNISOC SC9860-SC9863A-UMS512 clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/sprd", "claim": "Upstream Linux contains dedicated Spreadtrum/UNISOC clock driver code here, including SoC-specific drivers for SC9860, SC9863A, and UMS512." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/clk/sprd", "claim": "The directory has continued upstream maintenance in recent kernel history rather than being abandoned or staged for removal." }, { "url": "https://www.unisoc.com/en/product/SmartPhoneUS/9863A", "claim": "UNISOC still markets SC9863A on its current product site, indicating the supported hardware family remained commercially relevant into 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.unisoc.com/en/product/LaptopsTabletsUS/S512", "claim": "UNISOC still markets S512/UMS512 on its current product site, covering another SoC family handled by this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Infinix_Hot_12_Play_NFC_%28infinix-leo%29", "claim": "A 2025 postmarketOS device page reports UMS512-based hardware with basic/mainline support, showing at least niche present-day Linux deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found `module_platform_driver()` in `sc9860-clk.c`, `sc9863a-clk.c`, and `ums512-clk.c`. Kernel tree/log URLs are canonical recall of stable kernel.org pages. UNISOC product URLs were obtained via web search and show the hardware family is still sold/marketed. The postmarketOS URL was obtained via web search and supports `deployments_today=low` rather than none. `replacement_driver` is null because these are SoC-specific clock controllers with no generic successor driver. Lore file-timeline on the directory prefix returned no indexed events, so I relied on the provided recent-touch stats plus kernel.org history rather than treating that as evidence of obsolescence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08157849434731636, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1513897251, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096906, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/st", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH4xx / Monaco clock generators", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5850076.html", "claim": "September 12, 2025 patch removed unused compatibles from drivers/clk/st after STI B2120 board support was dropped, showing targeted cleanup rather than wholesale driver removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/devicetree/msg851291.html", "claim": "Stephen Boyd marked the September 21, 2025 clk: st cleanup patch as applied to clk-next, showing current upstream maintainer attention." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics/stih412.html", "claim": "STMicroelectronics lists STiH412, one of the STiH4xx family served by this directory, as Obsolete / Out of Production." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "ST's STiH407/STiH410 data brief is dated December 2013, indicating the covered SoC family is from an older set-top-box generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in drivers/clk/st) shows DT clock-provider code for ST compatibles such as stih407/stih410/stih412/stih418, so this is a real hardware driver directory. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/clk/st` shows substantive maintenance through 2025 (determine_rate conversions and compatible cleanup), so upstream activity is still real. The two spinics URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` on exact patch subjects and show 2025 clk/st cleanup applied upstream, but not a series proposing removal of the whole directory. The ST product/databrief URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` on STiH410/STiH412 and indicate an old, largely obsolete set-top-box SoC family. Conclusion: hardware is legacy with low current deployment, but active maintenance argues against deprecate/remove; keep the driver, annotate it as legacy-family support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1395788327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758473549, "top_author": "Alain Volmat", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/starfive", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH7100/JH7110 clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/clk/starfive", "claim": "Upstream kernel history for this directory shows regular non-removal activity, including functional StarFive clock changes in 2024-2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4210be668a09", "claim": "The StarFive JH7100 clock generator driver was introduced by commit 4210be668a09 and is contained in v5.17, so this is a relatively recent, still-maturing SoC support line rather than legacy baggage." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still markets VisionFive 2 around the JH-7110 SoC, with current product positioning and purchase flow, indicating hardware remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/Quick_Start_Guide/VisionFive_2/hardware.html", "claim": "StarFive's VisionFive 2 Quick Start Guide dated 2025-01-06 documents the JH7110 board hardware, showing ongoing vendor documentation and deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` confirmed this is real kernel driver code for StarFive JH7100/JH7110 SoC clock blocks, not helper-only code. Local `git log` (with safe.directory override) showed substantive maintenance through 2025-01-14 plus multiple 2024 functional fixes; no local history suggested deprecation/removal. A `web.search_query` for lore removal/deprecation discussion returned no relevant results, so there is no visible active upstream removal push. Source URLs: the two kernel.org URLs are canonical recall of stable kernel git pages, while the StarFive/RVspace URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Since JH7110-based boards were still being marketed/documented in 2025 and the driver is seeing recent upkeep, the correct call is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1639671804, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736880900, "top_author": "Emil Renner Berthing", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/stm32", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32MP RCC clock/reset controllers (STM32MP1/13/21/25)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/clk/stm32", "claim": "Upstream activity is recent and substantive, including new STM32MP21 support in 2025 and core/rate-conversion fixes in 2026; this does not look abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/stm32", "claim": "The directory is the in-tree RCC clock/reset driver family for multiple current STM32MP SoC generations, not a legacy one-off." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp135.html", "claim": "STM32MP13 is an active Linux-capable MPU family marketed for industrial and embedded applications, indicating ongoing deployment demand." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257.html", "claim": "STM32MP25 is a current STM32MP2 product line with evaluation hardware and active ecosystem support, showing the driver covers newly sold hardware." }, { "url": "https://blog.st.com/stm32mp21x/", "claim": "ST launched STM32MP21x on January 5, 2026, confirming this driver family maps to newly introduced hardware rather than obsolete devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed real platform-driver code and Kconfig entries for stm32mp13x/mp15x/mp21x/mp25x. Local shell `git log` showed ongoing work through 2026-01-08 plus 2025 introduction of STM32MP21 support. Direct lore evidence could not be retrieved in this environment because the advertised `lore-http` MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so no removal-thread hit was found; absent any removal evidence and given active commits/new SoCs, `keep` is the defensible outcome. Source acquisition: kernel.org URLs by canonical recall; ST URLs from web search results `turn0search0`, `turn0search1`, `turn0search6`, and `turn0search3`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1653106068, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096906, "top_author": "Gabriel Fernandez", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/sunxi", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi legacy clock providers (A10/A13/A20/A23/A31/A80-era SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": "drivers/clk/sunxi-ng", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/sunxi/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this directory as 'Legacy clock support for Allwinner SoCs' and says newer DTs/newer SoCs use CONFIG_SUNXI_CCU instead." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f06a610cb174", "claim": "Mainline saw a substantive 2025 change: 'clk: sunxi: Do not enable by default during compile testing'." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=2b4c206963a6", "claim": "Mainline explicitly constrained the driver to 32-bit ARM in 2022: 'clk: sunxi: Limit legacy clocks to 32-bit ARM'." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2/open-source-hardware", "claim": "A20-based OLinuXino LIME2 boards were listed in stock, including industrial-temperature variants, indicating ongoing niche new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allwinner_Technology", "claim": "The cited legacy A10/A20/A31 generation was primarily associated with early-2010s tablets, TV boxes, and SBCs rather than current mainstream designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable today: local `sed` on Kconfig shows this is legacy/backward-compatibility support, not dead code, and local `git log --all --no-merges -- drivers/clk/sunxi` showed real upstream touches through 2025 even if volume is low. No removal discussion was confirmed: `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no hits and a removal-focused `lore_regex` timed out, so I did not treat that as evidence of an active removal series. `git.kernel.org` URLs are canonical-recall URLs built from locally observed paths/commit IDs; Olimex and Wikipedia URLs were obtained via web search. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the code is explicitly legacy, bounded to old 32-bit sunxi DT bindings, but still has niche in-field/new industrial A20 deployments and an upstream-maintained migration path for newer platforms in `drivers/clk/sunxi-ng`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24361923367692898, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1364398534, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745732958, "top_author": "Cai Huoqing", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/sunxi-ng", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi SoC CCU/PRCM clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/sunxi-ng", "claim": "Upstream Linux driver directory covers multiple Allwinner sunxi clock-control blocks, including newer families such as H616, D1/T113/R528, and A523." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html", "claim": "Commercially sold Orange Pi Zero 3 uses Allwinner H618, showing sunxi clock-controller backed hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.allwinnertech.com/index.php?a=index&c=product&id=108", "claim": "Allwinner markets the A523 SoC as a current product, indicating the driver family covers actively sold silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable/obsolete: the prompt itself reports 122 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 30 authors, and a latest substantive touch on 2026-01-22, which is active upstream maintenance rather than decay. I attempted lore-first checks with `lore_path_mentions` and `lore_regex`, but both timed out, so there is no positive lore evidence of a removal series. Local tree inspection via `rg` showed support strings for recent Allwinner parts (H616, D1/R528/T113, A523), and the cited kernel.org tree URL is a canonical-recall source for that directory. The Orange Pi and Allwinner URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Because this is the SoC-specific CCU clock driver for still-current Allwinner hardware, there is no natural upstream replacement driver; keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0469233302812924, "commits_5y": 128, "substantive_commits_5y": 122, "first_touch_ts": 1468026272, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096904, "top_author": "Samuel Holland", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 42, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/tegra", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra SoC clock controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20250723203819.2910289-1-helgaas@kernel.org/", "claim": "Upstream lore shows this directory still receives linux-clk traffic in 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251029163336.2785270-2-thierry.reding@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2025 cross-subsystem patch series still touched drivers/clk/tegra code, so the code remains part of active kernel integration work." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/buy/jetson-nano", "claim": "NVIDIA still marketed Jetson Nano modules for purchase in 2025, providing current new-hardware deployment evidence for Tegra210-era support." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/develop/hardware", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson hardware lineup page still lists Jetson Nano and TX2 family modules, showing continued ecosystem presence for Tegra-based products." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r36.4.4/DeveloperGuide/", "claim": "NVIDIA published Jetson Linux documentation updated on June 26, 2025, showing ongoing vendor software support for Jetson platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains Tegra clock-controller implementation files and Kconfig entries for ARCH_TEGRA_* SoCs. lore_activity(file=drivers/clk/tegra/clk-tegra210.c) produced the cited lore URLs, showing 2025 maintenance traffic and no removal signal. Local tree inspection showed multiple SoC-specific Tegra clock drivers plus BPMP support, so there is no natural upstream replacement driver. Web search on developer.nvidia.com/docs.nvidia.com produced the cited Jetson Nano, Jetson hardware, and Jetson Linux documentation URLs; together they support that Tegra-based Jetson hardware was still sold and supported in 2025. Recommendation stays keep, not keep-annotate/deprecate/remove, because upstream activity is recent and deployments remain meaningful in embedded/Jetson use.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05480231851710121, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1359397147, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769132429, "top_author": "Dmitry Osipenko", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/tenstorrent", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Atlantis", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "unknown", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6083055.html", "claim": "March 2026 patch v8 adds `drivers/clk/tenstorrent/atlantis-prcm.c` as the Tenstorrent Atlantis clock controller driver for the Atlantis SoC RCPU subsystem." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-riscv/2026-March/087309.html", "claim": "March 16, 2026 clk pull request targets v7.1 and explicitly includes the Tenstorrent Atlantis PRCM clk/reset support, indicating active upstream integration rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://future.tenstorrent.com/vision/tenstorrent-launches-blackhole-developer-products-at-tenstorrent-dev-day", "claim": "Tenstorrent was launching new Blackhole developer products in 2026, showing the vendor and adjacent accelerator platforms are current, but this does not demonstrate Atlantis hardware was publicly sold in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell (`rg --files drivers/clk` and `git -c safe.directory=... log --all -- drivers/clk/tenstorrent`) found no directory/history in this snapshot, so I treated the static '0 commits' signal as inconclusive for a brand-new path. Web search located the Atlantis clk patch series on spinics and a clk-tree git-pull on lists.infradead, both from 2026, which is strong evidence of active upstream addition and no removal discussion. The chipset family name 'Atlantis' comes from the patch subject/body. I found current Tenstorrent product-sale evidence only for Wormhole/Blackhole-era products, not public Atlantis sales in 2025, so sales/deployment fields are conservative and there is no natural replacement driver for the same SoC clock block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/thead", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "T-Head TH1520", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/978610/", "claim": "The driver was introduced upstream in June 2024 as support for the T-Head TH1520 AP_SUBSYS clock controller." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5937348.html", "claim": "As of November 20, 2025, new functionality for this driver was still being posted upstream, specifically CPU frequency scaling support for TH1520." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lbook4a/lbook4a.html", "claim": "Sipeed documented a TH1520-based Lichee Book 4A product in 2024, indicating new TH1520-based systems remained an active product line near 2025." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lp4a.html", "claim": "Sipeed's Lichee Pi 4A page describes a TH1520-based Linux development board and explicitly mentions an online store, supporting evidence of retail availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: platform clock-controller driver for TH1520 AP/VO clocks (`compatible` strings in local file inspection via shell). Upstream activity is recent and substantive: local `git log` (shell, safe.directory override) shows multiple functional commits in 2025-08, 2025-12, and 2026-01; web search with exact patch subjects found LWN for the initial 2024 submission and Spinics for the 2025 CPUfreq series. Targeted web searches did not surface any removal/deprecation discussion. Deployment looks niche rather than mass-market: TH1520 appears in Sipeed developer products/laptop docs obtained via web search, so new deployments still exist but are low-volume. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific clock control for TH1520.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1721070901, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768440407, "top_author": "Yao Zi", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/ti", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP/Sitara/Jacinto clock controller drivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-omap/20250312163330.865573-2-robh@kernel.org/", "claim": "Upstream activity remains current: a 2025 patch touched drivers/clk/ti/clk.c ('clk: ti: Simplify ti_find_clock_provider()')." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM3358", "claim": "TI still listed AM3358 as ACTIVE and Linux-capable, showing supported legacy Sitara hardware that uses TI clock drivers remains sold." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625", "claim": "TI still listed AM625 as an active Sitara processor built for Linux application development, indicating ongoing new deployments on newer TI SoCs in this family." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625-Q1", "claim": "TI published a current AM62x Processor SDK Linux release page in 2026, reinforcing active vendor support and present-day deployment for TI SoCs relying on these clocks." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg` on the tree showed this directory is TI OMAP/Sitara/Jacinto clock driver code, not helper-only code; filenames span OMAP2/3/4/5, AM33xx/43xx, DM81xx, DRA7. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/clk/ti/clk.c showed sustained activity through 2025 with no removal signal. TI product pages for AM3358 and AM625 were obtained via `web.search_query`; the AM625-Q1 SDK page came from the same web search and shows active Linux SDK support. Conclusion: active upstream maintenance plus hardware still sold; no natural replacement beyond this in-tree family driver set.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11750956151224991, "commits_5y": 57, "substantive_commits_5y": 51, "first_touch_ts": 1389990758, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758346068, "top_author": "Tony Lindgren", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/uniphier", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Socionext UniPhier", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/clk/uniphier/clk-uniphier-core.c", "claim": "Mainline Linux has a dedicated built-in platform clock driver for multiple Socionext UniPhier SoCs, with DT compatibles covering LD4/PRO4/SLD8/PRO5/PXS2/LD11/LD20/PXS3/NX1." }, { "url": "https://trustedfirmware-a.readthedocs.io/en/v2.2/plat/socionext-uniphier.html", "claim": "Trusted Firmware-A documents Socionext UniPhier Armv8-A SoCs and their boot flow, indicating the platform still has adjacent upstream firmware support." }, { "url": "https://www.edn.com/uniphier-system-lsis-for-smart-tv/", "claim": "UniPhier was marketed into smart-TV/media SoCs in 2015, which points to a legacy consumer-SoC family rather than a currently promoted 2025 product line." }, { "url": "https://www.socionext.com/en/index.html", "claim": "Socionext's current corporate/product messaging emphasizes custom SoCs and newer offerings; UniPhier is not presented as a current product family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Inspected local files with exec_command/rg: this is real driver code, not helpers, and it binds many UniPhier clock compatibles. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no events; a representative-file lore timeline was dominated by U-Boot, and no Linux-kernel removal discussion was found from the lore checks, so I treated upstream removal evidence as absent. The kernel.org URL is canonical recall corresponding to the locally inspected file. TF-A and vendor/product URLs were obtained via web search. Recommendation is keep-annotate: low recent Linux churn and likely legacy deployments, but no natural replacement driver and no concrete removal push.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6715072874942654, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1474068693, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681156585, "top_author": "Kunihiko Hayashi", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/ux500", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson Ux500 / NovaThor U8500-DB8500 with AB8500 companion PMIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20240208163710.512733-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "Lore activity for drivers/clk/ux500/u8500_of_clk.c shows ongoing upstream maintenance, with newest hit on 2024-02-08 as part of clk API updates." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NovaThor", "claim": "NovaThor U8500 was a 2011-era smartphone/tablet SoC; ST-Ericsson split up in 2013 and the listed U8500 devices are old handsets rather than current products." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_U8500.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists U8500/Ux500 architecture support and this clock driver's device bindings in current kernel series, indicating the platform remains upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Sony_Xperia_U_%28sony-kumquat%29", "claim": "A current postmarketOS wiki entry still tracks a NovaThor U8500 phone released in 2012, which is evidence of residual hobbyist/legacy deployment rather than new commercial deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection of the directory found U8500/AB8500 identifiers and DT compatibles `stericsson,u8500-clks` and `stericsson,ab8500-clk`, confirming a real SoC clock driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clk/ux500/u8500_of_clk.c` returned continued activity through 2024; prompt metadata adds a substantive directory touch on 2025-09-08, so this does not look abandoned and I found no concrete removal evidence. Web search opened Wikipedia/LKDDb pages and a postmarketOS search result showing the hardware is a 2011-2013 smartphone family with only legacy enthusiast use left. No natural replacement exists because this is the SoC-specific clock driver for Ux500 itself, so the defensible stance is keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1957280085805972, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1346972267, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338891, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/versatile", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Arm Versatile / Versatile Express / Integrator reference-platform clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260204063332.1791986-1-nichen@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Upstream still sees real fixes in 2026 for this directory's vexpress clock driver, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.keil.com/support/legacy.asp", "claim": "Arm/Keil lists Versatile-family and Integrator-family hardware platforms as withdrawn from sale and no longer available, supporting that the underlying hardware is legacy and not sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/vexpress.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents and ships emulated Versatile Express boards, showing an ongoing virtual/reference-platform niche for this hardware family." }, { "url": "https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv7/arm/versatile-express", "claim": "Arch Linux ARM still publishes install instructions for Versatile Express, suggesting some residual enthusiast/lab use on existing boards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/clk/versatile` is a real clock-driver directory; local shell `rg` showed support for Arm Versatile, Versatile Express, Integrator, SP810, ICST, and IM-PD1 reference-platform clocks. `lore_activity` produced a 2026 linux-clk fix mail for `clk-vexpress-osc.c`, so there is current upstream bug-fix traffic and no evidence here of an active removal push. Web search opened the Keil legacy-products page, which says Versatile and Integrator hardware platforms were withdrawn from sale, so the hardware is obsolete and not newly sold. Web search also opened QEMU and Arch Linux ARM pages showing remaining emulator/lab deployments. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: keep for legacy/reference-platform and emulation users, but annotate as legacy hardware with low contemporary deployment. URLs were obtained via `lore_activity` and `web` search/open tool calls.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0887599483667758, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1342054724, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768531736, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/visconti", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Toshiba Visconti 5 (TMPV7708) clock/reset controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1029068.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list patch traffic shows post-merge maintenance on this driver in 2022 ('clk: visconti: Fix memory leak in visconti_register_pll()')." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1030775.html", "claim": "The 2022 visconti clock fix was reviewed and applied to clk-next, indicating normal upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg859758.html", "claim": "TMPV7708 platform support continued to be added on arm64 DTS, showing the SoC family was still being enabled upstream after initial bring-up." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2020-September/599678.html", "claim": "The Visconti platform introduction describes Visconti5/TMPV7708 as a Toshiba image-processing SoC family and ties the Linux support to real hardware boards." }, { "url": "https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/eu/company/news/2019/01/automotive-20190107-1.html", "claim": "Toshiba's official 2019 announcement positions Visconti 5 / TMPV770 series as an automotive ADAS processor family, i.e. specialized embedded hardware rather than obsolete PC-era silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.avnet.com/americas/product/toshiba/tmpv7708xbg%28es%29/evolve-51771455/", "claim": "A 2026-crawled distributor page lists TMPV7708XBG as a current catalog part with factory lead time, supporting that the hardware was still sold new in 2025 even if niche." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCIE_VISCONTI_HOST.html", "claim": "LKDDb still tracks other Visconti TMPV7708 support in current kernels, consistent with an extant SoC family rather than a removed or orphaned platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory: builtin platform driver plus OF clock init in local shell inspection. Local git history shows substantive fixes/features through 2025, so not dormant. Lore-specific MCP was unavailable; I used web search to public-inbox mirrors (spinics/infradead) and found maintenance traffic but no removal discussion hits. Toshiba official news URL and Avnet URL were obtained by web search for TMPV7708/Visconti5 availability; LKDDb URL was obtained by web search for current kernel Visconti support. Niche automotive SoC implies low present-day deployment volume, but active upstream maintenance and apparent ongoing catalog sale argue to keep, with no natural replacement driver for the same clock/reset block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1641431551, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763693612, "top_author": "Yuji Ishikawa", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/x86", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Intel/MaxLinear Lightning Mountain plus legacy Intel Atom Bay/Cherry Trail and AMD FCH platform clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20230223130429.412986124@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`clk-lgm.c` received a real functional fix for MaxLinear/Lightning Mountain clocks that was backported to stable in 2023, indicating maintained upstream interest rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20230312161512.2715500-30-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "`clk-fch.c` was still being touched in 2023 during clock-framework API churn, so the directory is not completely inert." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6081762.html", "claim": "A March 6, 2026 patch series adds P-state support for Intel/MaxLinear Lightning Mountain, which is evidence that at least one SoC family covered by this directory remains in active enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.maxlinear.com/product/access/copper-access/anywan-gateway-processors/urx851", "claim": "MaxLinear still markets active x86-based AnyWAN gateway SoCs in 2026, supporting the view that this class of embedded x86 networking hardware is still sold in niche new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/55844/products-formerly-bay-trail.html", "claim": "Bay Trail is explicitly listed by Intel as a former product family with launches in 2013-2016, showing that part of this directory targets legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/46629/products-formerly-cherry-trail.html", "claim": "Cherry Trail is also explicitly a former Intel family, reinforcing that some drivers here serve older tablet/embedded Atom platforms rather than current mainstream systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection showed this directory is a real mixed hardware-driver bucket: `clk-lgm.c` (MaxLinear/Lightning Mountain), `clk-pmc-atom.c`/`clk-lpss-atom.c` (Bay/Cherry Trail era Intel Atom), and `clk-fch.c` (AMD FCH). `lore_activity` on `clk-lgm.c` produced the cited 2023 stable fix URL; `lore_activity` on `clk-fch.c` produced the cited 2023 linux-clk API-conversion URL. Web search produced the Spinics Lightning Mountain 2026 enablement thread and the MaxLinear/Intel product pages. Net: no solid removal evidence, one supported subfamily still appears alive, but deployments are niche and much of the directory is legacy, so keep it with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08157849434731636, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1358972062, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769096906, "top_author": "Rahul Tanwar", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/xilinx", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Clocking Wizard IP and Zynq UltraScale+ EV / Versal clocking blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20260227181507.19890-3-hpausten@protonmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: the directory's clock-wizard driver saw a feature patch series in February 2026, which argues against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/clocking_wizard.html", "claim": "Clocking Wizard remains a current AMD IP offering, indicating the associated Linux driver targets hardware/IP still marketed for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs, including EV variants with integrated video codec, are still marketed and described as long-lived products, matching the VCU-related driver scope." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "Versal Adaptive SoCs are current AMD products; the driver explicitly matches \"xlnx,versal-clk-wizard\", so it covers hardware still used in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via exec_command showed active platform drivers for \"xlnx,clocking-wizard\", \"xlnx,versal-clk-wizard\", and \"xlnx,vcu\", so this is a real hardware-driver directory, not a helper library. The lore URL was obtained with lore_activity(file=\"drivers/clk/xilinx/clk-xlnx-clock-wizard.c\"), which returned active 2026 patch traffic; that is strong evidence the code is maintained rather than pending removal. The AMD URLs were obtained with web search on amd.com and show the relevant IP/SoC families are still sold for current embedded designs. Given active upstream development plus ongoing product availability, there is no natural replacement driver and the right disposition is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13640312336859428, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1612837885, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758477393, "top_author": "Shubhrajyoti Datta", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/zynq", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Zynq-7000 PS clock controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240301084437.16084-1-duoming@zju.edu.cn", "claim": "Upstream saw a real bug-fix patch for this driver in 2024, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220222130903.17235-3-shubhrajyoti.datta@xilinx.com", "claim": "The driver received vendor-authored functional maintenance in 2022." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-7000-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "AMD still markets Zynq-7000 for embedded applications, supporting the view that hardware remained commercially relevant into 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/ug585-zynq-7000-SoC-TRM/Arm-IP-Core", "claim": "AMD continues to publish updated Zynq-7000 technical documentation in 2026, consistent with ongoing support and field use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is a real early-init clock driver using `CLK_OF_DECLARE` for `xlnx,ps7-clkc`, not a helper library. Upstream activity was checked via local `git log` on `drivers/clk/zynq`: substantive fixes landed in 2022, 2024, and 2025, and no local history signal suggested a removal series; the two lore URLs were obtained from `git show` commit messages with `Link:` tags. Commercial/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`, which surfaced AMD's current Zynq-7000 product brief and a 2026-revised TRM page. Conclusion: old but still deployed SoC-specific clock code with ongoing bitrot prevention; keep it, but annotate as legacy Zynq-7000-only coverage rather than a growth area.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1369146095, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757338889, "top_author": "Shubhrajyoti Datta", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clk/zynqmp", "subsystem": "clk", "chipset_family": "Xilinx/AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-clk/20240722121910.14647-1-naman.trivedimanojbhai@amd.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still lands for this driver family; a 2024 linux-clk patch touches zynqmp clock code, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs as current products and states UltraScale+ FPGAs/adaptive SoCs are supported through 2045." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-xa-mpsoc.html", "claim": "The same SoC family is still positioned for automotive/ADAS deployments, supporting ongoing non-legacy embedded use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `sed`) showed this is a real clock-controller driver, Kconfig names it \"Xilinx ZynqMP Ultrascale+ clock controllers,\" and `clkc.c` identifies it as the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC clock controller. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clk/zynqmp/clkc.c`, which returned recent linux-clk activity including the cited 2024 patch; that points to active upkeep and I saw no positive evidence of a removal campaign in this quick lore pass. Product availability evidence came from web search results on the cited AMD product pages. Because the SoC family remains a current long-lifecycle embedded platform and there is no natural in-kernel replacement for existing ZynqMP hardware, the appropriate recommendation is to keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06787700626555146, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1539084559, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769194598, "top_author": "Shubhrajyoti Datta", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/clocksource", "subsystem": "clocksource", "chipset_family": "Mixed SoC and virtual platform timer/clocksource blocks (including Arm Generic Timer and Hyper-V synthetic/reference timers)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260302102937.1516059-5-maz@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c` had upstream feature work in March 2026, showing the subsystem is still actively maintained for current Arm platforms." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hyperv/20260105110520.21356-13-jgross@suse.com/", "claim": "`drivers/clocksource/hyperv_timer.c` was still being touched by Hyper-V/paravirt work in January 2026, indicating ongoing relevance for current virtualized deployments." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Arm%20Developer%20Community/PDF/Learn%20the%20Architecture/Generic%20Timer.pdf?revision=c710e7a7-9f52-4901-8c9d-91b19f44f9c7", "claim": "Arm's Generic Timer is a standardized timer framework for Arm cores, evidence that at least part of this directory targets contemporary Arm systems still shipping new." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/tlfs/timers", "claim": "Microsoft's current Hyper-V TLFS documents active synthetic/reference timer facilities used by present-day Hyper-V guests, supporting ongoing deployment of relevant Linux clocksource drivers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a single legacy device driver but an active subsystem containing many platform timer drivers. MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c` and `drivers/clocksource/hyperv_timer.c` showed heavy 2021-2026 traffic and recent 2026 touches, with no evident removal/deprecation signal in the sampled lore evidence. Web search found current Arm Generic Timer and Microsoft Hyper-V timer documentation, showing this code covers hardware/VM timer blocks still used in new systems. No single upstream replacement exists for the directory-wide use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03920253394847013, "commits_5y": 363, "substantive_commits_5y": 355, "first_touch_ts": 1151341101, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768928844, "top_author": "Daniel Lezcano", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 96, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "Comedi industrial data-acquisition (DAQ) boards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260422162138.36003-1-abbotti@mev.co.uk/", "claim": "Comedi still receives upstream fixes in 2026; this patch updates the in-tree comedi_test driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260408175948.872427477@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Comedi fixes are still being queued/backported into stable trees in 2026." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/Kconfig", "claim": "The subsystem covers a wide range of DAQ devices, including many ISA, PC/104, parallel-port, and test/misc drivers, which indicates a broad but largely legacy industrial I/O niche rather than a modern mainstream platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection with `rg --files` and `sed` showed `drivers/comedi` is a real driver subsystem with core code plus many hardware drivers, but much of the menu is legacy ISA/PC104/parallel-port hardware. `lore_regex` produced Apr 2026 patch traffic and a stable backport URL, so upstream attention is clearly ongoing. A follow-up lore subject regex for removal/deprecation timed out, and `lei q` was blocked by the local sandbox socket permission error, so no confirmed removal thread was found. Kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall; lore URLs were obtained from the `lore_regex` tool. Overall: keep it, but annotate as low-volume legacy/industrial hardware with continuing maintenance rather than a removal candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017055543756354777, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775133598, "top_author": "Ian Abbott", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "Comedi industrial DAQ and digital I/O boards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=93853512f565", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2026 with a Comedi driver crash-prevention fix (`dt2815`)." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=20f2044bae11", "claim": "The directory gained a new supported board driver in 2025 (`adl_pci7250` for ADLink PCI-7250 series), indicating the subsystem is still being extended rather than retired." }, { "url": "https://comedi.org/hardware.html", "claim": "Comedi still documents a large in-kernel supported-hardware matrix across vendors such as ADDI-DATA, ADLink, and Advantech." }, { "url": "https://www.addi-data.com/product/apcie-1500", "claim": "ADDI-DATA was still selling PCIe DAQ/DIO hardware with Linux support and explicit compatibility with older PCI APCI-1500-class boards." }, { "url": "https://www.comedi.org/", "claim": "The Comedi project page lists active maintainers and says Comedi/Comedilib are actively developed, with comedilib releases continuing into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local git history showed sustained upstream activity in this directory, including recent bug fixes (2026-04-02) and a new ADLink driver added in 2025; the two git.kernel commit URLs were formed from those locally obtained hashes using the canonical kernel.org commit URL pattern. `web.search_query` + `open/find` on comedi.org confirmed this directory covers a broad DAQ/DIO hardware family and remains part of an actively maintained ecosystem. `web.search_query` + `open/find` on ADDI-DATA product pages showed at least some supported industrial board lines still sold new in 2025, but these are niche industrial/ATE deployments rather than mass-market systems. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same umbrella use case, so removal would strand supported legacy and industrial boards; annotation is appropriate because much of the hardware base is old even though the subsystem remains active.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014635664430289276, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775133627, "top_author": "Ian Abbott", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 131, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "National Instruments E/M/660x DAQ routing tables", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.62, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250311100741.11999-1-siddarthsgml@gmail.com/", "claim": "Most recent lore hit on the core ni_routing files was a 2025 header-cleanup patch, indicating only mechanical maintenance rather than active feature or bug-fix work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/YHauop4u3sP6lz8j@kroah.com/", "claim": "The ni_routing files entered the main drivers/comedi tree via the 2021 staging-to-mainline move, matching the directory's young age and limited history." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-tr/support/model.pci-6251.html", "claim": "NI marks PCI-6251 as 'Item no longer available' and points buyers to PCIe-6351 as a replacement, showing covered M-series hardware is legacy rather than current-sale." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-id/support/model.pxie-6251.html", "claim": "NI marks PXIe-6251 as 'Item no longer available' and suggests PXIe-6361, reinforcing that supported boards in this table set are no longer sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/378678b.html", "claim": "NI's Linux NI-DAQmx 21.3 readme still lists many M-series boards covered by these routing tables, showing ongoing installed-base support despite legacy sales status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/ni_route_values.c` and `ni_device_routes.c`; the only post-2021 touch found was the 2025 mechanical cleanup URL above, and the 2021 staging-move URL shows origin into mainline. Local shell inspection of the directory README showed this is a shared routing-data/helper layer for NI DAQ boards, not a standalone hardware driver, so there is no natural upstream replacement driver. Deployment evidence came from one `web.search_query` call against NI pages: two model pages show covered boards as no longer available, while the NI-DAQmx Linux readme still lists the family as supported, so the best fit is legacy-but-still-deployed. That supports `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1620930704, "top_author": "Masahiro Yamada", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/ni_device_routes", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "NI PCI/PXI/PXIe DAQ boards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/ni_device_routes/all.h", "claim": "The directory is a shared route-table data set for many NI boards, including discontinued PCI/PXI models and newer PXIe models such as PXIe-6535 and PXIe-6738." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/?q=drivers%2Fcomedi%2Fdrivers%2Fni_routing%2Fni_device_routes", "claim": "No recent lore traffic was found for patches touching this directory path, so there is no evidence of an active upstream removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/es-es/support/model.pci-6251.html", "claim": "NI marks PCI-6251 as 'Item no longer available' and points customers to PCIE-6351 as a product replacement, showing part of this hardware set is legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/ja-jp/shop/model/pxie-6738.html", "claim": "NI still presents PXIe-6738 as a current shop product with pricing flow and specifications, showing at least some boards covered by this directory are still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Hardware family identified by shell `rg` over the directory and its in-tree consumers, then mapped to the canonical kernel.org tree URL. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_regex` on patch bodies for this directory path over the last 5 years; it returned zero hits, and the cited lore URL is the corresponding canonical query page. Deployment evidence came from one web search call: NI's PCI-6251 support page shows legacy/EOL status, while NI's PXIe-6738 shop page shows a still-marketed product. Because this directory is shared route metadata for multiple still-deployed NI DAQ lines, with no removal talk and no single upstream replacement driver, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1620930704, "top_author": "Masahiro Yamada", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/ni_route_values", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "National Instruments E Series / M Series / 660x DAQ routing", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/README", "claim": "The ni_routing subtree exists to encode valid routing tables for National Instruments DAQ families; the README describes per-family route-value tables and notes NI-MAX as the only consistent source for many valid routes." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8ffdff6a8cfbdc174a3a390b6f825a277b5bb895", "claim": "ni_routing entered the main drivers/comedi tree in April 2021 when comedi moved out of staging, matching the directory's short upstream lifetime." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7d5b2cbe7a8f918641e9c69f07bc2fe0989221a0", "claim": "Local git history shows the only non-linux-next touch after the move was a 2021 cleanup commit, consistent with very low ongoing upstream churn." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/white-paper/8436/en/", "claim": "NI's current comparison document treats 60xxE, 62xx, and 63xx as successive generations, indicating M Series superseded E Series and X Series superseded M Series." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-tr/support/model.pci-6251.html", "claim": "NI marks the M Series PCI-6251 as 'Item no longer available' and points buyers to PCIe-6351 as replacement hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.pxi-6070.html", "claim": "NI marks the E Series PXI-6070 as 'Item no longer available' with PXIe-6361 as replacement hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/model/pci-6602.html", "claim": "NI still has a current shop page for PCI-6602 with pricing/contact flow, indicating at least some 660x-family hardware remained commercially offered around 2025-2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is generated routing metadata used by NI comedi support, not a standalone end-user driver. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned 0 events in the last 5 years, and `lore_regex` for diff headers under this path also returned 0 hits, so there is no visible lore removal/maintenance discussion to justify `remove`. URLs were obtained as follows: NI product/white-paper pages via `web.search_query`; kernel.org README/commit pages via canonical recall after extracting the relevant paths and commit IDs from local `git log`/source reads. Because E/M families are obsolete but PCI-6602-class 660x hardware still appears market-active, present deployments look niche rather than extinct, so the safer call is `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1620930704, "top_author": "Masahiro Yamada", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers/ni_routing/tools", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains NI routing support tools/codegen assets under a tools subdirectory, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1726063408, "top_author": "Ruffalo Lavoisier", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/drivers/tests", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "Synthetic Comedi test modules", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/Kconfig", "claim": "`COMEDI_TESTS` is an optional menu for Comedi unit tests, including `COMEDI_TESTS_EXAMPLE` and `COMEDI_TESTS_NI_ROUTES`." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/drivers/tests/comedi_example_test.c", "claim": "`comedi_example_test.c` is explicitly an example unit-test module built around fake board data (`fake_device`), not production hardware support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/comedi/drivers/tests/ni_routes_test.c", "claim": "`ni_routes_test.c` is a unit-test module for NI routing logic and uses fake board/test data rather than probing or driving hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/?q=%22drivers%2Fcomedi%2Fdrivers%2Ftests%22", "claim": "Canonical lore query page for this directory path; useful for checking whether there is visible public removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This directory is not a hardware driver family but an optional in-tree test area. Source contents were inspected with `exec_command` (`rg`/`sed`), which showed only two test modules plus `unittest.h`; Kconfig/Makefile inspection with `exec_command` confirmed they are gated under `COMEDI_TESTS`. Direct lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline(path=\"drivers/comedi/drivers/tests\")`, which returned zero indexed events for the directory path, so there is no sign of active removal traffic from that fast path. The cited kernel.org and lore URLs are canonical stable pages recalled directly; they match the files/queries inspected. Because the directory exists to test Comedi internals rather than support shipping hardware, hardware-obsolescence criteria do not justify deprecation or removal; annotate it as test-only/non-hardware if desired." }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/comedi/kcomedilib", "subsystem": "comedi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: kcomedilib is a Comedi support/library subtree, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1618471585, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764163210, "top_author": "Ian Abbott", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/connector", "subsystem": "connector", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the generic kernel/userspace netlink Connector subsystem (Kconfig says \"unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker\"), not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5045489639649138, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1126491307, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1707819344, "top_author": "Anjali Kulkarni", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/counter", "subsystem": "counter", "chipset_family": "Generic counter/timer and quadrature-encoder IP blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260413134604.2861772-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "The subsystem saw a non-mechanical bug-fix patch in April 2026 ('counter: Fix refcount leak in counter_alloc() error path'), showing current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/adyb3Cdr1p3p76h6@monoceros/", "claim": "There was active review/revision traffic for the same counter-core fix in April 2026, indicating ongoing maintainer and reviewer attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas still marketed the RZ/G2L as an active product with longevity through 2037, and this tree contains the matching `rz-mtu3-cnt` driver for that SoC family." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/x-cube-lptimer.html", "claim": "ST lists STM32 low-power timer software as active/in volume production, matching the STM32 LPTIMER counter support in this directory." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/Counter_overview", "claim": "ST's 2025 STM32 MPU documentation describes current Linux Counter subsystem usage on STM32MP13x/15x/21x/23x/25x lines, evidence of present-day deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/counter` is an actively maintained driver subsystem, not an obsolete single-device driver. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/counter/counter-core.c`; it showed recent 2026 fixes and no removal signal. A removal-focused `lore_regex` query timed out rather than finding hits, so there is no positive removal evidence. Local tree inspection via shell showed maintained Kconfig entries for current STM32, TI, Renesas, Microchip, Intel QEP, and legacy ACCES hardware. Deployment evidence came from web search results on vendor/official docs pages (Renesas active RZ/G2L, ST active LPTIMER package, ST 2025 Counter overview). Because the directory serves current industrial/embedded timer/counter IP still shipping in new SoCs, the right outcome is `keep`, with no natural replacement driver for the subsystem as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01766011622168654, "commits_5y": 160, "substantive_commits_5y": 154, "first_touch_ts": 1556220817, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774162762, "top_author": "William Breathitt Gray", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cpufreq", "subsystem": "cpufreq", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: drivers/cpufreq is a subsystem umbrella containing the CPUFreq core, governors, and multiple platform drivers rather than one hardware-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009173979356855284, "commits_5y": 974, "substantive_commits_5y": 964, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775052495, "top_author": "Viresh Kumar", "top_author_commits": 108, "c_file_count": 79, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cpuidle", "subsystem": "cpuidle", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the top-level cpuidle subsystem directory containing framework/core code and multiple CPU idle drivers, not one discrete hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.024515378497124908, "commits_5y": 126, "substantive_commits_5y": 121, "first_touch_ts": 1191989561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773154982, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cpuidle/governors", "subsystem": "cpuidle", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains CPU idle governor policy code for cpuidle core, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1191989561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771339793, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 51, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Mixed hardware crypto accelerators", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/Kconfig", "claim": "Current upstream Kconfig shows this directory is an umbrella for many hardware crypto drivers across x86, s390, SoC and virtual devices, not a single aging chipset." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/intel-quick-assist-technology-overview.html", "claim": "Intel still markets QuickAssist Technology for current data-center, cloud, storage and networking deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095464/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel states 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors support Intel QAT acceleration, indicating ongoing new-platform deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cryptocards?topic=4770-library", "claim": "IBM documents Crypto Express8S / 4770 availability on IBM Z z16 and z17 and on Linux on IBM Z, showing current hardware covered by this subtree is still sold/deployed." }, { "url": "https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.3/virtio-v1.3.html", "claim": "Virtio 1.3 defines a virtio crypto device type, supporting continued VM/guest deployment relevance for the virtio portion of this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is for the subtree as a whole, not any one legacy leaf driver. lore-http `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/crypto/` returned zero exact path matches, so there was no positive evidence of a subtree-wide removal series; two broader `lore_regex` subject probes timed out, so I did not treat them as removal evidence. Local shell inspection of `drivers/crypto/Kconfig` showed a broad, current umbrella of active hardware and virtual crypto engines. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall matching the locally inspected file; Intel, IBM, and OASIS URLs were obtained via web search. Because the directory spans actively sold server/mainframe/SoC/virtual hardware and already shows heavy recent upstream churn in the provided stats, this should be kept rather than deprecated; there is no single replacement driver for the whole subtree.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017274598433475855, "commits_5y": 520, "substantive_commits_5y": 512, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773513246, "top_author": "Marco Chiappero", "top_author_commits": 67, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun4i-ss", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Allwinner Security System (sun4i/sun8i A10/A20/A33 class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260423065600.2081989-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver family is still seeing upstream fixes in 2026 rather than removal work; this patch touches the Allwinner SS drivers to fix build/reference issues." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20231022081100.123613-3-ebiggers@kernel.org/", "claim": "sun4i-ss received crypto-core cleanup work in 2023, indicating maintained in-tree integration." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_SUN4I_SS.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_SUN4I_SS in current kernel series and maps it to Allwinner sun4i-a10-crypto and sun8i-a33-crypto compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/Home-Server/GNUhealth-LIME2/open-source-hardware", "claim": "An A20-based product built on A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 is still sold new and marked in stock, showing surviving niche hardware deployments for this IP block family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree static inspection via shell `rg` showed DT compatibles for allwinner,sun4i-a10-crypto and allwinner,sun8i-a33-crypto, while DTs also reuse the A10 compatible for sun7i-a20 and sun6i-a31. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun4i-ss/sun4i-ss-core.c)`, which returned recent 2023-2026 maintenance patches and no removal series in the sampled activity; attempted broader `lore_regex` removal scans timed out, so removal evidence was not found. Deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDb confirms current kernel support, and Olimex current product pages show at least niche A20 hardware still sold new. The hardware is no longer mainstream, but upstream activity and surviving embedded/industrial sales argue against deprecation; annotate as niche legacy hardware instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4197328341088844, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1572586711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729298670, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun8i-ce", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Allwinner Crypto Engine (sun8i/sun50i/sun20i CE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423065600.2081989-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-23 the driver file still receives upstream fixes; Arnd Bergmann posted a patch touching this area ('crypto: sun8i-ss - avoid hash and rng references')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251121130239.061648051@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was still being backported into stable in late 2025 ('crypto: sun8i-ce - remove channel timeout field'), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-2W.html", "claim": "Orange Pi Zero 2W is an official current product built on Allwinner H618, one of the compatibles supported by this driver, with active purchase links on the product page." }, { "url": "https://www.mangopi.org/mqpro", "claim": "MangoPi MQ Pro is an official D1-based Linux board page, updated in 2025 and describing the board as designed for Tina-Linux/Debian and in mass production; D1 is another SoC supported by this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (shell `rg`/`sed`) showed this is the Allwinner CE platform driver and listed supported compatibles: H3, R40, D1, A64, H5, H6, H616. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun8i-ce/sun8i-ce-core.c` showed substantial activity through 2025 and into 2026, including the cited lore URLs; that argues against deprecation/removal. Web search returned official Orange Pi and MangoPi product pages for H618 and D1 boards, showing the hardware family is still sold for SBC/embedded Linux use. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same on-SoC accelerator; software fallback exists in the crypto framework but is not a hardware-driver replacement. Inference: deployments are mainly SBC/embedded rather than broad consumer, so medium rather than high.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11942744354444414, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1572586711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757736665, "top_author": "Ovidiu Panait", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun8i-ss", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Allwinner Security System (SS) crypto engine for A80/A83T-class SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260423065600.2081989-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "sun8i-ss still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch updates the driver rather than removing it." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A83T", "claim": "Allwinner A83T is a 2014-era SoC; the page lists mostly older tablet/board devices, indicating aging hardware." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A80", "claim": "Allwinner A80 is also a 2014-era SoC, reinforcing that the supported hardware family is old." }, { "url": "https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_M3", "claim": "NanoPi M3 is a historical A83T board reference, consistent with limited surviving deployments rather than broad current-market use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of drivers/crypto/allwinner/sun8i-ss/sun8i-ss-core.c shows the OF match table only for allwinner,sun8i-a83t-crypto and allwinner,sun9i-a80-crypto, so this driver targets older A83T/A80 SS blocks, not current H3/H5/H6 parts. lore_file_timeline produced the cited lore URL and shows fresh 2026 maintenance traffic with no obvious removal trend, so removal/deprecate is not justified. The linux-sunxi and FriendlyELEC URLs were obtained via web search and show the supported SoCs/boards are 2014-vintage and now niche; that supports low present-day deployment and a keep-annotate outcome rather than removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08039784596431036, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1572586711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766126867, "top_author": "Corentin Labbe", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/amcc", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "AMCC/AppliedMicro PPC4xx crypto engine (PPC405EX/PPC460EX/PPC460SX class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/aBhlgbCmoVou4DI6@gondor.apana.org.au/", "claim": "In 2025 the driver still received subsystem-maintainer attention; this patch removes obsolete ahash-related code from crypto4xx rather than the whole driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/Z9qN05tYIrnh_L8I@gondor.apana.org.au/", "claim": "In 2025 the driver still received a targeted compiler-warning fix, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_PPC4XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_PPC4XX to the AMCC PPC4xx crypto accelerator and shows it still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.macom.com/products/product-detail/PPC460EX", "claim": "MACOM still lists the PPC460EX embedded processor as an orderable product with an optional security subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.macom.com/products/product-detail/PPC405EX", "claim": "MACOM still lists the PPC405EX embedded processor as an orderable product with an optional security subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/crypto/amcc identified a real platform driver and the covered SoCs: code references amcc,ppc405ex-crypto, amcc,ppc460ex-crypto, and amcc,ppc460sx-crypto. lore_activity on crypto4xx_core.c showed recent 2024-2025 cleanup and bug-fix traffic, including maintainer-authored changes, plus no lore evidence of a whole-driver removal series; one failed/empty directory-level lore_file_timeline query suggests path-prefix mismatch, not inactivity. Web search produced LKDDb and MACOM product pages: LKDDb confirms upstream presence; MACOM pages indicate at least some PPC4xx silicon remains sold new by quote/order in 2025, but this is clearly niche embedded hardware, so deployments are low. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same on-SoC accelerator block; software crypto fallback is not a hardware-driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09123887630023397, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1234946983, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514948, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/amlogic", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson GXL/AXG/A1 crypto engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250624135214.1355051-15-romanov.alexey2000@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work in 2025 adds AXG-series support to this driver, indicating ongoing enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250624135214.1355051-16-romanov.alexey2000@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work in 2025 adds A1-series support to this driver, extending it to newer Amlogic hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250624135214.1355051-11-romanov.alexey2000@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2025 maintenance also includes nontrivial runtime work ('Avoid kzalloc in engine thread'), showing active bug-fix/performance attention." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's current product catalog still lists multiple Meson-family SoCs such as A113X2, A113L2, S905X, S905X3, S905X4, S912 and others, supporting the view that relevant hardware remains on the market." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/Stencil.html", "claim": "Amlogic's product detail index describes current A113X2/A113L2/S905X/S912-family parts and their consumer/embedded uses, supporting ongoing deployment in smart audio, STB, and smart-home products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed this is the 'Amlogic GXL cryptographic offloader' with OF match 'amlogic,gxl-crypto'. lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no hits, so I used lore_activity on both .c files; that found 2025 AXG/A1 enablement patches plus maintenance work, which argues against deprecation or removal. Web search found current Amlogic product pages still listing several Meson-family SoCs, so the hardware class is still marketed. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same hardware offload block; the alternative is generic software crypto, not a drop-in driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.35955770289817773, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1572016198, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729298670, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/aspeed", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST2500/AST2600 HACE/ACRY BMC crypto engines", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5892626.html", "claim": "Upstream crypto maintainer Herbert Xu replied \"Patch applied\" to a 2025 fix for this driver, showing active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg90038.html", "claim": "There was linux-crypto traffic in June 2025 about the aspeed/hash fallback work, indicating ongoing review and bug-fix attention." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's server-management product page still lists AST2600 and AST2500 BMC products, with AST2600 present in the current catalog alongside newer AST2700-family parts." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 is presented by ASPEED as a current server-management/BMC SoC with native PCIe, secure boot, and remote-management features." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed platform-driver code and Kconfig entries for Aspeed HACE hash/crypto and ACRY RSA on AST2500/AST2600. Local `git log` showed substantive fixes through 2025-10-20. `lei` was unavailable, so lore-style activity was checked via web search against mailing-list archives: no removal/deprecation discussion found, but active 2025 fix traffic and maintainer acceptance were found on spinics. Vendor deployment evidence came from ASPEED product pages opened via web tool; AST2600/AST2500 are still listed, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural replacement driver exists for the same on-SoC accelerator block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 43, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1661511037, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761195203, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/axis", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Axis ARTPEC-6/7 crypto engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260309211119.81778-3-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "The driver is still seeing upstream maintenance in 2026, with a linux-crypto patch touching artpec6_crypto.c." }, { "url": "https://www.axis.com/products/axis-p5654-e-mk-ii", "claim": "Axis still had a current product page with part numbers for a camera built on ARTPEC 7, indicating hardware in this family was still sold new around 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.axis.com/solutions/system-on-chip", "claim": "Axis describes ARTPEC-7 as a predecessor to ARTPEC-8/9, showing the family is vendor-specific embedded camera silicon rather than a broad commodity platform." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/axis/artpec6_crypto.c", "claim": "The driver binds only to axis,artpec6-crypto and axis,artpec7-crypto device-tree compatibles, so there is no obvious generic upstream replacement driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via exec_command showed this is a real platform crypto driver for Axis ARTPEC6/7 only. lore_file_timeline on drivers/crypto/axis/artpec6_crypto.c showed steady 2022-2026 activity with recent cleanup/fix patches and no visible removal/deprecation series in the returned history, so removal is not indicated. web search found a live Axis product page for an ARTPEC-7 camera and the Axis SoC overview page, which together suggest the hardware family is still sold but in a narrow embedded-surveillance niche. The kernel.org source URL is canonical recall; claim was verified against the locally inspected file. Net: keep upstream, but annotate as niche/vendor-specific rather than broadly deployed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14306980214085913, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1503384892, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763115348, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/bcm", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Broadcom SPU/SPU2 Secure Processing Unit crypto offload blocks for iProc/Northstar2 SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250219111254.2654-2-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "drivers/crypto/bcm/cipher.c received a substantive linux-crypto patch in February 2025, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_BCM_SPU.html", "claim": "CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_BCM_SPU remains present through current kernel series and matches DT compatibles brcm,spum-crypto, brcm,spum-nsp-crypto, brcm,spu2-crypto, and brcm,spu2-v2-crypto." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-announces-volume-production-quad-core-64-bit-2ghz-armv8", "claim": "Broadcom positioned BCM5871x as a communications/networking SoC family for vCPE, service routers, Ethernet-switch control planes, and NAS, with volume production announced in 2016." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/958712-PB100", "claim": "Broadcom's BCM958712D4XMC brief describes BCM58712 hardware-based crypto acceleration and targets enterprise switches, carrier access, edge computing, and data centers, indicating a niche embedded/networking deployment profile rather than mainstream new client hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed this is the Broadcom symmetric crypto offload platform driver with DT compatibles for SPUM/SPU2. lore_file_timeline on drivers/crypto/bcm/cipher.c showed steady 2022-2025 activity, including a 2025 fix and stable-tree inclusion, and did not surface removal-oriented traffic; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search + open on Broadcom pages showed the attached SoC family is an older networking/control-plane product line first publicly volume-shipped in 2016 and documented in a 2018 reference-card brief, so 2025 deployments are likely niche/legacy embedded networking and low-volume rather than broad new sales. Because upstream maintenance is still real but deployment appears narrow and aging, keep the driver but annotate it as niche/legacy hardware. The 2025 sales-status=false field is an inference from searched public vendor evidence being old rather than an explicit EOL notice.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2792818164378604, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1486806920, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740210963, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/caam", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale CAAM (Cryptographic Accelerator and Assurance Module)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20251006071753.3073538-4-meenakshi.aggarwal@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work exists for CAAM, including a 2025 patch adding PAES algorithm support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250604101446.3993932-1-meenakshi.aggarwal@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance/fix traffic exists for CAAM in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8M?tid=vaniMX8M", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M family as Active and on its longevity program, indicating CAAM-bearing SoCs remain sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/IMX8MMCEC.pdf", "claim": "The i.MX 8M Mini datasheet documents an on-chip CAAM block, confirming this driver maps to current embedded SoC hardware rather than only legacy parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, confirmed locally from drivers/crypto/caam/Kconfig/Makefile and module entries. lore_activity tool on drivers/crypto/caam/caamalg.c returned 2025 feature and fix patches on linux-crypto, so upstream attention is current. A removal/deprecation subject scan via lore_regex timed out twice, and no removal evidence surfaced within the tool budget; combined with recent feature work, that argues against deprecate/remove. NXP product-page and datasheet URLs were obtained via web search + open/find; they show active i.MX 8M family availability and documented CAAM hardware blocks. Net: CAAM is still present in new NXP embedded/industrial deployments, with no natural in-tree hardware replacement for the same accelerator block, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.018053151316806612, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 77, "first_touch_ts": 1301193916, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774516258, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/cavium/cpt", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell OCTEON-TX Thunder CPT cryptographic accelerator", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228180011.1568201-53-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving real maintenance in 2026, including a targeted fix to cptvf_main.c ('crypto: cavium - fix dma_free_coherent() size')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241212144231.772385052@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was also being backported into stable trees in late 2024 ('crypto: cavium - Fix an error handling path in cpt_ucode_load_fw()'), indicating ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-tx2-cn913x-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's CN913X OCTEON TX2 product brief shows current OCTEON TX2 parts with security accelerator, virtualization/SR-IOV, and networking-appliance positioning, consistent with this PF/VF CPT driver." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON DPUs and explicitly lists OCTEON TX2 CN9130 with security/public-key acceleration for networking gear, supporting that this hardware family remained sellable in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via exec_command found Kconfig text 'Cavium Cryptographic Accelerator driver' for 'octeon-tx series of processors' plus module names 'thunder-cpt'/'thunder-cptvf' and PF/VF PCI IDs, so this is a real SR-IOV-capable hardware driver for OCTEON-TX Thunder CPT. lore_file_timeline on cptpf_main.c and cptvf_main.c showed sustained activity through 2025-07-27 and 2026-03-06, with recent fixes/backports rather than removal work; cited lore URLs came from those timeline results. Web search + open on Marvell pages/PDF showed OCTEON TX2 CN913X and OCTEON DPU product collateral still present and describing security acceleration, so the hardware family is niche but not obsolete. No natural upstream replacement covers the same CPT block; recommendation is keep, with low-but-real deployment in networking/security appliances rather than broad consumer systems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08658967606328179, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1486806751, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768543326, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell NITROX V (CNN55XX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20230307161947.857491-3-helgaas@kernel.org/", "claim": "Upstream activity exists in recent years for this driver; example 2023 linux-crypto patch touching nitrox_main.c, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_NITROX_CNN55XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this driver as CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_NITROX_CNN55XX / module n5pf for PCI device 177d:0012, named CNN55XX [Nitrox V], and shows it still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/security-solutions.html", "claim": "Marvell's current security-solutions product page still markets the NITROX product line and explicitly lists CNN55xx variants, implying the family remained commercially current into 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/security-solutions/nitrox-security-adapters.html", "claim": "Marvell's current NITROX Security Adapters page describes NITROX XL PCIe adapters for cloud/server/appliance use, indicating continuing niche deployment for PCIe crypto offload adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) showed the driver is for Cavium CNN55XX / NITROX V PCI ID 177d:0012. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no direct directory-level hits, and `lore_activity` on `drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox/nitrox_main.c` returned recent maintenance patches but no removal thread evidence. Web search found current Marvell product pages still advertising NITROX/CNN55xx-family hardware, and LKDDb confirms the driver is still in mainline. Conclusion: specialized accelerator with low-volume but ongoing deployments; keep the driver, with annotation that it is niche enterprise/security hardware rather than broadly deployed commodity silicon.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11871942964570041, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1497067473, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763115348, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/ccp", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "AMD Secure Processor / Cryptographic Coprocessor (PSP/CCP, incl. SEV support)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20251119224140.8616-17-david.laight.linux@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance still touches drivers/crypto/ccp/ccp-dev.c in linux-crypto; not a dormant orphaned driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260304131525.84627-2-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "drivers/crypto/ccp/sp-dev.c was still being carried in stable releases in March 2026, indicating ongoing support rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/infinity-guard.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing EPYC 4004/4005/700x/8004/9004/9005 security features including SEV/Infinity Guard, implying current-generation hardware still using the PSP/SEV stack." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/confidential-computing.html", "claim": "AMD still markets SEV-based confidential computing for current EPYC deployments, supporting continued real-world use of the PSP/SEV side of this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Tool evidence: `exec_command` read drivers/crypto/ccp/Kconfig, which identifies this directory as the AMD Secure Processor / CCP / PSP / SEV driver stack. `lore_activity` on ccp-dev.c found linux-crypto patch traffic in 2025; `lore_activity` on sp-dev.c found 2026 stable uptake. A `lore_file_timeline` query on the directory path returned no hits, which appears to be a path-index blind spot rather than inactivity. `web.search_query` found current AMD Infinity Guard and confidential-computing product pages showing the hardware family is still sold and actively deployed. No replacement driver or removal thread was found in the evidence gathered, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02098725091245294, "commits_5y": 182, "substantive_commits_5y": 180, "first_touch_ts": 1386250117, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773464497, "top_author": "Mario Limonciello", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/ccree", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Arm TrustZone CryptoCell-700 family (CC630P/CC703/CC710/CC712/CC713 REE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20241007205803.444994-9-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance touches in current kernels; one recent example is the 2024 platform_driver remove-callback conversion touching ccree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_CCREE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_CCREE remains present in current kernel series and lists supported compatibles including CryptoCell 713/703/712/710/630." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/ja/products/silicon-ip-security/crypto-cell-700", "claim": "Arm's current CryptoCell-700 family product page still markets CryptoCell-713/700-family security IP for high-performance SoCs and device segments such as mobile, DTV, and STB." }, { "url": "https://www.rambus.com/security/root-of-trust/", "claim": "Rambus currently markets CC-712 and CC-713 Root of Trust solutions, describing CC-71x as targeting Cortex-A platforms running Linux or OP-TEE." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real platform driver: local `rg` over drivers/crypto/{Kconfig,ccree} identified module/OF matches and supported CryptoCell parts. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/crypto/ccree/cc_driver.c)`; broad removal-discussion scans via `lore_regex`/`lore_path_mentions` timed out, and no removal evidence was obtained. Web search found LKDDb plus current Arm/Rambus product pages. Conclusion: niche embedded SoC security IP, still marketed/licensed and still seeing maintenance, so not a removal candidate; annotate as low-deployment specialty hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10814043789453708, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1518708400, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763777090, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/chelsio", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T6 crypto offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260112192035.10427-28-ebiggers@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/crypto/chelsio/chcr_algo.c` received a substantive upstream update on 2026-01-12 ('crypto: chelsio - Use new AES library API'), so the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20210415100607.422838-1-vinay.yadav@chelsio.com/", "claim": "Chelsio itself sent maintenance patches for this driver ('chelsio/chcr: Remove useless MODULE_VERSION'), indicating vendor ownership existed upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/category/press-room/", "claim": "Chelsio's press room lists multiple T6 announcements in 2025, showing T6 adapters were still actively marketed in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/terminator-6-asic/", "claim": "Chelsio's Terminator 6 ASIC page describes T6 as providing crypto offload, matching this driver's hardware role." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/crypto-offload/", "claim": "Chelsio documents T6 'co-processor' crypto offload for IPsec/SMB use cases, directly corresponding to the Linux `chcr` driver's purpose." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real module driver (`module_init`) and Kconfig says 'Chelsio Crypto Co-processor Driver' for T6 adapters, dependent on `CHELSIO_T4`. `lore_file_timeline` on `chcr_algo.c` showed active 2026 API-fix traffic; `lore_file_timeline` on `chcr_core.c` showed less recent churn. A directory-level lore timeline returned no matches, and a lore removal-subject regex timed out; therefore 'no active removal discussion' is only a weak inference from available lore, not a proven negative. Web search found Chelsio product/press pages showing T6 remained marketed in 2024-2025, but this is niche datacenter/HPC offload hardware rather than broad commodity deployment. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as narrow-use, older-generation accelerator hardware with low contemporary deployment and no obvious in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09387500168201786, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1471589970, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514948, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/gemini", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "StorLink/Cortina Gemini SL3516", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_SL3516.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_SL3516 for the Storlink SL3516 crypto offloader and maps it to OF compatible cortina,sl3516-crypto." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f51c527f17c534143f6f6b769be8e078b411b20c", "claim": "The driver received an upstream maintenance change on 2024-10-19, indicating it is still being kept buildable and integrated." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=67b7702c5b03b89ca196c5bd137407509b397049", "claim": "The driver also received crypto-engine API adaptation work in 2023, showing non-removal upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/raidsonic/raidsonic_ib-nas4220-b", "claim": "An SL3516-based NAS remains supported by current OpenWrt 24.10.4, evidence of some remaining real-world deployments." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/itian/itian_square_one_sq201", "claim": "Another SL3516-based device is marked discontinued while still supported by current OpenWrt, suggesting the hardware is legacy rather than newly sold." }, { "url": "https://dflund.se/~triad/krad/gemini/", "claim": "Gemini SL3516 is described as an early-2000s-era SoC family and documented mainly as a legacy bring-up/testing platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed module_platform_driver and OF match `cortina,sl3516-crypto`, confirming a real platform crypto driver for SL3516. Recent activity was checked with local `git log` (latest substantive commit 2024-10-19; another API update in 2023); canonical kernel.org commit URLs were then cited by canonical recall. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on OpenWrt hardware pages and the Gemini platform history page. No credible removal discussion was located; with active upkeep but clearly obsolete hardware, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1623395009, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729298670, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon/Huawei Kunpeng crypto accelerators (QM, SEC/SEC2, HPRE, ZIP, TRNG)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/crypto/hisilicon", "claim": "Upstream development is active; local git log for this directory shows substantive fixes/features continuing into 2025-2026 rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_SEC2.html", "claim": "SEC2 support remains present in current kernel series and maps to Huawei PCI IDs 19e5:a255/a256." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_HPRE.html", "claim": "HPRE support remains present in current kernel series and maps to Huawei PCI IDs 19e5:a258/a259." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_ZIP.html", "claim": "ZIP support remains present in current kernel series and maps to Huawei PCI IDs 19e5:a250/a251." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100088647/ff9304b9/misc-config", "claim": "Huawei's Kunpeng 920 TaiShan BIOS reference, updated 2025-03-20, still documents SEC/HPRE/ZIP accelerator status and installation, indicating contemporary platform support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local file scan showed real module/platform/PCI driver code under this directory. Evidence gathering: local shell `rg` and `sed` on Kconfig/source identified SEC/SEC2/HPRE/ZIP/TRNG/QM devices and Huawei PCI IDs; local shell `git log` (with safe.directory override) showed ongoing feature/fix traffic through 2026-01-31 and no removal series; web search found LKDDb coverage pages and Huawei BIOS documentation. Because upstream activity is strong and 2025 vendor docs still show these accelerators on Kunpeng/TaiShan systems, this is not a deprecation candidate. Deployments are likely niche rather than mass-market, so `low` is more defensible than `medium`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 179, "substantive_commits_5y": 175, "first_touch_ts": 1533290762, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769827951, "top_author": "Weili Qian", "top_author_commits": 75, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon/hpre", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon HPRE (High Performance RSA Engine) on Huawei/HiSilicon Kunpeng accelerator platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260313094039.3390686-1-wuzongyu1@huawei.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work touched hpre_main.c in March 2026, adding debugfs device-load query support, which is evidence of active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260225012350.936033294@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "HPRE-related queue-management changes were backported to stable in February 2026, indicating the hardware/driver remains relevant to supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_HPRE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_HPRE for HiSilicon HPRE, with Huawei PCI IDs 19e5:a258 and 19e5:a259, and shows support continuing through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HISI_ACC_VFIO_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows current VFIO support depending on CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_HPRE, suggesting continued use in virtualization/accelerator-pass-through scenarios." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng", "claim": "HiSilicon still markets the Kunpeng processor family on its live product site with sales/support links, supporting the conclusion that the platform remained commercially active in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng-920", "claim": "HiSilicon's Kunpeng 920 product page shows the server CPU family is still publicly marketed, making new-platform availability in 2025 plausible for attached HPRE accelerator deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on the directory showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Driver for HiSilicon HPRE accelerator\"), Huawei PCI ID 0xa258/0xa259, and supported RSA/DH/ECDH/SM2/X25519/X448 algorithms, confirming this is a real PCI crypto accelerator driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/crypto/hisilicon/hpre/hpre_main.c` returned heavy activity through 2026 plus a stable backport URL, and did not surface removal-oriented traffic; a broader removal regex timed out, so absence of removal talk is an inference from the active timeline, not a direct negative proof. Web search returned the LKDDb HPRE and HiSilicon VFIO pages, which show the driver remains present in current kernels and tied into present virtualization support. Web search also returned live HiSilicon Kunpeng product pages; combined with the current marketing/sales links there, that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. Because HPRE is a niche server-side accelerator tied to Huawei/HiSilicon platforms rather than commodity PCs, `deployments_today` is assessed as low, but ongoing upstream and stable activity argue strongly against deprecation or removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.055435775064270755, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 74, "first_touch_ts": 1570710991, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768543326, "top_author": "Weili Qian", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon/sec", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon SEC (Hip06/Hip07)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": "hisi_sec2", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260330151937.83837-2-fourier.thomas@gmail.com/", "claim": "`sec_algs.c` received a real bug fix in 2026 (`crypto: hisilicon - Fix dma_unmap_single() direction`), indicating live upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20250903132539.416439-3-rongqianfeng@vivo.com/", "claim": "`sec_drv.c` received a substantive correctness fix in 2025 (`Use int type to store negative error codes`), showing recent attention in the linux-crypto tree." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/hisilicon/hi16xx", "claim": "Hi1610 and Hi1612, matching the Hip06/Hip07 generation this driver targets, are older HiSilicon server processors introduced in 2015 and 2016." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng", "claim": "HiSilicon's current public server-processor product page markets Kunpeng, not Hip06/Hip07-era parts, supporting the conclusion that this hardware is no longer sold new." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/hisilicon/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes `CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_SEC` as support for the SEC engine in Hip06/Hip07 and `CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_SEC2` as support for SEC version 2, making `hisi_sec2` the natural successor for newer HiSilicon crypto hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep but annotate. Lore history shows ongoing bug-fix/API-churn work through 2025-2026 and no removal signal, so deprecate/remove would be too aggressive. The hardware itself is old: Kconfig ties this driver to Hip06/Hip07, and web evidence places that family in the 2015-2016 Hi16xx server generation while HiSilicon's current product page promotes Kunpeng instead. That points to legacy installed-base use with low new deployment, not zero deployment. URLs obtained via `lore_file_timeline` (two lore links), `web.search/open` (WikiChip and HiSilicon product page), and one kernel.org Kconfig URL by canonical recall.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2078470583187039, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1533290762, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757736666, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon/sec2", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon SEC2 crypto accelerator", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260313094039.3390686-1-wuzongyu1@huawei.com/", "claim": "March 13, 2026 patch adds device-load query functionality to the HiSilicon crypto driver set, indicating ongoing feature work around SEC2-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260330062531.2976138-2-huangchenghai2@huawei.com/", "claim": "March 30, 2026 patch fixes a format-string issue in code touching drivers/crypto/hisilicon/sec2/sec_main.c, showing current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026022657-justness-immortal-efe9@gregkh/", "claim": "SEC2-related code was included in a 2026 stable release, which is evidence of maintained, deployed hardware rather than abandoned code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_SEC2.html", "claim": "LKDDb documents CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_SEC2 as an ARM64+ACPI+PCI/UACCE accelerator driver, matching a modern server-platform deployment model rather than obsolete consumer hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/crypto/hisilicon/sec2/sec_main.c showed active 2026 fixes/features and no removal signal; recent lore URLs above came directly from that tool. Local `exec_command` inspection of sec_main.c showed PCI IDs for Huawei devices and MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Driver for HiSilicon SEC accelerator\"). The LKDDb URL is canonical recall, used to support platform/deployment context. Conclusion: SEC2 is a niche but still-relevant server accelerator family, likely present in current Huawei/Kunpeng deployments, with no natural in-tree replacement beyond generic software crypto fallbacks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.052719378461518196, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 93, "first_touch_ts": 1574419716, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768543326, "top_author": "Kai Ye", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon/trng", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Hi1620 / Kunpeng 920 TRNG v2", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228181505.1600663-25-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver received a substantive 2026 fix/backport ('support tfms sharing the device'), showing ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_HISI_TRNG.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this driver to ACPI ID HISI02B3 and shows it still present in current kernel series, identifying it as the in-tree crypto driver for HiSilicon TRNG hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HW_RANDOM_HISI_V2.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies HISI02B3 / hisi-trng-v2 as the HiSilicon True Random Number Generator V2 found on the Hi1620 SoC, tying the driver to the Hi1620/Kunpeng generation." }, { "url": "https://www.hikunpeng.com/document/detail/en/kunpengfaq/productfaq/hardwarefaq/hardware_faq_0001.html%23hardware_faq_0001__section22061210144814", "claim": "Huawei's Kunpeng hardware FAQ states Kunpeng 920 supports hardware random number APIs and discusses current platform capabilities, indicating the RNG block is still relevant on deployed platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.hikunpeng.com/document/detail/en/SRA/accelFeatures/SRA_Inference/kunpengsra_Inference_28_0005.html", "claim": "Recent Kunpeng documentation lists verified environments on Kunpeng 920 and a 'new Kunpeng 920 processor model', evidence that this platform family remained in active use around 2025-2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell `sed` showed ACPI HID `HISI02B3` and module name `hisi-trng-v2`, matching HiSilicon TRNG V2. `lore_activity` showed fresh 2026 stable backports for real fixes, with no evidence of removal activity. The LKDDb pages and HiKunpeng docs were obtained via `web.search_query`; they tie the driver to Hi1620/Kunpeng 920 and show the platform family still documented for current deployments. This is niche server silicon, so deployments are not broad consumer/high-volume, but they are still active enough to keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0944531206339533, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1606457623, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769827951, "top_author": "Weili Qian", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/hisilicon/zip", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon ZIP Engine / Kunpeng compression accelerator", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260313094039.3390686-1-wuzongyu1@huawei.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: March 13, 2026 patch adds new debugfs functionality for the HiSilicon crypto/ZIP area, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.10/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists `drivers/crypto/hisilicon/zip/` as the maintained 'HISILICON ZIP Controller DRIVER'." }, { "url": "https://docs.openeuler.org/en/docs/24.03_LTS_SP1/server/performance/cpu_optimization/kae/using_the_kae.html", "claim": "Current openEuler documentation shows live deployment/administration guidance for HiSilicon ZIP Engine devices (`lspci | grep ZIP`) as part of Kunpeng Acceleration Engine usage." }, { "url": "https://core-distributor.com/hisilicon/products/kunpeng%20920-6426.html", "claim": "A current distributor listing shows Kunpeng 920 server processors available new/in stock, supporting continued new-system availability of the platform family that integrates HiSilicon accelerators." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/hisilicon/microarchitectures/taishan_v110", "claim": "Kunpeng 920 / TaiShan v110 documentation describes an on-SoC compression engine supporting GZIP/LZS/LZ4, matching the ZIP accelerator use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so I checked `drivers/crypto/hisilicon/zip/zip_main.c` via `lore_file_timeline`, which showed substantial 2026 activity and no removal signal; cited the resulting lore URL. Kernel MAINTAINERS URL was obtained from web search results and confirms maintained status. openEuler KAE docs URL was obtained by web search and provides present-day deployment evidence for HiSilicon ZIP Engine on Kunpeng systems. The Core Distributor Kunpeng 920 URL was obtained by web search and is used as evidence that the broader hardware family is still sold new. WikiChip URL was obtained by web search and ties the driver to the Kunpeng/TaiShan integrated compression accelerator. Overall this looks like active, vendor-backed server hardware with niche-to-moderate deployment, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04901499710451079, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1565327514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769827951, "top_author": "Weili Qian", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/inside-secure", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Inside Secure SafeXcel EIP93 / EIP97 / EIP197 crypto accelerators", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/1771861910-88163-1-git-send-email-shawn.lin@rock-chips.com/", "claim": "safexcel.c still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; recent patch updates IRQ-vector API usage rather than preparing removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260203182610.8672-2-olek2@wp.pl/", "claim": "safexcel gained functional work in 2026, adding authenc(hmac(md5),*) support, indicating active feature maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260306221742.1801119-1-olek2@wp.pl/", "claim": "eip93-main.c received functional fixes in 2026, showing active bug-fix traffic for the newer EIP93 subdriver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_SAFEXCEL.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this driver to Inside Secure SafeXcel EIP-97/EIP-197 hardware and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_EIP93.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps the eip93 subdriver to current kernel support and ties it to MT7621 / Airoha-class platform enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/home-networking/mt7621", "claim": "MediaTek still markets MT7621, a current networking SoC family with hardware crypto support and OpenWrt positioning, supporting ongoing real-world deployment of EIP93-class integrations." }, { "url": "https://aem-origin-uat.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-tx2-cn913x-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell CN913x product collateral in 2026 still advertises a security accelerator, consistent with ongoing Safexcel-class embedded networking deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore URLs via lore_file_timeline on drivers/crypto/inside-secure/safexcel.c and eip93/eip93-main.c; both show 2026 feature/fix traffic and stable backports, with no removal discussion visible in the recent timeline sample. Obtained LKDDb, MediaTek, and Marvell URLs via web search. This directory contains two still-maintained embedded SoC crypto-offload drivers used in networking/security appliances; there is no like-for-like upstream replacement beyond slower software crypto fallback, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07305720368918166, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1497067461, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514948, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/inside-secure/eip93", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Inside Secure SafeXcel EIP-93", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9739f5f93b78", "claim": "Driver was merged in January 2025 as 'crypto: eip93 - Add Inside Secure SafeXcel EIP-93 crypto engine support', so this is a newly upstreamed driver rather than legacy orphan code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0ceeadc7b53a", "claim": "The driver received a substantive bug fix in January 2026 ('unregister only available algorithm'), showing active post-merge maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_EIP93.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_EIP93 present in current kernels and tied to SoC families including MT7621 and Airoha, indicating ongoing upstream enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.airoha.com/products/p/jNXlUnHViuWT0ZfL", "claim": "Airoha markets the AN7581 10G-PON SoC for residential and enterprise gateways, supporting the view that at least one EIP-93 deployment family is current and sold in the 2025 era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed a real platform crypto driver with OF compatibles for SafeXcel EIP-93 variants and MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'Mediatek EIP-93 crypto engine driver'. Local git log (via shell) showed initial merge on 2025-01-14 and substantive fixes through 2026-01-11, with no sign of stagnation. URLs for the two commits were formed from those locally obtained hashes using canonical kernel.org commit URLs (canonical recall). LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and supports that the driver is in current kernels and targets MT7621/Airoha platforms. Airoha product URL was obtained via web search and supports current-market deployment for AN7581-based gateways. I found no removal discussion in the limited lore/list-archive web queries, so there is no basis to escalate beyond keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1739095691, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769760572, "top_author": "Christian Marangi", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/iaa", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.10/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The kernel MAINTAINERS entry lists INTEL IAA CRYPTO DRIVER as Supported and covers drivers/crypto/intel/iaa/*." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5947739.html", "claim": "Public patch traffic for this driver continued in late 2025, showing active upstream bug-fix attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/in-memory-analytics-accelerator.html", "claim": "Intel markets IAA as a built-in accelerator in Xeon Scalable processors for compression/decompression and analytics workloads." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097608/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation reviewed on February 9, 2026 lists IAA as available on 5th Gen Xeon Scalable processor SKUs, indicating ongoing current-platform availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/crypto/intel/iaa/Kconfig and git log shows a real kernel driver, introduced recently and still receiving substantive fixes through late 2025. The kernel.org MAINTAINERS page was obtained via web search/open and marks the area Supported. The spinics patch URL was obtained via web search for recent 'crypto: iaa' traffic and shows active maintenance; no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced in the allotted searches. Intel product/support URLs were obtained via web search/open and show IAA is part of current Xeon server offerings, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Because the driver is young, maintained, and tied to still-sold server CPUs, the recommendation is keep; there is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same hardware offload role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1702633973, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766969315, "top_author": "Tom Zanussi", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/ixp4xx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel IXP4xx NPE-C", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/log/?id=dd7d37ccf6b11f3d95e797ebe4e9e886d0332600&showmsg=1", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream fix on 2024-12-21: \"crypto: ixp4xx - fix OF node reference leaks in init_ixp_crypto().\"" }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/thrd24.html", "claim": "A 2023 linux-crypto patch thread converted this driver to the modern platform remove callback API, indicating maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ixp4xx", "claim": "OpenWrt still tracks an ixp4xx target, notes a device-tree-based target merged in 2023-10-25, and lists only a small set of supported legacy boards." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.0/targets/ixp4xx/generic/", "claim": "OpenWrt published ixp4xx/generic images and build artifacts dated 2025-02-04, showing the platform still has niche downstream use in 2025." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale", "claim": "IXP4xx belongs to Intel's XScale/IXP line, a long-obsolete embedded/network-processor family rather than current new-design silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in the directory) identified this as the Intel IXP4xx NPE-C crypto engine driver (`Kconfig` and `ixp4xx_crypto.c`). Upstream activity was checked via local `git log` and corroborated with web-opened git history at git.zx2c4.com; latest real fix is from 2024-12-21, and web search found a 2023 linux-crypto patch thread on spinics but no removal/deprecation series. Deployment evidence came from web search/open of OpenWrt ixp4xx target pages and release indexes, which show continued niche firmware builds for a handful of old boards. Because the hardware is clearly legacy and not a 2025 new-sales platform, but the driver still gets occasional bug-fix and API-maintenance attention and retains niche embedded deployments, `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1680770311, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734792384, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/keembay", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel Keem Bay OCS (Movidius 3700VC / Keem Bay SoC crypto engines)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/192940/products-formerly-keem-bay.html", "claim": "Intel ARK still listed a Keem Bay family product recently; family is tied to Gen 3 Intel Movidius 3700VC." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230545/gen-3-intel-movidius-3700vc-vpu/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists Gen 3 Intel Movidius 3700VC as code name 'Products formerly Keem Bay', launch Q1'23, marketing status 'Launched', indicating niche hardware still marketed after 2025 rather than long-obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg90554.html", "claim": "Keembay crypto fixes were still being reviewed and applied upstream in July 2025, showing active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5808170.html", "claim": "Another Keembay crypto fix was applied in August 2025, reinforcing ongoing bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6059640.html", "claim": "In February 2026 a MAINTAINERS patch said the Keem Bay OCS AES/SM4 crypto driver had no replacement maintainer and should be marked orphan, indicating maintainer attrition risk but not code-removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` via exec_command found platform_driver/module_platform_driver entries for AES/HCU/ECC blocks. Upstream activity came from web search because `lei` was unavailable: spinics URLs show 2025 fixes applied by Herbert Xu, so this is not dormant and should not be deprecated now. Deployment outlook is low: Intel ARK/spec pages obtained by web search identify Keem Bay as the Movidius 3700VC edge/vision part, launched in Q1 2023 and still listed, which suggests niche ongoing deployments rather than mass-market volume. No natural successor driver covers the same on-die crypto engines; maintainer-orphan signal from the 2026 MAINTAINERS patch argues for annotation/watchfulness, not removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1680770117, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755336166, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_420xx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology 420xx (QAT 4200 series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_420xx", "claim": "Mainline Linux has a dedicated PCI driver directory for Intel QAT 420xx devices, including firmware declarations and a PCI ID match for 0x4946." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=fcf60f4bcf54", "claim": "Support for 420xx devices was added to the kernel in December 2023, indicating a recent hardware enablement rather than legacy carry-over." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-technology/open/quick-assist-technology/overview.html", "claim": "Intel QuickAssist is an active Intel acceleration product line aimed at contemporary server and infrastructure deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection of adf_drv.c confirmed this is a real PCI driver for PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_QAT_420XX with module_pci_driver and firmware blobs. Local `exec_command` git history shows first support commit fcf60f4bcf54 in 2023-12 and multiple substantive 2025 fixes/features for qat_420xx, including shutdown handling and live-migration/bank-state work, which argues against deprecation. A local grep of recent commit subjects found no explicit removal/deprecation series for this directory. Source URLs: kernel tree URL and commit URL supplied by canonical recall of stable git.kernel.org patterns, corroborated by local shell inspection; Intel QAT overview URL supplied by canonical recall for product-line market context. Because this driver is new, actively maintained, and tied to a current Intel server acceleration family with no same-hardware replacement driver, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1703219419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766126866, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_4xxx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology Gen4 (4xxx/401xx/402xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_4XXX.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_4XXX` is present in current upstream kernel series and binds PCI IDs 8086:4940/4942/4944 to `qat_4xxx`." }, { "url": "https://intel.github.io/quickassist/qatlib/requirements.html", "claim": "Intel's current QATlib requirements list 4xxx, 401xx, and 402xx as supported devices using the `qat_4xxx` kernel module, alongside newer 420xx parts using `qat_420xx`." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094255/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation reviewed on 2025-09-10 still instructs users to load the in-tree `intel_qat` and `qat_4xxx` modules, indicating active field use/support." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/765502/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat-driver-for-windows-for-hardware-version-2-0.html", "claim": "Intel's 2026 Hardware Version 2.0 driver page validates 4xxx/401xx/402xx accelerators against 4th and 5th Gen Xeon platforms, showing the hardware family remains in supported deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver confirmed locally via `rg` on Kconfig/Makefile/adf_drv.c (`MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE`, Intel PCI IDs 4940/4942/4944). Prompt metadata already shows strong recent upstream activity (54 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2025-07-18), which argues against deprecation. I attempted lore-first checks, but the advertised lore MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; web searches on lore/kernel terms produced no removal/deprecation thread hits, so I found no evidence of active upstream removal talk. URLs were obtained via web search/open (`web.search_query`, `web.open`, `web.find`). Overall this is a current datacenter accelerator driver with ongoing kernel and vendor support; keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752835920, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_6xxx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology GEN6 (QAT_6XXX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg88264.html", "claim": "April 30, 2025 patch series introduces qat_6xxx as support for QAT GEN6 devices and describes GEN6 as the successor to GEN4, indicating new upstream enablement rather than legacy maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg90386.html", "claim": "July 10, 2025 patch adds rate limiting support for GEN6 devices, showing feature growth after initial merge rather than end-of-life cleanup." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg90557.html", "claim": "July 18, 2025 maintainer reply on the GEN6 live-migration series shows ongoing review/merge activity and no removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094285/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel's 2025 support matrix maps current Intel QAT Linux drivers to 4th/5th Gen Xeon and Xeon 6 platforms, demonstrating that Intel QAT hardware remains a current shipping platform family." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/products/32336/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel support portal lists fresh 2025 Intel QAT driver releases, consistent with active vendor support and ongoing deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active PCI driver directory (`module_pci_driver`, Intel PCI ID 0x4948) confirmed by local shell reads of adf_drv.c/Kconfig and local `git log` showing substantive qat_6xxx commits from 2025-04-30 through 2025-07-10. Cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: spinics results for specific GEN6 patch subjects and Intel support pages for current QAT platform support. No evidence of deprecation/removal surfaced; instead lore-mirrored mailing-list traffic shows initial bring-up plus follow-on enablement (live migration, telemetry, rate limiting). Because QAT GEN6 is newly added and tied to still-supported Intel QAT platform generations, the driver should be kept. Deployments are likely niche data-center/edge accelerator deployments rather than mass-market, so current deployment level is low.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1746440445, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752835920, "top_author": "Suman Kumar Chakraborty", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c3xxx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology on Atom C3000 (Denverton/C3xxx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg853624.html", "claim": "March 26, 2025 upstream/stable patch fixes a real kexec/warm-reset issue specifically in qat_c3xxx, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg86864.html", "claim": "March 26, 2025 linux-crypto patch traffic includes qat_c3xxx cleanups, showing ongoing subsystem attention and no removal framing." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/processors/atom/c-series/c3000-family-brief.html", "claim": "Intel's Atom C3000 family brief explicitly advertises integrated Intel QAT for network, storage, security-appliance, and edge use cases tied to this hardware family." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204840/intel-atom-processor-c3758r-16m-cache-2-40-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists Atom C3758R in the C3000 family as launched, embedded-capable, and with integrated Intel QAT, showing the family remained a current sellable product in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000022396/processors.html", "claim": "Intel support lifecycle data shows original Denverton Atom C-series support ending June 30, 2025, while refreshed C3338R/C3558R/C3758R parts extend to December 31, 2026, indicating an aging but not yet fully obsolete family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver confirmed locally from adf_drv.c via exec_command/rg. Local exec_command git log shows multiple 2024-2025 non-removal touches, including 2025-03-26 and 2025-04-30 changes, so upstream activity is current. Public mailing-list evidence was obtained with web search because lore search access was unavailable in-shell; the resulting spinics mirrors show maintenance patches and no removal/deprecation thread. Intel product/lifecycle pages were obtained with web search and show C3xxx use in edge/network/security appliances plus refreshed C3xxxR SKUs still current past 2025. Conclusion: mature niche hardware with ongoing field deployments and maintenance, but mixed lifecycle across old vs refreshed SKUs, so keep-annotate is safer than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c3xxxvf", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel Atom C3000 (Denverton) QAT VF", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/97937/intel-atom-processor-c3558-8m-cache-up-to-2-20-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel Atom C3558, a Denverton/C3000 part with integrated QuickAssist, is a Q3 2017 product with embedded options and an end-of-servicing-updates date of June 30, 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/97937/intel-atom-processor-c3558-8m-cache-up-to-2-20-ghz/ordering.html", "claim": "Intel still exposed ordering information for the C3558 in 2025, indicating at least residual new-sales availability rather than pure aftermarket status." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_C3XXXVF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_C3XXXVF as current and present in modern kernels, confirming the driver remains upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cd0e7160f80f", "claim": "The QAT subtree, including this directory, received a substantive refactor in 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e5661d9cf27b", "claim": "Another 2025 QAT change touched this driver directory, reinforcing that maintainers are still updating the code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI driver for PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_QAT_C3XXX_VF and local `git -c safe.directory ... log -- drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c3xxxvf` showed substantive 2025 touches. The two kernel.org commit URLs were then formed by canonical recall from those hashes. Intel ARK and ordering URLs plus LKDDb were obtained by web search. Net result: hardware is old and niche, especially as an SR-IOV VF on Denverton appliances, but it was still orderable in 2025 and upstream activity is recent; that argues against deprecate/remove, with an annotation-worthy note that deployment is now low and legacy-leaning.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c62x", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QAT C62x (Lewisburg)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cd0e7160f80f5fd3ebb6481ddf4f562838cad4bf", "claim": "The directory had a substantive upstream change on 2025-05-05 ('crypto: qat - refactor compression template logic'), indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a9a6e9279b2998e2610c70b0dfc80a234f97c76c", "claim": "The driver received a 2025 device-specific lifecycle fix ('add shutdown handler to qat_c62x'), which argues against deprecation/removal now." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094285/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel's 2025 compatibility guidance still lists the Intel C62x Chipset among platforms using the current Intel QAT Linux CE driver, showing an active supported installed base." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/97343/intel-c627-chipset/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK identifies C627 as a Lewisburg/C620-series server chipset launched in Q3'17 with integrated Intel QuickAssist Technology, supporting the assessment that this is older server hardware rather than a new 2025 platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local git history was obtained with shell `git log` (using safe.directory override); the two kernel.org commit URLs were then formed from those SHAs using canonical recall. Intel URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. I also checked for lore-based removal signals first via `web.search_query` against `site:lore.kernel.org` for `qat_c62x`/directory terms and found no obvious removal discussion. Net: active upstream maintenance plus vendor support evidence suggests keep, but annotate as aging Lewisburg-era hardware with likely legacy/installed-base deployments rather than new mainstream 2025 sales.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c62xvf", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology C62x (Lewisburg) Virtual Function", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_c62xvf", "claim": "Upstream kernel directory is a real PCI driver subtree for the C62x QAT VF path, not a helper library." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094285/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel support guidance reviewed in 2025 still lists the Intel C62x chipset under the CE Linux driver family, indicating ongoing vendor-recognized support for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095592/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel support guidance reviewed in 2025 documents enabling QAT Virtual Functions, showing the SR-IOV VF use case remains relevant for installed systems." }, { "url": "https://intel.github.io/quickassist/qatlib/requirements.html", "claim": "Current QATlib requirements emphasize 4xxx-class devices, implying Intel's new-platform focus has shifted away from older C62x-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/qat-device-plugin.html", "claim": "Intel's QAT device plugin documentation includes C62x/C6xx VF-era devices among supported deployment targets, consistent with continued niche virtualization/container use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on the directory showed `PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_QAT_C62X_VF`, `is_vf = true`, and `module_init/module_exit`, confirming a hardware VF driver. Local shell `git log` plus the provided metadata show nontrivial maintenance through 2025-05-05 and no sign of active removal; attempted `lei` lore query failed because `lei` is not installed, and web lore searches returned no evident removal discussion. Web search snippets for the cited Intel URLs were used to confirm that C62x and VF workflows were still documented in 2025, but Intel's newer software docs now center on 4xxx devices, so this looks like an actively maintained legacy driver with low but nonzero deployments rather than a removal candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_common", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT) accelerators", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/what-is-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel says QAT is built into current Intel Xeon generations including 4th Gen, 5th Gen, and Xeon 6 with E-cores, indicating ongoing new-hardware availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095464/technologies/intel-quickassist-technology-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel support article reviewed on 2025-09-10 states all 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors support the QAT driver and some SKUs expose dedicated QAT hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/765502/intel-quickassist-technology-driver-for-windows-hw-version-2-0.html", "claim": "Intel's current Windows QAT 2.0 package lists Intel 4xxx, 401xx, and 402xx accelerators and validates them on Xeon 6 plus 4th/5th Gen Xeon platforms, showing the hardware family remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/network-io/ethernet/10-25-40-gigabit-adapters/quickassist-adapter-for-servers.html", "claim": "Intel still markets QuickAssist Adapter 8960 and 8970 server adapters, supporting the conclusion that standalone QAT hardware remains commercially relevant." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` in the kernel tree showed this directory is the shared core for Intel QAT device families DH895XCC, C3xxx/C62x, 4xxx/401xx/402xx/420xx, and 6xxx, so it is active driver code rather than a stale helper. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_common` showed sustained 2024-2025 maintenance plus substantial new GEN6 enablement and no explicit deprecation/removal series; the attempted `lei` lore query could not run because `lei` was unavailable, so removal-signal assessment relied on local git history instead. The cited Intel URLs were obtained via web `search_query` and confirm QAT is present on current Xeon products and current adapter offerings. With recent upstream development, current hardware availability, and no direct in-tree replacement for the same accelerator family, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 207, "substantive_commits_5y": 201, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766969054, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 32, "c_file_count": 69, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_dh895xcc", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist DH895xCC / 8950 (8955 controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_4xxx", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg86866.html", "claim": "March 26, 2025 upstream patch traffic touched this driver with a functional fix ('add shutdown handler to qat_dh895xcc'), indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg424941.html", "claim": "The same qat_dh895xcc shutdown fix was backported to stable in July 2025, showing the hardware still matters enough for supported deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/811090/intel-r-quickassist-adapter-8950-sccp-product-code-iqa89501g1p5-mm-929848intel-r-quickassist-adapter-8960-product-code-iqa89601g1p5-mm-954358-pcn-117719-00-product-discontinuance-end-of-life.html", "claim": "Intel published a product discontinuance / end-of-life notice for the QuickAssist Adapter 8950/8960 dated August 5, 2020, so this generation is not a current new-sales product." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/125200/intel-quickassist-adapter-8970/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel still lists newer add-in-card QAT hardware (Adapter 8970), supporting the view that new deployments moved to later generations rather than DH895xCC." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence from exec_command: this directory is a real PCI driver (adf_drv.c binds PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_QAT_DH895XCC; Kconfig names Intel QuickAssist DH895xCC) and git -c safe.directory log shows substantive touches through 2025-05-05, so it is not dormant. Upstream-history evidence was obtained via web search because lore MCP was unavailable and lei was not installed; spinics result https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg86866.html shows 2025 functional maintenance, and stable-commits https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg424941.html shows downstream backporting, with no removal discussion found in the searched results. Deployment evidence came from web open/search on Intel pages: the Intel EOL notice URL above was opened directly and is dated 2020-08-05, while the 8970 specs page came from web search as a newer same-class QAT adapter. Conclusion: legacy but still maintained for installed base; annotate as old/EOL hardware rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_dh895xccvf", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Intel QuickAssist DH895xCC Virtual Function", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cd0e7160f80f", "claim": "The driver directory was still receiving upstream changes in 2025 ('crypto: qat - refactor compression template logic', seen in local git history for this path)." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e5661d9cf27b", "claim": "The driver directory also received another 2025 update ('crypto: qat - remove initialization in device class'), supporting that it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_DH895xCCVF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_QAT_DH895xCCVF is still present through current kernel series and binds PCI ID 8086:0443 (DH895XCC Series QAT Virtual Function)." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/811090/intel-r-quickassist-adapter-8950-sccp-product-code-iqa89501g1p5-mm-929848intel-r-quickassist-adapter-8960-product-code-iqa89601g1p5-mm-954358-pcn-117719-00-product-discontinuance-end-of-life.html", "claim": "Intel published a product discontinuance / end-of-life notice for the QuickAssist Adapter 8950 on 2020-08-05." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/80371/intel-communications-chipset-8950/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists the Intel Communications Chipset 8950 (Coleto Creek, the DH895xCC generation) with marketing status 'Discontinued' and launch date Q4'13." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-QuickAssist-Technology/Intel-Quick-Assist-Adapter-8950-SCCP/td-p/1605926", "claim": "An Intel community thread from June 2024 shows real-world attempts to use QAT 8950 hardware and Intel staff still pointing users to the legacy HW 1.x driver, indicating lingering legacy deployments rather than zero use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on the local kernel tree confirmed this is a real PCI SR-IOV VF driver and showed multiple path-specific upstream commits in 2024-2025; the two kernel.org commit URLs are canonical recall constructed from hashes observed via `git log`. `web.search_query` + `web.open/find` provided LKDDb continuity, Intel EOL/discontinued status, and a 2024 Intel forum usage signal. I found no concrete removal-series evidence in the available lore-web path, while maintenance is still active, so this looks like obsolete/discontinued hardware with low but nonzero legacy deployment; annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1680770488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746440444, "top_author": "Giovanni Cabiddu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/loongson", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Loongson Security Engine RNG", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250705072045.1067-3-zhaoqunqin@loongson.cn", "claim": "Upstream evidence shows this driver was newly added in July 2025 as Loongson RNG support, with review and maintainer sign-off; no removal discussion was found." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=11", "claim": "Loongson 3A6000 is a current Loongson processor marketed for embedded computers, desktops, and servers, indicating the platform family is still current rather than legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/index.php/news/show?id=770", "claim": "Loongson reported active 3C6000 server-platform ecosystem expansion in July 2025, supporting continued new deployments of contemporary Loongson hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/news/show?id=754", "claim": "Loongson published ongoing 2025 LoongArch platform adaptation activity across many products, indicating active ecosystem deployment rather than end-of-life status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory contains a real platform RNG driver (`module_platform_driver`) backed by `MFD_LOONGSON_SE`, not a helper library. The only in-tree substantive change is its introduction, obtained via `exec_command` on `git log`, which also exposed the lore URL for the posting thread. A follow-up web `search_query` for lore removal/deprecation terms returned no results, so there is no evidence of active upstream removal talk. Deployment evidence came from Loongson product/news pages found with web `search_query`: current 3A6000/3C6000 products and 2025 ecosystem-growth announcements imply the hardware family is still being sold and deployed, though likely niche in Linux overall outside Loongson-focused markets. Because this is a new 2025 driver for current hardware with no replacement and no removal signal, `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1756812597, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756812597, "top_author": "Qunqin Zhao", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/marvell/cesa", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Marvell CESA (Cryptographic Engine and Security Accelerator) on Orion/Kirkwood/Dove/Armada 370/XP/38x SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260425023247.475233-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream patch traffic still touches the CESA driver in 2026, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/armada-38x.html", "claim": "Marvell's ARMADA 38x product page identifies the SoC family and positions it for embedded NAS/networking applications that use this accelerator block." }, { "url": "https://www.solid-run.com/embedded-networking/marvell-armada-family/clearfog/", "claim": "SolidRun still presents ClearFog A388 boards built around the Marvell Armada 388 SoC, a platform using this driver family." }, { "url": "https://shop.solid-run.com/product/SRM68-EVKCB-R01/", "claim": "A Marvell Armada A388 evaluation kit was still listed for sale, supporting the conclusion that compatible hardware remained purchasable in 2025-era channels." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/mvebu", "claim": "OpenWrt still documents the mvebu target as working for Marvell Armada 370/380/XP series, showing ongoing downstream deployment in embedded/router use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the source tree showed DT compatibles for Orion, Kirkwood, Dove, Armada 370, Armada XP, Armada 375, and Armada 38x in `cesa.c`, confirming the chipset family. `lore_file_timeline` returned recent 2025-2026 patch activity with maintenance cleanups and no visible removal-oriented subjects, so this does not look deprecation-bound. Web search returned Marvell's ARMADA 38x page plus SolidRun ClearFog A388 current product and shop pages, which indicate compatible hardware is still sold in embedded channels, but only in niche/industrial volumes. OpenWrt's current mvebu target page supports continued real-world deployments. Because hardware is old and niche but still sold and still seeing upstream attention, `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06166324513954423, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1584675411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770375142, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/marvell/octeontx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON TX CPT", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": "octeontx2-cpt", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241008115631.829695997@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving substantive fixes in late 2024 ('crypto: octeontx - Fix authenc setkey'), so it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20241008115631.829695997@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "That late-2024 fix was also carried into stable trees, indicating ongoing deployed-user relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_OCTEONTX_CPT.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Marvell OcteonTX CPT driver and maps it to Cavium/ThunderX CPT PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell's current DPU product page lists OCTEON 10 and OCTEON TX2 families, but not original OCTEON TX, suggesting original OcteonTX is no longer a current-sales family." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-announces-octeon-tx2-family-of-multi-core-infrastructure-processors.html", "claim": "Marvell announced OCTEON TX2 in March 2020 as the latest family, supporting the view that original OcteonTX had already been superseded for new deployments by 2020." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-tx-cn82xx-cn83xx-com-product-brief_2019.pdf", "claim": "The original OCTEON TX CN82XX/CN83XX collateral is tied to a 2019-era product brief, reinforcing that this driver targets an older generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. lore_file_timeline on otx_cptvf_main.c showed touches through 2026, mostly stable-tree carry; lore_activity on otx_cptvf_algs.c surfaced a concrete 2024 functional fix and stable backports. lore_substr_subject('remove octeontx') found DPDK octeontx2 removals, not a Linux-kernel removal thread for this driver. Web search found Marvell's current product page and press release showing TX2/10 as current families while original OcteonTX appears only in older collateral. That combination points to legacy-but-still-deployed hardware: keep the driver, but annotate it as older/superseded rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0765676932509691, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1584675411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768543326, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/marvell/octeontx2", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON TX2 / OCTEON 10 CPT cryptographic accelerator", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260414123857.3162673-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is active through at least April 14, 2026, with a functional bug fix for otx2_cptpf_probe()." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20251026150916.352061-2-tanmay@marvell.com/", "claim": "The driver saw feature-development work in late 2025, not just janitorial fixes, including sharing engine-group info with the AF driver." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON TX2 DPUs and OCTEON 10 DPUs, describing integrated hardware security/crypto acceleration for current infrastructure deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-tx2-cn913x-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "A Marvell CN913X OCTEON TX2 product brief published in late 2025 shows the family was still being actively marketed with security/public-key acceleration." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_OCTEONTX2_CPT.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_OCTEONTX2_CPT to Marvell OcteonTX2 CPT hardware and shows recognized PCI IDs including Octeon 10 CPT PF/VF devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI crypto driver, not a helper library. `lore_file_timeline` on `otx2_cptpf_main.c` showed dense activity from 2021-2026 and recent fixes/features, with no removal evidence in the sampled history; cited lore URLs came directly from that MCP result. Marvell product URLs were obtained by web search and indicate ongoing 2025-era marketing of OCTEON TX2/OCTEON 10 security-capable DPUs, so hardware is not obsolete. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and confirms the driver covers OcteonTX2 plus Octeon 10 CPT IDs. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for this hardware-specific CPT block, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0662496585137219, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1611287882, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766969315, "top_author": "Srujana Challa", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/nx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "IBM Power Nest Accelerator (NX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/f0e71c0f0cf20a2736e4938c637bda12826e29bb.1744945025.git.herbert@gondor.apana.org.au/", "claim": "Recent upstream work touched drivers/crypto/nx in April 2025 ('crypto: nx - Use API partial block handling'), indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/ssw_aix_72/performance/nest_accelerators.html", "claim": "IBM documents Nest accelerators on POWER9 processor-based servers as on-chip accelerators for compression, decompression, encryption, and decryption." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7155102", "claim": "IBM states Power10 servers, as well as Power9, have an on-chip NX accelerator providing compression, encryption, and random-number functions." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/power-s1014", "claim": "IBM's Power S1014 product page shows Power10-based servers designed to run Linux are current sale products, supporting that NX-capable Power systems were still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/crypto/nx` is a real Power-platform crypto/compression accelerator driver (local Kconfig/read of tree). `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/crypto/nx/nx.c` showed substantial 2025 maintenance traffic from Herbert Xu/Eric Biggers, with no removal signal in the retrieved lore evidence, so this is not a dead driver. Web search surfaced IBM docs confirming NX functionality on POWER9 and POWER10 and a current IBM Linux-capable Power10 product page. Conclusion: hardware remains shipping but only in a niche IBM Power enterprise segment, so keep the driver but annotate it as specialized/low-deployment. Source acquisition: lore URL from `lore_file_timeline`; IBM URLs from `web.search_query` results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06432377352865203, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1337144741, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769147324, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/qce", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Crypto Engine (QCE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260402-qcom-qce-cmd-descr-v15-10-98b5361f7ed7@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "QCE still receives active upstream functional work in 2026; this patch updates DMA handling in the driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_QCE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_QCE is a current upstream driver covering Qualcomm QCE hardware and matching OF compatibles including qcom,crypto-v5.1, qcom,crypto-v5.4, and qcom,qce." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/qcs8250-soc-product-brief_87-pu792-1-c.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm still markets Linux-relevant IoT SoCs in this family timeframe; the 2024 QCS8250 brief lists enterprise/commercial IoT target applications and expected product longevity through February 2036." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. lore_activity on drivers/crypto/qce/core.c showed multiple 2026 linux-crypto patches, so this is maintained rather than orphaned. No removal signal was found in the limited lore checks; the attempted directory timeline returned no hits, which looks like a path-coverage limitation rather than real inactivity. Web search + open on LKDDb confirmed the driver remains present in current kernels. Web search + open on Qualcomm's QCS8250 product brief supports ongoing new Qualcomm SoC deployments. Local exec_command grep of in-tree DTs also found current QCE compatibles on modern Qualcomm platforms (for example sm8650, sm8750, qcs8300, ipq9574), reinforcing that the hardware class is still shipping. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same on-SoC crypto offload role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10587869296302022, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1404394827, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762410668, "top_author": "Thara Gopinath", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/rockchip", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RK3288/RK3328/RK3399 cryptographic engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20240304122031.25325-1-amishin@t-argos.ru/", "claim": "The driver still receives non-mechanical bug-fix traffic; a Rockchip rk3288 crypto NULL-pointer fix was posted in 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/E1qV50I-002bw2-5j@formenos.hmeau.com/", "claim": "The driver saw substantive functional maintenance in 2023 via crypto_engine interface rework." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK33_Series/2017/0118/829.html", "claim": "Rockchip's RK3328 product page lists the SoC state as 'MP Now', indicating ongoing mass-production availability." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK33_Series/2016/0419/758.html", "claim": "Rockchip's RK3399 product page lists the SoC state as 'MP Now', indicating ongoing mass-production availability." }, { "url": "https://opensource.rock-chips.com/wiki_Status_Matrix", "claim": "Rockchip's published mainline/open-source status matrix shows Crypto support for RK3288, RK3328, and RK3399." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source showed this is a real platform driver and that it binds rockchip,rk3288-crypto / rk3328-crypto / rk3399-crypto. lore_activity on rk3288_crypto.c returned recent real maintenance (2023 functional rework, 2024 bug fixes, 2024 callback API churn), so upstream attention is active. lore_regex over removal/deprecation subject patterns produced no rockchip-crypto removal thread; the hits were unrelated subsystems, so there is no evidence of active removal discussion. Web search found current Rockchip product pages for RK3328 and RK3399 marked 'MP Now', which supports hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true. Deployment is medium rather than high because these are older ARM SoCs mostly seen in SBC, embedded, and industrial designs rather than new mainstream PCs/servers. Sources were obtained via lore-http MCP, web search, and local shell inspection; no replacement driver covers the same on-SoC accelerator block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09756641119470916, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1448630372, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763115348, "top_author": "Corentin Labbe", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/starfive", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH7110 / JH8100 crypto engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CRYPTO_DEV_JH7110.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_JH7110 in mainline kernels 6.5-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with module jh7110-crypto and OF match starfive,jh7110-crypto." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/5/30/273", "claim": "An LKML patch series in 2024 adds JH8100 support under drivers/crypto/starfive, indicating ongoing upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive's official product page markets the VisionFive 2 based on the JH-7110 SoC as a mass-produced SBC." }, { "url": "https://starfivetech.com/en/site/boards", "claim": "StarFive's official boards page still lists VisionFive 2 among current boards, supporting ongoing new-hardware availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`sed`/`rg`) shows this is an active platform driver for compatible `starfive,jh7110-crypto` and Kconfig names it the JH7110 cryptographic engine. URLs were obtained by web search: LKDDb confirms current kernel presence; LKML shows feature work (JH8100 support) rather than deprecation/removal; StarFive official product/boards pages show JH7110-based hardware still marketed. This looks like niche current RISC-V SoC hardware with low but real deployment, no natural replacement driver beyond this SoC-specific one.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 41, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1684485982, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770375142, "top_author": "Jia Jie Ho", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/stm32", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32 CRYP/HASH accelerators", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260320084914.7180-3-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "stm32-hash saw an upstream patch in March 2026, indicating current maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260320084914.7180-4-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "stm32-cryp saw an upstream patch in March 2026, indicating current maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f756ng.html", "claim": "STM32F756 remains an active, volume-production MCU and advertises hardware crypto including HASH/HMAC and cryptographic acceleration." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp135f.html?id=UM2993&rt=um", "claim": "STM32MP135F remains an active, volume-production MPU with secured cryptographic acceleration and HASH/HMAC hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp1-series/products.html", "claim": "STM32MP1-series products were still listed by ST with secure boot and cryptography options, supporting ongoing Linux-class embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on the driver sources shows active platform-driver code for STM32 CRYP and HASH, with compatibles including stm32f756, stm32mp1, and stm32mp13. `lore_file_timeline` on both C files returned fresh 2026 linux-crypto traffic and no sign of removal-oriented history, so this is an actively maintained embedded SoC driver, not a legacy orphan. ST product URLs were obtained via web search and show relevant STM32 families still active/in production in 2025-2026, so hardware is still sold new. Deployment is medium: real in industrial/IoT/embedded Linux and MCU products, but not broad general-purpose computing. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific crypto IP.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.050285434020347027, "commits_5y": 63, "substantive_commits_5y": 60, "first_touch_ts": 1491400713, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769827950, "top_author": "Herbert Xu", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/tegra", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra234 / Jetson Orin Security Engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/959340/", "claim": "The driver was added upstream in 2024 as the Tegra Security Engine driver for AES and HASH acceleration, so it is a recent, not legacy, in-tree driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fscrypt/msg09518.html", "claim": "A March 2026 patch fixes a real crash-causing issue in the Tegra crypto driver and targets crypto/master, showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-tegra/msg82886.html", "claim": "There was additional functional bug-fix traffic for the driver in 2025, indicating ongoing review and correction work." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson lifecycle page lists Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, and Orin Nano modules as available through 2032 or later, so the underlying Tegra234 family is still commercially current." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "NVIDIA markets Jetson Orin as current production modules, supporting the conclusion that this hardware remains in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection showed this is real platform-driver code and currently matches only tegra234 compatibles (nvidia,tegra234-se-aes/hash), i.e. Jetson Orin-era hardware. Local git log via exec_command showed steady substantive fixes from 2024-04-12 through 2026-03-26. Web search found the 2024 introduction thread (LWN archive) plus 2025/2026 patch traffic on spinics, but no removal/deprecation discussion; that absence is an inference from the search results, not a direct source. Web search also found NVIDIA lifecycle and Jetson Orin product pages confirming the family is still sold for new designs. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same Tegra SE offload role, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1712905671, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774516258, "top_author": "Akhil R", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/ti", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "TI K3 DTHE V2 crypto engine (AM62L-class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/ti/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this as the TI DTHE V2 cryptography engine found on TI K3 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/crypto/ti/dthev2-common.c", "claim": "The OF match table binds the driver to compatible string \"ti,am62l-dthev2\", tying it to AM62L hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=52f641bc63a46657b1d72d902fcee30ab1233c7b", "claim": "The driver was introduced upstream in August 2025 as a new AES ECB/CBC hardware offload driver, indicating very recent upstream enablement rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4fbfd7b206b1aa3fedfe8e82a8d3b8daca007d57", "claim": "The driver gained AES-XTS support in October 2025, showing active feature work after initial merge." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM62L?qgpn=am62l", "claim": "TI lists AM62L as ACTIVE in its product page, which supports the conclusion that related hardware was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed a platform driver with OF match `ti,am62l-dthev2` and Kconfig help text for TI K3 SoCs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log/show` showed all 4 substantive commits are from 2025, including initial merge and later AES-XTS support; the two git.kernel.org URLs were constructed from those locally obtained paths/commit IDs using canonical stable kernel.org URL patterns. Web search found the TI AM62L product page, which explicitly shows ACTIVE status. A web lore search for removal/deprecation terms returned no hits, so there is no evidence of an upstream removal discussion. This is a newly added, still-expanding embedded accelerator driver with niche but current deployments, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1756539806, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761903836, "top_author": "T Pratham", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/virtio", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "virtio-crypto", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260301014413.1706432-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 stable-tree traffic references a virtio-crypto fix for this driver, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.2/cs01/virtio-v1.2-cs01.html", "claim": "The virtio 1.2 specification defines a crypto device type (5.9), showing virtio-crypto is a standardized current virtual device interface, not a legacy one-off." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU documents virtio devices as the recommended paravirtualized device models for virtual machines, supporting continued new deployments in virtualization environments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/driver-api/virtio/virtio.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes virtio as the standard Linux interface for devices presented by hypervisors to guests, aligning this driver with ongoing VM use rather than obsolete physical hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via shell showed Kconfig/objects for a real virtio crypto driver, including Bytedance-era code and current module wiring. `lore_activity` on `drivers/crypto/virtio/virtio_crypto_core.c` produced 2026 linux-crypto/stable backport evidence, which is strong keep-signal. Web search returned the OASIS virtio spec, QEMU virtio docs, and kernel virtio docs; together they show this is a standardized, still-current virtual device used in VM deployments. It is not tied to physical hardware sales, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is false and `last_widely_available_year` is null, but current deployment remains meaningful in virtualization niches.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05484258557026987, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1481840012, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769827950, "top_author": "zhenwei pi", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/crypto/xilinx", "subsystem": "crypto", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and Versal adaptive SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20251220155905.346790-15-h.jain@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream was still adding new functionality in late 2025: GCM(AES) support for AMD/Xilinx Versal in this driver area." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260127070155.199790-1-h.jain@amd.com/", "claim": "The driver still received linux-crypto maintenance in January 2026, indicating current upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs as current products, with stated long product lifespans through 2045 for UltraScale+ adaptive SoCs/FPGAs." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Versal adaptive SoCs as an active product family, supporting ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` showed three real hardware-backed crypto drivers: ZynqMP AES-GCM, ZynqMP SHA3, and Versal TRNG. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no hits (likely exact-path/file-oriented behavior), so I used `lore_activity` on `drivers/crypto/xilinx/zynqmp-aes-gcm.c`, which showed late-2025 feature work and a January 27, 2026 fix on lore URLs above. Web search found current AMD product pages for Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and Versal, supporting that the hardware remained sold new in 2025. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same SoC firmware-backed crypto blocks; software crypto exists but is not a like-for-like driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05578750196005196, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1582850206, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770375142, "top_author": "Harsh Jain", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cxl", "subsystem": "cxl", "chipset_family": "Compute Express Link (CXL) Type-3 memory devices and platform interconnects", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cxl/20260423180528.17166-3-alejandro.lucero-palau@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream CXL code is still receiving substantial feature work in 2026, including new patch series touching drivers/cxl/pci.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cxl/20260411013958.47422-10-anisa.su@samsung.com/", "claim": "The subsystem is under active development in 2026 for dynamic-capacity and interrupt-handling support, not in maintenance-only mode." }, { "url": "https://www.micron.com/products/memory/cxl-memory", "claim": "CXL memory expansion remains a current product category, marketed for server OEMs and data-center workloads." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an actively developed, modern bus driver for current server/datacenter hardware, not legacy silicon. lore_file_timeline on drivers/cxl/pci.c showed 1,113 matching patches from 2023-05-02 through 2026-04-23, with heavy 2024-2026 activity and multiple recent feature series; cited lore URLs came from that MCP tool output. A broad lore removal/deprecation subject search timed out, and no removal evidence was found in the successful lore results. The Micron URL was obtained via web search and shows CXL memory expansion as a current product line, supporting continued new deployments. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the main in-kernel support stack for CXL devices/platform features.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015325515254073939, "commits_5y": 502, "substantive_commits_5y": 493, "first_touch_ts": 1613536598, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773958360, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 184, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/cxl/core", "subsystem": "cxl", "chipset_family": "Compute Express Link (CXL) memory expanders / CXL.mem devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.asteralabs.com/products/leo-cxl-smart-memory-controllers/", "claim": "Astera Labs markets Leo as a production-qualified CXL memory controller for AI/cloud memory expansion, sharing, and pooling, indicating current commercial CXL deployments rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://computeexpresslink.org/blog/expanding-your-memory-footprint-with-cxl-at-fms-2025-4133/", "claim": "The CXL Consortium highlighted active CXL memory innovation and deployments at FMS 2025, showing the technology is current and growing in new infrastructure." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/news-events/news/samsung-electronics-introduces-industrys-first-512gb-cxl-memory-module/", "claim": "Samsung announced a 512GB CXL memory module for server scaling, evidence that CXL memory hardware reached real productization rather than remaining a discontinued experiment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this is the active subsystem core for CONFIG_CXL_BUS with subsys_initcall(cxl_core_init) in drivers/cxl/core/port.c and Kconfig help for CXL device support, not a stale helper library. The provided static history is extremely active (660 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2026-03-18, 54 authors), which strongly argues against deprecation. I could not use the advertised lore MCP in this session; web search queries against lore did not surface a removal series, so there is no evidence here of upstream removal talk. Web search obtained the cited Astera, CXL Consortium, and Samsung URLs, which together indicate CXL hardware was still being sold and deployed for new AI/cloud/server memory-expansion use cases in 2025. No natural replacement exists for the same kernel role because this directory is the core CXL stack itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 669, "substantive_commits_5y": 660, "first_touch_ts": 1628263373, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773848969, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 207, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dax", "subsystem": "dax", "chipset_family": "Device DAX for persistent memory and CXL Type-3 memory regions", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260422060353.200821-1-liuqiqi@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "Recent 2026 patch touching drivers/dax/cxl.c shows active upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/driver-api/cxl/linux/dax-driver.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the DAX subsystem is used by CXL memory devices to expose /dev/dax or hotplug memory via dax_kmem." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/driver-api/cxl/allocation/dax.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes DAX devices as the userspace access path for CXL capacity exposed as /dev/dax." }, { "url": "https://www.micron.com/products/memory/cxl-memory", "claim": "Micron markets current CXL memory expansion modules, indicating relevant DAX-backed CXL hardware remains commercially available." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: drivers/dax is an active core driver subsystem, not an orphaned legacy leaf. Evidence came from local tree inspection via shell (`drivers/dax/Kconfig` and module descriptions) plus `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dax/cxl.c`, which showed multiple 2026 patches and no removal signal. Web search provided current kernel docs for DAX/CXL usage and a current Micron CXL product page showing new hardware is still sold. Deployment is low because DAX hardware is niche datacenter/persistent-memory/CXL infrastructure, but it is still relevant and gaining CXL use rather than fading out.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03910485929221473, "commits_5y": 102, "substantive_commits_5y": 94, "first_touch_ts": 1463806973, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770939778, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dax/hmem", "subsystem": "dax", "chipset_family": "ACPI HMEM / CXL Type-3 soft-reserved memory", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cxl/20260327052821.440749-7-dan.j.williams@intel.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-27 the directory is still receiving functional fixes, not just treewide churn ('Fix singleton confusion between dax_hmem_work and hmem devices')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cxl/69668f0aac4d1_875d1009a@dwillia2-mobl4.notmuch/", "claim": "As of 2026-01-13 there was active development around deferred Soft Reserved registration for hmem rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.18/driver-api/cxl/linux/early-boot.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says Specific Purpose / Soft Reserved memory is deferred to drivers to manage during boot, which is the operating context for hmem-managed ranges." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/driver-api/cxl/linux/overview.html", "claim": "Current kernel CXL documentation describes CXL Type-3 memory exposure through DAX flows and explicitly shows an 'hmem' mode where the dax device is left as daxdev." }, { "url": "https://www.asteralabs.com/products/leo-cxl-smart-memory-controllers/", "claim": "CXL memory-expansion hardware remained an actively marketed product family in 2025-era deployments, indicating the underlying use case is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local code inspection via exec_command shows real platform drivers in hmem.c/device.c. lore_file_timeline on drivers/dax/hmem/device.c showed heavy 2025-2026 activity and no sampled removal thread; cited lore URLs came from the lore_file_timeline tool. Kernel-doc URLs were obtained via web search/open and show hmem/CXL soft-reserved memory remains a current documented flow. Astera Labs product URL was obtained via web search and is deployment evidence that CXL memory expansion hardware is still sold; however this remains a niche server/datacenter path, so deployments_today is low. No single upstream replacement cleanly covers the same fallback role because cxl_dax_region handles configured CXL regions while hmem still covers soft-reserved ranges not claimed there.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08626563088513392, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1602639507, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768579356, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dca", "subsystem": "dca", "chipset_family": "Intel Direct Cache Access (DCA) / I/OAT2-era Xeon 5500/5600 server platforms", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240615-dca-md-v2-1-c4062275a3f1@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Most recent upstream touch in lore for drivers/dca was a 2024 janitorial MODULE_DESCRIPTION change, indicating maintenance but not active feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/Y/yAlDytLH0ZNLNz@kili/", "claim": "2023 upstream activity was another small cleanup ('delete unnecessary variable'), consistent with low-intensity janitorial maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/data-direct-i-o-technology.html", "claim": "Intel positions newer Intel DDIO as the cache-directed I/O model on Xeon E5/E7 v2 and later, and states it is transparent to software/drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/Direct_Cache_Access_%28DCA%29_for_the_acceleration_of_10GBit_Ethernet", "claim": "Public hardware documentation describes DCA as an Intel technology mainly used to accelerate older 10GbE receive paths." }, { "url": "https://manualzilla.com/doc/7157514/intel-mfs5520vi-server-barebone", "claim": "Archived Intel server-board documentation ties DCA to Xeon 5500/5600 generation platforms, anchoring it to circa-2009/2010 server hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: drivers/dca is a loadable kernel service module for Intel DCA. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/dca/dca-core.c showed only sparse 2018-2024 touches, with cited lore URLs being cleanup-only patches rather than bug-fix or feature traffic. Web search found Intel's DDIO page showing newer Xeon generations moved to a software-transparent successor model, and public DCA hardware docs (Thomas-Krenn plus archived Intel board manual) tie DCA to Xeon 5500/5600-era 10GbE systems. Local `rg` in-tree also showed remaining users are older IOAT/igb/ixgbe/myri10ge paths, so the code still has legacy consumers; that argues for deprecate, not immediate remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6417399609769898, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1192552989, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1720017641, "top_author": "Jeff Johnson", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/devfreq", "subsystem": "devfreq", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the devfreq subsystem directory containing framework/governor code and mixed support files, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07691362997029313, "commits_5y": 91, "substantive_commits_5y": 86, "first_touch_ts": 1317507555, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764133139, "top_author": "Brian Norris", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/devfreq/event", "subsystem": "devfreq", "chipset_family": "Exynos and Rockchip devfreq event monitors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260319163011.18876-1-mohd.abd.6602@gmail.com/", "claim": "`rockchip-dfi.c` still receives functional fixes in 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-samsung-soc/2024-11/20241130135813.895628-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The Exynos event drivers were still being updated in late 2024 as part of devfreq/platform-driver API churn, showing they remain in the maintained kernel surface." }, { "url": "https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-brings-enhanced-mobile-graphics-performance-capabilities-to-new-exynos-5-octa-processor", "claim": "Exynos 5420-era hardware tied to `exynos-nocp` is an older 2013 SoC generation, supporting the view that the Exynos portion is legacy hardware today." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5", "claim": "RK3588/RK3588-S boards are current products, so the Rockchip portion of this directory maps to hardware still sold for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed three real platform drivers: `exynos-nocp`, `exynos-ppmu`, and `rockchip-dfi`, with DT compatibles spanning old Exynos blocks and newer Rockchip RK3399/RK3568/RK3588. `lore_activity` on `rockchip-dfi.c` returned 2025-2026 bug-fix traffic (source 1), and `lore_activity` on the Exynos files returned 2024 maintenance traffic (source 2); that argues against deprecation/removal. Web search produced Samsung's Exynos 5420 launch page (source 3) and Radxa's current ROCK 5 product line page (source 4), showing this directory mixes legacy Exynos support with currently sold Rockchip SoCs. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific devfreq event backends. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no directory-level hits, and a removal-focused `lore_regex` query timed out, so confidence is slightly below high; given active maintenance plus mixed-age deployments, `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11966544958410481, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1422608200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760539194, "top_author": "Sascha Hauer", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dibs", "subsystem": "dibs", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains a DIBS class/abstraction layer and software loopback support for buffer-sharing clients, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1758618801, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764295903, "top_author": "Alexandra Winter", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dio", "subsystem": "dio", "chipset_family": "HP 9000 Series 300 DIO/DIO-II bus", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DIO.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DIO is the HP300 DIO bus support option, still present in current kernel series and gated on HP300." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HPLANCE.html", "claim": "Other HP300 device drivers still depend on CONFIG_DIO, showing this directory is the bus/core support for a small legacy hardware stack rather than dead standalone code." }, { "url": "https://hp-series300.net/setup.htm", "claim": "HP 9000 Series 300 hardware is described as obtainable on the second-hand market, indicating legacy/collector deployment rather than new sales." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_9000", "claim": "HP 9000 is a discontinued product line; the Series 300 used the DIO-II bus and the line is no longer sold new." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=af46fe8c41de5b79358c3007e3854dda9c61c7dc", "claim": "The directory received a substantive upstream touch on 2024-07-10, showing it still gets maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e63e99397b2613d50a5f4f02ed07307e67a190f1", "claim": "A 2022 fix addressed a possible memory leak in dio_init(), indicating real bug-fix traffic rather than pure archaeology." } ], "reasoning_notes": "drivers/dio is real kernel bus/driver-core code for HP300 DIO hardware, not docs or tests; verified by local file inspection via shell (`sed`) showing bus registration and probe/match logic. Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` via shell because lore MCP/`lei` was unavailable in this environment; the cited git.kernel.org commit URLs were constructed from hashes returned by that command using canonical recall of stable kernel.org commit URLs. Deployment evidence came from web search results for LKDDb, hp-series300.net, and Wikipedia. Conclusion: hardware is long obsolete and not sold new, but there is still occasional maintenance and dependent HP300 drivers remain, so `keep-annotate` is safer than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1720618694, "top_author": "Aleksa Vučković", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "DMAengine SoC DMA controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260424-dma-dmac-handle-vunmap-v4-1-90f43412fdc0@analog.com/", "claim": "Core dmaengine code in this directory was still receiving bug-fix patch traffic on 2026-04-24 ('dmaengine: Fix possible use after free')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260413135857.2898676-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Core dmaengine code also saw another 2026 fix series ('Fix refcount leak in channel register error path'), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.5/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents dmaengine controller-provider drivers as a live subsystem/API." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-system/embedded-system-design/dma-350", "claim": "A currently marketed hardware family represented in this directory exists in 2025-era products: Arm CoreLink DMA-350 is an actively promoted DMA controller IP block." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/dma` is an umbrella subsystem directory, not a single obsolete chip driver: local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile shows many active vendor families (Arm DMA-350, Apple ADMAC, AMD, Qualcomm, STM32, TI, Xilinx, etc.). The two lore URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/dmaengine.c`, which showed sustained 2024-2026 patch activity and no removal signal. The kernel-doc URL was obtained by `web.search_query` on kernel.org, and the Arm DMA-350 URL by `web.search_query` on arm.com. Because this directory covers currently shipping SoC DMA IP and has no single successor driver, the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023265751539809674, "commits_5y": 630, "substantive_commits_5y": 620, "first_touch_ts": 1150604323, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772011510, "top_author": "Tudor Ambarus", "top_author_commits": 46, "c_file_count": 63, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma-buf", "subsystem": "dma-buf", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DMA-BUF framework/core infrastructure and helper code, not hardware-specific kernel driver implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04188381090450743, "commits_5y": 246, "substantive_commits_5y": 233, "first_touch_ts": 1404841866, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768998474, "top_author": "Christian König", "top_author_commits": 80, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma-buf/heaps", "subsystem": "dma-buf", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains generic DMA-BUF heap allocator/framework code rather than a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07428073607485966, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1572003107, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768829992, "top_author": "T.J. Mercier", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/amd/ae4dma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "AMD AE4DMA Engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20241025095931.726018-3-Basavaraj.Natikar@amd.com", "claim": "Initial upstream posting adds the AMD AE4DMA controller driver and describes it as a high-bandwidth memory-to-memory and IO copy engine." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250203162511.911946-3-Basavaraj.Natikar@amd.com", "claim": "Follow-up upstream maintenance in February 2025 fixes IRQ/MSI handling, showing active post-merge maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_AE4DMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AMD_AE4DMA present from Linux 6.14 onward and says the engine is intended for AMD Non-Transparent Bridge devices, not general-purpose peripheral DMA." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded/epyc/9005-series.html", "claim": "AMD marketed EPYC Embedded 9005 as current embedded/server silicon in 2025 for networking, storage, and industrial systems, consistent with ongoing new deployments of recent AMD platform IP." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/9005-series/amd-epyc-9015.html", "claim": "AMD lists EPYC 9005 server processors with launch date October 10, 2024, indicating the surrounding platform generation is actively sold into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver directory confirmed locally via exec_command reading ae4dma-pci.c; module_pci_driver and PCI ID 1022:149b are present. Lore evidence was obtained from exec_command git log output, which exposed the lore Link URLs for the initial submission and February 2025 fixes; no removal/deprecation signal appeared in local git history grep. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb characterizes AE4DMA as a niche NTB-oriented DMA engine, and AMD EPYC 9005 product pages indicate the platform generation is current in 2025. Conclusion: very new, niche server/embedded hardware with active upstream maintenance, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1733160327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741640607, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/amd/ptdma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "AMD EPYC Embedded 7002 / PTDMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5632392.html", "claim": "PTDMA still received upstream patch traffic in April 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dmaengine/msg36660.html", "claim": "PTDMA had dmaengine bug-fix traffic in February 2024, showing recent functional maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_PTDMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_AMD_PTDMA to PCI device 1022:1498 and describes it as AMD PassThru DMA for AMD Non-Transparent Bridge use, a niche deployment profile." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded/epyc/epyc-7002-series.html", "claim": "AMD still listed EPYC Embedded 7002 products with NTB support and extended availability on a page crawled in 2026, supporting continued new-sales presence through 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (shell `rg`/`sed`) shows a real PCI driver with `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"AMD PassThru DMA driver\")` and PCI ID 1022:1498 in `ptdma-pci.c`. `lei`/lore MCP were unavailable here, so lore evidence was approximated via web search fallback: spinics patch mirrors found 2024-02 and 2025-04 PTDMA fixes, with no removal discussion hits. LKDDb was found by web search and used for device/use-case mapping. AMD's EPYC Embedded 7002 product page was found by web search and used to justify `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`; deployments remain low because PTDMA is tied to NTB/niche server-embedded use rather than broad commodity peripherals. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same hardware block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1733160327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745410292, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/amd/qdma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "AMD QDMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=73d5fc92a11c", "claim": "Driver was added to mainline in August 2024, so it is a very new upstream driver rather than legacy baggage." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=dcbef0798eb8", "claim": "The driver received a functional maintenance fix in September 2024, indicating real post-merge upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/pcie-qdma.html", "claim": "AMD still markets QDMA as a current IP product for Kintex UltraScale+, Virtex UltraScale+, and Zynq UltraScale+ device families." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/pg347-cpm-dma-bridge/QDMA-Architecture", "claim": "AMD published current QDMA product-guide documentation in late 2025 for Versal CPM4/CPM5 flows, showing ongoing product relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_QDMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AMD_QDMA present only from kernel 6.12 onward and identifies it as platform device \"amd-qdma\"." } ], "reasoning_notes": "No early exit: this directory contains a real module_platform_driver implementation. Upstream activity was checked via local `rg` and `git -c safe.directory=... log` because `lei` was unavailable; those commands showed the 2024 add and 2024 follow-up fixes, with no sign of an old orphaned driver. External deployment evidence came from web search results for the AMD product page, AMD product-guide docs, and LKDDb. The hardware is specialized FPGA/SoC IP, so deployments are likely niche but current; there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same QDMA block, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1724868253, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733918708, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/bestcomm", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Freescale MPC5200 BestComm DMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/d75665ec-e3e4-4f4f-8096-f81bacd390d1@web.de/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fixes in 2025, including a bug fix for bcom_task_alloc()." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20241004062227.187726-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver was touched in a 2024 dmaengine API conversion series, indicating ongoing tree maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC5200", "claim": "NXP marks MPC5200 as 'End of Life' and 'not recommended for new designs'; the page also identifies BestComm as the integrated DMA controller of this SoC family." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/Lite5200B", "claim": "NXP's MPC5200B evaluation board page is marked 'No Longer Manufactured', reinforcing that the platform is legacy hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "BestComm is the SoC-integrated DMA engine for Freescale/NXP MPC5200, confirmed from in-tree Kconfig/source inspection via shell and the NXP product page. MCP lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on drivers/dma/bestcomm/bestcomm.c showed non-removal activity through 2025 (bug fix plus API churn), so the code is not abandoned enough for deprecate/remove. Web search on nxp.com showed MPC5200 is EOL/NRND and related eval boards are no longer manufactured, so new 2025 deployments are unlikely outside legacy industrial/embedded systems. '2020' is an inference from NXP's 15-year longevity note on a mid-2000s launch, so availability timing is approximate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5643164941211376, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1357224080, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706632916, "top_author": "Rob Herring", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/dw", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare AHB DMA (DW DMAC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20240802075100.6475-6-fancer.lancer@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver had substantive upstream work in 2024; this patch is part of an active 6-patch cleanup/refinement series touching drivers/dma/dw." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/dw/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this as the Synopsys DesignWare AHB DMA platform/PCI driver and names deployed integrations including Intel Cherrytrail, Intel Medfield, and Renesas RZ/N1." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DW_DMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the platform driver remains present in current kernels and tied to multiple ACPI/OF platform IDs rather than a single obsolete board." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DW_DMAC_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows PCI support for Intel MID-era DesignWare DMA integrations, indicating some coverage is legacy Intel-specific rather than broadly modern PC hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection showed module entry points plus Synopsys/Intel/Renesas DMA driver code. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on drivers/dma/dw/dw.c, which returned a dense 2024 patch series and no sign of abandonment. A removal-search attempt via lore_regex timed out and a lei query was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so I did not treat removal discussion as established. Kconfig/LKDDb URLs are canonical recall used to anchor hardware scope: the code serves a licensable Synopsys DMA IP with Intel MID/Cherrytrail legacy users and Renesas RZ/N1 embedded users. That mix suggests the hardware family is still sellable in embedded/industrial niches in 2025, but deployments are low and specialized, so keep the driver but annotate it as niche/legacy-heavy rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09582813344819877, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1373004643, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765703844, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/dw-axi-dmac", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare AXI DMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260406194424.13365-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current in 2026; the driver received a cleanup patch in April 2026 rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260225104042.1138901-3-inochiama@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver gained new SoC support (CV1800B) in February 2026, indicating ongoing enablement for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/JH7110/Product_Brief/JH7110_DS/introduction.html", "claim": "StarFive's JH7110 is a current Linux-capable SoC family, matching one of the driver's compatible strings and indicating contemporary deployments." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/docs/duo/overview", "claim": "Milk-V documents the Duo board based on CV1800B and notes Linux support; the same page shows the original Duo as EOL but confirms real shipped products using this DMA-capable SoC family." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/duo", "claim": "Milk-V still markets/sells Duo-family hardware, showing CV1800B-based boards remained commercially available into the 2025 timeframe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via exec_command showed current compatibles `snps,axi-dma-1.01a`, `intel,kmb-axi-dma`, `sophgo,cv1800b-axi-dma`, `starfive,jh7110-axi-dma`, and `starfive,jh8100-axi-dma`, so this is active SoC glue for live platforms. lore_file_timeline on `drivers/dma/dw-axi-dmac/dw-axi-dmac-platform.c` returned 2026 patch traffic including cleanup work and new CV1800B support; no removal/deprecation signal was found in the lore evidence gathered. web search_query found official/current product pages for StarFive JH7110 and Milk-V CV1800B/Duo hardware, supporting that the IP is still relevant in new embedded deployments. This is niche embedded DMA IP, not a generic replacement case, so keep rather than deprecate; annotate only if maintainers later want broader SoC-coverage notes.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07746105397772964, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1521446896, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767927960, "top_author": "Pandith N", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/dw-edma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare eDMA/HDMA PCIe endpoint DMA IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260318070403.1634706-3-devendra.verma@amd.com/", "claim": "As of March 18, 2026, dw-edma was still receiving nontrivial upstream feature work: v15 patch 'dmaengine: dw-edma: Add non-LL mode'." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260318070403.1634706-2-devendra.verma@amd.com/", "claim": "The same March 2026 series adds AMD MDB endpoint support, indicating new hardware enablement rather than sunset maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/pci-express.html", "claim": "Synopsys continues marketing current DesignWare PCIe IP for new SoC designs, implying the underlying IP family remains in active commercial use." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/pcie-dma.html", "claim": "AMD still offers a current DMA-for-PCIe subsystem for adaptive SoCs/FPGAs, consistent with ongoing endpoint-DMA deployments covered by this driver class." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real Synopsys DesignWare eDMA controller/PCIe glue driver, with Kconfig describing endpoint-SoC use and `dw-edma-pcie.c` already carrying Synopsys plus AMD/Xilinx MDB support. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/dw-edma/dw-edma-pcie.c` showed fresh 2026 traffic and a March 18, 2026 v15 feature series, so upstream attention is active, not just treewide churn. Web search yielded current Synopsys and AMD product pages showing this IP space is still sold into new designs. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same generic Synopsys endpoint DMA IP, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.029139997866856924, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1560152439, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773040554, "top_author": "Serge Semin", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/fsl-dpaa2-qdma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "NXP Layerscape DPAA2 qDMA / DPDMAI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20240409163630.1996052-1-Frank.Li@nxp.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is recent: in 2024 NXP posted a driver update for fsl-dpaa2-qdma to adapt DPDMAI interfaces." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20240620025400.3300641-1-haijie1@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver was still affected by and included in shared dmaengine/virt-dma fixes in 2024, indicating live upstream integration rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP lists the LX2160A Layerscape processor as Active and describes DPAA2-based datapath acceleration for current networking/edge applications." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/LX2160A-RDB-B/12088738", "claim": "A compatible LX2160A reference board remained an active distributor listing, supporting evidence of continuing new-hardware availability around 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/fsl-dpaa2-qdma/dpaa2-qdma.c", "claim": "The in-tree driver identifies itself as an NXP Layerscape DPAA2 qDMA engine driver and binds to MC object type dpdmai." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, confirmed locally via shell (`rg`, `sed`) showing `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"NXP Layerscape DPAA2 qDMA engine driver\")`, FSL_MC binding, and DPDMAI object matching. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/fsl-dpaa2-qdma/dpaa2-qdma.c`, which showed substantial 2021-2024 activity and recent patch URLs above; this supports `keep`, not deprecate/remove. Vendor/deployment evidence came from web search: NXP product page shows LX2160A status Active, and DigiKey shows an active LX2160A-RDB-B eval board listing. This is specialized telecom/networking silicon, so deployments today are likely niche rather than mass-market; no natural generic replacement driver exists for the same DPAA2/DPDMAI hardware block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21290943227225667, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1571285467, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750976984, "top_author": "Frank Li", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/hsu", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Intel Medfield/Merrifield HSUART DMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260415032753.6006-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in 2026 (`dmaengine: hsu: use kzalloc_flex()`), so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/1771862309-90704-1-git-send-email-shawn.lin@rock-chips.com/", "claim": "The PCI side also saw a 2026 API-conversion patch (`Replace pci_alloc_irq_vectors() with pcim_alloc_irq_vectors()`), indicating continued compile/runtime upkeep rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HSU_DMA_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this driver to only two Intel PCI IDs: 8086:081e (Medfield Serial IO HSUART DMA Controller) and 8086:1192 (Merrifield Serial IO HSUART DMA Controller)." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/70102/intel-atom-processor-z3480-1m-cache-up-to-2-13-ghz/downloads.html", "claim": "Intel's Merrifield Atom Z3480 product page marks the platform as Q1'14, mobile, discontinued, end-of-servicing, and not offered as an embedded option." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_RAZR_i", "claim": "Medfield appeared in early-2010s smartphones such as the Motorola RAZR i, which was announced in September 2012." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: `drivers/dma/hsu` contains DMA engine core plus PCI probe code for Intel HSUART DMA. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/hsu/hsu.c` and `drivers/dma/hsu/pci.c`; both showed 2026 maintenance patches and no visible removal signal in the sampled history, so I backed off from deprecate to keep-annotate despite old hardware. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb identified only Medfield/Merrifield PCI IDs; Intel's product page showed Merrifield mobile parts are discontinued/end-of-servicing; Wikipedia results placed Medfield devices in 2012-era phones. That points to legacy/collector/industrial leftovers only, with low present-day deployments and no obvious generic replacement driver because this is a SoC-specific UART DMA block rather than a swappable DMA-controller class successor.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7377944695608442, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1425694982, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1662311975, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/idxd", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Intel Data Streaming Accelerator / In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (DSA/IAA, IDXD)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6086010.html", "claim": "Upstream activity is current through March 9, 2026, with an idxd fix applied by the dmaengine maintainer, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5815634.html", "claim": "The driver gained DSA 3.0 feature support in 2025, showing active enablement for newer hardware generations." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/data-streaming-accelerator.html", "claim": "Intel DSA is a built-in accelerator on Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Intel markets it for current storage, networking, analytics, and VM use cases, including the latest generation Xeon Scalable processors." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/in-memory-analytics-accelerator.html", "claim": "Intel IAA is likewise built into Intel Xeon Scalable processors, confirming the broader IDXD hardware family remains a current data-center deployment target." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence from `exec_command`: `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/dma/idxd` shows many 2025-2026 fixes plus new-feature work; `rg` in the directory shows MODULE_DESCRIPTION naming both Intel DSA and IAA and PCI IDs for recent platforms. URL evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` and `web.open`: Spinics results show active patch flow and an applied 2026 fix, plus 2025 DSA 3.0 enablement; Intel product pages show DSA/IAA are current Xeon-integrated accelerators still sold for new server deployments. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same hardware; this is a niche but live data-center accelerator driver, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02180950551031224, "commits_5y": 258, "substantive_commits_5y": 252, "first_touch_ts": 1579844925, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773055631, "top_author": "Dave Jiang", "top_author_commits": 122, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/ioat", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Intel I/OAT DMA engine (Xeon chipset-integrated I/O Acceleration Technology, v3-v3.4)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": "idxd", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/ioat/init.c", "claim": "The driver identifies itself as the Intel I/OAT DMA Linux driver and its PCI ID table tops out at Intel IOAT ICX, indicating support is tied to older Xeon generations rather than current accelerator blocks." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/Kconfig", "claim": "`CONFIG_INTEL_IOATDMA` is described as support for the Intel I/OAT DMA engine in recent Intel Xeon chipsets, while the same Kconfig also exposes `CONFIG_INTEL_IDXD` for newer Intel Data Accelerators, making `idxd` the natural successor for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/MAINTAINERS", "claim": "The async transfers/transforms IOAT area is still listed in MAINTAINERS but marked `Odd fixes`, which fits a legacy-but-not-abandoned support posture." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` inspection of local tree files showed IOAT-specific PCI IDs through ICX and Kconfig/MAINTAINERS status; URLs are canonical-recall kernel.org mirrors of those inspected files. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/ioat/` returned no matches (directory-prefix blind spot likely), and follow-up lore queries timed out, so upstream-activity judgment falls back to the user-provided stats: 21 substantive commits in 5y, 16 authors, last substantive touch 2025-08-27. That is too active for deprecate/remove, but the hardware family is clearly legacy server silicon, so keep the driver with an annotation that it mainly serves installed-base Xeon systems while new Intel acceleration has moved to `idxd`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16139488422412904, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1248816732, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756318447, "top_author": "Nikita Shubin", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/lgm", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Intel Lightning Mountain (LGM) gateway SoC DMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260108105619.3513561-8-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch updates lgm DMA to use a current helper, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20250808032243.3796335-2-yzhu@maxlinear.com/", "claim": "A substantial 2025 refactor split CDMA/HDMA functionality, which is stronger evidence of active support than treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://investors.maxlinear.com/press-releases/detail/480/maxlinear-brings-fully-converged-access-platform-and", "claim": "MaxLinear was still selling new broadband gateway SoCs in 2022 under the AnyWAN line, showing the surrounding home-gateway market remained active after Intel's home-gateway assets moved to MaxLinear." }, { "url": "https://investors.maxlinear.com/press-releases/detail/496/maxlinear-anywan-is-expanding-to-fiber-home-gateway", "claim": "MaxLinear was still promoting new gateway SoC deployments in 2023 for fiber/FWA home gateways, supporting continued niche deployment of related platform software stacks." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Lightning-Mountain-Code-2021", "claim": "Public reporting in 2021 said Intel's Lightning Mountain appeared punted/cancelled around the MaxLinear acquisition, suggesting the exact Intel-branded LGM platform did not become a broad long-lived retail family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real platform DMA driver: lgm-dma.c and Kconfig identify 'Lightning Mountain centralized DMA controllers' for Intel gateway SoCs. lore_file_timeline on drivers/dma/lgm/lgm-dma.c showed steady activity through 2026, including substantial 2025 work, and no removal signal surfaced in the timeline, so removal/deprecation is not justified. Web search found current MaxLinear AnyWAN gateway SoCs but also a Phoronix report that Intel's exact Lightning Mountain program may have been punted/cancelled after the MaxLinear acquisition; taken together this points to low ongoing deployments in ISP/embedded gateway niches rather than broad new 2025 sales of the exact LGM hardware. No natural replacement driver exists because this is a hardware-specific DMA engine block. URLs were obtained via lore MCP (`lore_file_timeline`) and web search tool.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13119773156190864, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1610454512, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767927960, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/loongson", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Loongson LS1x/LS2K APB DMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dmaengine/msg38442.html", "claim": "Loongson-1 APB DMA support was actively upstreamed in August 2024 as a v12 patch series, indicating recent maintainer-reviewed enablement rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dmaengine/msg39465.html", "claim": "Loongson-2 APB DMA received an upstream fix that Vinod Koul applied in December 2024, showing real recent dmaengine maintainer attention." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/list?id=3", "claim": "Loongson still listed LS2K1000LA, LS2K0500 and multiple LS1-series parts in its industrial/embedded product catalog, consistent with ongoing new-sales availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=21", "claim": "LS2K1000LA is marketed for industrial control and terminal applications and exposes peripheral interfaces such as NAND, I2S, HDA, I2C, USB 2.0 and GMAC, matching an SoC class that uses an on-chip APB DMA engine." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed the candidate maps to Loongson DMA drivers now stored as drivers/dma/loongson1-apb-dma.c and drivers/dma/loongson2-apb-dma.c, with local git log showing substantive 2024 addition/fix activity plus a 2024 loongson2 follow-up; this contradicts the stale phase-1 metadata. URLs were obtained by web search: spinics patch threads for upstream activity, and Loongson product/catalog pages for present-day deployment evidence. No removal discussion was found in the gathered evidence. Hardware appears current but niche industrial/embedded rather than mass-market, so keep the driver and annotate it as low-volume platform support with no natural in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/mediatek", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "MediaTek APDMA/CQDMA/HSDMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260304131525.84627-2-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "`mtk-uart-apdma.c` was still being backported into stable trees in March 2026, which is evidence of ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-launches-mt7622-worlds-first-4x4-802-11n-bluetooth-5-0-system-on-chip-with-dedicated-network-accelerator", "claim": "MT7622, one of the SoCs supported by this driver family, was positioned for routers, repeaters, whole-home Wi-Fi, and home-automation gateways." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-9300", "claim": "MediaTek was still actively marketing current flagship smartphone SoCs in this broader mobile SoC family, supporting the view that related on-SoC DMA IP remains relevant in new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Mediatek+Dimensity+9200+%28MT6985%29&id=5688", "claim": "MT6985, which matches a compatible string present in this directory, is identified as a 2023 mobile/embedded SoC and still had fresh benchmark activity in 2026, suggesting ongoing field deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed three real platform DMA drivers here (`mtk-hsdma`, `mtk-cqdma`, `mtk-uart-apdma`) with compatibles ranging from older MT7622/MT6765 to newer MT6985/MT6835, so this is an active MediaTek SoC DMA block family with no generic replacement driver. Lore evidence was obtained via `lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/mediatek/mtk-uart-apdma.c`; the cited lore URL shows 2026 stable backport activity. Web evidence was obtained via `web.search_query`; the MediaTek URLs support continuing product-family relevance and the MT7622 deployment niche, while the MT6985 benchmark page supports current deployments. No removal discussion surfaced in the limited lore sample, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0870428616363611, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1522144095, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766487684, "top_author": "AngeloGioacchino Del Regno", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/ppc4xx", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "AMCC/IBM PPC440SP(e) ADMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20250730162712.2086439-1-colin.i.king@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touches in 2025, but the observed recent change was minor janitorial maintenance rather than new feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/4f999e1b-9c10-453c-b68b-1495861d425c@web.de/", "claim": "The driver also received a small correctness/cleanup fix in 2024, showing some ongoing maintenance attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMCC_PPC440SPE_ADMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this directory to CONFIG_AMCC_PPC440SPE_ADMA, describes it as AMCC PPC440SPe ADMA / RAID engine support, and shows the compatible strings and module name." }, { "url": "https://www.edn.com/amcc-takes-aim-with-powerpc/", "claim": "AMCC publicly positioned the 440SPe as a 2004-era embedded processor for RAID/SAN applications with an integrated XOR accelerator, indicating an old storage-focused SoC generation." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_400", "claim": "The PowerPC 400/440 family is an older embedded PowerPC line with mostly historical deployments and niche embedded derivatives, supporting the view that present-day use is legacy rather than mainstream new design-in." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed the driver binds ibm,dma-440spe and amcc,xor-accelerator and is explicitly for PPC440SP(E) RAID/DMA engines. lore_activity on drivers/dma/ppc4xx/adma.c found recent 2024-2025 upstream traffic, but it was low-volume cleanup/fix work, not strong evidence of broad active deployment; no removal thread was evidenced in the lore results gathered, and one broader lore_regex removal probe timed out and was not retried. Web search found the LKDDb config page plus historical 440SPe/PowerPC 400 pages; taken together, this looks like legacy embedded storage/networking silicon with low residual deployments. Recommendation is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove because the code is not abandoned enough to justify forced retirement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2247843044980639, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1260591884, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755711290, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/qcom", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm SoC DMA engines (ADM/BAM/GPI/HIDMA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260424-knp_qce-v1-2-813e18f8f355@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-24, upstream is still adding new hardware support to this directory: bam_dma gained BAM v2.0.0 support, which argues against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260423145705.545552-3-mukesh.savaliya@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-23, qcom gpi is under active feature development for multi-owner I2C transfers, showing current maintainer attention rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/qcom/gpi.c", "claim": "The in-tree GPI driver matches multiple relatively modern Qualcomm SoC compatibles including sc7280, sm8150, sm8250, sm8350, and sm8450, indicating use on newer Qualcomm platforms rather than only legacy chips." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/qcom/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes these drivers as core Qualcomm SoC DMA engines for on-chip peripherals and virtualization use cases, implying ongoing deployment in Qualcomm device families with no generic replacement driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Evidence from lore_activity: recent 2026 patch traffic on both bam_dma and gpi shows active upstream development, including new IP support and feature work; that is the opposite of removal talk. The directory is a bundle of Qualcomm on-SoC DMA engines used by current peripheral fabrics, and gpi.c still targets modern Snapdragon-class compatibles. hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025 is an inference from the 2026 new-support patches plus modern compatible list, not from a vendor SKU EOL page. URLs obtained via lore_activity MCP for the two lore links; git.kernel.org URLs are canonical recall anchored by local file inspection via shell.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.061272119372000056, "commits_5y": 59, "substantive_commits_5y": 57, "first_touch_ts": 1457662326, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768149758, "top_author": "Thomas Gleixner", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/sf-pdma", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "SiFive FU540", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://static.dev.sifive.com/FU540-C000-v1.0.pdf", "claim": "Vendor manual named in the driver source documents the FU540-C000 Platform DMA Engine targeted by this driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260221-pdma-v1-3-838d929c2326@sifive.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-02-20 the driver was still receiving nontrivial bug-fix patches upstream, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20241111152600.146912-2-n.proshkin@yadro.com/", "claim": "The driver also saw targeted correctness fixes in late 2024, reinforcing that real users still exercise it." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-unleashed", "claim": "SiFive's current board page marks HiFive Unleashed as Discontinued and identifies it as using the Freedom U540 (FU540) SoC; the page places it under Legacy Boards rather than Available Now." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Driver source inspection via functions.exec_command shows this is the SiFive FU540 Platform DMA driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/dma/sf-pdma/sf-pdma.c showed recent 2024-2026 fix traffic and no visible removal/deprecation series in the returned recent subjects, so removal is not indicated. Web search + open on sifive.com showed the main FU540 board (HiFive Unleashed) is discontinued/legacy, so new-hardware sales in 2025 look unlikely. Conclusion: niche legacy/bring-up deployments likely remain, but hardware is not current; keep the driver, annotate it as legacy-oriented rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3483441336978169, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1573715446, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729532228, "top_author": "Shravan Chippa", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/sh", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "Renesas SH DMA Engine / R-Car DMAC / RZ DMAC / USB DMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20251027004657.562787-1-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "Recent non-treewide maintenance continued in late 2025 for `drivers/dma/sh/rcar-dmac.c` (`dmaengine: sh: rcar-dmac: Enable 1-byte transfer size for memcpy`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20251027004634.562749-1-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "Recent functional fix traffic also included `dmaengine: sh: rcar-dmac: Add missing dma_descriptor_unmap()`." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3e?partno=R9A09G047E57GBG%23AC0", "claim": "Renesas lists the RZ/G3E MPU as `Active`, showing current RZ-family silicon still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-s4-automotive-system-chip-soc-car-servercommunication-gateway?dow_secondary=visible", "claim": "Renesas lists R-Car S4 as an active automotive SoC, indicating current R-Car deployments remain in production." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/sh/rcar-dmac.c", "claim": "Upstream source covers modern Renesas DT compatibles including `renesas,rcar-gen4-dmac`, so this directory is not limited to obsolete SH-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/sh/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes separate drivers for SH DMAE, R-Car DMAC, Renesas USB DMAC, and RZ DMAC, reflecting multiple supported Renesas DMA IP blocks rather than a single retired device." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) showed this directory contains real Renesas DMA controller drivers (`shdmac`, `rcar-dmac`, `rz-dmac`, `usb-dmac`) and DT matches for modern R-Car Gen4 hardware. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/sh/rcar-dmac.c` showed steady activity through 2025 with recent functional fixes; I cite two lore URLs returned by that MCP tool. Web search found official Renesas product pages marking RZ/G3E and R-Car S4 active in 2025+, which is enough to conclude the directory still serves current industrial/automotive SoCs. Kernel.org source URLs are canonical-recall citations used to anchor the mixed SH/R-Car/RZ scope visible in the upstream tree. No evidence of an active removal/deprecation series was found in the collected evidence, so removal/deprecation is not justified. Replacement is null because these are SoC-specific DMA engines, not one driver superseded by another generic upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.024436456347854168, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1342150979, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773744071, "top_author": "Biju Das", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/stm32", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "STM32 DMA controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5234444.html", "claim": "STM32 DMA3 support was introduced upstream in 2024 as an active 12-patch series touching drivers/dma/stm32, indicating new enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5939377.html", "claim": "The STM32 DMA3 driver was still receiving functional fixes/improvements in November 2025, showing ongoing upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5969727.html", "claim": "The STM32 MDMA driver received a December 2025 warning fix that was accepted upstream, again showing live maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/STM32_DMA3.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_STM32_DMA3 for Linux 6.11 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, tied to compatible string st,stm32mp25-dma3." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/campaigns/microprocessor-stm32mp2.html", "claim": "ST markets the STM32MP2 family, including STM32MP25, as a current industrial-grade MPU line and the page exposes current 'Buy now' product selectors." }, { "url": "https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/12/12/2996343/0/en/DigiKey-Debuts-Innovative-STM32MP25-Microprocessors-from-STMicroelectronics.html", "claim": "DigiKey announced STM32MP25 availability in December 2024, supporting that hardware using this driver family was entering new-channel sales around 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed four real platform DMA drivers in this directory (stm32-dma, stm32-dmamux, stm32-mdma, stm32-dma3) with Kconfig entries for on-chip STM32 DMA blocks; local git log via exec_command showed substantive touches through 2025-12-23. Mailing-list evidence was obtained via web search because lore MCP/lei were unavailable here: spinics results show the directory was created in 2024 for active consolidation, DMA3 was introduced there, and STM32 DMA3/MDMA still received fixes in late 2025. Separate web search found no removal/deprecation discussion terms for this driver family. Deployment is medium, not high: these are on-SoC DMA engines for STM32 MCUs/MPUs used in embedded/industrial systems, including current STM32MP2 parts, but not broad commodity PC hardware. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific DMA controller drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1718130333, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766487452, "top_author": "Amelie Delaunay", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/ti", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "TI K3 NAVSS/DMSS DMA (UDMA/BCDMA/PKTDMA) for AM65x, AM62x/AM64x and Jacinto J7/J722S-class SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dmaengine/20260406162231.v5.7.If839f6dde98979fce177f70c6c74689a1904ee76@changeid/", "claim": "`drivers/dma/ti/k3-udma.c` was still being touched by upstream patch traffic in April 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM62X", "claim": "TI was still publishing AM62x Linux/RTOS SDK releases in April 2026 and listing current AM62x products and evaluation boards, indicating ongoing new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-J722S", "claim": "TI listed J722S/TDA4AEN/TDA4VEN SDK releases in September 2025, showing the Jacinto/J722S family covered by this driver remained an active product line in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/dma/ti/k3-udma.c", "claim": "The main driver source covers TI K3-family UDMA/BCDMA/PKTDMA instances across AM65x, AM64x, AM62x, J721E, J721S2, J784S4 and J722S-compatible blocks." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed `TI_K3_UDMA` and `module_platform_driver` plus compatibles for AM65x/AM64x/AM62x/J7/J722S-class hardware. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/dma/ti/k3-udma.c` showed heavy 2021-2026 activity with newest touch on 2026-04-06; the surfaced lore URL came from that MCP tool. Web search returned TI SDK pages for AM62X and J722S showing 2025-2026 releases and shipping boards/products, so the hardware is not obsolete. No natural upstream replacement exists because this is the SoC-specific DMA engine for current TI K3 platforms. Kernel source URL is canonical recall, corroborated by local tree inspection.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05499075558243159, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1524648381, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768149764, "top_author": "Vignesh Raghavendra", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dma/xilinx", "subsystem": "dma", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx AXI DMA and ZynqMP DMA IP family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260311-xilinx-dma-fix-v2-1-a725abb66e3c@ideasonboard.com", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic exists for this directory; xilinx_dma received a functional fix for AXIDMA reset timeout handling." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260316222530.163815-1-marex@nabladev.com", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic exists from another author; xilinx_dma received a residue-calculation fix, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/axi_dma.html", "claim": "AMD still markets AXI DMA IP for current and legacy device families including Zynq 7000, Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, and Versal Premium." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still sells Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs and states UltraScale+ FPGAs/adaptive SoCs have lifecycle support through 2045." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Makefile builds xilinx_dma, xdma, zynqmp_dma, and xilinx_dpdma. Local tree inspection via shell (`rg`, `find`, `git log`) shows multiple active DMA engine drivers, not helper code. Upstream attention is current: `git show` trailer extraction exposed 2025-2026 patch.msgid.link URLs for recent fixes in this path, and I found no evidence of removal discussion in the sampled recent history. Deployment remains relevant but niche: AMD web search results show AXI DMA IP and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC are still current products with long lifecycle commitments, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No single replacement driver covers the same mixed set of Xilinx soft-IP DMA blocks and ZynqMP display/SoC DMA engines.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.021530805394853112, "commits_5y": 111, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1398834853, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773745412, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dpll", "subsystem": "dpll", "chipset_family": "Microchip Azurite ZL3073x DPLL/PTP/SyncE, plus the generic Linux DPLL core subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260220155755.448185-1-ivecera@redhat.com", "claim": "The in-tree ZL3073x part of drivers/dpll was still receiving substantive bug fixes in February 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260203174002.705176-8-ivecera@redhat.com", "claim": "The generic DPLL core itself gained new functionality in February 2026 (reference-count tracking support), showing the subsystem is actively evolving." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250704182202.1641943-6-ivecera@redhat.com", "claim": "drivers/dpll added basic support for the Microchip ZL3073x family in 2025, confirming the directory backs real contemporary hardware rather than only legacy devices." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/TIM/ProductDocuments/ProductBrief/ZL3073x-PTP-and-SyncE-Network-Synchronizers-with-up-to-5-Channels-10-Inputs-20-Outputs-Product-Brief-DS20006629.pdf", "claim": "Microchip published a current product brief for ZL30731-ZL30735 in 2025, supporting that this hardware family was still marketed for new designs in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/driver-api/dpll.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes DPLL as an active generic subsystem used by device drivers to expose DPLL hardware via netlink, reinforcing that drivers/dpll is infrastructure with ongoing users rather than a dead standalone driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell showed drivers/dpll contains the generic DPLL core and netlink pieces, with actual hardware support in drivers/dpll/zl3073x. `git log` on the directory showed substantial 2025-2026 development and fixes; `git log --grep='remove|deprecat' -- drivers/dpll` did not show an upstream removal/deprecation series, only ordinary code cleanups. URLs above were obtained from commit messages via shell `git log` (patch.msgid links) and from web search (kernel.org docs, Microchip product brief). Given active maintainer traffic, recent feature work, and still-marketed ZL3073x timing hardware, this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1694947820, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770303466, "top_author": "Ivan Vecera", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/dpll/zl3073x", "subsystem": "dpll", "chipset_family": "Microchip Azurite ZL3073x", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/6/12/1653", "claim": "Upstream thread shows ZL3073x support was added in 2025 as a substantial multi-patch net-next series, with active review and follow-up functionality planned rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/news-releases/products/first-single-chip-network-synchronization-solution-provides-ultr", "claim": "Microchip stated the ZL3073x/63x/64x platform was available in production quantities and positioned for 5G radio access/network timing deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/zl30703", "claim": "Microchip still hosts a live product page for a ZL3073x family member with purchase/cart integration, consistent with an actively marketed part rather than an obsolete one." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ZL3073X.html", "claim": "LKDDb records CONFIG_ZL3073X in current kernel ranges (6.17-6.19, 7.0-rc+HEAD), confirming it is a newly added, maintained upstream driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found module_i2c_driver/module_spi_driver and Kconfig naming 'Microchip Azurite DPLL/PTP/SyncE devices'. Upstream activity is strong: local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/dpll/zl3073x` showed multiple non-treewide fixes in Feb 2026 and no sign of stagnation. Removal/deprecation search via web (`site:lore.kernel.org zl3073x remove OR deprecate`) returned no removal discussion. Deployment is niche but current: Azurite is a communications-infrastructure timing/DPLL/PTP family for 5G/SyncE, so present-day use is specialized rather than mass-market. No natural replacement driver exists upstream because this is direct support for this exact Microchip chipset family. Source acquisition: lkml.org thread obtained by web search then opened; Microchip news and product pages obtained by web search then opened/find-inspected; LKDDb page obtained by web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1752113332, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772075600, "top_author": "Ivan Vecera", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/edac", "subsystem": "edac", "chipset_family": "EDAC/ECC memory-controller and RAS blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/edac.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes EDAC as the in-tree subsystem for hardware error reporting and covers current memory technologies and features including DDR5, HBM3, scrub/ECS, and memory-repair support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-edac/20260403054029.3950383-4-qiuxu.zhuo@intel.com/", "claim": "April 2026 upstream patch adds Intel Panther Lake-H SoC support in EDAC/igen6, showing enablement for new platform silicon rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260420132314.1023554-139-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "April 2026 stable/autosel traffic carries EDAC/amd64 support for AMD family 19h models 40h-4fh, indicating current deployment relevance and ongoing backporting." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-edac/20260415060239.733200-1-shubhrajyoti.datta@amd.com/", "claim": "April 2026 EDAC/versal work updates AMD Versal DDR error reporting, showing active maintenance for contemporary embedded/server-class platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/edac` is an active driver subsystem, not a helper library: local shell inspection found many `module_init`/`subsys_initcall` entry points and Kconfig describes EDAC as hardware-specific drivers for memory/cache/PCI/thermal error reporting. Recent lore evidence was obtained with `lore_regex(field=patch, pattern='^diff --git a/drivers/edac/', since='2y')`; it returned fresh 2026 fixes and new-platform enablement (Intel Panther Lake-H, AMD family 19h, AMD Versal, Hygon, Qualcomm), which strongly argues against deprecation. The docs.kernel.org URL was obtained by web search and shows the subsystem is still evolving for modern ECC/RAS features such as DDR5 ECS and memory repair. No natural replacement exists because this directory is itself the upstream EDAC subsystem; old per-chip drivers coexist with actively updated ones, so the right disposition is to keep rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03422739247727174, "commits_5y": 393, "substantive_commits_5y": 386, "first_touch_ts": 1137640831, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769963835, "top_author": "Qiuxu Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 88, "c_file_count": 66, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/eisa", "subsystem": "eisa", "chipset_family": "EISA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1995, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5628587.html", "claim": "April 2025 patch traffic shows the subsystem still receives upstream fixes, here for string-size/build correctness in EISA code." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5651947.html", "claim": "April 2025 follow-up patch fixes an EISA build failure, indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EISA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_EISA is still present in current kernel series and describes EISA as a legacy bus whose main use window was 1988-1995." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EISA_PCI_EISA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows drivers/eisa also covers generic PCI-to-EISA bridge support, confirming this directory is active bus support code rather than dead documentation or tables." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Industry_Standard_Architecture", "claim": "EISA is a historical expansion bus superseded by PCI, supporting the conclusion that new-hardware deployment is effectively gone." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local shell inspection showed real kernel bus-support code in drivers/eisa/*.c, including bus registration and initcalls. Local shell `git log` showed substantive touches in 2023-2025, and local grep showed current in-tree dependencies from legacy arches and drivers (for example parisc and EISA-dependent SCSI drivers), so this is still live compatibility infrastructure. Source acquisition: the two spinics URLs were obtained by web search for recent EISA patch subjects after lore-specific search/tooling was unavailable here; the cateee LKDDb URLs were obtained by web search; the Wikipedia URL is a canonical stable page recalled directly. No removal discussion was found in the gathered evidence; activity looks like low-volume maintenance for old but still-supported legacy systems. That supports `keep-annotate`: mark as legacy/obsolete hardware support, but do not deprecate/remove solely on market obsolescence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761112500, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/extcon", "subsystem": "extcon", "chipset_family": "External connector detection / USB-ID / charger-detect companion ICs and PMIC extcon blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "USB Type-C connector class (drivers/usb/typec) for new USB-C designs; no single full replacement for all extcon use cases", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/extcon.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes extcon as an active subsystem for external connectors such as USB, charging, audio jack, video, and docking use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/usb/typec.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation shows the dedicated USB Type-C class/framework that newer USB-C-specific designs can use instead of extcon-centric modelling." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/extcon", "claim": "Mainline tree contains a nontrivial extcon subsystem with many vendor-specific drivers plus shared core code, indicating an actively maintained subsystem rather than a dead single-device driver." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/interfaces/usb-interfaces/usb-type-c/usb-type-c-controller:PTN5150A", "claim": "PTN5150A, represented in this directory by extcon-usbc-tusb320/ptn5150-class support patterns, is a still-marketed USB Type-C controller family, supporting the conclusion that relevant hardware remained sold in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TUSB320", "claim": "TI still markets the TUSB320 Type-C configuration-channel controller, matching hardware covered by drivers in this directory and showing ongoing new-hardware relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: drivers/extcon contains 25 C files and real driver entry points. Lore-first check was attempted with lore_subsystem_churn(path:drivers/extcon/) plus lore_regex(subject:/extcon/i,since=5y) and lore_path_mentions(prefix drivers/extcon/, since=5y); churn returned zero lore patch mail visibility and the two search-style lore queries timed out under the server wall-clock cap, so there is no positive evidence of an upstream removal series. I then inspected the local tree (`rg --files drivers/extcon`) and local extcon documentation, and used canonical-recall URLs for kernel.org docs/tree plus vendor product pages. Given the supplied static stats (108 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2025-09-08, 36 authors) and the broad mix of still-relevant connector/PMIC chips, this directory should be kept; annotate that new USB-C-only designs should prefer the Type-C class where appropriate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10358300898955791, "commits_5y": 117, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1334938871, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757311986, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firewire", "subsystem": "firewire", "chipset_family": "IEEE 1394 / FireWire host controllers and peripherals", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260329211940.371395-2-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "`drivers/firewire/core-device.c` was still receiving upstream fixes in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251013140311.97159-3-o-takashi@sakamocchi.jp/", "claim": "Recent FireWire core work added quirks for MOTU Audio Express hardware, showing real device support for legacy/pro-audio deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.startech.com/en-us/cards-adapters/firewire", "claim": "Vendor catalog pages in 2026 still list new FireWire add-in cards and explicitly market them for extending the life of FireWire devices, so new hardware was still being sold in/around 2025." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394", "claim": "FireWire remained in niche uses such as industrial systems and professional audio, while mainstream consumer platforms phased it out during the 2010s; Apple’s last computers with built-in FireWire shipped in 2012." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree with active code and module entry points. `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` showed steady 2024-2026 patch traffic, including device-specific quirks and core cleanups, so removal is not justified. Web search opened StarTech’s current FireWire cards page and Wikipedia’s IEEE 1394 page for present-day sales and deployment context. I attempted removal-talk discovery via `lore_regex` twice and `lei`, but the regex queries timed out and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox; confidence is therefore reduced slightly. Overall this looks like a legacy but still-maintained subsystem serving low-volume professional/industrial users, so keep it but annotate its niche/legacy status.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017867052365721434, "commits_5y": 313, "substantive_commits_5y": 301, "first_touch_ts": 1173474153, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773714585, "top_author": "Takashi Sakamoto", "top_author_commits": 252, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: umbrella subsystem containing mixed firmware interfaces, helpers, EFI/libstub code, and tests rather than one kernel-bound hardware driver family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.011406631591183857, "commits_5y": 263, "substantive_commits_5y": 257, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775041387, "top_author": "Marek Behún", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/arm_ffa", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm FF-A (Firmware Framework for A-Profile)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_FFA_TRANSPORT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ARM_FFA_TRANSPORT has been present from Linux 5.14 through current 6.x/7.0-rc heads, indicating an actively carried upstream subsystem rather than a legacy orphan." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/tee/ts-tee.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation says Trusted Services secure partitions are accessed through the FF-A driver, showing active in-kernel consumers for modern secure-service deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/security/tpm/tpm_ffa_crb.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes TPM CRB over FF-A and explains that a TPM can be implemented as an FF-A secure service, showing new client functionality built on this transport." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM62LX/latest/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components_ATF.html", "claim": "TI's current AM62L Linux SDK documents TF-A as part of the shipping Linux boot stack on contemporary K3 ARM64 SoCs, supporting that relevant platforms are still sold and deployed." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/Architectures/Firmware%20Framework%20for%20A-Profile", "claim": "Arm publishes FF-A as a current A-profile firmware framework standard, indicating the interface targets ongoing Arm platform designs rather than retired hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of the directory showed real driver code with init/exit paths (`rootfs_initcall(ffa_init)`, `module_exit`, bus registration) in `driver.c` and `bus.c`, so this is a true driver directory. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed steady substantive upstream work through 2026-03-06, including fixes and feature work, and I found no evidence of a removal/deprecation trend. All cited URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb for upstream config continuity, kernel docs for present FF-A client drivers, TI SDK docs for current deployment evidence, and Arm's FF-A page for the vendor-standard context. No natural replacement exists because this directory is the common transport/bus layer that other FF-A client drivers depend on.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 122, "substantive_commits_5y": 118, "first_touch_ts": 1622065006, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772814368, "top_author": "Sudeep Holla", "top_author_commits": 91, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/arm_scmi", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm SCMI (System Control and Management Interface)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/arm-scmi/72e2a0e7a5abda02fe36b3f5851842f7a77b2593.1776793163.git.geert+renesas@glider.be/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream activity adds new SCMI core functionality, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/arm-scmi/20260329163337.637393-9-cristian.marussi@arm.com/", "claim": "Large 2026 feature series added basic Telemetry support to arm_scmi, showing ongoing feature growth." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/architecture/system-architectures/system-firmware", "claim": "Arm still positions SCMI as a current standard firmware interface for power, performance, and system management in Arm-based designs." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/SCMI_device_tree_configuration", "claim": "ST documents SCMI configuration for current STM32MP13/15/21/23/25 lines, evidence of present-day deployment on shipping embedded platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory implementing the Linux SCMI stack and transports. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/firmware/arm_scmi/driver.c showed heavy activity through 2026-04-21, including new API work and telemetry support; sampled lore traffic showed active development, not removal. `lore_regex` removal-scan timed out and `lei` was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so absence of removal talk is inferred from the recent activity sample rather than a full negative search. Web search found Arm's current system-firmware page describing SCMI as a standard interface, and ST's 2025-approved SCMI configuration page covering STM32MP2x families, which supports 'still sold new' and ongoing deployment. Local tree grep also showed arm,scmi bindings in many current DTS files (including recent Qualcomm/ST/Rockchip/Amlogic-era platforms), reinforcing broad modern use. No natural replacement upstream driver exists because arm_scmi is the common abstraction layer itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.021249460301610124, "commits_5y": 332, "substantive_commits_5y": 325, "first_touch_ts": 1519835877, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772974815, "top_author": "Cristian Marussi", "top_author_commits": 194, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/arm_scmi/transports", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm SCMI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.2/virtio-v1.2.html", "claim": "VirtIO 1.2 defines an SCMI device type and queue model, showing the virtio transport is a current standardized VM use case rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/%2B/fb855e9f3b6b42c72af3f1eb0b288998fe0d5ebb/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/firmware/arm%2Cscmi.yaml", "claim": "Current kernel DT binding documents mailbox, SMC, virtio, and OP-TEE SCMI compatibles, indicating these transports remain supported for contemporary Arm platforms." }, { "url": "https://qnx.com/developers/docs/7.1/com.qnx.doc.qavf.overview/topic/imu_vdev_virtio_scmi.html", "claim": "QNX Hypervisor documentation published in 2026 documents a virtio-scmi virtual device, showing ongoing present-day deployment in virtualization stacks." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2024-July/941398.html", "claim": "Upstream patch series in 2024 converted SCMI virtio transport into a standalone driver/module, evidence of recent subsystem investment rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains four transport drivers (mailbox/smc/optee/virtio) with module driver entry points, confirmed by local shell inspection. Local git log tool showed steady upstream work from 2024-08-13 through 2026-01-07 by multiple authors, so it is active. I attempted lore-style evidence via web search on public kernel archives; searches found active transport-enablement patch threads and no removal/deprecation thread hits. URLs were obtained via web search/open for OASIS virtio, Android kernel arm,scmi.yaml, QNX virtio-scmi docs, and linux-arm-kernel archive; shell was used for local file inspection and git history.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1723547712, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767770093, "top_author": "Cristian Marussi", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/arm_scmi/vendors/imx", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX95 System Manager SCMI vendor protocols", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX95", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX95 as Active, with buy/parametrics, 2026 documentation updates, and current target markets in automotive/industrial/IoT." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/commit/drivers/firmware?id=cdcf6263145bb93c6d42fcec9669f7dc3fe4a82c", "claim": "The upstream SCMI 6.12 merge added the i.MX vendor SCMI directory and initial BBM/MISC support plus i.MX95 SCMI documentation." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-February/1001848.html", "claim": "A 2025 SCMI fix pull request included a bug fix for scmi_imx_misc_ctrl_set, showing post-merge maintenance rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper: local shell `rg` found `module_scmi_protocol(...)` registrations in the four C files, and local `sed` of `imx95.rst` identified the scope as i.MX95 System Manager vendor SCMI protocols. Upstream activity is healthy: local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed initial landing in 2024-08, fixes in 2025-01, CPU/LMM expansion in 2025-04, more MISC feature work in 2025-09/10, and a 2026 merge; web-obtained URLs corroborate initial upstream merge and 2025 bug-fix traffic. NXP's product page was obtained via web search/open and shows i.MX95 is still an active product family, so hardware is still sold and new deployments remain plausible, though this specific SCMI extension stack is niche to i.MX95 mixed-core/system-manager designs. No natural replacement driver exists because these are vendor-specific SCMI protocol implementations rather than a superseded generic path; no removal discussion was found in the lore-targeted web searches used here.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1724878434, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768617141, "top_author": "Peng Fan", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/broadcom", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM47xx / BNXT", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM47XX_NVRAM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BCM47XX_NVRAM remains present in current kernel series and is specifically for Broadcom home-router NVRAM access." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM47XX_SPROM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BCM47XX_SPROM remains present in current kernel series as the Broadcom SPROM helper for BCM47xx/BCMA/SSB-style devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TEE_BNXT_FW.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TEE_BNXT_FW is still present in current kernel series and builds module tee_bnxt_fw for Broadcom BNXT firmware management." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5774054.html", "claim": "There was public mailing-list traffic touching this directory in 2025, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.broadcom.bcm47xx?s%5B%5D=essentials&s%5B%5D=open", "claim": "OpenWrt still documents BCM47xx/BCM53xx router SoCs as a supported hardware family, showing ongoing legacy deployment." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.0/targets/bcm47xx/legacy/", "claim": "OpenWrt shipped bcm47xx/legacy target images in 2025, which is concrete evidence of continued field use for BCM47xx-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/NetXtreme-E-PCIENIC-SG", "claim": "Broadcom was still marketing current PCIe Ethernet NIC adapters in 2026 under the NetXtreme-E family, supporting the conclusion that BNXT-class hardware is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell `rg`/`sed` showed this directory is real kernel driver code, not docs/helpers-only: it contains BCM47xx NVRAM/SPROM firmware-access drivers plus `tee_bnxt_fw` (TEE client driver). Local `git log` showed substantive touches through 2026-01-07 and no sign of stagnation. Web search produced LKDDB pages for all three Kconfig symbols, confirming they are still in current kernels; a 2025 spinics patch shows recent public maintenance; OpenWrt wiki plus 2025 release artifacts show BCM47xx remains deployed in legacy router niches; Broadcom's NetXtreme-E product brief shows BNXT-class NIC hardware is still sold. No removal discussion was found in the limited lore-oriented web queries, so this does not justify `deprecate`/`remove`. `keep-annotate` fits better because the directory mixes actively maintained but niche/legacy BCM47xx support with a still-current BNXT firmware manager, and there is no natural replacement driver for the same functions.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1434916533, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767770093, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/cirrus", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Cirrus Logic CS_DSP audio DSP firmware support", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260304141250.1578597-1-rf@opensource.cirrus.com", "claim": "March 2026 upstream patch fixing a real firmware-download regression in cs_dsp, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://investor.cirrus.com/news-and-events/investor-news/news-details/2023/Cirrus-Logic-Brings-Immersive-Audio-to-PC-Market/default.aspx", "claim": "Cirrus announced the CS35L56 smart amplifier for PCs in 2023, with samples then and production volumes expected the same year; this is current-generation hardware using onboard DSP." }, { "url": "https://investor.cirrus.com/news-and-events/investor-news/news-details/2024/Cirrus-Logic-Intel-and-Microsoft-Announce-Latest-Reference-Design-to-Enable-Cool-Quiet-and-High-Performance-PCs/default.aspx", "claim": "Cirrus, Intel, and Microsoft referenced CS35L56 smart amplifiers in a 2024 PC reference design, showing ongoing new-platform deployment." }, { "url": "https://statics.cirrus.com/pubs/proBulletin/CS35L41_Audio_Product_Bulletin.pdf", "claim": "Current hosted product bulletin for CS35L41 describes an integrated-DSP smart amplifier and supports the case that Cirrus DSP-backed amplifier parts remain marketed/available." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: `exec_command` inspection of `drivers/firmware/cirrus` shows substantial kernel code (`cs_dsp.c`) exporting Cirrus DSP firmware support, plus KUnit tests, and treewide `rg` shows multiple active in-tree consumers including `wm_adsp` and `cs35l56_hda`. `exec_command` `git log` shows the directory was added in 2021 and still received substantive fixes/tests through 2026-03-04; the cited patch.msgid URL came directly from that log output. `web.search_query` + `web.open` on Cirrus pages show CS35L56/CS35L41 DSP-based products remained in active PC/mobile marketing and reference designs in 2023-2024, with a current CS35L41 bulletin found by web search. Separate `web.search_query` checks for lore removal/deprecation discussion did not surface a removal thread. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the shared firmware-support layer for current Cirrus audio DSP parts, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 91, "substantive_commits_5y": 88, "first_touch_ts": 1632744042, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773015412, "top_author": "Richard Fitzgerald", "top_author_commits": 59, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/efi", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "UEFI / EFI platform firmware", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.98, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/firmware/efi", "claim": "This directory is the in-tree Linux EFI/UEFI firmware support subsystem, including runtime services, capsule loading, pstore, BGRT, TPM hooks, sysfb glue, and EFI stub support rather than a legacy peripheral driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/firmware/efi", "claim": "Upstream activity on drivers/firmware/efi is ongoing and current, consistent with a maintained subsystem rather than retirement candidate." }, { "url": "https://uefi.org/specifications", "claim": "UEFI remains an actively maintained industry standard; the forum lists UEFI Specification 2.11 released in December 2024, indicating continued relevance for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/oem-uefi", "claim": "Modern OEM platform requirements still depend on UEFI features such as Secure Boot and runtime services, showing EFI firmware interfaces remain standard on new PCs." }, { "url": "https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/02/04/secure-boot-certificate-changes-2026-guidance-rhel-environments", "claim": "Current enterprise Linux deployments still depend on UEFI on both bare metal and VMs; Red Hat documents 2026 Secure Boot and OVMF handling for new VM deployments using edk2-ovmf." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Classified as a real firmware-facing kernel subsystem, not an early-exit non-driver: local shell inspection of drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig and file list shows exported EFI runtime, capsule, pstore, test, reboot, sysfb, and EFI-stub interfaces. Local shell git log (with safe.directory override) shows frequent substantive activity through 2025-2026, including fixes and merged efi-next tags, so this is actively maintained. I attempted lore-oriented web searches for removal/deprecation discussion and found no removal signal; combined with strong current git activity, that argues against deprecate/remove. Deployment remains high because UEFI is standard on contemporary PCs/servers and is also active in virtualization via OVMF. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the kernel's primary EFI/UEFI support stack. URL provenance: kernel.org tree/log URLs are canonical recall; uefi.org, Microsoft Learn, and Red Hat URLs were obtained via web search/open tool calls.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008337806032929353, "commits_5y": 225, "substantive_commits_5y": 216, "first_touch_ts": 1366201441, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775657351, "top_author": "Ard Biesheuvel", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/efi/libstub", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: EFI libstub is firmware/boot-time support code used by kernel image startup, not a kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 229, "substantive_commits_5y": 225, "first_touch_ts": 1405714939, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766608351, "top_author": "Ard Biesheuvel", "top_author_commits": 136, "c_file_count": 38, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/efi/stmm", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm OP-TEE StandAloneMM", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1049648.html", "claim": "Introduction patch describes this as a TEE-based EFI runtime variable service driver for small embedded devices, using OP-TEE plus StandaloneMM and eMMC RPMB-backed storage." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-efi/msg33877.html", "claim": "August 2025 cover letter reports a critical fix plus cleanups for the EFI StMM driver, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6050948.html", "claim": "A February 15, 2026 patch updates this driver again, showing continued upstream attention and no obvious removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/4.0.0/building/efi_vars/stmm.html", "claim": "Current OP-TEE documentation includes a StandAloneMM setup path for Arm platforms, with EFI variables stored in eMMC RPMB and Linux/U-Boot integration, showing the use case remains current." }, { "url": "https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/latest/general/about.html", "claim": "OP-TEE is current software for Linux on Arm TrustZone systems, supporting the broader platform family this driver depends on." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed `tee_stmm_efi.c` is a real kernel module/TEE client driver that overrides EFI variable operations, not a helper-only directory. Local `git log` via `exec_command` showed introduction on 2023-12-11 and substantive touches on 2025-08-26 and 2026-02-18. Web search found active mailing-list traffic on Spinics mirrors for 2025-2026 fixes/cleanups and no removal discussion. Web search also found current OP-TEE StandAloneMM docs describing active Arm embedded deployments using RPMB-backed EFI variables. Conclusion: keep, but annotate as a niche Arm secure-firmware path with low deployment volume rather than a broadly deployed PC-class EFI driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1702289958, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771410380, "top_author": "Jan Kiszka", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/google", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Google coreboot / ChromeOS firmware interfaces", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20260217155836.96267-9-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Thomas Zimmermann posted a 2026 patch in chrome-platform touching coreboot_table.c to export coreboot table entries, showing active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20260217155836.96267-7-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "A companion 2026 patch adjusts coreboot bus initialization in this directory, indicating ongoing functional cleanup rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20241215-sysfs-const-bin_attr-google-v1-2-e5c2808f5833@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "gsmi.c received a 2024 subsystem-specific update on chrome-platform, confirming recent non-removal attention." }, { "url": "https://www.google.com/chromebook/chromebookplus/", "claim": "Google's Chromebook Plus page listed multiple Chromebook models for sale in 2025, supporting that ChromeOS/coreboot-class hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/firmware/google/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes these as firmware drivers for Google servers, Chromebooks, and other devices using coreboot firmware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig showed this directory covers Google servers, Chromebooks, and coreboot devices rather than a dead legacy niche. lore_activity on coreboot_table.c and gsmi.c returned 2026/2024 chrome-platform traffic with reviewed/acked patches, so upstream attention is current. A removal-search attempt via lore_regex timed out twice, and a fallback lei query was blocked by the local sandbox daemon restriction; with active maintenance and current-product evidence, there is no positive removal signal. Sources obtained via mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity, web.search_query/open results, local file read plus canonical recall of the kernel.org tree URL.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24918690914630143, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1304125774, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734407971, "top_author": "Thomas Weißschuh", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/imx", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8/i.MX9 system-controller firmware interfaces (SCU and SCMI-based i.MX firmware blocks)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/arm-scmi/20260305-scmi-imx-reset-v1-2-18de78978ba9@nxp.com/", "claim": "`sm-misc.c` saw a substantive feature patch in March 2026, indicating active upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20251017-imx-firmware-v2-8-b58f68ec2ea9@nxp.com/", "claim": "`imx-scu.c` received maintenance changes in October 2025, showing the older SCU side is still being touched upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX95 family as Active, supporting the conclusion that related i.MX firmware interfaces remain relevant for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8X", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX8X family as Active; this matches the directory's i.MX8 SCU/DSP support and indicates ongoing fielded and sellable hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local shell inspection showed real driver code and Kconfig entries for i.MX8 SCU/DSP plus SCMI CPU/LMM/MISC, with DT compatibles including i.MX94/i.MX95. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline`: both `sm-misc.c` and `imx-scu.c` have recent 2025-2026 feature/cleanup traffic and multi-author touches, with no removal pattern visible in the returned histories. A `lore_regex` removal-subject probe timed out, so I did not retry that same query. Deployment is best classified as medium: these are niche embedded/industrial/automotive SoC firmware interfaces, not mass-market PC hardware, but they map to still-active NXP i.MX8X and i.MX95 product families found via web search. No single replacement driver cleanly supersedes this directory across the supported SoCs; newer SCMI pieces complement rather than universally replace the older SCU path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06648103296670237, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1539007749, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768617141, "top_author": "Peng Fan", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/meson", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-amlogic/20260424-add-thermal-t7-vim4-v5-3-9040ca36afe2@aliel.fr/", "claim": "Upstream work is still active in 2026; the driver received a v5 feature patch adding a new secure-monitor thermal calibration call." }, { "url": "https://www.khadas.com/product-page/vim4", "claim": "Khadas still sells the VIM4 new, and it is based on an Amlogic A311D2 SoC." }, { "url": "https://docs.khadas.com/products/sbc/vim4/start", "claim": "Current Khadas documentation describes VIM4 as an Amlogic A311D2/A311D2-N0D SBC, indicating ongoing supported deployment of this SoC family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/firmware/meson/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is the in-tree \"Amlogic Secure Monitor driver\", i.e. real runtime hardware/firmware support rather than test or helper code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` read local Kconfig/source and showed this is the Amlogic Secure Monitor driver, with in-tree consumers in nvmem and power-domain code; `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/firmware/meson/meson_sm.c` showed sustained activity through 2026, including the cited v5 patch, so this is not an abandoned legacy block. `web.search_query` found an active Khadas VIM4 retail page and current docs for A311D2-based boards, supporting continued new-hardware availability. No natural replacement driver exists; this is the platform-specific SM firmware interface used by dependent Meson subsystems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1945455359355531, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1472765019, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757489480, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/microchip", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ec5b0f1193ad461e53d083edad8fab0298fe68e3", "claim": "Initial upstream addition of the PolarFire SoC Auto Update support driver on 2023-12-06." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c7596f9001e2b83293e3658e4e1addde69bb335d", "claim": "Recent substantive maintenance continued through 2026-03-26 with a probe fix for missing flash." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "Microchip still markets the PolarFire SoC FPGA family, including newer PolarFire Core SoC variants, for Linux-capable embedded systems." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas/get-started", "claim": "Microchip still advertises current PolarFire SoC kits/platforms such as the Icicle Kit and Video Kit, indicating ongoing new deployments and evaluation usage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: `mpfs-auto-update.c` is a platform driver using `module_platform_driver`, inspected locally via `exec_command`. `lore-http` MCP was unavailable in this session and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was checked with local `git log`/`git grep` via `exec_command`; no remove/deprecate hits were found for this driver, and substantive fixes continue into 2026. The two kernel.org commit URLs are canonical-recall URLs derived from those local commit hashes. The two Microchip URLs were obtained by `web.search_query` and show the product family and kits are still actively sold/marketed. This is niche FPGA-management hardware, so present-day deployment is low rather than broad, but it is current hardware with active upstream maintenance and no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1701864705, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774523651, "top_author": "Conor Dooley", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/psci", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm PSCI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7ff37d29fd5c", "claim": "Bug-fix activity continued in 2025 with `firmware: psci: Fix refcount leak in psci_dt_init`, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3e251afaec9a", "claim": "The subsystem gained new functionality in late 2024 (`SYSTEM_OFF2` hibernate power-off support), which argues against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/arch/arm64/cpu-hotplug.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation says arm64 CPU hotplug is commonly implemented using PSCI, including on virtual systems, showing ongoing real deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.14/arch/arm64/arm-acpi.html", "claim": "Current Arm ACPI documentation describes Arm systems and servers as active Linux targets in which firmware interfaces remain part of the supported boot/power-management model." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/arm/psci.yaml", "claim": "The in-tree DT binding for PSCI remains present and current, reflecting continuing support for PSCI-described Arm platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/firmware/psci` is real kernel firmware-driver code (`psci.o`, `psci_checker.o`), not a helper-only directory. Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` (shell); it shows substantive fixes/features in 2024-2025 and no sign of removal. The two commit URLs are canonical kernel.org commit pages recalled from the hashes obtained via shell. Deployment evidence came from web search hits to current kernel docs (`cpu-hotplug.html`, `arm-acpi.html`), plus local source grep showing many arm64 DTS files still using `enable-method = \"psci\"`; the DT binding URL is a canonical kernel.org tree page recalled from that local path. PSCI is a firmware interface used across contemporary Arm servers, SoCs, and VMs, so there is no like-for-like upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1555059577, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746726573, "top_author": "Marc Zyngier", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/qcom", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm SCM / QSEECOM / TZMem", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOM_SCM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_QCOM_SCM is present through current kernels and matches many recent Qualcomm platforms, including 2024-2026 era laptops and boards such as Lenovo ThinkPad T14s, Dell XPS 13 9345, ASUS Zenbook A14, and qcom,hamoa-iot-evk." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOM_QSEECOM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_QCOM_QSEECOM is an active in-tree driver option in modern kernels, tied to this directory since Linux 6.7." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/laptops-and-tablets/laptop-device-finder/lenovo-thinkpad-t14s", "claim": "Qualcomm's device page markets the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s as a current Snapdragon X Elite/X Plus/X2 Elite laptop, indicating ongoing new-system deployments that depend on Qualcomm secure firmware interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/us/News/pufunqtmtcsxa2t7/", "claim": "ASUS announced on January 27, 2025 that the Snapdragon X-series Zenbook A14 was available for purchase in the United States, supporting the conclusion that this driver family is used by hardware sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows real platform-driver code for Qualcomm Secure Channel Manager, QSEECOM, and TZ shared-memory handling, not helper-only assets. Upstream vitality is strong from provided static history: 93 substantive commits in 5 years, most recent touch 2026-01-13, 32 authors, directory created in 2023 and still changing; no removal signal was found. I could not query lore directly because the advertised `lore-http` MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so removal-discussion assessment is based on the supplied history plus absence of web-findable removal evidence. URLs were obtained via web search/open for LKDDb and official Qualcomm/ASUS product pages.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 93, "first_touch_ts": 1697991294, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768328074, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/samsung", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Google Tensor GS101 / Samsung Exynos ACPM", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=bad0d1260b6d", "claim": "Latest substantive upstream work in this directory was in October 2025, adding ACPM clock device registration, which is evidence of active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a88927b534ba", "claim": "The driver was introduced recently, in 2025, so it is not legacy code aging out of the tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EXYNOS_ACPM_PROTOCOL.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this driver to CONFIG_EXYNOS_ACPM_PROTOCOL and specifically lists the DT compatible google,gs101-acpm-ipc, indicating a narrow deployment footprint centered on GS101-class devices." }, { "url": "https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705", "claim": "Google's Pixel update page shows Pixel 6a remains supported for software updates into 2027, which supports a conclusion of ongoing but limited active deployments today." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not helper-only code: local inspection with exec_command showed module_platform_driver() and MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Samsung Exynos ACPM mailbox protocol driver\") in exynos-acpm.c plus PMIC/DVFS protocol code. Upstream activity was checked with exec_command using local git log on the directory; it showed a continuous 2025 patch stream and no removal/deprecation-themed commits, so there is no sign of active removal talk. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and confirms the only listed DT compatible is google,gs101-acpm-ipc, pointing to a narrow GS101/Tensor-era phone deployment rather than broad new hardware sales. The Google support URL is a canonical recall used only to justify that devices are still in service; combined with the GS101-specific match, that supports keep/no replacement, with low current deployments and no evidence the hardware is still sold new in 2025.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1739702751, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760942990, "top_author": "Tudor Ambarus", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/smccc", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "Arm SMCCC (Secure Monitor Call Calling Convention)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260309100507.2303361-1-aneesh.kumar@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-09, upstream was still adding/reshaping SMCCC platform-device support for Arm CCA auxiliary drivers, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20250428210742.435282-2-romank@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "In 2025, upstream SMCCC work was still being extended for arm64/KVM and Hyper-V hypervisor UUID and presence detection, showing current deployment relevance in virtualized Arm systems." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/architectures/system-architectures/software-standards/smccc", "claim": "Arm documents SMCCC as a current architecture-standard firmware calling convention, so this directory implements architectural platform plumbing rather than a one-off obsolete device." }, { "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-cobalt-100-based-virtual-machines-are-now-generally-available//", "claim": "Microsoft announced Azure Cobalt 100 Arm-based VMs as generally available in October 2024, evidencing ongoing new Arm server/cloud deployments in the 2025 era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory contains active Arm firmware-interface code (SMCCC core, KVM guest support, SoC ID bus exposure), not dead legacy glue. lore_file_timeline on smccc.c showed heavy recent activity through 2025-2026, including new CCA-related work; lore_substr_subject for 'smccc' surfaced 2025 Hyper-V/KVM integration patches. Web search produced the Arm SMCCC standards page and Azure Cobalt 100 GA page, supporting that SMCCC-backed Arm firmware/hypervisor environments are still shipping in new server/cloud deployments. No removal/deprecation evidence was found; there is no natural replacement driver because this is the architectural interface itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21658772171443338, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1589998237, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749646541, "top_author": "Shameer Kolothum", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/tegra", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra BPMP / IVC firmware interface", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-tegra/?t=20250715102828", "claim": "linux-tegra traffic in July 2025 included a Tegra firmware pull request, a build-fix patch, and a v2 BPMP patch series adding Tegra264 support." }, { "url": "https://git.sceen.net/linux/linux-stable.git/log/drivers/firmware?showmsg=1", "claim": "The kernel log for drivers/firmware shows Tegra firmware changes merged in 2025, including the 2025-09-15 fix \"firmware: tegra: Do not warn on missing memory-region property\" and the tegra-for-6.17-firmware merge." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TEGRA_BPMP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TEGRA_BPMP is present through current kernels and covers Tegra BPMP support, with compatibles including nvidia,tegra186-bpmp and nvidia,tegra210-bpmp." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "NVIDIA was still marketing Jetson Orin production modules and developer kits for sale in 2025, indicating ongoing new deployments of Tegra SoCs using this firmware interface." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active upstream firmware driver, not a legacy orphan. Lore MCP path queries/timeouts were attempted first (`lore_activity`, `lore_subsystem_churn`, `lore_regex`, `lore_count`) but did not return usable path evidence; I then used web search against public-inbox mirrors and kernel log pages. `lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org` was obtained via web search and shows 2025 BPMP/Tegra264 work, which strongly argues against deprecation or removal. `git.sceen.net` was obtained via web search and confirms merged 2025 Tegra firmware fixes. `cateee.net` was obtained via web search and shows the driver remains configured in current kernels. NVIDIA's Jetson Orin page was obtained via web search and supports that compatible Tegra hardware was still sold new in 2025. No natural in-tree replacement exists; BPMP is the required firmware transport for supported Tegra SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13812369709570127, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1479476022, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757953689, "top_author": "Thierry Reding", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/firmware/xilinx", "subsystem": "firmware", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC and Versal firmware interface", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260408114244.2852015-3-ronak.jain@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream development is active in 2026; this patch adds new zynqmp firmware functionality rather than maintenance-only cleanup." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20251021113003.13650-3-ajay.neeli@amd.com/", "claim": "The directory continues to gain new secure read/write IOCTL support in 2025, indicating ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs as current products, with long lifecycle language extending UltraScale+ adaptive SoCs through 2045." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Versal adaptive SoCs, including current product families relevant to the driver's compatible strings." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real platform firmware driver, not helper-only code: Kconfig enables a firmware interface driver and zynqmp.c binds compatibles xlnx,zynqmp-firmware, xlnx,versal-firmware, and xlnx,versal-net-firmware. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on drivers/firmware/xilinx/zynqmp.c found dense 2023-2026 patch traffic with feature additions from multiple AMD authors; cited lore URLs came from those MCP tool calls. A removal/deprecation subject scan via lore_regex timed out and a fallback lei query was blocked by local sandboxing, so removal evidence is absent rather than formally disproven. AMD product pages were obtained via web search on amd.com and show the underlying SoC families are still current, so this directory should be kept rather than deprecated; there is no natural replacement driver for the same firmware interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05449509631809519, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 60, "first_touch_ts": 1537944451, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769147323, "top_author": "Ronak Jain", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fpga", "subsystem": "fpga", "chipset_family": "FPGA configuration/bridge subsystem for Intel/Altera, AMD/Xilinx, Lattice, Microchip, and related FPGA platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fpga/20260322-remove-device-find-by-of-node-v1-9-b72eb22a1215@gmail.com/", "claim": "Core framework file fpga-mgr.c was still receiving upstream changes in March 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fpga/20250225163510.4168911-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "A concrete per-driver update landed for versal-fpga.c in February 2025, showing current attention to modern FPGA hardware support." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/fpga/fpga-mgr.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the FPGA manager core as a manufacturer-agnostic framework intended to support adding new FPGA devices, which matches this directory's role as an active subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Versal adaptive SoCs and states long lifecycle availability through 2045+ for major Versal portfolios, evidencing ongoing new-hardware relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/fpga/agilex/3.html", "claim": "Intel/Altera still markets Agilex 3 FPGA and SoC FPGA devices, evidencing continued new deployments in the Intel FPGA family covered by this subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local tree inspection (shell: rg/sed on drivers/fpga and Kconfig) shows a live subsystem spanning FPGA manager/bridge/region core plus vendor drivers for AMD/Xilinx, Intel/Altera, Lattice, and Microchip. lore_activity on fpga-mgr.c and versal-fpga.c produced the cited lore URLs and showed 2025-2026 maintenance traffic; I found no concrete subsystem removal signal. kernel.org doc URL came from web search and confirms the framework is for adding new FPGA devices. AMD and Intel URLs came from web search and show current product families still sold, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Replacement driver is null because this directory is the upstream framework itself, not a superseded single-device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04326620466757288, "commits_5y": 196, "substantive_commits_5y": 187, "first_touch_ts": 1444237695, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769072886, "top_author": "Peter Colberg", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 42, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fsi", "subsystem": "fsi", "chipset_family": "IBM POWER FSI / CFAM", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260413115215.2772502-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "April 2026 LKML patch fixes a refcount leak in fsi-core, showing active upstream maintenance in the current cycle." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/power-s1022", "claim": "IBM markets the Power S1022 as a Power10 server designed to run Linux, indicating the underlying POWER platform is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10?topic=9105-22a-power-s1022", "claim": "IBM documentation for the Power S1022 was updated on February 5, 2025, reinforcing that this Power10 platform remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/POWER9/p9eih/p9eih_openbmc_kickoff.htm?pos=3", "claim": "IBM documents OpenBMC-based management for Power Systems servers, matching the BMC-facing deployment model used by the FSI stack." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2700/", "claim": "ASPEED still sells the AST2700 BMC family, a current server-management SoC generation relevant to the in-tree Aspeed FSI master support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: shell inspection of drivers/fsi/Kconfig/Makefile showed a real bus+driver stack (FSI core, Aspeed/GPIO/I2CR masters, SCOM/SBEFIFO/OCC clients), not docs/helpers/tests. Shell-read DT bindings in-tree also showed current Aspeed AST2600 and AST2700 FSI-master compatibles. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity MCP queries produced recent 2026 fix traffic on fsi-core and fsi-master-aspeed; no successful lore evidence of a removal series surfaced. Web-search-obtained IBM and ASPEED URLs show the stack still maps to shipping IBM Power/OpenBMC server hardware. Deployment is niche rather than broad, so 'low' fits, but it is still live and lacks a natural replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05000507257299278, "commits_5y": 78, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1486736388, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769528136, "top_author": "Eddie James", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fwctl", "subsystem": "fwctl", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: core fwctl firmware-access framework code plus child-driver glue, not a standalone hardware-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1741288290, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744415265, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fwctl/bnxt", "subsystem": "fwctl", "chipset_family": "Broadcom NetXtreme-E 574xx/575xx/576xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6124853.html", "claim": "March 27, 2026 reply from Jason Gunthorpe says the v6 fwctl/bnxt_fwctl series was applied, showing active upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6009308.html", "claim": "The initial fwctl/bnxt_fwctl cover letter states the driver targets Broadcom NetXtreme 574xx, 575xx, and 576xx devices via the bnxt driver firmware interface." }, { "url": "https://catalog.redhat.com/en/hardware/components/detail/6224", "claim": "Red Hat hardware catalog lists Broadcom NetXtreme-E BCM57414 with RHEL 10.1 certification, indicating ongoing supported deployment in current enterprise Linux environments." }, { "url": "https://lenovopress.lenovo.com/lp1417-thinksystem-broadcom-57508-100gbe-ethernet-adapters", "claim": "Lenovo published and updated a 57508 adapter product guide on June 9, 2025, evidence that this chipset family was still being sold into new server deployments in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed `drivers/fwctl` exists in this snapshot but no `bnxt` subdir yet, so the snapshot appears to predate merge. Upstream activity was checked via web search because lore MCP was unavailable here: the Spinics thread for v6 shows the series was applied, and the earlier cover letter identifies the supported NetXtreme-E families. Deployment evidence came from web search results on Red Hat's hardware catalog and Lenovo Press product guide. This is a new/landing fwctl driver for still-current server NICs, with no same-scope replacement driver, so removal/deprecation is not supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fwctl/mlx5", "subsystem": "fwctl", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX mlx5", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5842663.html", "claim": "Patch series posted on 2025-09-08 adds new fwctl/mlx5 firmware RPC commands, indicating ongoing upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/8/11/1429", "claim": "A 2025-08-11 review thread for a fwctl/mlx5 memory-management fix shows active maintenance and bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/commit/?id=52929c21420412b74858ee4ce71480ff9f398019", "claim": "The upstream commit merged in March 2025 introduced fwctl/mlx5 as support for communicating with mlx5 firmware, confirming the driver is very new." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/ethernet-adapters/", "claim": "NVIDIA's current ConnectX NIC product page lists ConnectX-6 Dx, ConnectX-7, and ConnectX-8/SuperNIC products, so mlx5-family hardware is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx8supernic/introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA documentation for ConnectX-8 SuperNIC describes current-generation mlx5-family hardware aimed at new AI/cloud deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed a real auxiliary kernel driver (`module_auxiliary_driver`, `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"mlx5 ConnectX fwctl driver\")`) in `drivers/fwctl/mlx5/main.c`. Local git log via exec_command showed the directory was introduced in March 2025 and touched again in September 2025. The cited spinics/LKML URLs were obtained via web search and show active feature and fix traffic; no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced. The NVIDIA product/doc URLs were obtained via web search and show current ConnectX-family hardware remains on sale, so this driver is for actively deployed datacenter NICs rather than obsolete legacy hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1741288393, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758114129, "top_author": "Saeed Mahameed", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/fwctl/pds", "subsystem": "fwctl", "chipset_family": "AMD Pensando DSC / PDS core DPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1074289.html", "claim": "March 2025 patch cover letter describes pds_fwctl as the fwctl auxiliary-bus driver for AMD/Pensando core devices, tied to PDS core/DSC hardware rather than a generic helper." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5818236.html", "claim": "August 22, 2025 thread says a pds_fwctl cleanup patch was 'Applied thanks', indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/9/17/1459", "claim": "September 2025 review thread shows another pds_fwctl fix under active review/testing, with AMD maintainer involvement." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD's current Pensando DPU page lists Salina, Giglio, and Elba products and describes ongoing adoption in hyperscale/cloud environments." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/pensando-technical-docs/product-briefs/pensando-dsc-200-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "AMD's DSC2-200 brief says host-mode deployments require host drivers and agents, matching the use case of this Linux fwctl driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local file inspection shows module_auxiliary_driver(pdsfc_driver) in drivers/fwctl/pds/main.c. Local git log (shell with git -c safe.directory=...) shows the driver was introduced in March 2025 and still had substantive fixes in Aug/Sep 2025, plus only treewide churn in Feb 2026. Web search found the March 2025 spinics netdev patchset cover letter identifying it as an AMD/Pensando PDS-core fwctl driver, and Aug/Sep 2025 spinics/LKML threads showing applied/reviewed fixes; I found no removal discussion in the searched archive results. Web search also found AMD's current Pensando product page and DSC2-200 brief, which show the hardware family remained actively marketed and that host-mode deployments still need host drivers. Because the driver is young, recently maintained, and attached to still-sold Pensando DPU/DSC hardware, deprecation is not supported. Deployment is 'low' because this is a niche host-side management path for specialized data-center DPUs, not a mass-market NIC class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1742601475, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758547990, "top_author": "Shannon Nelson", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gnss", "subsystem": "gnss", "chipset_family": "GNSS receivers (u-blox UBX, MediaTek, SiRFstar, generic USB/serial NMEA-class devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250911-ubx-safeboot-v3-2-32fe6b882a3c@geotab.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work touched drivers/gnss/ubx.c in 2025 ('add support for the safeboot gpio'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/b4-sent/20250514-ubx-m9-v1-2-193973a4f3ca@geotab.com/", "claim": "New hardware enablement for a current u-blox generation ('add u-blox,neo-m9 compatible') was posted in 2025, showing ongoing support for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.19-rc7/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The GNSS subsystem is listed as 'Maintained' and explicitly covers drivers/gnss/." }, { "url": "https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/neo-m9n-module", "claim": "u-blox's NEO-M9N GNSS module page shows a current product with UART/USB/SPI/I2C interfaces and a 'Buy Now' path, supporting that relevant hardware is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains GNSS receiver core plus USB/serdev drivers. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no aggregate hits, so I checked file-level lore_activity instead; that produced 2025 feature patches for ubx.c, including safeboot GPIO support and NEO-M9 compatibility, with lore URLs above. Web search found docs.kernel.org maintainers showing the subsystem is maintained, and the u-blox product page shows current sale/new-design relevance. No natural replacement driver exists for the same use case; this directory is the in-tree GNSS stack. Result: keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1428958348593166, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1530185387, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763653444, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/agilent_82350b", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "Agilent/Keysight 82350A/82350B/82351A PCI GPIB controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6007966.html", "claim": "The driver had a real upstream fix posted on January 16, 2026, indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg34964.html", "claim": "The GPIB stack, including this driver directory, was explicitly destaged into drivers/ in November 2025, which is strong evidence of recent subsystem investment." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/us/en/product/82350B/pci-high-performance-gpib-interface-card.html", "claim": "Keysight marks the 82350B PCI GPIB card as Obsolete and names 82350C as the replacement product." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/us/en/product/82350C/high-performance-pci-gpib-interface-card.html", "claim": "Keysight still markets the 82350C PCI GPIB card, showing the use case remains relevant even though 82350B hardware is obsolete." }, { "url": "https://docs.keysight.com/kkbopen/which-keysight-io-interface-products-are-supported-by-io-libraries-suite-for-linux-589729232.html", "claim": "Keysight's Linux IO support documentation still lists PCI/PCIe GPIB hardware as supported, consistent with ongoing niche lab/industrial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed a real PCI driver with IDs for 82350A/82350B/82351A and recent non-treewide history; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed a substantive January 2026 fix plus the November 2025 destaging. Web search found the active maintenance patch on spinics and the gpib destaging thread; separate web searches found Keysight's official 82350B obsolete page, current 82350C product page, and Linux IO support FAQ. I found no removal-thread evidence in the available searches. Net: hardware is legacy/obsolete, deployments are likely niche legacy test setups, but upstream attention is recent enough that removal/deprecation would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526246, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/agilent_82357a", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "Agilent/Keysight 82357A/B USB-GPIB adapter", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-3-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "Upstream saw a substantive fix for agilent_82357a in January 2026, indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The driver was moved out of staging into drivers/gpib in November 2025, showing recent upstream promotion rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/se/en/product/82357B/usb-gpib-interface-high-speed-usb-2-0.html", "claim": "Keysight still listed the 82357B product page with direct sales / partner sales and buying options, supporting that the hardware remained sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://helpfiles.keysight.com/IO_Libraries_Suite/English/IOLS_Windows/IOLS/Content/Contextual_Topics/Device_Properties/edit_usb-gpib_interface.htm", "claim": "Keysight IO Libraries documentation explicitly covers Keysight 82357 USB/GPIB interfaces on Linux and multiple adapters per PC, supporting ongoing real-world deployment in lab/instrument-control setups." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local source inspection via shell showed a real USB GPIB driver for Agilent/Keysight 82357A/B. Local git history via shell showed only four commits on this path, but two are important: 2025-11-24 destaging into drivers/gpib and 2026-01-27 a real bug fix; the two patch.msgid.link URLs were obtained directly from `git show` output. I attempted lore-first verification with `lei`, but `lei` is not installed here and the advertised lore MCP server is unavailable in this session, so removal-talk checking fell back to local upstream git history. Keysight product and help URLs were obtained with web search/open; they show the 82357B still marketed for sale and documented for Linux. This looks like niche test-and-measurement hardware with low but continuing deployments, and no natural in-tree replacement for the same adapter.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526246, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/cb7210", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "Measurement Computing CB7210.2 / CBI488.2 GPIB interfaces", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-4-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "January 2026 upstream patch touching cb7210 shows recent non-removal maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-5-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "A second January 2026 cb7210 cleanup patch indicates ongoing upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_CB7210.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies the supported hardware as Measurement Computing/Quancom ISA/PCI/PCMCIA GPIB boards using the cb7210 family and shows the driver present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.mccdaq.com/pdfs/manuals/ROHS-hw.pdf", "claim": "Current Measurement Computing product listing includes USB-488 but does not list old PCI/ISA/PCMCIA GPIB boards, supporting that cb7210-board hardware is no longer sold new by the original vendor in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.automation.com/article/measurement-computing-releases-new-pc-based-daq-ca", "claim": "A 2005 Measurement Computing catalog announcement explicitly described MCC's GPIB offerings on legacy PC buses, confirming the family is from an older product era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via shell `sed` shows a real module driver for Measurement Computing GPIB boards using cb7210.2/cbi488.2. Upstream activity was checked via local `git log` on the directory; that yielded the two 2026 patch.msgid links and the 2025 destaging move, with no evidence of an active removal series in the observed history. Hardware/deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDb for supported board names/buses, MCC's current RoHS product PDF showing USB-488 but not these PCI/ISA/PCMCIA boards, and a 2005 MCC catalog news item showing the family belongs to an older generation. Conclusion: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/niche industrial-lab hardware with low present-day deployment and no obvious in-tree replacement for the same boards.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526246, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/cec", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "CEC PCI-488 / Keithley KPCI-488", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The GPIB subtree, including this driver, was moved out of staging into drivers in November 2025, indicating active upstream acceptance rather than pending removal." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-8-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "This driver received driver-specific cleanup work in January 2026, showing recent substantive maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_CEC_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_GPIB_CEC_PCI to Capital Equipment Corp vendor ID 12fc, device 5cec, and describes it as support for Capital Equipment Corporation PCI-488 and Keithley KPCI-488 boards." }, { "url": "https://linux-gpib.sourceforge.io/doc_html/supported-hardware.html", "claim": "Linux-GPIB lists the supported board as Capital Equipment Corporation PCI-488 using the cec_gpib module, suggesting a narrow legacy hardware footprint." }, { "url": "https://www.tek.com/en/support/software/driver/cec488-driver-ver-70-gpib-cards-kpci-488-kpc-4882-kpc-4882at-v70-use-isa-bus-interfaces-and", "claim": "Public vendor-hosted software material for related CEC/KPCI-488 hardware is dated 2008, consistent with old, no-longer-new product lines rather than current-volume sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep with annotation, not deprecate/remove: the strongest upstream evidence is recent positive maintenance, not removal talk. `git show` via `exec_command` exposed patch.msgid links for the November 2025 destaging series and January 2026 cec-specific cleanup series. Deployment looks low because web search results for LKDDb and Linux-GPIB show only a small set of legacy Capital Equipment/Keithley PCI-488 boards; Tektronix-hosted related driver downloads found via `web.search_query` are from 2008. I infer 'not sold new in 2025' from that legacy-only public footprint; exact last widely available year is uncertain, so left null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526246, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/common", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared GPIB common support code under a subsystem-level 'common' directory, not a standalone hardware-specific driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775133040, "top_author": "Adam Crosser", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/eastwood", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "Fluke cda", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.75, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The GPIB subtree, including eastwood, was moved out of staging into drivers in November 2025, indicating maintainers considered it worthy of mainline retention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-9-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "Eastwood received a non-mechanical cleanup/fix in January 2026." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-10-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "Eastwood received another targeted correctness fix in January 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5958719.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list traffic still included driver-specific bug-fix patches for fluke_gpib in December 2025, showing ongoing upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_FLUKE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_GPIB_FLUKE is present in current kernels and binds the OF compatible flk,fgpib-4.0, confirming it is an active in-tree supported driver." }, { "url": "https://www.fluke.com/en-us/products/calibration-tools/data-acquisition-and-general-test", "claim": "Current Fluke data-acquisition catalog pages show present-day product families, but no visible 'cda' line; this supports treating the hardware as niche/legacy rather than a broadly marketed current platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains module code for fluke_gpib. Shell `git log` on the path showed recent substantive fixes (Jan 16, 2026) and destaging into `drivers/` on Nov 17, 2025; the patch.msgid links came from commit metadata in that local shell output. Web search found Dec 2025 fluke_gpib fix traffic on Spinics and no removal/deprecation thread in the searched results, so removal is not indicated. Web search also found LKDDb coverage in current kernels. Hardware evidence is weaker: the driver targets Fluke cda hardware with a custom cb7210/pl330-based design, and Fluke's current catalog page did not surface a cda line, so I infer legacy/niche deployments remain but new 2025 sales are unlikely. Because upstream attention is current but the hardware appears specialized and not obviously current-market, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526246, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/fmh_gpib", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "fmh_gpib_core", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://linux-gpib.sourceforge.io/doc_html/supported-hardware.html", "claim": "Describes fmh_gpib_core as a GPIB chip written in VHDL for programming into an FPGA, with deployment via device-tree-defined FPGA resources rather than a mainstream retail board." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_FMH.html", "claim": "Shows CONFIG_GPIB_FMH in mainline kernels after staging, and lists only the OF compatible \"fmhess,fmh_gpib_core\" plus bogus PCI IDs ffff:0000, indicating niche/nonstandard hardware enumeration." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/gpib/fmh_gpib/fmh_gpib.c.html", "claim": "Confirms the driver targets fmh_gpib_core, matches OF compatible \"fmhess,fmh_gpib_core\", and uses bogus Fluke PCI IDs rather than normal production IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory. Local shell inspection of fmh_gpib.c confirmed module_init/module_exit and platform+PCI registration. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log --follow -- drivers/gpib/fmh_gpib` showed the driver was destaged into drivers/gpib on 2025-11-17 and received two non-mechanical fixes on 2026-01-16, which argues against deprecation/removal despite low commit volume. I could not get lore MCP access in this session, so upstream-attention evidence came from local git history instead. URL evidence was obtained by web search: `turn0search0`/`turn2search0` for the linux-gpib supported-hardware page, `turn0search2`/`turn2search2` for LKDDb, and `turn2search1` for codebrowser. Conclusion: extremely niche FPGA-based GPIB hardware, likely low deployment and not a mainstream new-sale product in 2025, but recently promoted from staging and still seeing fixes; keep it, with annotation that it serves a narrow legacy/lab FPGA niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526247, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/gpio", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "Raspberry Pi GPIO GPIB bitbang adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The driver entered mainline in late 2025 as part of the linux-gpib destaging work, so it is newly upstream rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-14-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "The directory received a substantive maintainer cleanup in January 2026, indicating continued upstream attention after destaging." }, { "url": "https://lightside-instruments.com/product/gpib4pi/", "claim": "A current commercial gpib4pi board is offered for sale/backorder and is described as compatible with the gpib_bitbang driver." }, { "url": "https://pip.raspberrypi.com/categories/545", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B product materials were updated through 2025-10-06 and 2026-04-01, supporting that compatible Raspberry Pi host hardware remains current." }, { "url": "https://linux-gpib.sourceforge.io/doc_html/supported-hardware.html", "claim": "Linux-GPIB documents this as a Raspberry Pi-only GPIO bitbang adapter with notable functional limits, implying a niche deployment profile rather than broad general-purpose use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source shows a real module driver for Raspberry Pi GPIO-based IEEE-488/GPIB adapters. The two patch.msgid.link URLs were obtained from local `git show` Link tags for the destaging commit and the January 2026 follow-up cleanup; I found no evidence of an upstream removal series. Web search/open provided the Lightside gpib4pi product page and Raspberry Pi product portal, which show matching hardware still available/current in 2025-2026. Web search/open also provided Linux-GPIB supported-hardware docs showing the driver is limited to Raspberry Pi bitbang controller use, so deployments are likely low and specialized. Because the driver is new upstream, still maintained, and tied to still-sold niche hardware, removal/deprecation is not justified; annotate as niche instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526247, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/hp_82335", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "HP 82335 / HP 27209 ISA GPIB (HP-IB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_HP82335.html", "claim": "CONFIG_GPIB_HP82335 is still present in current kernels, covers HP82335/HP27209, and depends on ISA_BUS." }, { "url": "https://www.artisantg.com/TestMeasurement/58251-1/Keysight-Agilent-82335-HP-IB-GPIB-ISA-Interface-Card", "claim": "82335 is marketed today as a used/tested HP-IB GPIB ISA interface card, with stock shown and product family 82335/82335A/82335B/27209." }, { "url": "https://www.alliancetesteq.com/equipment/agilent-hp-82335", "claim": "82335 is described as an ISA/EISA GPIB interface card and offered as new-from-surplus stock, indicating lingering legacy-market availability rather than mainstream OEM sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/gpib/hp_82335/hp82335.c shows a real module_init GPIB driver for manually configured legacy ISA memory/IRQ hardware, built around the shared tms9914 core. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/gpib/hp_82335` shows recent upstream attention: destaged on 2025-11-17, then two substantive hp_82335 cleanups on 2026-01-16; later Feb 2026 touches are treewide/mechanical. I attempted lore discovery via web searches for `hp82335`/`drivers/gpib/hp_82335` and found no indexed removal thread, so there is no evidence of active upstream removal talk. Cited URLs were obtained by web search: LKDDb for in-tree/current-kernel support, ArtisanTG and Alliance Test for present-day surplus market evidence. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is clearly obsolete and deployments are likely limited to legacy lab/industrial ISA systems, but the driver was only recently promoted out of staging and still receives some upstream maintenance.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526247, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/hp_82341", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "HP/Agilent 82341 ISA/EISA HP-IB (GPIB) interface", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpib/agilent_82350b", "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The GPIB stack, including hp_82341, was actively moved out of staging into drivers in late 2025 rather than being targeted for removal." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260116174647.317256-17-dominik.karol.piatkowski@protonmail.com", "claim": "hp_82341 received a non-mechanical cleanup in January 2026, showing at least some current upstream maintenance attention." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/us/en/product/82341B/highperformance-hpib-card-for-windows.html", "claim": "Keysight lists 82341B as Obsolete and describes it as an ISA/EISA HP-IB card for old Windows platforms, indicating the hardware family is long out of current sales." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/us/en/product/82341C/isa-gpib-interface-card-for-windows.html", "claim": "Keysight lists 82341C as Obsolete; it is an ISA GPIB interface for Windows 95/98/NT/2000, reinforcing that this is legacy PC-bus hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/il/en/assets/9018-05184/installation-guides/9018-05184.pdf", "claim": "The 82335/82340/82341 install-guide errata says Agilent no longer sells or supports the product family." }, { "url": "https://forums.ni.com/t5/Instrument-Control-GPIB-Serial/is-HP-IB-E2078A-82350A-PCI-usable-instead-HP-IB82341-ISAcard/td-p/532144", "claim": "A 2007 NI forum thread discusses replacing an HP 82341 ISA card with an Agilent 82350A PCI card, which is consistent with hp_82341 surviving mainly in legacy lab/industrial setups and 82350-class hardware being the natural newer vendor path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains a real kernel driver (local shell read of hp_82341.c showed module metadata and probe logic). Upstream activity was established from local git history via shell: destaging in Nov 2025 and a driver-specific cleanup in Jan 2026; no removal/deprecation hit was found in local path history grep. Product-status evidence came from web search result URLs on Keysight product pages and the archived install-guide PDF; deployment evidence came from the NI forum URL returned by web search. Hardware is clearly obsolete ISA-era instrumentation I/O, but the driver was only recently promoted from staging and still sees some maintenance, so removal/deprecation is premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526247, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/ines", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "INES iGPIB 72010", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/11/10/601", "claim": "The GPIB subsystem, including drivers/gpib/ines, was explicitly destaged into mainline in November 2025, which is evidence of recent upstream investment rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6007996.html", "claim": "The driver received a targeted cleanup patch in January 2026 ('gpib: ines: Unify *allocate_private usage'), showing current upstream maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_INES.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_GPIB_INES to drivers/gpib/ines and describes supported boards as INES-compatible hardware based on the iGPIB 72010 chip." }, { "url": "https://www.inesinc.com/products/gpib-products.html", "claim": "INES still advertised multiple GPIB controller products, including PCI, CompactPCI, PCMCIA and PC/104 variants, indicating the hardware family remains commercially offered in the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI GPIB driver module (`ines_gpib.c`) for INES-compatible boards. URL 1 was obtained via web search and shows the 2025 destaging series moving gpib drivers into `drivers/gpib`, so there is no removal trend. URL 2 was obtained via web search and shows a 2026 driver-specific patch, which argues against deprecation. URL 3 was obtained via web search and ties this directory to INES iGPIB 72010-based boards. URL 4 was obtained via web search and shows current INES GPIB product offerings; that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`, but deployments are still likely low because this is specialized industrial/test-equipment bus hardware. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same INES boards, so removal/deprecation would strand supported hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526247, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/lpvo_usb_gpib", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "LPVO USB-GPIB adapter (FTDI-based USB IEEE-488 controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e6ab504633e4c06e35377ecf3c8cbc304de79858", "claim": "The driver entered the main kernel tree when linux-gpib was destaged on 2025-11-24, so it is a recently promoted in-tree driver rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=163cc462dea7d5b75be4db49ca78a2b99c55375e", "claim": "The driver received a substantive binding fix on 2026-03-11, showing active post-merge maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5cefb52c1af6f69ea719e42788f6ec6a087eb74c", "claim": "The driver received a substantive memory-leak fix on 2026-04-02, indicating current upstream attention rather than removal prep." }, { "url": "https://lpvo.fe.uni-lj.si/en/services/prototype-development/gpib-interfaces/", "claim": "The vendor/lab page says the newer LPVO controller version is sold as an assembled kit, so hardware is still obtainable new, albeit as a niche product." }, { "url": "https://linux-gpib.sourceforge.io/doc_html/supported-hardware.html", "claim": "Linux-GPIB still lists the LPVO self-made adapter as supported hardware, which points to ongoing niche lab deployment rather than zero usage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: one kernel module source under drivers/gpib with USB driver structure and module metadata, confirmed by local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`). Upstream activity was checked with local `git log`/`git show`; no removal signal surfaced, and the only recent changes are functional fixes after mainline inclusion. The three git.kernel.org commit URLs were added by canonical recall from the commit IDs obtained via shell. The LPVO and linux-gpib URLs were obtained via web search results. Conclusion: niche USB-GPIB lab hardware, still obtainable new as a kit and still seeing active fixes, so removal/deprecation is not justified; annotate as low-deployment specialist hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775133030, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/nec7210", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains shared GPIB NEC uPD7210 support/library code (exports symbols, no device binding/entry-point), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/ni_usb", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "National Instruments USB GPIB adapters (USB-B, USB-HS, USB-HS+; also KUSB-488A / MC USB-488 IDs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251117144021.23569-5-dpenkler@gmail.com", "claim": "The gpib stack, including ni_usb, was moved out of staging into drivers in late 2025, indicating active upstream investment rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=78047416f80007b25062bd4791d98e24c0aaa687", "claim": "ni_usb received a direct bug fix on 2026-01-27, showing current maintenance activity after destaging." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/model.gpib-usb-hs-.html", "claim": "NI still listed the GPIB-USB-HS+ product/support page in 2026, supporting that at least one covered adapter family remained an active commercial product around and after 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains usb_driver probe/disconnect paths and MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE entries for NI/KUSB/MC USB-GPIB adapters. Upstream activity was checked with local shell `git log` and `git show`; those showed destaging into `drivers/` on 2025-11-24 and ni_usb-specific fixes on 2026-01-16 and 2026-01-27. The patch URL came from `git show` output (`Link:` field). The kernel.org commit URL is canonical recall constructed from the locally observed commit hash. Market evidence came from web search, which returned NI's live GPIB-USB-HS+ page. Conclusion: this is a niche test-and-measurement/industrial adapter class with low deployment volume, but it is newly destaged and still seeing fixes, so removal/deprecation is not supported; keep it, with annotation that it serves a narrow legacy/lab niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526248, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/pc2", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "PC2/PC2a-compatible NEC7210 ISA GPIB", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/11/10/601", "claim": "A November 10, 2025 patch series proposed destaging the GPIB drivers, showing active upstream work on this subsystem rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e6ab504633e4c06e35377ecf3c8cbc304de79858", "claim": "Commit 'staging: gpib: Destage gpib' landed on November 17, 2025, moving this driver tree into drivers/gpib." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c2a9f77c0e03622880405f5699010b4835d2d619", "claim": "The pc2 driver received a substantive cleanup commit on January 16, 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance after destaging." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GPIB_PC2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_GPIB_PC2 depends on ISA_BUS and supports legacy PC2/PC2a-compatible adapters including NI PCII/PCIIa and other ISA boards." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/model/pci-gpib.html", "claim": "NI still sells modern PCI GPIB controllers, implying the GPIB use case remains alive even though the ISA-era PC2/PC2a hardware covered by this driver is not current new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, file read) showed this is a real module driver for PC2/PC2a-compatible boards and that it wraps NEC7210 logic; local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/gpib/pc2` showed the tree was created by destaging in 2025-11 and had non-mechanical follow-up fixes in 2026-01. Web search found the openwall archive for the destage patch series, LKDDb for ISA-only hardware scope, and NI product pages showing current GPIB sales are on newer PCI/PCIe products, not these ISA adapters. No removal discussion was found; active recent maintenance argues against deprecate/remove, but the ISA-only deployment profile supports annotating it as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526248, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/tms9914", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains a shared TMS9914 GPIB support library exporting symbols for board-specific drivers, with no hardware-bus registration or standalone device binding.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpib/tnt4882", "subsystem": "gpib", "chipset_family": "NI TNT4882 / TNT5004 GPIB controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpib/tnt4882/tnt4882_gpib.c", "claim": "Driver source names TNT4882-compatible National Instruments GPIB boards and includes PCI/PCIe/PXI/PMC/ISA/PCMCIA support paths, including PCIe-GPIB device IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg35125.html", "claim": "The gpib subsystem was destaged into drivers in November 2025, indicating upstream acceptance rather than planned removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6008003.html", "claim": "tnt4882 received a targeted cleanup patch in January 2026, showing recent maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/model/pci-gpib-.html", "claim": "NI still lists PCI-GPIB+ as a current product with part number, so at least part of the supported hardware class remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/docs/en-BZ/bundle/pcie-gpib-specs/page/specs.html", "claim": "NI publishes PCIe-GPIB specifications with a 2025 update date, supporting that PCIe members of this driver's hardware family were still current in/after 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` and `sed` showed this is a real driver for NI/compatible GPIB boards across legacy and PCIe form factors. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/gpib/tnt4882` showed the directory was newly destaged in 2025 and had substantive fixes in January 2026. Web search was used because MCP lore access was unavailable here; it found spinics mirrors for the destage thread and 2026 tnt4882 patch, and no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search also found NI product/spec pages for PCI-GPIB+ and PCIe-GPIB updated/live in 2025+, so the hardware class is still sold, but GPIB is now a niche lab/industrial instrument-control deployment rather than broad new-system volume. That combination supports keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1764003131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769526248, "top_author": "Dominik Karol Piątkowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpio", "subsystem": "gpio", "chipset_family": "GPIO controller and expander drivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/MAINTAINERS", "claim": "The GPIO SUBSYSTEM entry lists `drivers/gpio/`, marks it `Maintained`, and names active maintainers and mailing list." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/gpio/index.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes GPIO as a current, broad subsystem with controller-driver APIs (`gpio_chip`), IRQ integration, DT/ACPI mappings, and active driver documentation." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/configuration.html", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi boards still expose a 40-pin GPIO header, showing GPIO-backed hardware remains in new products and deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is the live GPIO subsystem, not a niche legacy driver. Prompt-provided history already shows very high recent churn (1954 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2026-04-10, 326 authors), which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal. Local shell inspection of MAINTAINERS confirmed `drivers/gpio/` is explicitly marked Maintained; cited MAINTAINERS URL is canonical recall of the kernel.org tree page corresponding to that local file. Kernel docs URL was obtained via web search (`turn0search0`). Raspberry Pi deployment URL was obtained via web search (`turn0search4`). I attempted lore removal-discussion queries (`lore_regex`) but they timed out, and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox socket restriction; with no positive removal signal and strong active-maintenance/deployment evidence, `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.005334353418032309, "commits_5y": 1977, "substantive_commits_5y": 1954, "first_touch_ts": 1202233452, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775804484, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 581, "c_file_count": 212, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level GPU subsystem directory containing multiple subdrivers plus shared helpers/tests/trace code, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02212501169704523, "commits_5y": 183, "substantive_commits_5y": 183, "first_touch_ts": 1215996301, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773242655, "top_author": "Alexandre Courbot", "top_author_commits": 80, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level DRM subsystem/core umbrella containing shared infrastructure and many child GPU/display drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.007542704569395393, "commits_5y": 3449, "substantive_commits_5y": 3387, "first_touch_ts": 1215996301, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775111095, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 379, "c_file_count": 94, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/adp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Apple Display Pipe (pre-DCP touchbar display controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250224-adpdrm-v8-2-cccf96710f0f@gmail.com", "claim": "Initial upstream submission says the driver is for Apple Display Pipe hardware on M-series chips used to drive the touchbar display." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250428-drm_adp_fixes-v2-1-912e081e55d8@jannau.net", "claim": "The driver received targeted functional fixes in 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ADP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_ADP first appears in Linux 6.15 and matches Apple pre-DCP display-pipe platform/of IDs, confirming it is a very new, narrowly scoped driver." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/kb/SP824", "claim": "Apple's MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020) technical specs list a Touch Bar, tying supported Apple silicon hardware to this feature." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro", "claim": "The Touch Bar MacBook Pro line is described as discontinued in October 2023, so this hardware is not still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel evidence came from local source inspection and `git log` via shell; the two lore URLs were obtained from commit Link tags in that shell output. LKDDb and Apple/Wikipedia pages were obtained via web search. ADP is a fresh 2025 upstream driver with multiple substantive fixes in 2025, so removal/deprecation is not justified. Hardware is niche and effectively legacy because Touch Bar Macs were discontinued by 2023, but existing deployed systems remain; annotate as niche legacy support rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1741023869, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1748005427, "top_author": "Janne Grunau", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/acp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile identify it as an ACP sub-component wired into amdgpu, providing internal hardware-control glue rather than a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1455131828, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1717008510, "top_author": "Bruno Rocha Levi", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Radeon GCN/RDNA/CDNA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.99, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/amdgpu/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes amdgpu as the Linux driver for AMD Radeon GPUs across GCN, RDNA, and CDNA architectures, indicating active first-class upstream support." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/9000-series/amd-radeon-rx-9070xt.html", "claim": "AMD lists the Radeon RX 9070 XT as a current desktop GPU product with Linux x86-64 OS support." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/workstations/radeon-pro/w7800.html", "claim": "AMD lists the Radeon PRO W7800 as a current workstation GPU product with Linux x86-64 OS support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a deprecation candidate. Static signals are extremely live: 7,718 substantive commits in 5y, 461 authors, and most recent substantive touch on 2026-03-30. I verified ongoing churn with `exec_command` using `git -c safe.directory=/nas4/data/workspace/personal/linux-drivers/.kernel-snapshot log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu`, which returned recent amdgpu fixes. I checked for removal/deprecation discussion with `web.search_query` against lore.kernel.org for amdgpu+remove/deprecate and found no hits, so there is no visible active upstream removal track from that probe. I obtained the three cited URLs via `web.search_query`: kernel docs confirm broad current architectural coverage, and AMD product pages show new Linux-supported Radeon RX 9000 and Radeon PRO W7000 hardware still on sale. Because this is the primary upstream driver for current AMD GPUs, there is no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7761, "substantive_commits_5y": 7718, "first_touch_ts": 1433379791, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774902043, "top_author": "Alex Deucher", "top_author_commits": 972, "c_file_count": 304, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdkfd", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Instinct / Radeon compute-capable GPUs (AMDKFD/HSA on top of AMDGPU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HSA_AMD.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this directory as CONFIG_HSA_AMD, the HSA kernel driver for AMD GPU devices, with module name amdkfd and presence through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-linux/en/latest/reference/system-requirements.html", "claim": "AMD ROCm system requirements list currently supported Instinct and Radeon/PRO GPUs, including current-generation accelerators, showing the hardware class is still sold and deployed." }, { "url": "https://lkml.rescloud.iu.edu/2507.1/02034.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch series enabled KFD on LoongArch 64-bit systems, indicating ongoing feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/amd-gfx%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg140012.html", "claim": "A March 25, 2026 amd-gfx thread shows a recent amdkfd fix being applied upstream, demonstrating active maintenance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is an active production compute driver subtree, not legacy-only code. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed many substantive 2026 fixes in this path and no actual deprecation/removal series; the grep hits for 'remove' were code-cleanup commits, not removal discussion. Sources obtained via web search: turn1search0 (LKDDb for driver identity/current kernel presence), turn0search0 (AMD ROCm supported GPU list for present-day hardware/deployment evidence), turn1search7 (2025 LoongArch enablement patch), and turn2search4 (2026 applied upstream fix thread). No natural replacement driver exists for the same HSA/ROCm kernel-compute role; amdkfd remains the in-tree implementation paired with amdgpu.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1161, "substantive_commits_5y": 1154, "first_touch_ts": 1405534135, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774902164, "top_author": "Philip Yang", "top_author_commits": 150, "c_file_count": 42, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdxcp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Instinct MI300/MI350 spatial-partition (XCP) GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3b60b70dbec9bb2450ecf012a7b8b6e5dce7168d", "claim": "Initial upstream addition says amdxcp was added to support amdgpu spatial partition." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e6c2b0f23221ed43c4cc6f636e9ab7862954d562", "claim": "Upstream saw a real functional fix in 2025 for unplug/release of XCP DRM memory, indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://instinct.docs.amd.com/projects/amdgpu-docs/en/latest/gpu-partitioning/mi300x/overview.html", "claim": "AMD documents MI300X compute partitioning modes implemented in the driver layer, matching the XCP/spatial-partition use case." }, { "url": "https://instinct.docs.amd.com/projects/virt-drv/en/mainline-8.4.1.k/userguides/GPU_partitioning.html", "claim": "AMD virtualization documentation lists spatial partitioning support for Instinct MI300X, MI325X and MI350X/MI355X, showing the feature spans current products." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/accelerators/instinct/mi350/mi350x.html", "claim": "AMD product page shows Instinct MI350X launched on 2025-06-12, so relevant hardware was still being sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this is a real DRM helper module, not headers/tests. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log/show` found 7 substantive commits from 2023-06-09 through 2025-08-04, including a 2025 functional bugfix, so upstream attention is active. A shell `lei` lore query could not run because `lei` is not installed; web lore searches returned no public removal-thread hits, so I found no evidence of deprecation/removal discussion. URLs for the two kernel commits are canonical kernel.org commit pages constructed from hashes obtained via shell; AMD deployment/product URLs were obtained via web search. Hardware scope is niche data-center AI/HPC partitioning rather than broad consumer deployment, so deployments are low, but the hardware/feature set is current and has no natural replacement outside amdgpu itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1686323327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754332548, "top_author": "Lijo Lazar", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/amdgpu_dm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Radeon Display Core / Display Manager (DC/DM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/gpu/amdgpu/display/display-manager.html", "claim": "amdgpu_dm is the AMDGPU Display Manager layer that mediates between DRM and AMD Display Core, i.e. an active core part of the modern amdgpu stack rather than a legacy side driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg140150.html", "claim": "A March 23, 2026 amd-gfx patch directly touched amdgpu_dm, showing current upstream development and bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg929238.html", "claim": "That amdgpu_dm fix was also queued for stable, indicating active maintenance and real deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/9000-series/amd-radeon-rx-9070.html", "claim": "AMD was still selling new Linux-supported Radeon RX 9000-series discrete GPUs in 2025/2026, which rely on the amdgpu display stack." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded/ryzen/ryzen-8000-series.html", "claim": "AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 series remained current for industrial deployments, with integrated RDNA graphics that also use the amdgpu display path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed `CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC` is enabled for AMDGPU display support and recent local commits hit this directory through 2026-03-24. Cited URLs were obtained via web search: kernel docs page (turn2search2), recent amd-gfx patch mail (turn0search2), stable backport mail (turn0search5), AMD Radeon RX 9070 product page (turn1search0), and AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 page (turn1search1). No removal/deprecation thread surfaced; evidence instead shows heavy current maintenance plus ongoing new discrete and embedded AMD GPU shipments, so this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1515, "substantive_commits_5y": 1480, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774374826, "top_author": "Mario Limonciello", "top_author_commits": 117, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Display Core (DC) / DCN", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.2/gpu/amdgpu-dc.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes DC as the AMDGPU Display Core driver, initialized by default for supported ASICs and integrated as the active display path via amdgpu_dm." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AMD_DC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC has remained present from Linux 4.15 through 7.0-rc+HEAD, consistent with an actively maintained in-tree driver option rather than a deprecated legacy path." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-2-28-amd-unveils-next-generation-amd-rdna-4-architectu.html", "claim": "AMD's February 28, 2025 RDNA 4 launch states new RX 9000 GPUs use an updated display engine, showing the driver family still maps to newly sold hardware in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/9000-series/amd-radeon-rx-9070xt.html", "claim": "AMD product page for Radeon RX 9070 XT shows a current retail GPU generation with Linux support, indicating ongoing new deployments that depend on the AMDGPU display stack." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/workstations/radeon-pro/w7800.html", "claim": "AMD Radeon PRO W7800 workstation product page lists Linux support and modern display capabilities, showing continued professional deployment of supported AMD display hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection shows this directory is the core AMD display-engine implementation under DRM/AMDGPU, spanning DCE and DCN generations with active Kconfig enablement; provided history metadata shows 2309 substantive commits in 5 years, latest on 2026-02-19, with 277 authors, which is strong live-maintenance evidence. I attempted upstream-history verification first via local `lei` shell fallback, but `lei` is not installed in this environment; direct web searches against lore returned no removal/deprecation hits for this path, and there is no evidence here of an active removal track. URLs were obtained by web search/open (`kernel.org`, `cateee.net`, `amd.com`), plus local file inspection of `drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/Kconfig`. This is current production code for AMDGPU display on still-sold Radeon and Radeon PRO hardware, so the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2325, "substantive_commits_5y": 2309, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521372, "top_author": "Aric Cyr", "top_author_commits": 192, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/basics", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display helper/basics code under the amdgpu DRM stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/bios", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display/DC BIOS helper code under amdgpu, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 113, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521372, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/bios/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC/DCE110 display BIOS helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740689552, "top_author": "Luan Arcanjo", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/bios/dce112", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD display-core DCE11.2 BIOS helper code within the amdgpu DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740689552, "top_author": "Luan Arcanjo", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/bios/dce60", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC BIOS helper code under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1595882758, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740689552, "top_author": "Luan Arcanjo", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/bios/dce80", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display BIOS helper code for DCE8 within the amdgpu stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740689552, "top_author": "Luan Arcanjo", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC clock-manager helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 54, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773764157, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dce100", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMDGPU DC display clock-manager implementation subdirectory (DCE100 helper code), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758829867, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC clock-manager helper code for DCE11 display blocks inside the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757969561, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dce112", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains an internal AMD DC clock manager implementation block (DCE11.2), not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dce120", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD Display Core DCE12.0 clock-manager implementation subdirectory, an internal helper within amdgpu/display rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN1.0 display clock-manager helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1559317171, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745326305, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN2.0 display clock-manager helper code within amdgpu/display, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1561161574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712714377, "top_author": "Samson Tam", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AMD DC clock-manager implementation for DCN2.01 display IP, i.e. internal helper code within amdgpu/display rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1633375377, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733845054, "top_author": "Isabella Basso", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display clock-manager support code for DCN2.1 within amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1567111953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745326305, "top_author": "Qingqing Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display clock-manager helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1593583154, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758637911, "top_author": "Aurabindo Pillai", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.01 display clock-manager helper code under drm/amd/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1601925356, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754332739, "top_author": "Alex Hung", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD display clock-manager helper code nested under the amdgpu DC subsystem, with no standalone driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 56, "first_touch_ts": 1622837006, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730147743, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1.4 display clock-manager helper code within amdgpu, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1657760224, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947586, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn315", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.1.5 display clock-manager helper code inside the AMDGPU DC stack, with no standalone device binding or driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1645211220, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947791, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn316", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.16 display clock-manager subcomponent under amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1645131525, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1742321026, "top_author": "Charlene Liu", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.2 display clock-manager helper code under amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 89, "substantive_commits_5y": 85, "first_touch_ts": 1654289017, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758637911, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.5 display clock-manager support code, an internal helper subcomponent under the amdgpu display stack rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 90, "substantive_commits_5y": 89, "first_touch_ts": 1693425075, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927146, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN401 clock-manager implementation files for the AMD display core, an internal hardware-specific helper subcomponent rather than a standalone kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758637911, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/clk_mgr/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN4.2 display clock-manager implementation code, an internal helper subcomponent under amdgpu display rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/core", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD Display Core internal implementation subdirectory under amdgpu/display, with no standalone driver entry point or bind/probe layer in this path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1175, "substantive_commits_5y": 1160, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772060182, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 143, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display-core DCCG/DCN2.0 internal display pipeline helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773252076, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD DCN 2.01 display clock-generator helper subdirectory under amdgpu display code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display clock-generator (DCCG/DCN2.1) internal display-pipeline support code, not a standalone kernel hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773252099, "top_author": "Ivan Lipski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.0 display clock-generator helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN301 display clock-generator implementation subdirectory inside AMD display core, i.e. internal helper code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773252076, "top_author": "Ivan Lipski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1 display clock-generator helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773252076, "top_author": "Ivan Lipski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.1.4 display clock-generator helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773252076, "top_author": "Ivan Lipski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.2 display clock-generator support code inside the amdgpu display stack, i.e. an internal helper subdirectory rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD DRM display-core helper subdirectory for DCN3.5 DCCG blocks, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1714681096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Hansen Dsouza", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display clock-generator (DCCG) IP-block support code for DCN401 within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1715629595, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dccg/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN4.2 display clock generator helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Display Core Engine (DCE, pre-DCN)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg136748.html", "claim": "February 2, 2026 amd-gfx patch series still adds functional DCE work ('Enable DAC in DCE link encoder'), showing active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg135620.html", "claim": "January 18, 2026 amd-gfx series 'Clean up some DCE 6 code' targets old DCE generations directly, indicating maintainers still care about keeping legacy DCE variants maintainable." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg129976.html", "claim": "September 26, 2025 amd-gfx patch 'Implement DCE analog link encoders (v2)' adds new DCE functionality for VGA/DVI-I paths, evidence against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/graphics/radeon-rx/radeon-rx-vega-series/radeon-rx-vega-64.html", "claim": "AMD still published current driver packages for Radeon RX Vega 64 in 2026, and lists the board as a Q3 2017 product, supporting the view that DCE-era hardware is old but still supported in the field." }, { "url": "https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/amd-vega-10.g800", "claim": "TechPowerUp identifies Vega 10 as using Display Core Engine 12.0, tying this directory to late GCN/Vega-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-rx-470d.c2896", "claim": "TechPowerUp identifies Polaris 10/20/30 (RX 470D example) as Display Core Engine 11.2, showing this directory covers mainstream 2016-2018 Polaris hardware still common in installed systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable: this is a real amdgpu display-engine hardware block directory, and local shell `rg` found DCE6/DCE8/DCE11/DCE11_2/DCE12 symbols in-tree. Upstream activity check used local shell `git log` (with `-c safe.directory=...`) plus web search because `lei` was unavailable; recent local history showed multiple 2025-2026 substantive touches in this path and no obvious retirement series. The three spinics URLs were obtained by web search on exact patch subjects and show active feature/cleanup work for DCE. The AMD support URL was obtained by web search then opened/found in the browser tool; it shows Vega 64 is a Q3/2017 product but still has current 2026 driver postings. The TechPowerUp URLs were obtained by web search snippets and anchor the family to DCE 11.2/12.0-era Polaris/Vega hardware. Conclusion: hardware is no longer a new-design target and likely stopped being widely sold around 2019 when DCN-era products took over, but deployed systems remain common enough that upstream should keep the code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 239, "substantive_commits_5y": 230, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521372, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD DCE 11.0 display engine (Carrizo/Stoney APUs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg132637.html", "claim": "Upstream was still carrying dce110-specific work in November 2025 ([PATCH 4/4] drm/amd/display: Move analog check to dce110_hwseq)." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg117799.html", "claim": "The drm-next pull for Linux 6.14 included changes under drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce110, showing continued integration rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/a-series/a4-series-apu-for-laptops/7th-gen-a4-9120-apu.html", "claim": "AMD's A4-9120 support page identifies the product as former codename Stoney Ridge, launch date Q2 2017, and says it is on a legacy support model with no additional driver releases planned." }, { "url": "https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/599/amd-discloses-architecture-details-of-high-performance-energy-efficient-carrizo-system-on-chip", "claim": "AMD disclosed Carrizo in February 2015 as an upcoming mainstream APU for notebooks and low-power desktops, anchoring the family in the mid-2010s." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/a-series/a6-series-apu-for-laptops/7th-gen-a6-9210-apu.html", "claim": "AMD's A6-9210 support page identifies former codename Stoney Ridge, launch date Q2 2016, and marks it as a legacy-supported product." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on dc_resource.c and amdgpu_dm.c) shows DCE_VERSION_11_0 maps to FAMILY_CZ and the DM path covers CHIP_CARRIZO/CHIP_STONEY, so this directory is for Carrizo/Stoney-era display blocks, not current DCN hardware. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed recent touches through 2026-02, so the code is still maintained. URLs were obtained via web search: spinics msg132637 and msg117799 for current upstream activity; AMD support pages for A4-9120 and A6-9210 for launch/legacy-status evidence; AMD IR Carrizo press release for initial market timing. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and low-deployment today, but there is ongoing upstream maintenance and no visible removal signal, so keep the code with legacy/low-deployment annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 124, "substantive_commits_5y": 116, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce112", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD display core helper code under amdgpu DC, with no standalone driver entry point or separate kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1692137308, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce120", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Vega 10 / Arctic Islands display core (DCE 12.0)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/amd-vega-10.g800", "claim": "TechPowerUp identifies Vega 10 as using Display Core Engine 12.0, matching the dce120 codepath." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/graphics/radeon-rx/radeon-rx-vega-series/radeon-rx-vega-64.html", "claim": "AMD still publishes a support/download page for Radeon RX Vega 64, indicating an extant installed base." }, { "url": "https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=radeon+rx+vega+64", "claim": "Newegg search results show RX Vega 64 boards listed as new, so DCE 12.0 hardware was still obtainable new in 2025/2026, though likely as residual stock or marketplace inventory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection (`find`, `sed`, `rg`) shows this directory is a real hardware-specific AMD display block used by `dce120_create_resource_pool`; `dc_resource.c` maps DCE 12.0/12.1 to FAMILY_AI, so this is Vega-era display IP, not a helper library. Upstream attention is still present from user-provided history plus local `git -c safe.directory=... log`: substantive touches continue through 2025-01-10 and include real bug/feature work (CRC support in 2025, KASAN/audio-register fix in 2022), and I found no removal discussion. `lei` was unavailable and no lore MCP server was present, so lore verification could not be done directly; web lore searches returned no hits for a removal series. Hardware is old and no longer mainstream; launch-era Vega 10 boards were current in 2017 and were last widely available around 2019 before Navi-era replacement, but some new old stock remains on retail/marketplace channels. Because there is still maintenance activity and no natural replacement driver besides the same monolithic `amdgpu` stack, removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/aging support instead. URL acquisition: TechPowerUp, AMD, and Newegg URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1506460759, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736528625, "top_author": "Wayne Lin", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce60", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD Display Core (DC) implementation subdirectory inside amdgpu, i.e. internal display pipeline support code rather than a standalone kernel hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1595882751, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744145294, "top_author": "Aliaksei Urbanski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dce80", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD DCE8 (DCE80) display engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=da072da2c8ca3e886133c5826a3f802f3d816708", "claim": "The directory received a substantive upstream touch on 2025-04-29/30, indicating it is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9932ca4c03c8181601f611dd366fceb765329800", "claim": "The directory was part of a 2024 functional display change, showing continued integration work in current AMD display development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AMD_DC_PRE_VEGA.html", "claim": "AMD DC support for pre-Vega hardware remains present upstream; the Kconfig help text explicitly covers older ASICs such as Carrizo and Tonga." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon", "claim": "Volcanic Islands-era Radeon products were introduced in late 2013, placing this hardware family firmly in legacy-product age by 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via functions.exec_command shows this is real AMD display-engine hardware code, not a helper library. Local git log via functions.exec_command found substantive directory touches in 2024-2025; canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs were constructed from those observed hashes. Web search found LKDDb PRE_VEGA Kconfig evidence and the Radeon page. Local rg into dal_asic_id ties DCE80 to older AMD families (Volcanic Islands/Carrizo-era naming nearby), and taken together with the 2013-era product generation evidence this points to legacy installed-base use rather than new 2025 sales. No removal discussion was found in available evidence, so active maintenance argues against deprecate/remove; annotate legacy scope instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746051539, "top_author": "Antonio Fernando Silva e Cruz Filho", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN1.0 display-core generation support code within AMDGPU DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 236, "substantive_commits_5y": 229, "first_touch_ts": 1506463608, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739412177, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.0 display-core generation support code under AMDGPU DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 272, "substantive_commits_5y": 266, "first_touch_ts": 1561161574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1721768831, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Cyan Skillfish (DCN 2.01)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.5/gpu/amdgpu/display/index.html", "claim": "AMD Display Core is part of the active amdgpu display driver stack, not a separate legacy out-of-tree driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-RADV-PS5-BC-250", "claim": "As of January 20, 2025, upstream/open-source work was still improving Cyan Skillfish support, and BC-250 boards were mainly appearing on used resale markets." }, { "url": "https://elektricm.github.io/amd-bc250-docs/getting-started/introduction/", "claim": "BC-250 boards using Cyan Skillfish are described as ex-cryptocurrency mining hardware repurposed from surplus, indicating niche rather than mainstream new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-readies-apus-with-rdna-based-cyan-skillfish-graphics", "claim": "Cyan Skillfish was introduced as a specialized AMD APU/GPU codename rather than a broad mainstream PC product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree inspection via shell `rg`/`sed` showed `dcn201` is selected for `DCN_VERSION_2_01`, and `dc_resource.c` maps that path to FAMILY_NV device IDs that match `CHIP_CYAN_SKILLFISH` in `amdgpu_drv.c`. User-provided history shows strong recent maintenance (42 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2025-12-08, 26 authors), so this is not dormant. `lei` was unavailable in shell and no `lore-http` MCP server was present, so direct lore timeline/removal-query verification could not be performed; with active in-tree maintenance and no verified removal thread, I did not escalate to `remove`. Web sources were obtained by web search: kernel.org docs for stack context, Phoronix for 2025 ongoing support work and used-market status, BC250 docs for present-day niche surplus deployment evidence, and Tom's Hardware for chipset/product-family context. Conclusion: hardware is niche and likely not sold new in 2025, but upstream support remains live enough that deprecation/removal is not justified; annotate as niche/internal-IP coverage rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1633375377, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD DCN 2.1 (Renoir)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg133428.html", "claim": "November 26, 2025 patch series touched drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn21/dcn21_link_encoder.c, showing active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/amd-gfx/2024-September/114220.html", "claim": "September 21, 2024 bugfix addressed an out-of-bounds issue in dcn21_link_encoder_create, indicating real bug-fix traffic on DCN2.1 code." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/ryzen/ryzen-4000-series/amd-ryzen-7-4700u.html", "claim": "AMD identifies Ryzen 7 4700U as former codename Renoir with launch date January 6, 2020, tying DCN2.1 to Renoir mobile hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/ryzen/ryzen-4000-series/amd-ryzen-7-4700g.html", "claim": "AMD identifies Ryzen 7 4700G as former codename Renoir, launch date July 21, 2020, and OEM-only desktop deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen.html", "claim": "AMD's current laptop Ryzen marketing page highlights newer Ryzen AI 400-era products rather than Renoir-class parts, supporting that DCN2.1 hardware is no longer a new-sales focus." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a standalone module but a live ASIC-specific subdirectory within amdgpu display. Local shell inspection (`rg` and `git -c safe.directory=... log`) tied dcn21 code to Renoir and showed substantive touches through late 2025; web search was used for URL-backed archive evidence because lore MCP/lei were unavailable in this environment. The 2025 and 2024 mailing-list URLs were obtained via web search and show ongoing upstream changes with no removal discussion found, so removal/deprecation is not indicated. AMD product pages obtained via web search map Renoir launch timing to 2020 desktop/mobile parts; combined with AMD's current laptop lineup page, that supports 'not still sold new in 2025' while remaining widely deployed in existing laptops/OEM desktops, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 66, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1567111953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD RDNA 2 display core (DCN 3.0; Navi 21 / Sienna Cichlid family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn30", "claim": "The dcn30 directory still receives upstream changes in current kernels; local git log also showed touches in 2025-2026 rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/core/dc_resource.c", "claim": "AMDGPU display resource selection maps DCN_VERSION_3_0 to Sienna Cichlid-class hardware, identifying dcn30 as an active ASIC-generation support block inside amdgpu rather than a dead standalone driver." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series.html", "claim": "AMD still marketed the Radeon RX 6000 series with retailer links on a page crawled in April 2026, supporting that this RDNA 2 generation was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/6000-series/amd-radeon-rx-6800.html", "claim": "AMD's RX 6800 product page remains live and lists the card as a current component product with Linux support, indicating ongoing retail/new-system relevance for DCN 3.0 era boards." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDNA_2", "claim": "RDNA 2 is the GPU generation behind Radeon RX 6000 products, matching the dcn30-era hardware generation and indicating a substantial deployed base." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is ASIC-specific display engine code under amdgpu DC. Upstream activity was checked via local code search and local git log (`rg`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`); the kernel.org tree/log URLs are canonical-recall URLs corresponding to those local findings. Web `search_query` on lore for dcn30 removal/deprecation returned no usable removal-discussion hits, so there is no evidence here of active upstream removal. Web `search_query` produced the AMD RX 6000 series / RX 6800 pages and RDNA 2 Wikipedia page for deployment evidence. Because dcn30 backs still-deployed RDNA 2 hardware and recent maintenance continues, the correct posture is keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 251, "substantive_commits_5y": 245, "first_touch_ts": 1593583154, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770157310, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Van Gogh", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://dri.freedesktop.org/docs/drm/gpu/amdgpu/amd-hardware-list-info.html", "claim": "Kernel AMD hardware table maps DCN 3.0.1 to the Van Gogh APU family, identifying the hardware this directory serves." }, { "url": "https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck?deckapp=990080", "claim": "Valve's Steam Deck store page remained live when opened on 2026-04-25, supporting that Van Gogh hardware was still being sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn301", "claim": "Canonical kernel path history for this directory; local git inspection of the same path showed sustained non-removal maintenance through 2024 rather than deprecation activity." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed real amdgpu DCN panel-control code, not helpers/tests. `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was checked from local git history instead: many substantive path touches through 2024-07-27 and no deletion history for this directory. The hardware-family mapping URL was obtained by web search then opened; the Steam Deck URL was obtained by web search/open; the git.kernel.org log URL is canonical recall, used to point at the same path history inspected locally. Because DCN3.0.1 maps to Van Gogh/Steam Deck and the product remained on sale, there is no obsolescence case for deprecation or removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 66, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1601925356, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722115886, "top_author": "Zhan Liu", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Yellow Carp / Rembrandt (DCN 3.1 display engine, Ryzen 6000 mobile)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dcn31", "claim": "The dcn31 directory is still seeing upstream changes rather than sitting dormant." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/core/dc_resource.c", "claim": "AMDGPU display resource selection maps FAMILY_YELLOW_CARP to DCN_VERSION_3_1, tying DCN 3.1 to Yellow Carp hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn31/irq_service_dcn31.c", "claim": "The DCN 3.1 IRQ code includes yellow_carp register headers, reinforcing that this directory targets Yellow Carp / Rembrandt display IP." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-1-4-amd-unveils-new-ryzen-mobile-processors-uniting-z.html", "claim": "AMD states Ryzen 6000 mobile processors launched with RDNA 2 graphics and broad notebook availability, indicating real commercial deployment of the platform using this display generation." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/partner/articles/amd-ryzen-pro-6000-series-processors.html", "claim": "AMD continued positioning Ryzen PRO 6000 for business laptops and described planned platform availability/longevity, supporting ongoing enterprise deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AMDGPU.html", "claim": "AMDGPU remains a current upstream-supported driver family in modern kernels; dcn31 is a hardware-generation subdirectory under that active driver, not a superseded standalone driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Inspected local source with shell (`rg`, `sed`): `dc_resource.c` maps `FAMILY_YELLOW_CARP` to `DCN_VERSION_3_1`, and `irq_service_dcn31.c` pulls in `yellow_carp_offset.h`, so this directory is generation-specific AMDGPU display code for Rembrandt/Yellow Carp rather than obsolete glue. Active-maintenance signal comes from the user-provided commit stats plus canonical-recall kernel.org log URL for the path. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on AMD official Ryzen 6000 / Ryzen PRO 6000 pages and LKDDb. I found no concrete removal/deprecation thread in lore-targeted web searches, so there is no evidence to escalate beyond keep; there is also no natural replacement driver because this code is part of the current `amdgpu` stack for that IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 297, "substantive_commits_5y": 292, "first_touch_ts": 1622837006, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733844684, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD display-core DIO helper code inside the amdgpu DC stack, with no standalone kernel-bound device driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1719864635, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770154983, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-core DCN2.0 DIO helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1719864635, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display-core DIO implementation subdirectory inside amdgpu/drm, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1719864635, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN301 display I/O sub-block implementation inside the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1722115886, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.1 display I/O implementation subdirectory inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1719864635, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD Display Core DCN3.1.4 DIO sub-block implementation inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1722115886, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1728324702, "top_author": "Zhongwei", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.2 display I/O support code within the AMD DRM display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765909525, "top_author": "LinCheng Ku", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn321", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD DCN 3.2.1 display pipeline helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.5 display I/O block implementation inside the AMDGPU display stack, with no standalone kernel driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765221767, "top_author": "Peichen Huang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display-core DIO/DCN401 helper subdirectory within amdgpu, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220200, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN4.2 display I/O helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dio/virtual", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested under AMD DC display pipeline DIO as internal virtual-output support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1770926929, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD Display Mode Library helper code used by the DC display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 136, "substantive_commits_5y": 131, "first_touch_ts": 1506463609, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767651742, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/calcs", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD Display Mode Library calculation/helper code under the DC display stack, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1642545816, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN10 display mode library/helper code under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1647368716, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714484695, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN2.0 display-mode-library support code under the AMDGPU display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1561161574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD Display Mode Library/IP-block helper code for DCN 2.1 under amdgpu display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1567111953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Alex Hung", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.0 Display Mode Library helper/model code used internally by the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1593583154, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767651773, "top_author": "Alex Hung", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.01 display-mode-library helper code under AMD DC/DML, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1635445610, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755550892, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn302", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.02 Display Mode Library helper code for the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1642545746, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Clay King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn303", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.03 Display Mode Library helper/model code under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1647368715, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Clay King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD Display Mode Library (DML) support code for DCN3.1 within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 85, "substantive_commits_5y": 82, "first_touch_ts": 1622839158, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759860559, "top_author": "Dmytro Laktyushkin", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD display core DML/DCN3.14 helper/model subdirectory under amdgpu display code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1657760224, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Daniel Miess", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD DCN3.2 display-mode-library subdirectory under DRM, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver with its own device binding/entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 271, "substantive_commits_5y": 267, "first_touch_ts": 1654289017, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 64, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn321", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display-mode-library (DML) generation-specific helper/model code for DCN 3.21, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1658755864, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756317470, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DRM Display Mode Library (DML) support code for DCN3.5 calculations, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1693425075, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927146, "top_author": "Nicholas Susanto", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dcn351", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN351 display mode library/helper code under AMD DC/DML, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1709585948, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759860559, "top_author": "Charlene Liu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml/dsc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-model/DSC helper code under DC/DML, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1635445574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1666636487, "top_author": "ruanjinjie", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-mode-library helper subtree within amdgpu DC, not a hardware-binding kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927377, "top_author": "Harry Wentland", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DRM Display Mode Library (DML 2.1) helper code under the display pipeline, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_core", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DML2 core helper/library source under the DC pipeline, with no standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770154988, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_dpmm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD Display Mode Library (DML2) source subdirectory under display pipeline code, with no kernel device binding or standalone hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770154988, "top_author": "Zheng Austin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_mcg", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DML2 source subdirectory (`src/dml2_mcg`) containing helper/model code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_pmo", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DML2 PMO helper/source subtree under dc/dml2, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762275200, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_standalone_libraries", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this path is an internal AMD display-model standalone library subtree under DC/DML, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dml2_0/dml21/src/dml2_top", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display core DML helper/source subtree under amdgpu DC, not kernel-bound hardware driver entry code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1761659859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD Display Core DCN10 DPP block implementation code, an internal hardware-pipeline subcomponent of amdgpu/display rather than a standalone kernel-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765909566, "top_author": "Aric Cyr", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Display Core Next 2.0 DPP block (DCN 2.0; Navi 10/Navi 14 generation)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/gpu/amdgpu/amd-hardware-list-info.html", "claim": "Kernel AMD hardware list maps DCN 2.0.0 to NAVI10 and NAVI14 products such as Radeon RX 5000 / Radeon Pro W5000-family GPUs." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/amdgpu/display/index.html", "claim": "AMD display code is part of the amdgpu Display Core, and DPP is a real display-pipeline hardware block within that driver stack." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/03/28/88", "claim": "The March 28, 2025 DRM pull for Linux 6.15-rc1 still carried multiple drm/amd/display changes, including Samson Tam's 'Move SPL to a new path', consistent with ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/graphics/radeon-rx/radeon-rx-5000-series/amd-radeon-rx-5500-xt.html", "claim": "AMD still publishes current RX 5500 XT driver downloads, indicating the DCN 2.0-era hardware remains actively deployed and supported." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains ASIC-specific DPP hardware programming code inside amdgpu DC. `sed` on dcn20_dpp.h identified it as the DCN20 DPP block; `git -c safe.directory=... log` on the path showed substantive touches through 2025-01-23 and no local sign of abandonment. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` (kernel docs, AMD support, openwall archive). I did not find a removal-thread hit in the available web searches; absence-of-removal is an inference from recent upstream amd/display traffic plus the lack of removal results, so I kept confidence below 0.8. 'Still sold new in 2025' is assessed false because the cited product evidence is ongoing driver support rather than active current-product marketing; DCN 2.0 parts are older 2019-2020 Navi-era GPUs, but deployments remain medium due to continuing support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739412181, "top_author": "Samson Tam", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD DCN2.01 display-pipeline block implementation under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714485141, "top_author": "Wayne Lin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.0 display-pipeline block implementation inside the larger AMDGPU/DC display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927369, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-pipeline subcomponent implementation (DPP/DCN32), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739412181, "top_author": "Samson Tam", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-pipeline block implementation subdirectory within amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1710956257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746464052, "top_author": "Ovidiu Bunea", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN 4.0.1 display-pipeline block implementation within the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927369, "top_author": "Samson Tam", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dpp/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN4.2 display pipeline/DPP implementation code used internally by the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dsc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC Display Stream Compression helper code under the DRM display pipeline, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1561214047, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770154777, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dsc/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN2.0 display-stream-compression helper code inside the AMD display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1701294539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760379271, "top_author": "Relja Vojvodic", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dsc/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN 3.5 display-core DSC helper code inside the AMDGPU display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1701294539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762916055, "top_author": "Mohit Bawa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dsc/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN401 DSC block support inside the AMD display core, with no standalone device-binding/driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752602871, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dwb/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.0 display writeback block support nested under the amdgpu display stack, i.e. an internal helper/hardware-block implementation rather than a standalone kernel-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1721768832, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770157310, "top_author": "Melissa Wen", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/dwb/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.5 DWB block implementation under AMD DC display pipeline, i.e. internal display helper/IP block code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1721768832, "top_author": "Mudimela", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display-core GPIO helper code under amdgpu, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747929707, "top_author": "Alex Hung", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display-core GPIO helper code for DCE110 generation, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dce120", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display-core DCE12.0 GPIO 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0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1595882760, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dce80", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a deep AMD DC GPIO hardware-generation helper subdirectory within the amdgpu display stack, with no standalone driver entry point and only internal support code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN10 display GPIO helper code under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1506463609, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.0 GPIO support code inside the AMD display core, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1561161574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1673988044, "top_author": "Brandon Syu", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DCN2.1 GPIO helper code under the DRM display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1567111953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714484695, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display GPIO helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1593583155, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1673988044, "top_author": "Brandon Syu", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn315", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.1.5 display GPIO helper implementation inside the AMD DC display stack, with no standalone kernel-bound device driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1645211220, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1645211220, "top_author": "Qingqing Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.2 GPIO support code inside the AMD display core, with no standalone device-binding driver entry point in this subdirectory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1654289017, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1673988044, "top_author": "Steve Su", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN401-specific AMD display-core GPIO helper subdirectory inside DRM, with no standalone kernel device driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722115864, "top_author": "Chris Park", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/gpio/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN4.2 display GPIO helper subdirectory within amdgpu/display, not a kernel-bound 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"is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hpo/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD display-core DCN3.1 HPO helper block under the amdgpu DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1721770545, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740501842, "top_author": "Patel, Swapnil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hpo/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.2 HPO display-pipeline helper code within amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740501842, "top_author": "Patel, Swapnil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hpo/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN4.2 HPO display-engine block code under the AMD display stack, with no standalone kernel device binding or driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN1.0 display-pipeline hubbub block implementation within amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769555479, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.0 hubbub display-pipeline subcomponent under amdgpu DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1732113582, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN 2.01 hubbub display-block support code inside the AMDGPU DC display stack, not a kernel-bound standalone hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN2.1 display-core hubbub IP block support code, an internal helper subdirectory under amdgpu display code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746464297, "top_author": "Kevin Gao", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display pipeline hubbub block implementation within amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754332832, "top_author": "Muhammad Ahmed", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.01 display-core hubbub IP-block helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.1 hubbub block implementation inside the AMD display core, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver with its own probe/bind entry points.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762916056, "top_author": "Leo Chen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.2 hubbub block implementation inside the amdgpu DC display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758637918, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.5 hubbub block implementation inside AMD display core, i.e. internal amdgpu/display helper code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1714485391, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762916056, "top_author": "Leo Chen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN4.0.1 display-pipeline hubbub block support code, an internal DRM/AMDGPU subcomponent rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1716236396, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubbub/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display-engine hubbub IP block helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD Display Core hubp/dcn10 is an internal display-pipeline block implementation under the amdgpu DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Nicholas Carbones", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DCN2.0 HUBP hardware-block implementation within amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Nicholas Carbones", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN 2.01 display-core hubp IP-block implementation under the amdgpu display stack, with no standalone device binding or driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737730582, "top_author": "Aric Cyr", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD display-core IP block implementation subdirectory (DCN 2.1 HUBP), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760379272, "top_author": "Clay King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD DCN3.0 HUBP display-pipeline helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Nicholas Carbones", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1 HUBP display-block implementation under amdgpu/display, with no standalone kernel device-driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754332832, "top_author": "Muhammad Ahmed", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN3.2 HUBP display-pipeline block support code within the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760998890, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD DCN 3.5 display engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/amd-gfx/2023-August/097660.html", "claim": "AMD posted the upstream enablement series for DCN 3.5 in 2023, including 'drm/amd/display: Add DCN35 HUBP', showing this directory is part of first-party support for a then-new display engine." }, { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/amd-gfx/2025-January/118644.html", "claim": "The 2025 amd-drm-next pull explicitly lists 'DCN 3.5 fixes', indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/amd-gfx/2025-May/123976.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch refactors DCN35-specific display code ('Uses optc31_disable_crtc for DCN35'), evidence of active cleanup/maintenance and no visible removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/partner/articles/ryzen-ai-300-series-processors.html", "claim": "AMD markets Ryzen AI 300 processors with RDNA 3.5 graphics, showing DCN 3.5-era hardware remains a current product family." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-1-6-amd-announces-expanded-consumer-and-commercial-ai-.html", "claim": "AMD's January 6, 2025 press release says new Ryzen AI 300 systems were expected to be available starting in Q1 2025, supporting that this hardware was still entering new deployments in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection showed this directory contains DCN35 HUBP implementation files used by amdgpu DC, so it is real driver code but as a hardware block within a larger driver, not a standalone module. Upstream activity evidence came from web search_query results on the amd-gfx archive: the 2023 bring-up series added DCN35 HUBP, the 2025 drm-next pull mentions DCN 3.5 fixes, and a May 2025 patch still refactors DCN35 code; I found no removal-thread hits in web searches. Deployment evidence came from web search_query results on AMD's own current product pages/press materials showing RDNA 3.5-based Ryzen AI 300 products shipping in 2025. Because the block is newly introduced, still maintained, and tied to currently sold hardware, removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1715195823, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754332832, "top_author": "Muhammad Ahmed", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN 4.01 HUBP display-pipeline helper block within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1717007973, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hubp/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN4.2 HUBP display IP block helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display hardware-sequencer/helper subdirectory under DRM, with no standalone kernel-bound driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740501842, "top_author": "Daniel Miess", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce100", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD display-core HWSS helper subdirectory containing internal hardware sequencing code, not a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739996302, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD display-core DCE11 hardware-sequencer support code under dc/hwss, an internal helper subcomponent rather than a standalone kernel-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 83, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521372, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce112", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC hardware-sequencer support subdirectory under amdgpu display code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce120", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC hardware-sequencer support code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739996302, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce60", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC hardware-sequencer helper subdirectory for display pipeline internals, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1744145294, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dce80", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-core hardware-sequencing helper code for DCE8 within amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739996302, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN10 hardware-sequencer implementation under the amdgpu display stack, i.e. internal display helper code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN2.0 display-core hardware-sequencer subdirectory within amdgpu, with no standalone driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 109, "substantive_commits_5y": 106, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD DCN 2.01 / Cyan Skillfish", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4c595e75110ece20af3a68c1ebef8ed4c1b69afe", "claim": "Directory had substantive upstream maintenance in 2026, indicating active support rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6246c12f52c389342358c3039475ef822921dcae", "claim": "A 2026 revert touching this area shows real regression handling on current kernels, not dead code." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-Cyan-Skillfish-DCN-2.01", "claim": "DCN201 corresponds to AMD's DCN 2.01 display engine for Cyan Skillfish, described as a custom/niche APU display variant." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/desktop-kits/amd-4700s.html", "claim": "AMD still hosts support downloads for the 4700S Desktop Kit, suggesting lingering installed-base support rather than active mainstream sales." }, { "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-4700s-desktop-kit-compact-gaming-pc", "claim": "The 4700S Desktop Kit appeared as a 2021 retail product, a reasonable proxy for the last broadly visible commercial window of this niche hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is real hardware-specific amdgpu display code, not a helper-only directory. Local shell `git log` on the path showed substantive 2024-2026 work, including 2026 fix/revert traffic, so deprecation or removal would be premature. The two git.kernel.org commit URLs were constructed from commit hashes returned by shell `git log`. The Phoronix and AMD/Tom's Hardware URLs were obtained via `web` search/open/find. Evidence points to a niche custom APU family (Cyan Skillfish / related salvage products) with low present-day deployment and little sign of broad new sales by 2025, but an installed base still exists and upstream attention is current; keep it, but annotate as niche legacy-support hardware rather than growth hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display core DCN2.1 hardware-sequencer helper code under amdgpu, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Srinivasan Shanmugam", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display hwss helper code under amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Melissa Wen", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Van Gogh (DCN 3.01)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/amd-gfx%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg126187.html", "claim": "DCN301 was still receiving upstream patch traffic in July 2025 for a functional display bug fix ('Allow DCN301 to clear update flags')." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/amd-gfx%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg138721.html", "claim": "DCN301-family code was included in a March 10, 2026 amd/display patch series, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.steamdeck.com/en-us/tech", "claim": "Valve's official Steam Deck tech-specs page showed the device shipping with an AMD APU in 2026, supporting continued new-device deployment in the Steam Deck family." }, { "url": "https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/steam-deck-gpu.c3897", "claim": "Steam Deck's GPU is identified as Van Gogh and explicitly lists Display Core Next 3.0.1, matching DCN301." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/gpu/amdgpu/display/dcn-overview.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes DCN as the active AMD display pipeline architecture family used by amdgpu/display, confirming this directory is a live hardware-generation implementation rather than dead compatibility glue." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection mapped DCN_VERSION_3_01 to FAMILY_VGH in dc_resource.c, so this hwss directory is the Van Gogh display path. Web search found active DCN301-related amd-gfx traffic on 2025-07-22 and 2026-03-10, and no removal-thread hits in lore-style searches. Valve tech-specs page (web search) shows Steam Deck still shipping, and TechPowerUp (web search) ties Steam Deck to Van Gogh/DCN 3.0.1. Result: niche but current deployed hardware, no natural replacement outside the same amdgpu stack, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947920, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn302", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-core hardware-sequencer helper subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn303", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD DCN3.03 display helper code under amdgpu/display, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698360083, "top_author": "Stylon Wang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1 display hardware-sequencing helper code within amdgpu/display, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Bhuvanachandra Pinninti", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD DCN 3.1.4 display hwss helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947920, "top_author": "Ivan Lipski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.2 display core hardware-sequencing helper subdirectory inside amdgpu/DC, with no standalone kernel driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 85, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Alvin Lee", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.5 display HW sequencer support code under amdgpu DC, an internal helper subdirectory rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 95, "first_touch_ts": 1696885209, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521370, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn351", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.5.1 display helper/hardware-sequencer code within amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1704296849, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947920, "top_author": "Sung Joon Kim", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Display Core Next 4.0.1 (DCN 4.0.1), used by current AMD RDNA 4 display pipelines", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-2-28-amd-unveils-next-generation-amd-rdna-4-architectu.html", "claim": "AMD launched RDNA 4 Radeon RX 9000 series in 2025, so the associated display IP is not legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/9000-series/amd-radeon-rx-9070.html", "claim": "Radeon RX 9070 is an actively marketed RX 9000-series product with Linux support, indicating ongoing new-hardware deployment." }, { "url": "https://dri.freedesktop.org/docs/drm/gpu/amdgpu/amd-hardware-list-info.html", "claim": "Upstream AMDGPU documentation tracks current AMD display/IP generations through 2025-era products, consistent with DCN-family support being active rather than obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection shows this directory is live hardware-sequencer code for AMD display, not a helper library. Local git log (shell: `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn401`) shows steady 2024-2026 bug-fix and feature work from many authors, with latest substantive touch on 2026-03-21 and no deprecation/removal-oriented history beyond routine cleanup; a grep for remove/deprecat/obsolete only found normal code cleanup, not retirement discussion. Local ripgrep also shows DCN401/IP_VERSION(4,0,1) integration across amdgpu/display. URLs were obtained via web search/open for AMD official product and press pages plus kernel docs. Recommendation is keep because the code is both newly introduced and under active upstream development for hardware still entering new deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 126, "substantive_commits_5y": 123, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774901927, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/hwss/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN 4.2 display core hardware-sequencing support code inside the AMDGPU display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD display-core IRQ support code within the amdgpu DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Qingqing Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AMD DC display IRQ support subdirectory (DCE110-specific helper code) under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714166564, "top_author": "Alex Hung", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dce120", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AMD DC display IRQ support code for DCE120, with no standalone device-binding/entry-point role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1506460756, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dce60", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-core IRQ support code within the amdgpu/DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1595882762, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dce80", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD display-core IRQ support code for the DCE8.0 block, an internal helper subdirectory within amdgpu/display rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD Display Core Next 1.0 IRQ helper code within the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1506463610, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a DCN2.0 IRQ handling subcomponent inside the AMD DRM display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1561161574, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Qingqing Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn201", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DCN2.01 AMD display IRQ support code as an internal subcomponent of the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1633375377, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.1 display IRQ support subcomponent inside AMDGPU/DC display code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1567111953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Qingqing Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.0 display IRQ support code nested inside the AMD DC display stack, with no standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1593583155, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn302", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.0.2 display IRQ support subdirectory inside the amdgpu DC display stack, i.e. internal helper/component code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1602525771, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn303", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains an internal AMD display-core DCN 3.03 IRQ support block within the amdgpu DRM stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1621478520, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Aurabindo Pillai", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1 display-core IRQ helper code within the amdgpu/display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1622839158, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747143429, "top_author": "Sebastian Aguilera Novoa", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/irq/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", 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} }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mmhubbub/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generation-specific AMD DC display-pipeline helper block (MMHUBBUB/DCN3.5) nested inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mmhubbub/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, 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"last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mpc/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AMD DCN3.0 display-core MPC implementation/helper code inside amdgpu DC, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1721768831, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734542510, "top_author": "George Shen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mpc/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.2 display pipeline helper block under DRM display core, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771521371, "top_author": "Yihan Zhu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mpc/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display-core DCN401 MPC hardware-block support under amdgpu/DC, not a standalone kernel device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1718396335, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755550642, "top_author": "Clay King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/mpc/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-core internal MPC/DCN4.2 helper block under the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone 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"is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/opp/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN2.0 display-pipeline OPP helper code within the amdgpu DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1721768830, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/opp/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", 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"chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC display resource/helper code for DCE10 within amdgpu DRM, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774374947, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dce110", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC/DCE110 display resource helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774374947, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dce112", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-core resource helper code for DCE11.2 inside the DRM driver, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry 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"subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display resource helper subdirectory for DCE8.0 within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774374947, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn10", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN10 display resource/helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn20", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.0 display-core resource helper code inside the AMD DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware 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"top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn21", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN2.1 display resource-management helper code inside the AMDGPU display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn30", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.0 display resource/helper code within the amdgpu DC stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn301", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN301 display resource support under AMD DC is an internal DRM helper/component directory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Srinivasan Shanmugam", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn302", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DC resource-generation helper code for DCN3.0.2 display pipeline support, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn303", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.03 display resource helper subdirectory inside the amdgpu display stack, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn31", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DCN3.1 display resource/helper code under DRM display core, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn314", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN 3.1.4 display resource-planning subdirectory inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn315", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.1.5 display resource/helper code under DRM display pipeline, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn316", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.1.6 display resource sub-block under AMDGPU Display Core, containing internal display pipeline/resource code rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Srinivasan Shanmugam", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn32", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display core resource-management subdirectory for DCN3.2 internals, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn321", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN 3.2.1 display resource/helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn35", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN3.5 display-core resource support code under the amdgpu display stack, i.e. an internal helper subdirectory rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 68, "first_touch_ts": 1700231450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn351", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.5.1 display resource subdirectory inside the AMD DRM stack, containing internal display-core resource code rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1709585948, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Sung Joon Kim", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn36", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DCN3.6 display resource/planning code inside the AMDGPU display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1739412247, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775157853, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display DCN 4.01 resource-management helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 74, "first_touch_ts": 1714166593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770926929, "top_author": "Dillon Varone", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/resource/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN4.2 display resource-planning subdirectory inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/soc_and_ip_translator", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DC display-core SoC/IP translation helper code inside the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1756476842, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756476842, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/soc_and_ip_translator/dcn401", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DCN 4.0.1 SoC/IP translator helper code under the display stack, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1756476842, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756476842, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/soc_and_ip_translator/dcn42", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DCN4.2 display SoC/IP translation helper code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1756476842, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756476842, "top_author": "Austin Zheng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc/sspl", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DC display-scaling/helper library (SPL filter math and fixed-point code) nested under amdgpu display code, with no standalone kernel device binding/registration entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1739412181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771429350, "top_author": "Samson Tam", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dmub/src", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested `src` subtree for AMD DMUB display microcontroller support code within the amdgpu display stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 133, "substantive_commits_5y": 131, "first_touch_ts": 1573676982, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769555438, "top_author": "Nicholas Kazlauskas", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/color", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD display color-processing helper module code within DRM/DC, not kernel-bound hardware driver entry code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730737550, "top_author": "Melissa Wen", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/freesync", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display FreeSync support module under drm/amd/display/modules, with no standalone kernel hardware-driver entry point in this directory", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762919453, "top_author": "Rodrigo Siqueira", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/hdcp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMD DRM display HDCP support module code, an internal helper library within the display stack rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1570111858, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762916056, "top_author": "Wenjing Liu", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/info_packet", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD display info-packet helper module under DRM display code, with no standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1535386257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765220196, "top_author": "Jack Chang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/power", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DRM display power-management helper module subtree, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1506459692, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768947574, "top_author": "Mario Limonciello", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/modules/vmid", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMDGPU DC display-internal VMID helper module under display/modules, with no standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1561214054, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1654289016, "top_author": "pengfuyuan", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMDGPU power-management support code/library subtree, built into the parent amdgpu driver via pm/Makefile and amdgpu/Makefile rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 334, "substantive_commits_5y": 328, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927534, "top_author": "Evan Quan", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/legacy-dpm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DRM legacy power-management support code under pm/, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1642200674, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773785043, "top_author": "Timur Kristóf", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/powerplay", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMDGPU power-management support code under DRM/AMD, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 86, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765221275, "top_author": "Evan Quan", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/powerplay/hwmgr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMDGPU PowerPlay hwmgr is an internal DRM power-management helper/library subtree, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 147, "substantive_commits_5y": 142, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765221272, "top_author": "Ran Sun", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/powerplay/smumgr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AMD DRM power-management helper library (`smumgr`) under powerplay, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762274034, "top_author": "John Smith", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AMDGPU power-management SMU support code within the DRM stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 580, "substantive_commits_5y": 567, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927765, "top_author": "Evan Quan", "top_author_commits": 96, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu11", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains amdgpu SMU11 power-management support code under the AMD DRM subsystem, i.e. an internal helper/component directory rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 305, "substantive_commits_5y": 300, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774901159, "top_author": "Evan Quan", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu12", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMDGPU SMU12 power-management support code under drm/amd/pm, with no standalone device-binding or module entrypoint for a kernel hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1597436561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774901159, "top_author": "Alex Deucher", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu13", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the SMU13 power-management support subdirectory inside the AMDGPU DRM stack, an internal helper/component rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 753, "substantive_commits_5y": 747, "first_touch_ts": 1616554464, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774291755, "top_author": "Evan Quan", "top_author_commits": 120, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu14", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD GFX12 / SMU14 Radeon", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu14/Makefile", "claim": "The directory is built as the SMU14 manager inside AMDGPU powerplay, so it is live kernel driver code, not dead support scaffolding." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/amdgpu_discovery.c", "claim": "AMDGPU discovery wires MP1 IP versions 14.0.x to `smu_v14_0_ip_block`, and the same file maps current GC12-class devices in this part of the stack." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg133702.html", "claim": "A December 2025 amd-gfx patch series refactored SMUv14 internals, showing active upstream development rather than retirement planning." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/amd-gfx%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg139514.html", "claim": "A March 2026 patch updated SMUv14 firmware-version checking, indicating ongoing maintenance after the initial bring-up period." }, { "url": "https://www.opennet.ru/kernel/6.12.78.html", "claim": "Linux stable carried a March 2026 SMUv14 fix (`PP_OD_FEATURE_ZERO_FAN_BIT`), which is strong evidence of active field use and bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/desktops/radeon/9000-series/amd-radeon-rx-9070xt.html", "claim": "AMD was still selling new Radeon RX 9000-series hardware in 2025/2026, so SMU14-backed hardware is not obsolete inventory only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg`/`sed` inspection showed this directory is the SMU14 power-management part of AMDGPU and that discovery code binds MP1 14.0.x into the live driver; I mapped those local file paths to canonical git.kernel.org tree URLs by canonical recall. Web search found current amd-gfx patch mirrors on Spinics and Mail-Archive plus a 2026 stable changelog entry and AMD's RX 9070 XT product page. Evidence points to an actively maintained, currently shipped hardware family with no removal signal, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 136, "substantive_commits_5y": 133, "first_touch_ts": 1697209195, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774901159, "top_author": "Kenneth Feng", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/pm/swsmu/smu15", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD Radeon SMU 15.0.0 (GFX12/RDNA4-era)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "unknown", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg134880.html", "claim": "Jan 5, 2026 patch series explicitly enabled SMU 15_0_0 support in DRM/AMD, indicating new bring-up rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg137271.html", "claim": "Feb 9, 2026 follow-up patch updated SMU15 metrics handling, showing active upstream refinement of this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg142024.html", "claim": "Apr 21, 2026 v4 patch fixes unified metrics handling for SMU 15.0.0, showing current maintenance activity and no removal direction." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Radeon-GPU-NPU-SMU15", "claim": "Phoronix summarized the initial SMU15 patches as support for future/next-gen Radeon hardware tied to GFX12/RDNA4-era enablement, implying it was not a mature retail-installed base in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this directory is live AMDGPU SMU code for MP1 IP_VERSION(15,0,0), not a helper-only subtree. Web search found spinics threads from Jan-Apr 2026 (`msg134880`, `msg137271`, `msg142024`) showing enablement and bug-fix traffic for SMU 15.0.0 and no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search also found the Phoronix Jan 5, 2026 article describing SMU15 as next-gen/future Radeon GFX12/RDNA4-related hardware; that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `last_widely_available_year=null`. No separate upstream replacement exists for this use case beyond staying within `amdgpu`, so the correct hint is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1767890502, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770927765, "top_author": "Pratik Vishwakarma", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/ras/ras_mgr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AMD DRM RAS manager helper code, with no standalone device-driver entry point; this is an internal subsystem library rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1760379270, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767648372, "top_author": "YiPeng Chai", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/amd/ras/rascore", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AMD DRM RAS core support library within the amdgpu subsystem, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1758638162, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770329868, "top_author": "YiPeng Chai", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/arm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Arm HDLCD and Mali-DP500/DP550/DP650", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-doc/20260402-drm-drm-atomic-update-v3-1-b826f51ac511@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory is still seeing upstream touch in 2026, though the latest hit is part of a wide DRM API rename rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/products/development-tools/development-boards/juno-arm-dev-platform", "claim": "HDLCD is associated with Arm's Juno development platform, indicating dev-board/reference-platform deployment rather than broad new mainstream hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/company/news/2016/01/arm-unveils-its-highest-performing-most-power-efficient-4k-capable-mobile-display-processor", "claim": "Mali-DP650 was launched in 2016 as mobile display IP, which dates the supported Mali-DP family as older embedded/display-controller IP." }, { "url": "https://qemu.readthedocs.io/en/v8.1.5/system/arm/vexpress.html", "claim": "QEMU's Versatile Express documentation lists HDLCD on vexpress-a15 as unimplemented, suggesting limited modern virtualization reliance for this hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/arm/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig confirms this directory covers ARM HDLCD and Mali Display Processor DP500/DP550/DP650 hardware, with no generic successor driver named for the same blocks." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: top-level Kconfig and entry-point macros cover two ARM display-controller drivers (HDLCD and Mali-DP500/550/650). lore_file_timeline on malidp_drv.c showed activity through 2026-04-02 and no evidence of a removal wave; the failed lore_regex removal scan plus ongoing touches argues against deprecate/remove. Web search found Arm's Juno board page (HDLCD tied to a reference/dev platform), Arm's 2016 Mali-DP650 launch page (family is old IP), and QEMU vexpress docs (HDLCD not a key modern VM device). git.kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall. Net: hardware looks niche/aging with low present-day deployment, but upstream maintenance is still alive, so keep with obsolescence annotation rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.058107230195757906, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1455111856, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768591685, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/arm/display/komeda", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Arm Komeda display processors (Mali-D71, Mali-D32, Arm China Linlon-D6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260313033119.33686-4-cunyuan.liu@cixtech.com/", "claim": "March 2026 upstream patch adds Arm China Linlon-D6 support to drm/komeda, showing ongoing enablement for new Komeda-compatible hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250520070046.340122-1-oushixiong1025@163.com/", "claim": "May 2025 komeda maintenance patch ('Register sysfs groups through driver core') shows the driver is still receiving non-removal upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/devicetree/msg903573.html", "claim": "The 2026 Linlon-D6 support series says Komeda support was tested on a Radxa Orion O6 board, indicating current real hardware bring-up rather than purely legacy maintenance." }, { "url": "https://totalcompute.docs.arm.com/en/tc2-2023.10.04/totalcompute/tc2/release_notes.html", "claim": "Arm's TC2 2023.10.04 release notes list 'Mali-D71 DPU and virtual encoder support for display on Linux', indicating continued deployment in modern Arm reference platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection with `sed`/`rg` of `komeda_drv.c` identified active compatibles `arm,mali-d71`, `arm,mali-d32`, and `armchina,linlon-d6`, so this is a real DRM platform driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/arm/display/komeda/komeda_drv.c` produced the cited 2025 and 2026 lore URLs, showing fresh maintenance and new-hardware enablement rather than retirement. `web.search` found the Spinics cover letter documenting Radxa Orion O6 bring-up and Arm TC2 release notes documenting Mali-D71 Linux display support. Within the tool budget, no source-backed removal/deprecation discussion was found; the evidence points to a niche but still-live embedded/SoC display IP block, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11102798621919505, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1547464163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760627305, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/arm/display/komeda/d71", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Arm Mali-D71 (Komeda) display processor", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/komeda-kms.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says drm/komeda supports the Arm display processor D71 and later products, so this directory is part of a live upstream driver family rather than dead standalone code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_KOMEDA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_KOMEDA is still present through current kernels and lists arm,mali-d71 compatibility, indicating the driver remains enabled upstream." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/11/18/771", "claim": "A 2025 komeda patch series explicitly updates d71_dev.c, showing recent upstream maintenance activity rather than removal planning." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/20/255", "claim": "Another 2025 drm/arm/komeda patch touched the subsystem core, reinforcing that komeda still sees maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.arm.com/news/delivering-compelling-visual-experiences-to-the-mainstream", "claim": "Arm's 2018 announcement says Mali-D51 takes many benefits of the 2017 premium Mali-D71, showing D71 was already being superseded one generation later." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.arm.com/news/new-arm-ip-brings-intelligent-immersive-experiences-to-mainstream-markets", "claim": "Arm's 2019 announcement positions Mali-D37 as a newer display processor while preserving key Mali-D71 features, further indicating D71-era IP is legacy rather than current-design silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed real Komeda D71 hardware-programming code in d71_component.c and d71_dev.c, not helper-only assets; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` also showed nonzero recent touches through 2024. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. docs.kernel.org and LKDDb establish that komeda/D71 remains upstream-supported; LKML 2025 patch pages show active maintenance, including one series touching d71_dev.c, and I found no removal/deprecation thread in the search results. Arm 2018/2019 newsroom pages show D71 was quickly followed by D51 and D37, so new 2025 design wins are unlikely; recommendation is to keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1547464163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714103749, "top_author": "Dave Airlie", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/armada", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Marvell Armada 510/16x LCD controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/armada/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as DRM support for Marvell Armada SoCs and specifically the LCD controllers found on Marvell Armada 510 and 16x families." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20241108154600.126162-3-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "The driver directory was still seeing upstream touches in late 2024 as part of ongoing DRM subsystem refactoring, which argues against abandonment." }, { "url": "https://investor.marvell.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/725/marvell-launches-armada----new-application-processors-for-next-generation-mobile-computing-and-intelligent-connected-devices", "claim": "Marvell introduced the Armada 510 in 2009 for smartbooks, tablets, thin clients, and display-oriented embedded devices, placing the hardware family firmly in an older generation." }, { "url": "https://www.compulab.com/products/computer-on-modules/cm-a510/", "claim": "CompuLab still publishes a CM-A510 module page built around the Marvell Armada 510, indicating lingering niche embedded availability/use." }, { "url": "https://esaitech.com/products/t10-thin-client-1ghz-thinos-7-1-909566-01l", "claim": "A Marvell Armada 510-based Wyse T10 thin client was recently listed in new condition and in stock, suggesting limited new-old-stock sales persisted into the mid-2020s rather than complete market disappearance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Chipset scope came from local source inspection plus canonical-recall kernel.org Kconfig URL. Upstream activity evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/armada/armada_drv.c`, which showed continuing 2021-2024 traffic; within the available tool budget I found no concrete removal/deprecation thread, and a `lei` follow-up failed due local socket permissions. Market-age evidence came from the Marvell launch PR found by web search; current deployment/sales evidence came from web search hits for CM-A510 and Wyse T10 pages. Conclusion: hardware is old and niche, but not extinct, and the driver still receives enough upstream maintenance that deprecation would be premature; annotate as legacy/niche rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09140610607958001, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1381569220, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764064963, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/aspeed", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST2400/AST2500/AST2600 BMC display controller (GFX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250225-memory-drm-misc-next-v1-1-9d0e8761107a@redhat.com/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream changes in February 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's current server-management product lineup still lists AST2500, AST2600, AST2700 and AST2750 BMC parts, with some newer parts marked 'Sample Ongoing', showing the product family remains current in 2025-era deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 is a current ASPEED BMC SoC product with remote-management and 2D video/DisplayPort capabilities, matching the use case of the Linux ASPEED DRM driver." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2700/", "claim": "AST2700 is ASPEED's newer BMC generation and still includes remote-management/video features, showing ongoing new deployments of ASPEED BMC hardware rather than obsolescence of the platform category." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell reads of Kconfig and aspeed_gfx_drv.c show this is the ASPEED BMC 'SOC Display Controller' driver and list ast2400/ast2500/ast2600 compatibles. Recent upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on aspeed_gfx_drv.c; the cited lore URL came from that tool and shows a 2025 drm/aspeed patch, with no evidence of an active removal/deprecation thread. Hardware availability was checked with web search on aspeedtech.com; the cited product URLs came from those search results and show AST2500/2600 plus newer AST2700-series BMCs still marketed, so this is not legacy-only. Because the driver covers a platform-specific BMC display block and newer ASPEED parts do not imply a drop-in replacement under the same driver directory, replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2566743224381126, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1554341254, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740580026, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/ast", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST server/BMC graphics", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED still markets AST2600/AST2700/AST2750 BMC parts with integrated PCIe 2D VGA in 2025-era product lineup, indicating ongoing new hardware sales." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 product page lists a PCIe 2D video graphics adapter and DisplayPort 1.1a, matching the AST DRM driver's hardware scope." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg527670.html", "claim": "A November 26, 2025 AST patch series adds imported cursor-buffer support and says it was tested on AST2600 hardware, showing active upstream development on real hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/dri-devel@lists.freedesktop.org/msg597163.html", "claim": "A March 2026 AST review thread shows continued upstream cleanup and review activity in the driver, not removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AST.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_AST remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD for ASPEED PCI display devices 1a03:2000/2010." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) showed a real PCI DRM driver with ASPEED-specific code paths including AST2600 and DisplayPort handling; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed recent substantive AST commits through 2026-03-30. Web search was then used to obtain the cited ASPEED product pages, LKDDb entry, and recent dri-devel archive threads. Lore MCP/`lei` were unavailable here, so archive pages found via web search were used as the closest public-mail evidence; those searches surfaced maintenance patch series and no removal/deprecation discussion. Because AST graphics remains part of currently sold ASPEED BMC/server chips and the same upstream driver is actively maintained for those chips, there is no natural replacement driver and removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012275392176140336, "commits_5y": 277, "substantive_commits_5y": 269, "first_touch_ts": 1337248417, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774859891, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 224, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/atmel-hlcdc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Atmel/Microchip HLCDC display controller in AT91/SAMA5/SAM9 SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251218-lcd_cleanup_mainline-v2-1-df837aba878f@microchip.com/", "claim": "Upstream work continued in late 2025 with a Microchip-authored cleanup/maintenance series for drm/atmel-hlcdc, indicating active ownership rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251218-lcd_cleanup_mainline-v2-2-df837aba878f@microchip.com/", "claim": "The driver received functional work in late 2025, including nomodeset support, which is inconsistent with a deprecation/removal path." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microprocessors/32-bit-mpus/sam9", "claim": "Microchip was still marketing SAM9 devices in 2025/2026, including SAM9X60/SAM9X7 parts with LCD/graphics capability relevant to this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/solutions/technologies/displays/embedded-graphics-solutions/development-boards", "claim": "Microchip still listed current embedded-graphics development support around SAMA5D4, SAMA5D3, and SAMA5D2 platforms, showing ongoing display-oriented deployments in this SoC line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and source define an HLCDC DRM/KMS driver for AT91/SAMA5-family SoCs, and the code also carries SAM9X60 support in-tree (checked locally via shell on Kconfig and atmel_hlcdc_dc.c). Upstream evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/atmel-hlcdc/atmel_hlcdc_dc.c, which showed fresh 2025-12 and 2026-04 touches and no removal-shaped activity in the recent timeline; cited lore URLs were returned by that MCP call. Market/deployment evidence came from web search_query results on official Microchip pages showing SAM9 graphics-capable parts and active graphics/dev-board collateral in 2025/2026. Because the hardware line is still sold for embedded/industrial use, the driver has recent vendor maintenance, and there is no natural replacement for the same integrated controller IP, the recommendation is keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06138558139230925, "commits_5y": 50, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1421829962, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768967889, "top_author": "Ludovic Desroches", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Display bridge ICs/controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/bridge", "claim": "Upstream activity is ongoing in this directory; recent substantive fixes and new bridge support indicate active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/MAINTAINERS", "claim": "The DRM bridge area is listed as maintained in MAINTAINERS, with multiple maintainers/reviewers and the whole directory covered." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/SN65DSI86", "claim": "A representative bridge chip supported in this directory is still sold as ACTIVE by TI in 2025, showing the class is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/peripherals-and-logic/signal-chain/bridges/ptn3460-ptn3460i-commercial-and-industrial-edp-to-lvds-bridge-ic%3APTN3460", "claim": "Another representative supported bridge chip, NXP PTN3460, is listed Active, reinforcing ongoing new-hardware relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver subtree, not a helper library. Local shell inspection showed 45 C files, many per-chip bridge drivers, and MAINTAINERS marks the area 'Maintained'; local git log also showed fresh 2025-2026 fixes/new support. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in web lore searches, so there is no evidence to escalate to deprecate/remove. Source acquisition: TI and NXP URLs were obtained via web search results; kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, with claims cross-checked against local shell reads of MAINTAINERS and git history.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017961158854086955, "commits_5y": 798, "substantive_commits_5y": 784, "first_touch_ts": 1395588997, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773091942, "top_author": "Marek Vasut", "top_author_commits": 94, "c_file_count": 45, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/adv7511", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADV7511/ADV7511W/ADV7513/ADV7533/ADV7535 HDMI transmitter bridge family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260422121457.166780-1-biju.das.jz@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "Upstream received a device-specific bug-fix patch for adv7511 in April 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-bridge-connector-attach_encoder-v2-3-2ae6ca69b390@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 adv7511 changes are API/refactor cleanups inside active DRM bridge work, not deprecation or removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7511.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADV7511 as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS', showing the core family is still sold for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7513.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADV7513 as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS', reinforcing continued availability of a supported chip variant." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7511w.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADV7511W as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS', indicating ongoing commercial availability of another supported variant." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7533.html", "claim": "ADV7533 is marked 'Obsolete'; the directory still covers mixed-lifecycle parts, but not an entirely obsolete product family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/Kconfig inspection identified the covered chips as ADV7511(W)/13/33/35 HDMI encoders/transmitters. The two lore URLs came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/adv7511/adv7511_drv.c`; they show fresh 2026 fix/refactor traffic and no removal series. Product-page URLs came from `web.search_query` on Analog Devices domains; three supported variants are still marked 'recommended for new designs' while ADV7533 is obsolete, so the family remains relevant for embedded deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this directory is already the specific bridge driver for these chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.056939484589501696, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 58, "first_touch_ts": 1468400075, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768821106, "top_author": "Biju Das", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/analogix", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Analogix ANX6xxx/ANX7xxx display bridge transmitters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260215-anx-fix-no-typec-v1-1-75172a5ca88b@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "ANX7625 saw non-mechanical upstream bug-fix work in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260304083604.724519-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver directory is still receiving integration and Kconfig dependency fixes in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.analogix.com/en/input/6ch", "claim": "Analogix still lists ANX7625 as a current product, a MIPI-DSI/DPI to USB Type-C / DisplayPort bridge for portable devices." }, { "url": "https://www.analogix.com/en/products/convertersbridges/anx7808", "claim": "Analogix still lists ANX7808, showing the ANX78xx SlimPort bridge family remains an active product line." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ANALOGIX_ANX7625.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_ANALOGIX_ANX7625 remains present through current kernel series, confirming ongoing upstream support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory contains real I2C DRM bridge drivers for ANX6345, ANX78xx, and ANX7625. lore_activity on anx7625.c returned multiple 2026 fixes and stable-related traffic (cited lore URLs), which is strong evidence against deprecation/removal. Web search found current Analogix product pages for ANX7625 and ANX7808, supporting that at least part of the family was still sold in 2025. LKDDb page was obtained via web search and used to confirm current kernel presence. Overall this looks like a niche but live mobile/embedded bridge family with no natural generic replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.044828325750537266, "commits_5y": 168, "substantive_commits_5y": 164, "first_touch_ts": 1459822308, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768978890, "top_author": "Xin Ji", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/cadence", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Cadence embedded display bridge IP (DSI and MHDP8546 DP/HDMI wrappers, including TI J721E integrations)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424-dcss-hdmi-upstreaming-v22-2-30a28f89298d@oss.nxp.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-24 the Cadence MHDP8546 bridge code is still receiving non-removal upstream work, including a v22 patch updating mailbox access functions." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-J721E", "claim": "TI was still shipping J721E SDK releases in 2025-2026 for TDA4VM/DRA829 platforms, indicating ongoing supported deployments on SoCs that use these display blocks." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-linux-jacinto7/10_01_00_04/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/Display/DSS7.html", "claim": "TI J721E Linux documentation lists DPI, DP, and DSI outputs, matching the Cadence bridge/wrapper use case in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/IMX8QM1P3AEC.pdf", "claim": "NXP's 2024 i.MX 8QuadMax datasheet advertises 2x MIPI-DSI and 1x HDMI-TX/DisplayPort, showing comparable Cadence-style embedded display bridge functionality remains present in still-documented SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile/source filenames identified this as active Cadence embedded SoC display bridge code (`cdns-dsi*`, `cdns-mhdp8546*`, TI J721E wrappers), not a legacy standalone board driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `cdns-mhdp8546-core.c` showed heavy 2025-2026 activity and current patch series rather than removal. Web search produced the TI SDK page, TI J721E DSS docs, and NXP i.MX8QM datasheet, which indicate the underlying DP/DSI-capable SoCs remained current in 2025+. A `lei` removal/deprecation query was attempted but failed in this sandbox, so absence of removal talk is inferred from the active lore traffic rather than proven by a negative search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.111287866722619, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 68, "first_touch_ts": 1600431361, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758030155, "top_author": "Tomi Valkeinen", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/imx", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX display bridge blocks (i.MX8QXP/i.MX8QM/i.MX8MP/i.MX93)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/imx", "claim": "Upstream directory is actively maintained; local tree history for this path shows substantive fixes and new functionality continuing into 2025-2026, with no clear removal/deprecation trend." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX 8M Plus as Active; the SoC includes display outputs such as MIPI-DSI, HDMI 2.0a Tx, and LVDS, matching drivers in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-processors/i-mx-9-processors/i-mx-93-applications-processor-family-arm-cortex-a55-ml-acceleration-power-efficient-mpu%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX93 as Active; the family exposes MIPI-DSI, LVDS, and parallel RGB display interfaces served by this driver set." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with multiple SoC-specific DRM bridge drivers. Upstream attention is current: exec_command on local git log for this path showed bug fixes, API conversions, PM work, and a new HDMI PAI driver through 2026-02-05; a follow-up exec_command grep for remove/deprecate/obsolete found no active removal discussion for the directory, only routine callback/API cleanup. The kernel.org log URL is a canonical-recall stable page used to anchor that activity claim. Deployment is still relevant because web search returned official NXP product pages marking i.MX8M Plus and i.MX93 Active, so this is not legacy-only hardware; likely deployments are embedded/industrial rather than mass-market, hence medium not high. No single replacement driver covers the whole directory; these bridges are the SoC-specific support for current i.MX display pipelines.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 66, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1655752507, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770279405, "top_author": "Luca Ceresoli", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/synopsys", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare display interface IP (DW HDMI / HDMI QP / MIPI DSI / DSI2 / DP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commits/master/drivers/gpu/drm/bridge/synopsys", "claim": "Canonical upstream history page for this directory; local git inspection shows multiple non-removal fixes and feature additions in 2025-2026, consistent with an actively maintained driver family rather than a deprecation target." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_DW_MIPI_DSI2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_DW_MIPI_DSI2 is present in Linux 6.14-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating this directory is still gaining or carrying current upstream functionality." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/mipi/mipi-dsi.html", "claim": "Synopsys still markets MIPI DSI/DSI-2 Host Controller IP for current application-processor, display-bridge, multimedia, and automotive use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/hdmi/hdmi-20-csds-tx.html", "claim": "Synopsys still markets HDMI 2.0 TX IP and describes it as shipping in volume, supporting continued new silicon adoption of this IP family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile and module_driver markers in local shell inspection. I attempted lore-first checks via MCP and `lei`; no lore MCP resources were exposed and `lei` was unavailable, so I fell back to local `git log` plus web lookups. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantial 2025-2026 activity (fixes, API conversions, new DW DP support) and no explicit removal/deprecation series. Source URLs were obtained via web search (`cateee.net`, Synopsys product pages) or canonical recall of the stable upstream history page (`github.com/torvalds/linux/commits/...`). Because this code drives still-marketed Synopsys DesignWare display IP embedded in current SoCs, there is no natural upstream replacement and the right recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0216532551636989, "commits_5y": 108, "substantive_commits_5y": 102, "first_touch_ts": 1489143774, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773767716, "top_author": "Maxime Ripard", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/clients", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains DRM in-kernel client/helper code (fbdev/log/client setup infrastructure), not hardware-specific kernel-bound driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1731660131, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766182001, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/display", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generic DRM display support/helpers subtree, not a hardware-specific kernel driver for a chipset or device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 283, "substantive_commits_5y": 277, "first_touch_ts": 1650878265, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769454078, "top_author": "Imre Deak", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/etnaviv", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Vivante GC-series GPU IP cores", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251119164624.9297-5-gert.wollny@collabora.com/", "claim": "Recent non-trivial upstream feature work exists for etnaviv ('drm/etnaviv: Add PPU flop reset', 2025-11-19)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326185413.1205870-55-jim.cromie@gmail.com/", "claim": "etnaviv still receives upstream maintenance touches in 2026 ('drm-dyndbg: add DRM_CLASSMAP_USE to etnaviv', 2026-03-26)." }, { "url": "https://variscite.com/system-on-module-som/i-mx-8/i-mx-8m-mini/dart-mx8m-mini/", "claim": "Current commercial SoM offering based on NXP i.MX8M Mini lists Vivante GC320/GC NanoUltra graphics and product longevity to 2034." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i.mx-applications-processors/i.mx-8-processors/i.mx-8m-nano-arm-cortex-a53-cortex-m7%3Ai.MX8MNANO?tid=FSHBNR_20191202", "claim": "NXP still lists the i.MX 8M Nano family as Active, indicating ongoing sale of Vivante-GPU-based SoCs in this ecosystem." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/etnaviv/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes DRM_ETNAVIV as support for 'Vivante GPU IP cores'." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: static history already shows high recent churn (163 substantive commits/5y, latest 2026-01-06), and lore_activity on etnaviv files returned 2025-11 and 2026-03 patch traffic with real code changes, consistent with an actively maintained embedded GPU driver. A lore_regex removal/deprecation subject scan timed out, and a shell `lei q` fallback was blocked by sandboxed lei socket startup, so I found no positive removal signal. Web search plus open on Variscite and NXP pages showed currently marketed i.MX8M products using Vivante GC GPUs, including a module page advertising longevity to 2034 and an NXP product page showing Active status. Kernel Kconfig URL was included via canonical recall to anchor the chipset family naming. There is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same Vivante IP blocks, so deprecate/remove is not supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05102536716283972, "commits_5y": 173, "substantive_commits_5y": 163, "first_touch_ts": 1450187282, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767714199, "top_author": "Lucas Stach", "top_author_commits": 54, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/exynos", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326094308.1161335-3-wenst@chromium.org/", "claim": "As of March 26, 2026, drm/exynos was still receiving non-trivial upstream maintenance work from Chromium-related contributors." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250929043110.3631025-4-hy_fifty.lee@samsung.com/", "claim": "As of September 29, 2025, drm/exynos was still receiving functional refactoring from a Samsung contributor, indicating live upstream ownership rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/reference/development/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/samsung-arm-chromebook", "claim": "Samsung ARM Chromebook documentation identifies a shipped Exynos 5250 Chromebook platform, showing this driver family served real consumer hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/reference/development/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/samsung-chromebook-2/", "claim": "Samsung Chromebook 2 documentation identifies Exynos 5420/5800 Chromebook platforms, reinforcing that the driver covers 2012-2014 era Exynos consumer systems." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category%3ASamsung_Exynos", "claim": "The postmarketOS Exynos category says many older Exynos SoCs remain mainline-supported and community-used, which is evidence of ongoing low-volume deployments today." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Nexus_10_%28samsung-manta%29", "claim": "The Nexus 10 page shows an Exynos 5250 device still marked as running a mainline kernel in postmarketOS, supporting continued enthusiast/community deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` over drivers/gpu/drm/exynos found platform drivers and DT compatibles for Exynos 4210/4212/5250/5420/5433/7870 plus HDMI/DP/DSI/FIMD/DECON blocks. `lore_activity(file=drivers/gpu/drm/exynos/exynos_drm_drv.c, since=5y)` returned active 2025-2026 patch traffic, including Samsung and Chromium contributors, so this is maintained and not in evident removal mode. Direct lore subject scans for removal/deprecation timed out, but the positive lore evidence shows refactoring rather than retirement. Web search results from Chromium device docs and postmarketOS wiki indicate the hardware is mostly legacy 2012-2018 consumer/mobile/chromebook silicon with surviving hobbyist/mainline use today; that supports `deployments_today=low`, `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false`, and no natural generic replacement driver beyond this platform-specific stack. URLs were obtained via lore MCP, local shell inspection, and web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03949920554767374, "commits_5y": 189, "substantive_commits_5y": 174, "first_touch_ts": 1317806851, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769956081, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/fsl-dcu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP DCU display controller for LS1021A and VF610 (VF6xx) SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250304-mem-fixes-v1-1-fb3dab8d901f@redhat.com/", "claim": "Upstream still touched the driver in March 2025; recent work was maintenance/API cleanup rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-based-processors-and-mcus/qoriq-layerscape-arm-processors/qoriq-layerscape-1021a-dual-core-communications-processor-with-lcd-controller%3ALS1021A", "claim": "NXP lists LS1021A as Active and explicitly markets an integrated LCD controller." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/VF6xx", "claim": "NXP lists the VF6xx family as Active and describes LCD/HMI capability, matching the vf610 DCU-backed use case." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/TWR-LS1021A", "claim": "NXP still shows an Active LS1021A development module, indicating at least ongoing niche/industrial ecosystem availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of fsl_dcu_drm_drv.c identified supported compatibles fsl,ls1021a-dcu and fsl,vf610-dcu, so the family is LS1021A/VF610 DCU. lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/fsl-dcu/fsl_dcu_drm_drv.c showed substantial history through 2025-03-04, with recent patch traffic and no removal signal in the returned events; two broader lore subject searches timed out, so absence of a removal thread is an inference from the recent maintenance activity, not direct proof. web search found official NXP product pages showing LS1021A and VF6xx still Active, plus an Active LS1021A dev board. This points to niche but still-sold industrial/embedded hardware with low modern deployment volume. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific display-controller support; recommendation is to keep the driver but annotate it as niche/legacy-industrial rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24540391737629502, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1440037384, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741282653, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/gma500", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel GMA500/600/3600/3650 (Poulsbo, Moorestown/Oak Trail, Cedar Trail; PowerVR SGX535/545-based Atom graphics)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326185413.1205870-56-jim.cromie@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being touched upstream in 2026, indicating it is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58917/intel-atom-processor-n2800-1m-cache-1-86-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "One supported Cedar Trail SKU (Atom N2800, tied to GMA3600/3650-class hardware) is marked Discontinued and launched in Q4 2011." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000021041/graphics/legacy-graphics.html", "claim": "Intel states the Atom Z500 series with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500 has been discontinued and moved to legacy/self-help support only." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/atom/z670", "claim": "Oak Trail Atom Z670, another family covered by this driver, shows last order in May 2013 and last shipment in November 2013, supporting a circa-2013 end of broad new-market availability." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/platforms/details/cedar-trail.html", "claim": "Cedar Trail was an Intel Atom platform for netbooks/entry desktops, confirming this driver targets old Atom-era client/embedded designs rather than current products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) in the source tree identified supported chipsets: GMA500/Poulsbo, GMA600/Moorestown-Oak Trail, and GMA3600/3650/Cedar Trail. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/gma500/psb_drv.c` produced the lore URL and showed recent 2026 traffic; I found no concrete removal series in the limited lore/search budget, so I did not escalate to remove. Web search/open/find produced the Intel and WikiChip URLs: Intel ARK/support pages show the hardware families are discontinued legacy products, and the Z670 EOL dates support using 2013 as the last widely available year. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and low-deployment, but upstream still carries active fixes/treewide upkeep, so annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04057543140327535, "commits_5y": 156, "substantive_commits_5y": 145, "first_touch_ts": 1321442394, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770023415, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 56, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/gud", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "GUD (Generic USB Display)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260222054551.80864-1-me@shenghaoyang.info/", "claim": "Upstream DRM/GUD still received functional bug-fix work in 2026, including a NULL-crtc dereference fix." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326185413.1205870-62-jim.cromie@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being touched by 2026 treewide DRM maintenance, confirming it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.9/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists 'DRM DRIVER FOR GENERIC USB DISPLAY' as Maintained and points at drivers/gpu/drm/gud/." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_GUD.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows GUD is a USB display driver with only a small set of known USB IDs, consistent with niche rather than broad hardware deployment." }, { "url": "https://github.com/notro/gud", "claim": "The upstream GUD project describes the protocol/driver family but the repository itself was archived in January 2025, suggesting limited ecosystem momentum outside the kernel." }, { "url": "https://github-wiki-see.page/m/notro/gud/wiki/Gadget-Implementations", "claim": "The GUD ecosystem in 2025 centered on hobbyist/open implementations such as Raspberry Pi Pico, ESP32, and Linux gadget setups rather than mainstream retail displays." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Identified scope from local source/Kconfig via shell: GUD is a generic USB display/display-adapter DRM driver, not a vendor-specific mass-market GPU. lore_file_timeline on gud_drv.c showed steady 2021-2026 activity and recent 2026 fixes; lore regex for removal talk timed out, but available lore evidence showed maintenance rather than removal. Web search produced docs.kernel.org MAINTAINERS, LKDDb, the archived notro/gud project page, and the GUD gadget-implementations wiki. Conclusion: upstream attention is active enough to keep, but deployments appear niche/DIY/embedded and not broadly sold retail hardware in 2025, so keep with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.030380727989534805, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1615896766, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773001230, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/hisilicon/hibmc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Hi171x iBMC / HiBMC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423063233.1267631-3-shiyongbang@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver is seeing active 2026 upstream bug-fix work, including a functional fix for display behavior when no connectors are connected." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260420121130.200133-5-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "The driver is also receiving nontrivial memory-management modernization work in 2026, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100192789/c6c604f0/enhanced-cpu-performance", "claim": "Huawei documents both 1710-based and 1711-based iBMC hardware, tying the supported device family to current Huawei server management silicon." }, { "url": "https://e.huawei.com/ph/products/computing/kunpeng/accessories/ibmc", "claim": "Huawei markets iBMC as an embedded server-management system used to manage servers throughout their lifecycle, showing the hardware role remains part of shipping server platforms." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100093459/1349604c/initial-configuration-ibmc-v3010000-or-later", "claim": "A Huawei server guide updated on 2025-08-01 explicitly references systems using a Hi1711 management chip, supporting that this family was still current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A19e5-1711", "claim": "Public Linux probes identify PCI 19e5:1711 as Huawei Hi171x iBMC with VGA support and show detections across multiple Huawei server models, indicating ongoing but niche deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command: Kconfig names this 'DRM Support for Hisilicon Hibmc' and hibmc_drm_drv.c binds PCI 19e5:1711, matching Huawei Hi171x iBMC/VGA hardware. lore_file_timeline on hibmc_drm_drv.c showed fresh 2026 patch traffic; the two lore.kernel.org URLs came from that MCP result and show active fixes/refactoring, with no evidence of removal discussion in the retrieved activity. The Huawei support/product URLs were obtained via web search/open and tie Hi1710/Hi1711 iBMC silicon to Huawei server products, including a 2025-dated Hi1711 guide. The linux-hardware URL was obtained via web search/open and indicates real-world detections on multiple Huawei server models. Overall this is niche server-management graphics hardware with low deployment breadth, but it is still present in current server families and upstream is actively maintaining it, so deprecation/removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06072722478116066, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1479367584, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768899194, "top_author": "Baihan Li", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/hisilicon/hibmc/dp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon HiBMC/iBMC server-management display engine (DisplayPort block)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6157027.html", "claim": "April 16, 2026 drm-misc-fixes patch series updates hibmc DP detection/link-cap logic, showing active upstream maintenance of the DP path." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg544365.html", "claim": "March 12, 2026 resend patch for hibmc DP detect logic touches dp_link.c and related code, indicating continued review/iteration rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg510324.html", "claim": "August 13, 2025 hibmc patch states the chip supports KVM over IP and must handle cases with no physical connector, evidencing real BMC/KVM deployment use." }, { "url": "https://info.support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100297719/6eb3ae08/ibmc", "claim": "Huawei TaiShan 200 server documentation updated in 2025 describes iBMC as the remote server-management subsystem with virtual KVM/media, supporting ongoing shipment/deployment of iBMC-equipped servers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via exec_command showed this directory is compiled into `hibmc-drm` from `drivers/gpu/drm/hisilicon/hibmc/Makefile`, so it is real driver code, not a helper-only subtree. All cited URLs were obtained via web search_query snippets. The lore/spinics results show fresh 2025-2026 DP bug-fix traffic and no removal/deprecation series, so deprecation is not justified. Deployment appears niche but current: HiBMC/iBMC is tied to Huawei server remote-management/KVM use rather than mainstream client GPUs, so keep the driver but treat it as low-volume, vendor-specific hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1735900930, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768899194, "top_author": "Baihan Li", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/hisilicon/kirin", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Kirin 620 / Hi6220 display pipeline", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251105160931.466664-1-madhurkumar004@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream maintenance in late 2025, including a kirin-specific DRM cleanup patch." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_HISI_KIRIN.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_DRM_HISI_KIRIN to HiSilicon hi6220-compatible hardware and shows the driver remains present through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/hikey/", "claim": "The HiKey board product page identifies the supported hardware as Kirin 620/Hi6220 and still advertised new-board purchase availability on a page crawled in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/documentation/consumer/hikey/hikey620/hardware-docs/hardware-user-manual.md.html", "claim": "The HiKey hardware manual states the board is based on the HiSilicon Kirin 620 (Hi6220) SoC and exposes display outputs relevant to this DRM driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` in the tree showed DT compatibles `hisilicon,hi6220-ade` and `hisilicon,hi6220-dsi`, so this directory is specifically the Hi6220/Kirin 620 display driver. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `kirin_drm_drv.c`; it showed real 2025 maintenance rather than abandonment. Web search produced the 96Boards HiKey product/manual URLs and LKDDb page. I found no concrete removal-series evidence in the allotted budget; given ongoing upstream fixes but very niche, old board support, this fits `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23868500931600187, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1461919144, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741282661, "top_author": "Ville Syrjälä", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/hyperv", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Hyper-V synthetic video", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_HYPERV.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DRM_HYPERV as the Hyper-V synthetic video DRM driver, maps it to Microsoft PCI ID 1414:5353, and notes it is the DRM path preferred over FB_HYPERV in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/dri-devel%40lists.freedesktop.org/msg573907.html", "claim": "Public patch traffic shows the driver still received a build-fix patch in November 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5686080.html", "claim": "A 2025 drm-next patch series substantially reworked hyperv_drm modesetting/atomic helper code, showing ongoing upstream development." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/Supported-Linux-and-FreeBSD-virtual-machines-for-Hyper-V-on-Windows", "claim": "Microsoft still documents supported Linux guests on Hyper-V for Windows Server 2025, Windows 11, and related current platforms, so Hyper-V guest deployments remain current." }, { "url": "https://static.lwn.net/kerneldoc/virt/hyperv/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Hyper-V guest support as an active Linux virtualization environment across x86/x64 and arm64." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell `rg`/`sed` confirmed this directory is a real DRM driver for the Hyper-V synthetic video device and that Kconfig explicitly says to prefer it over FB_HYPERV. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed recent 2024-2026 substantive maintenance, including replacing simple-KMS and adding drm_panic support. Web search against lore-related terms found no removal/deprecation hits; the obtained public patch pages from mail-archive and spinics instead show active 2025 maintenance. Deployment evidence came from Microsoft Learn and kernel Hyper-V docs obtained via web search, supporting continued real-world use in current Hyper-V Linux guest environments. Because this is virtual hardware tied to an actively shipped hypervisor, there is no natural upstream replacement driver beyond this driver itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1623078250, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063778, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel integrated/discrete graphics (i915 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpu/drm/xe", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/i915", "claim": "Canonical upstream log page for the i915 directory; used alongside the provided commit statistics to support that the driver is still under heavy active development." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.1/gpu/i915.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation for i915 covers modern features including Gen12-era functionality such as PXP, indicating the driver is maintained for relatively recent Intel GPU generations." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/gpu/rfc/xe.html", "claim": "Xe is a newer Intel GPU driver for Tiger Lake and later, but the document explicitly says there is a transition period where platforms are supported by both Xe and i915 and that i915 will continue to support current platforms already out of force_probe." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091109/graphics.html", "claim": "Intel support article lists Intel Arc A-series mobile graphics products, evidence that Intel GPU hardware in this general product family remained commercially offered in the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Recommendation is keep: the supplied tree-history stats already show extreme current activity (2511 substantive commits in 5 years, most recent 2026-03-23, 189 authors), which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal. No removal/deprecation evidence was found before tool fallback limits hit; shell attempt to query lore via `lei` failed because `lei` is not installed. URL acquisition: git.kernel.org log page by canonical recall; docs.kernel.org i915 and xe pages via web open/search; Intel Arc support page via web search. `drivers/gpu/drm/xe` is a partial successor for newer Intel GPUs, but not a universal replacement for the full installed i915 hardware base, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2538, "substantive_commits_5y": 2511, "first_touch_ts": 1215996301, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774249600, "top_author": "Jani Nikula", "top_author_commits": 666, "c_file_count": 70, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the i915 display engine implementation/helpers as a subcomponent of the Intel i915 DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6250, "substantive_commits_5y": 6232, "first_touch_ts": 1560759906, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775547704, "top_author": "Ville Syrjälä", "top_author_commits": 2031, "c_file_count": 144, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the i915 GEM/internal memory-management subdirectory, a component of the i915 DRM driver rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 683, "substantive_commits_5y": 670, "first_touch_ts": 1559043929, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775728635, "top_author": "Matthew Auld", "top_author_commits": 110, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/selftests", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains i915 GEM selftest code under kernel selftests, not hardware driver implementation or binding entry points.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 150, "substantive_commits_5y": 143, "first_touch_ts": 1559043929, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765187567, "top_author": "Matthew Auld", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel i915 graphics GT", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/Kconfig", "claim": "`DRM_I915` is the in-tree Intel graphics driver covering a broad span of Intel integrated graphics generations, so `drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt` is part of a live primary driver rather than a legacy side module." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt", "claim": "The `drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt` subtree has ongoing upstream maintenance, with recent non-mechanical fixes in 2026 and no evident removal trajectory in the directory log." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005718/processors/intel-core-processors.html", "claim": "Intel still documented desktop Core and Core Ultra processors with integrated Intel graphics across 12th/13th/14th Gen and Core Ultra lines as of December 24, 2025, supporting that i915-class hardware was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` inspected local `drivers/gpu/drm/i915/Kconfig`, file inventory, and local git history; those findings were mapped to canonical `git.kernel.org` tree/log URLs for citation. `web.search_query` + `open` retrieved Intel's support article showing current desktop Core/Core Ultra processors with integrated graphics. The subtree is heavily active, has broad current deployment through Intel integrated graphics systems, and has no natural one-for-one upstream replacement across the full i915 hardware base, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1251, "substantive_commits_5y": 1237, "first_touch_ts": 1556136106, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775647876, "top_author": "Matt Roper", "top_author_commits": 169, "c_file_count": 83, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/selftests", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains i915 GT kernel selftests, not production hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1561121333, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/uc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested i915 GT uC support code for GuC/HuC microcontroller/firmware handling, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 650, "substantive_commits_5y": 642, "first_touch_ts": 1563044303, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768256470, "top_author": "John Harrison", "top_author_commits": 127, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gvt", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel GVT-g", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000093216/graphics/processor-graphics.html", "claim": "Intel's 2026 support matrix says newer Intel graphics virtualization moved to SR-IOV, while GVT-g applies only to older families up through 11th Gen Rocket Lake / 10th / 9th / earlier listed Core generations." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099655/processors.html", "claim": "Intel lists 11th Gen Core (Rocket Lake) launch date as Q1 2021, making the last GVT-g-capable mainstream desktop generation a 2021 launch." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_I915_GVT.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_I915_GVT remains present in current kernels and describes it as Intel GVT-g host support for Broadwell+ integrated graphics virtualization." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_I915_GVT_KVMGT.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the paired KVM/VFIO host module still exists in current kernels, indicating the feature is still buildable upstream for legacy deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell evidence: `git -c safe.directory=/nas4/data/workspace/personal/linux-drivers/.kernel-snapshot log --since=2024-01-01 -- drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gvt` showed ongoing 2025-2026 fixes/refactors, so this is not abandoned. Web `search_query` + `open` on Intel KB 000093216 and 000099655 established that GVT-g is for older Intel iGPU generations and newer virtualization moved to SR-IOV, with the newest listed GVT-g generation launching in Q1 2021. Web `search_query` + `open` on LKDDb pages confirmed the kernel options/modules still exist. Separate web searches for lore removal/deprecation terms returned no hits, so I do not see active upstream removal talk from available tools. Result: keep upstream for legacy VM-host niches, but annotate as legacy/obsolete rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 292, "substantive_commits_5y": 283, "first_touch_ts": 1466192106, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767349044, "top_author": "Jani Nikula", "top_author_commits": 67, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/pxp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal i915 PXP subcomponent/helper area under the Intel GPU driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 78, "first_touch_ts": 1633367428, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757664525, "top_author": "Alan Previn", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/i915/selftests", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains i915 kernel selftests/test harness code, not a hardware driver implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 197, "substantive_commits_5y": 188, "first_touch_ts": 1487018721, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762163719, "top_author": "Jani Nikula", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/imagination", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Imagination PowerVR Rogue and newer IMG GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/imagination/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel docs describe this as the drm/imagination PowerVR driver and list supported cores including AXE-1-16M in TI AM62 and BXS-4-64 MC1 in TI J721S2/AM68." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625", "claim": "TI lists AM625 as ACTIVE and orderable; the AM62x family is a current Linux-focused SoC line using the GPU served by this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM68", "claim": "TI lists AM68 as ACTIVE and orderable, and explicitly names an IMG BXS-4-64 GPU in the product details." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_POWERVR.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_POWERVR present from Linux 6.8 through current HEAD and lists device matches including img,img-axe, img,img-rogue, and thead,th1520-gpu." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5724363.html", "claim": "A June 16, 2025 kernel thread references the lore patch '[PATCH v4 8/8] drm/imagination: Enable PowerVR driver for RISC-V', showing ongoing upstream feature work rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real DRM driver: local exec_command inspection of Kconfig, module firmware entries, and MAINTAINERS shows the powervr module under drivers/gpu/drm/imagination. Local exec_command git log shows active substantive fixes through 2026-03-10. Web search found current kernel docs, LKDDb, TI product pages, and a lore-linked mailing-list thread for 2025 RISC-V enablement; web searches for removal/deprecation discussion produced no relevant hits. Hardware is still shipping in active TI embedded SoCs and newer TH1520-class deployments, so there is no natural replacement and no obsolescence case beyond normal maintenance.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 115, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1700726505, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773757662, "top_author": "Matt Coster", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/imx/dc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8QXP Display Controller (DC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250414035028.1561475-13-victor.liu@nxp.com", "claim": "Initial upstream merge series added i.MX8QXP Display Controller KMS support in April 2025, indicating this is a newly upstreamed driver rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250930-drm-no-more-existing-state-v5-17-eeb9e1287907@kernel.org", "claim": "The driver received follow-up DRM API maintenance in September 2025, showing ongoing upstream integration work after merge." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-8quadxplus-multisensory-enablement-kit-mek%3AMCIMX8QXP-CPU", "claim": "NXP's i.MX 8QuadXPlus MEK page was still marked Active and lists Linux support for i.MX 8X family devices including i.MX8QXP-class parts, supporting continued new-hardware availability and current embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local source inspection via exec_command of Kconfig and dc-drv.c shows a DRM platform driver for OF compatible fsl,imx8qxp-dc. Lore evidence was obtained indirectly via exec_command on local git history, which exposed the cited lore.kernel.org links for the 2025 bring-up series and 2025 follow-up maintenance; this points to active upstream attention and no visible removal trajectory. Deployment evidence came from web search to NXP's official MEK product page marked Active with Linux support, which fits ongoing industrial/automotive embedded use. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the SoC-specific display-controller driver for the i.MX8QXP DC block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1747206534, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768591685, "top_author": "Liu Ying", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/imx/dcss", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8MQ DCSS", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250806123545.380325-1-liaoyuanhong@vivo.com/", "claim": "Lore activity for `drivers/gpu/drm/imx/dcss/dcss-drv.c` shows the driver still receives upstream touch-ups in 2025, indicating it is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20240124111904.18261-4-pstanner@redhat.com/", "claim": "The directory saw a non-trivial multi-file cleanup/refactor in 2024 (`have all init functions use devres`), consistent with active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/imx/dcss/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this driver as `i.MX8MQ DCSS`, tying the directory to the NXP i.MX8MQ Display Controller Subsystem." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/imx/dcss/dcss-drv.c", "claim": "The driver match table and module description bind this code to `nxp,imx8mq-dcss` / `DCSS driver for i.MX8MQ`, confirming the exact hardware block." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8M", "claim": "NXP's current i.MX 8M product page still lists i.MX8MQ supported parts, supporting that the SoC family remains an active product family in the market." }, { "url": "https://www.variscite.com/product/system-on-module-som/cortex-a53-krait/dart-mx8m-nxp-imx-8m/", "claim": "A current commercial SoM page advertises a new i.MX8M Quad-based module for sale, showing ongoing new embedded deployments of the family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` reads of Kconfig and `dcss-drv.c` identify the hardware as NXP i.MX8MQ DCSS. `lore_activity` on `dcss-drv.c` returned 32 hits over 5 years, including 2024 refactoring and 2025 cleanups via lore URLs above, so upstream attention is still present. Web search found current NXP and Variscite product pages showing the i.MX8M/i.MX8MQ family remains commercially available for new embedded designs. This is a SoC-specific display controller with no generic drop-in replacement driver; given ongoing maintenance and continued product availability, removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12426678903338399, "commits_5y": 43, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1599662388, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759751952, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/imx/ipuv3", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX5/i.MX6 IPUv3 display engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg539904.html", "claim": "The parallel-display driver in this directory received an upstream fix that was applied on 2026-02-20, showing current maintainer attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg549167.html", "claim": "A new April 2026 bugfix patch targets drm/imx/ipuv3 directly, indicating active real-world usage and ongoing maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg552145.html", "claim": "An April 2026 refactoring series still updates imx-ldb in this directory, showing the code remains part of active DRM subsystem work." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX6Q", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX6 Quad processor as Active, indicating the SoC family backing this driver is still commercially active." }, { "url": "https://developer.toradex.com/products/colibri-imx6", "claim": "Toradex still documents and sells/supports Colibri iMX6 modules and accessories, evidence of ongoing industrial deployments on i.MX6 hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection confirmed this is a real DRM driver for i.MX53/i.MX6 IPUv3 blocks. exec_command git log showed multiple 2025-2026 touches in the directory. web search was then used to obtain mailing-list thread URLs for recent ipuv3/ldb/parallel-display fixes and refactors; those searches surfaced active maintenance and no removal/deprecation thread. web search also obtained the NXP i.MX6Q product page and Toradex Colibri iMX6 product page, supporting that i.MX6-class hardware remains sold into industrial/embedded markets. Because the hardware is old but still commercially present and upstream work is active, removal or deprecation is not justified; there is no direct upstream replacement for IPUv3 on the same hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1671212429, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771591023, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/imx/lcdc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP i.MX1/i.MX21/i.MX25/i.MX27 LCDC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/imx/lcdc", "claim": "Upstream driver is recent and still receives maintenance; local git history shows initial merge in 2023 and substantive fixes/features in 2024, with only treewide churn after that." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_IMX_LCDC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_IMX_LCDC exists in mainline since 6.4 and matches Freescale i.MX LCDC hardware via fsl,imx21-lcdc and fsl,imx25-lcdc; Kconfig text says the block is found on i.MX1/i.MX21/i.MX25/i.MX27." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-processors/i-mx-mature-processors/multimedia-applications-processors-low-power-high-performance-arm9-core%3Ai.MX21", "claim": "One supported family member, i.MX21, is marked not recommended for new designs, indicating legacy status for part of the covered hardware base." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX255", "claim": "At least one supported i.MX25 family member remained active on NXP's site and was listed in the product longevity program, so the hardware class was not entirely extinct in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile plus platform_driver in imx-lcdc.c. Driver identity and supported SoCs were verified from local file inspection with rg and corroborated by LKDDB. Upstream activity was checked with local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/gpu/drm/imx/lcdc`; the canonical kernel.org log URL is cited for the same path. I attempted lore access via MCP and `lei`, but lore-http was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; web lore searches returned no hits for removal/deprecation, so absence of active removal talk is an inference rather than a directly cited lore thread. NXP pages obtained via web search show mixed reality: i.MX21 is legacy/NRND, but i.MX25 automotive-era parts still had active longevity listings, so keep the driver but annotate it as mostly mature, niche embedded support rather than a removal candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1678790633, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727332083, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/ingenic", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Ingenic JZ47xx/XBurst display controller (notably JZ4725B/JZ4760/JZ4770/JZ4780)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-bridge-connector-attach_encoder-v2-10-2ae6ca69b390@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic still touches drm/ingenic; this specific patch is a small API-cleanup, not a driver removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-state-readout-v2-5-8549f87cb978@kernel.org/", "claim": "The main Ingenic DRM file was included in broad 2026 DRM core refactoring, indicating the driver remains integrated with current subsystem maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_INGENIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_INGENIC still present in current kernel series and lists supported Ingenic SoC compatibles including jz4770/jz4780 LCD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_INGENIC_DW_HDMI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Ingenic-specific DW-HDMI companion support still exists for JZ4780 in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.cnx-software.com/2014/08/28/mips-creator-ci20-development-board-formally-announced-free-to-selected-developers/", "claim": "Creator CI20, a notable JZ4780 development board target for this family, was launched in 2014, supporting the view that the hardware is from an older generation." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCW_Zero", "claim": "GCW Zero used an Ingenic JZ4770 and was released in 2013, showing the family is associated with legacy handheld products rather than current mass-market devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg` on the local tree identified the supported compatibles and confirmed this is an Ingenic JZ47xx/JZ4780 DRM driver. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/gpu/drm/ingenic/ingenic-drm-drv.c showed many recent touches through 2026, including subsystem-wide refactors and a small drm/ingenic cleanup patch; that argues against deprecation-by-neglect. A `lore_regex` removal query timed out, so absence of a removal series is inferred from the recent timeline rather than proven exhaustively. Web search found LKDDb pages showing the driver remains enabled in current kernels, and historical device pages for CI20/GCW Zero indicate the supported hardware peaked around 2013-2015. Conclusion: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/niche hardware with low modern deployment and no natural upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10985486274305252, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1560943454, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759751962, "top_author": "Paul Cercueil", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/kmb", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel Keem Bay display", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260219224426.1122073-1-ethantidmore06@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity continued into 2026 with a targeted drm/kmb bug fix, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned or under removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_KMB_DISPLAY.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_DRM_KMB_DISPLAY for Intel Keembay Display and ties it to the OF compatible string intel,keembay-display." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/192940/products-formerly-keem-bay.html", "claim": "Intel ARK still listed products formerly Keem Bay, showing the family remained an active Intel product line rather than a long-dead legacy platform." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230545/gen-3-intel-movidius-3700vc-vpu/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists a Keem Bay-family product (Gen 3 Intel Movidius 3700VC VPU) as Marketing Status: Launched, supporting that Keem Bay-derived hardware was still sold new in the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/partner/showcase/storefront/a5S3b0000016PKMEA2.html", "claim": "Intel partner showcase pages described shipping AI camera solutions using the latest-generation Movidius VPU Keem Bay, suggesting ongoing niche OEM/industrial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell rg/sed on drivers/gpu/drm/kmb/kmb_drv.c showed the compatible string intel,keembay-display, so the directory is the Intel Keem Bay display driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/kmb/kmb_drv.c showed non-removal traffic through 2026-02-19, plus late-2025 stable-targeted fixes, so this is not a dead driver and there was no evidence of an active removal push in the sampled lore history. Web search found LKDDb for driver identity and Intel ARK/spec pages for Keem Bay-family product status; a partner showcase page indicates present-day OEM/industrial edge-AI use. Conclusion: niche hardware with low deployments, but still relevant enough to keep upstream; annotate for niche/low-volume status rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12883976120911408, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1604600410, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759751954, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/lima", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "ARM Mali-400/450 (Utgard)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251209140141.94407-7-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Upstream drm/lima still received non-trivial maintenance in late 2025 ('Use GEM-UMA helpers for memory management')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250408154637.1637082-2-nunes.erico@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream drm/lima also saw feature/behavior work in 2025 ('implement the file flush callback'), indicating active attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_LIMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DRM_LIMA as the DRM driver for ARM Mali-400/450 GPUs and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A20/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2/open-source-hardware", "claim": "A current retail product page still lists the A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 as in stock, and its featured SoC includes a dual-core Mali-400 GPU." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A20-OLinuXino-LIME2", "claim": "The board wiki specifies the A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 uses an Allwinner A20 with dual-core Mali-400 GPU, tying a still-sold product to Lima-supported hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with active upstream maintenance, so removal/deprecation is not justified. The two lore URLs were obtained via the `lore_activity` MCP tool on `drivers/gpu/drm/lima/lima_drv.c`; they show substantive 2025 drm/lima work. The LKDDb and Olimex URLs were obtained via web search. Deployment appears niche rather than broad: Lima-class Utgard GPUs survive mainly in older SBC/industrial products still sold by vendors like Olimex, so `deployments_today` is `low`. No in-tree replacement cleanly supersedes Lima for Mali-400/450 itself; Panfrost targets newer Mali generations, so `replacement_driver` is null. `keep-annotate` fits best: keep the driver, but document that it mainly serves aging/niche hardware families rather than mainstream new designs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13827206060496103, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1554140720, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752578820, "top_author": "Erico Nunes", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/logicvc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Xylon LogiCVC / logiCVC-ML display controller IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.logicbricks.com/Products/logiCVC-ML.aspx", "claim": "Vendor product page was live in 2026, lists current pricing, Linux software support, and support for AMD Zynq 7000 / UltraScale / UltraScale+ families, so the IP is still commercially sold." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6029029.html", "claim": "Public patch thread from 2026-01-30 shows current upstream bug-fix traffic for drm/logicvc, with no removal proposal in that thread." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fef0e649f8b42bdffe4a916dd46e1b1e9ad2f207", "claim": "Stable-kernel commit for a 2026 logicvc fix indicates the driver is still maintained enough to receive upstream/stable fixes." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/logicvc/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this directory as the DRM driver for the Xylon LogiCVC programmable logic block." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: local file inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows `module_platform_driver`, OF compatibles `xylon,logicvc-*`, and Kconfig naming Xylon LogiCVC. Local history (`git -c safe.directory ... log`) shows substantive touches through 2026-01-30, so it is not abandoned. lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; I checked public mailing-list evidence via web search/open instead, finding active fix traffic but no removal discussion. Vendor product pages obtained by web search/open show the IP is still marketed in 2026, but as a specialized FPGA display IP core, implying niche industrial/embedded deployments rather than broad new-volume adoption. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same vendor-specific IP block, so removal is not justified; annotate as niche/low-deployment instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1654786196, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770733116, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/loongson", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Loongson LSDC / LS7A1000, LS7A2000, LS2K1000, LS2K2000 display controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=5", "claim": "Official Loongson product page says LS7A2000 is targeted at server and personal computer markets and integrates display/GPU functions; evidence it remained a current product in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=28", "claim": "Official Loongson product page lists an industrial-grade LS7A2000 variant, indicating continuing embedded/industrial deployment rather than legacy-only status." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=4", "claim": "Official Loongson product page lists LS7A1000 as a Loongson 3-family chipset with display capability, matching the older chipset covered by the driver." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=11", "claim": "Official Loongson product page shows the newer LS3A6000 platform was still being marketed recently; this aligns with continued use of companion LS7A-series graphics chipsets in new Loongson systems." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/loongson/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel source Kconfig identifies this as the DRM driver for Loongson Graphics and names LS7A2000, LS7A1000, LS2K2000, and LS2K1000 as covered hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/loongson/lsdc_drv.c", "claim": "Kernel source pci ID table shows explicit support for Loongson devices 0x7a06 and 0x7a36, i.e. LS7A1000 and LS7A2000 family hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/loongson", "claim": "Kernel git history for the directory shows continuing upstream maintenance in 2024-2025, including functional drm/loongson updates rather than only removal/deprecation churn." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local exec_command inspection found DRM Kconfig/help text and a PCI driver with Loongson device IDs. Active-upstream signal came from local exec_command git log over this directory (recent functional drm/loongson commits in 2024-2025, no visible removal/deprecation trend); kernel.org tree/log URLs are canonical recall anchors for those inspected files. Deployment evidence came from web search results opening official loongson.cn product pages for LS7A1000/LS7A2000 and industrial LS7A2000, which indicates the hardware family was still sold into desktop/server and embedded niches in 2025. Because the hardware is still marketed and the upstream driver is young and maintained, this should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1688500262, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761902075, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/mcde", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 / Ux500 MCDE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251202-mcde-drm-regression-thirdfix-v6-2-f1bffd4ec0fa@kernel.org/", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream patch traffic still touches mcde_drv.c, indicating active maintenance/regression handling rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MCDE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_MCDE still present in current kernel series and ties the driver to the ST-Ericsson MCDE / ste,mcde hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NovaThor", "claim": "NovaThor/U8500 was a smartphone/tablet SoC family from the 2011-2013 era; ST-Ericsson was broken up in 2013, supporting the conclusion that the hardware is long out of new-production deployment." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Beam_%28samsung-gavini%29", "claim": "A 2012 U8500 phone still has hobbyist mainline/postmarketOS interest, which suggests residual legacy deployments exist but at low volume." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via exec_command identified MCDE as the ST-Ericsson Ux500/NovaThor U8500 display engine. lore_file_timeline on mcde_drv.c returned the cited lore URL showing real 2025 regression work, and I found no removal signal before tool-budget exhaustion; that argues against deprecate/remove. web search provided the LKDDb URL for current kernel presence, the NovaThor Wikipedia URL for product-era/EOL context, and the postmarketOS device URL for present-day hobbyist use. Hardware is obsolete for new sales, but upstream attention is still real, so keep the driver and annotate it as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.140929554264385, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1558710013, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757941695, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/mediatek", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "MediaTek display / DRM SoCs (MT81xx, MT83xx, MT27xx, Genio, Kompanio families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MEDIATEK.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_MEDIATEK is present through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with support for many MediaTek display blocks and newer compatibles such as MT8195 and MT8365." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MEDIATEK_DP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows DisplayPort/eDP support landed for newer MediaTek SoCs and remains present through 6.19, indicating ongoing feature growth rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://genio.mediatek.com/genio-720", "claim": "MediaTek markets the Genio 720 for new embedded Linux/Android/Ubuntu deployments and states product longevity to 2035, with current display outputs including DSI/eDP/DP." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-kompanio-ultra-to-redefine-on-device-ai-and-performance-for-chromebook-plus", "claim": "MediaTek announced a new Kompanio Ultra Chromebook platform on April 2, 2025, showing active new-product deployment of MediaTek display-capable compute SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/chromebooks-tablets/kompanio-chromebooks", "claim": "MediaTek's Chromebook lineup page lists current Kompanio families and shipping device examples, indicating ongoing mainstream deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell grep found module entry points in mtk_drm_drv.c, mtk_dp.c, mtk_hdmi*. Upstream activity was checked first via local shell git history because the advertised lore-http MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; `git log` on this path showed substantive fixes/features through 2026-03-22 with many recent authors and merge tags, which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal. A web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion returned no results for drm/mediatek. Deployment evidence came from web search hits to official MediaTek product pages and LKDDb. No natural replacement exists: this is the in-tree SoC-specific DRM/KMS driver for current MediaTek display hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014317322722681656, "commits_5y": 495, "substantive_commits_5y": 479, "first_touch_ts": 1462549655, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774188944, "top_author": "AngeloGioacchino Del Regno", "top_author_commits": 101, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/meson", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson Display Controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/meson/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as \"DRM Support for Amlogic Meson Display Controller,\" i.e. the display engine driver for Amlogic Meson SoCs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326100248.1171828-4-wenst@chromium.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still touches meson DRM code in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250623130637.288916360@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "meson DRM fixes were backported to stable in 2025, which is strong evidence of ongoing real-world support needs." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's current product catalog still lists multiple Meson-family SoCs such as S905X3, S905X4, S905X5, A311D, and S928X." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-c4/", "claim": "A current retail product page offers a new ODROID-C4 based on the Amlogic S905X3, showing new-hardware availability in the Meson family." }, { "url": "https://www.khadas.com/product-page/vim4", "claim": "A current retail product page offers the Khadas VIM4 based on the Amlogic A311D2, showing continuing new deployments of Meson-family hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: local shell read of `drivers/gpu/drm/meson/Kconfig` identified the hardware family; kernel.org URL included as canonical recall for that file. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/meson/meson_drv.c` showed heavy activity through 2026-03-26 and stable backports in 2025; no removal evidence was found, and a targeted removal/deprecation lore search timed out rather than producing hits. Web search returned Amlogic's live product catalog plus current ODROID-C4 and Khadas VIM4 retail pages, so the hardware is still sold new and still deployed in SBC/STB/device markets. There is no natural replacement driver for the same Meson display block, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.050933016649802876, "commits_5y": 97, "substantive_commits_5y": 87, "first_touch_ts": 1480583240, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769000396, "top_author": "Neil Armstrong", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/mgag200", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Matrox G200 / G200e server variants", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326185413.1205870-61-jim.cromie@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic still touches mgag200, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.hpe.com/psnow/downloadDoc/HPE%20Synergy%20480%20Gen12%20Compute%20Module%20QuickSpecs-a50009201enw.pdf?deepLink=&form=false&hf=regular&id=a50009201enw.pdf&isFutureVersion=true&originalObjectName=&prelaunchSection=&preview=false&print=&r=§ion=&softrollSection=&ver=10", "claim": "HPE Synergy 480 Gen12 QuickSpecs list an integrated VGA-compatible Matrox G200eH3 core, showing the hardware family is still present in current server products." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/precision-r7960-workstation/precision_7960_rack_ss/gpuintegrated?guid=guid-9ce3ee96-ded6-445c-bbfb-6a22ec28012c&msockid=1a7f461b35ae68e4330a505e3464690a", "claim": "Dell Precision 7960 Rack documentation lists an integrated Matrox G200eW3 graphics controller, reinforcing ongoing niche deployment in rack/workstation-server platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MGAG200.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_MGAG200 remains present in current kernels and covers multiple Matrox G200/G200e PCI IDs including newer server variants such as G200eW3 and G200eH3." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so the fast removal-discussion probe was inconclusive; `lore_activity` on `mgag200_drv.c` produced a March 2026 lore URL showing ongoing non-removal maintenance. Web search returned current OEM product docs from HPE and Dell showing G200eH3/G200eW3 still shipping in server/rack systems. A second web search returned LKDDb confirming the driver still binds both legacy desktop G200 and server-only G200e variants in current kernels. Conclusion: this is legacy, low-volume server-console hardware, but not obsolete enough for deprecation; keep it, annotate it as niche server/BMC VGA support with low modern deployment. No real upstream replacement covers the same PCI IDs; `simpledrm` is only a generic fallback, not a device-driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04070389478206773, "commits_5y": 137, "substantive_commits_5y": 128, "first_touch_ts": 1337248421, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770191573, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 101, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon / Adreno", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424151140.104093-14-robin.clark@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "lore_activity on drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_drv.c shows active April 2026 upstream feature development in drm/msm, including a new PERFCNTR_CONFIG ioctl." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424151140.104093-2-robin.clark@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "The recent 'Remove obsolete perf infrastructure' patch is scoped to obsolete internal perf code within drm/msm, not a proposal to deprecate or remove the driver." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm's October 21, 2024 announcement says Snapdragon 8 Elite includes an Adreno GPU and that many OEMs were launching devices with it, indicating broad new-device deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2026/02/qualcomm-unveils-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-5-for-galaxy--drivin", "claim": "Qualcomm's February 25, 2026 announcement says Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, with Adreno GPU, powers Samsung Galaxy S26 devices, confirming the hardware family remains current and sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DRM_MSM as the MSM DRM driver for MSM/Snapdragon and shows it present through current kernel series up to 7.0-rc+HEAD." } ], "reasoning_notes": "lore_activity tool on msm_drv.c produced the cited lore URLs and showed very recent substantive work by multiple Qualcomm/DRM contributors; the only 'remove' evidence found there was removal of obsolete sub-infrastructure, not driver retirement. web search returned the Qualcomm press-release URLs; web open inspected the 2024 Snapdragon 8 Elite page and LKDDb page, while the 2026 Qualcomm result already exposed the relevant launch details in search output. Together this indicates an actively maintained upstream driver for still-shipping Snapdragon/Adreno hardware with high current deployment volume. No separate upstream replacement driver covers the same Qualcomm DRM/KMS role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023244515005228644, "commits_5y": 736, "substantive_commits_5y": 720, "first_touch_ts": 1377369181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771889298, "top_author": "Rob Clark", "top_author_commits": 251, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/adreno", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Adreno", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://linux.googlesource.com/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux/%2B/930c532869774ebf8af9efe9484c597f896a7d46/MAINTAINERS", "claim": "The MSM Adreno DRM driver is listed as Maintained, covering drivers/gpu/drm/msm/." }, { "url": "https://lkml.rescloud.iu.edu/2406.3/08467.html", "claim": "A 2024 patch series added Adreno 505 GPU support, showing ongoing upstream enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_MSM remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, with Adreno-related platform/OF matches and recent Qualcomm SoC bindings in the MSM DRM stack." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/smartphones", "claim": "Qualcomm's current Snapdragon mobile platforms continue to ship with Adreno GPUs, indicating the hardware family is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2023/10/qualcomm-unleashes-snapdragon-x-elite--the-ai-super-charged-plat", "claim": "Snapdragon X Elite announced Adreno-equipped PC platforms shipping from mid-2024, extending current Adreno deployments beyond phones." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: the prompt's local history stats already show very high recent activity (449 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-03-05, 60 authors), and cited evidence matches that this is an actively maintained upstream driver with new GPU enablement and current-product relevance. No removal/deprecation signal surfaced in available search results; lore-http was unavailable in-session and `lei` was missing, so that specific point is inferred from the supplied activity metadata plus web evidence rather than direct lore timeline output. URLs were obtained via web search results: MAINTAINERS and LKDDb from search, LKML archive patch page from search, and Qualcomm product/release pages from search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02117096938402316, "commits_5y": 455, "substantive_commits_5y": 449, "first_touch_ts": 1377370638, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772747390, "top_author": "Rob Clark", "top_author_commits": 128, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon display controllers (MDP4/MDP5/DPU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM_DPU.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_MSM_DPU is current through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, and maps this directory's dpu_kms.c to modern Qualcomm compatibles including qcom,kaanapali-dpu and qcom,glymur-dpu." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM_MDP5.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the same directory still carries active MDP5 support in current kernels, covering long-lived Snapdragon/APQ platforms rather than a removed legacy-only branch." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/snapdragon-x-series-continues-to-redefine-the-pc-category-with-a", "claim": "Qualcomm said in January 2025 that Snapdragon X Series had over 60 PC designs in production or development and more than 100 coming by 2026, indicating ongoing new deployments for Qualcomm display-capable SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-samsung-redefine-premium-performance-by-bringing-th", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy powering the Galaxy S25 series globally in January 2025, confirming fresh flagship mobile shipments on this platform family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is substantive MSM DRM display-controller code (mdp4/mdp5/dpu1), not docs/tests/helpers. Local shell inspection showed current catalog headers for recent SoCs (including SM8750, X1E80100, Kaanapali). Local `exec_command` git history on the path showed active 2025-2026 upstream work, including multiple fixes plus `drm/msm/dpu: Add support for Kaanapali DPU` and no clear path-wide removal/deprecation series; that backs a keep decision, not deprecate/remove. Cited URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb pages from `turn2search4` and `turn2search5`, Qualcomm deployment pages from `turn0search3` and `turn3search6`. No natural replacement driver exists upstream; this directory is the in-tree Qualcomm MSM display implementation for these SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1521455615, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768285198, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/dpu1", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon DPU/MDSS display controllers (SDM845 and newer)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg542699.html", "claim": "Patch traffic for this directory was still active in March 2026, with a fix posted for SA8775P DPU catalog data under drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/dpu1." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg521295.html", "claim": "New hardware enablement was still being added in late 2025: Kaanapali DPU support touched dpu1 catalog and KMS files." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM_DPU.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_DRM_MSM_DPU as the MSM DRM DPU support for SDM845 and newer platforms and lists many current SoC compatibles, including qcom,kaanapali-dpu in HEAD." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching new Snapdragon mobile platforms in late 2024 with commercial devices from many OEMs, supporting the conclusion that this display-controller family remained in new products through 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/05/snapdragon-x-series-is-the-exclusive-platform-to-power-the-next-", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon X Elite/X Plus PCs from major OEMs shipping in 2024, showing the broader Snapdragon hardware ecosystem covered by msm display support remained in active new deployment entering 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command review of drivers/gpu/drm/msm/Kconfig shows DRM_MSM_DPU is the active MSM DPU path for 'SDM845 and newer platforms'; local git log for this directory shows frequent substantive fixes and feature work through 2026-03-12, including Kaanapali support and SA8775P fixes. URL evidence was obtained via web search: turn1search1 for late-2025 Kaanapali enablement, turn0search4 for the March-2026 SA8775P fix thread, turn3search0 for LKDDb coverage of many current compatibles, and turn2search0 plus turn2search4 for Qualcomm product-launch evidence that Snapdragon devices were still shipping new in/into 2025. No natural replacement driver exists: dpu1 is the current upstream display-engine implementation inside drm/msm for this hardware family. Targeted search did not surface an active removal series, and the observed traffic is clearly maintenance plus new-platform enablement, so removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01880332235424791, "commits_5y": 970, "substantive_commits_5y": 961, "first_touch_ts": 1532616304, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772754783, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 513, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/mdp4", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Mobile Display Processor v4 on APQ8064/MSM8960/MSM8x60 (Snapdragon S4/Krait-era)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-bridge-connector-attach_encoder-v2-32-2ae6ca69b390@bootlin.com/", "claim": "MDP4 still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch updates drm/msm/mdp4 code rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251013144423.108559617@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "MDP4 also received a 2025 stable backport ('drm/msm/mdp4: stop supporting no-IOMMU configuration'), indicating real bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2011/02/qualcomm-announces-next-generation-snapdragon-mobile-chipset-family", "claim": "Qualcomm identified MSM8960 and APQ8064 as this Snapdragon generation, with APQ8064/MSM8930 samples due in early 2012; this places the hardware family firmly in the early-2010s market." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/MSM8960_Mainlining", "claim": "postmarketOS documents APQ8064/MSM8960 mainlining work in 2025 and describes them as 2012 SoCs, showing remaining hobbyist/aftermarket deployments." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_using_Qualcomm_Snapdragon_systems_on_chips", "claim": "The APQ8064 device list is concentrated in 2012-2013 products, supporting the conclusion that new mainstream deployments ended long ago." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: local Kconfig inspection shows MDP4 is the older display controller for APQ8064/MSM8960/MSM8x60; lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/mdp4/mdp4_kms.c showed fresh 2025-2026 maintenance patches and no explicit removal series. Qualcomm press-release and Wikipedia/postmarketOS web-search results place the platform in 2011-2013-era Snapdragon S4/Krait devices, with current evidence limited to community mainlining rather than new-product sales. Recommendation is keep-annotate: old hardware, low present-day deployment, but clearly still maintained upstream. URL provenance: two lore URLs from lore_file_timeline; Qualcomm/postmarketOS/Wikipedia URLs from web search results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08900924451499152, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1521455615, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762782098, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/mdp5", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon MDP5 display controller (MSM8x26/8x74/8x16/8x36/8x53/8x76/8x94/8x96, APQ8084, MSM8917, MSM8937 class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/dpu1", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/disp/mdp5/mdp5_cfg.c", "claim": "MDP5 supports older Qualcomm display blocks including msm8x26, msm8x74, apq8084, msm8x16, msm8x36, msm8x94, msm8x96, msm8x76, msm8x53, msm8917, and msm8937." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_drv.c", "claim": "Upstream still carries an MDP5-vs-DPU migration path: sdm630/sdm660 are marked migrated to DPU, while msm8917/msm8937/msm8953/msm8996 remain in a shared migration list and MDP5 can still be preferred." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM_MDP5.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies DRM_MSM_MDP5 as the Qualcomm MDP5/KMS display support block within the MSM DRM driver." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon", "claim": "The relevant Snapdragon/APQ families tied to these MDP5 blocks are mid-2010s mobile SoCs rather than current-generation 2025 platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper. Local shell inspection (rg/sed) showed mdp5_cfg.c enumerates only older Qualcomm SoCs and msm_drv.c documents active coexistence/migration with dpu1 rather than removal. lore_file_timeline tool on the directory path returned 0 matches, so I found no evidence of an active upstream removal series from the requested fast-path lore check. Static metadata supplied in the prompt shows strong recent maintenance (98 substantive commits in 5y, last substantive touch 2026-01-13, 31 authors), so removal/deprecation would be premature. Hardware-obsolescence judgment is an inference from the supported SoC list plus canonical-reference pages: these are legacy phone/embedded Snapdragon generations, so new-in-2025 sales look unlikely, but deployed devices likely still exist at low volume. Source URLs were obtained by canonical recall for kernel.org/LKDDb/Wikipedia pages; code facts themselves were verified with local shell reads.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05352465493482133, "commits_5y": 104, "substantive_commits_5y": 98, "first_touch_ts": 1521455615, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768285222, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 56, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon/MSM DisplayPort controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260421-hpd-irq-events-v3-4-44d2bf40dfc2@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and functional, with a 2026 patch touching dp_display.c to handle USB-C HPD IRQ events." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/snapdragon-x-series-continues-to-redefine-the-pc-category-with-a", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon X devices from major OEMs for early 2025 and stated there were over 60 designs in production or development." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/laptops-and-tablets/desktop", "claim": "Current Snapdragon X desktop systems are marketed for multi-monitor external-display setups, showing the display-output hardware class remains in new deployments." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dp", "claim": "This directory is the in-tree Qualcomm MSM DRM DisplayPort driver block, not a helper-only library." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with 9 C files and DRM/MSM DP entry points. `lore_file_timeline` on dp_display.c showed heavy 2021-2026 churn (including 2024-2026) and a newest touch on 2026-04-20; `lore_activity` confirmed recent functional patches rather than retirement work. A `lore_regex` removal/deprecation scan timed out twice, so no positive removal evidence was found; sampled lore instead points to ongoing maintenance. Web search found Qualcomm 2025/2026 Snapdragon X product pages showing new OEM systems and active external-display use cases. Kernel tree URL is canonical recall. Conclusion: this hardware block is still shipping in modern Qualcomm PCs/embedded devices, has no natural replacement outside the broader `msm` DRM stack, and should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04038056499001248, "commits_5y": 300, "substantive_commits_5y": 294, "first_touch_ts": 1600192474, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768954354, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 76, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dsi", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm MSM/SDM/SM Snapdragon DSI host/display controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20260324-dsi-rgb101010-support-v5-5-ff6afc904115@pm.me/", "claim": "Upstream work on this driver was still adding new functionality in March 2026 ('drm/msm/dsi: Add support for RGB101010 pixel format')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260323134539.247597215@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was receiving bug-fix backports in stable in March 2026 ('drm/msm/dsi: fix pclk rate calculation for bonded dsi')." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dsi/dsi_cfg.c", "claim": "The in-tree configuration table includes modern Qualcomm SoCs such as SM8550 and SM8650, showing the driver targets current Snapdragon display hardware families rather than only legacy chips." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm was launching new flagship Snapdragon mobile platforms in late 2024, supporting the conclusion that Qualcomm mobile display hardware covered by this driver family was still entering new products for 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-samsung-redefine-premium-performance-by-bringing-th", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy powering the Galaxy S25 series on January 22, 2025, evidence of new 2025 deployments of current Snapdragon-based devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. lore_file_timeline on dsi_host.c showed heavy recent activity through 2026-03-25, including new feature work and stable backports; that is incompatible with deprecation/removal. kernel.org URL is canonical recall, used to confirm the driver still names recent SM8550/SM8650-era configs. Qualcomm URLs were obtained via web search on qualcomm.com and show new Snapdragon flagship devices/platforms shipping in 2024-2025, so the hardware class is still sold new. No natural replacement exists: this is the active Qualcomm DRM DSI path within msm DRM, not a superseded parallel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.024785466214913884, "commits_5y": 171, "substantive_commits_5y": 168, "first_touch_ts": 1377369181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772822468, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dsi/phy", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon/SA/SC/SM DSI PHYs for MSM DRM display pipelines", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260327-milos-mdss-v2-6-bc586683f5ca@fairphone.com/", "claim": "As of March 27, 2026, upstream was still adding new DSI PHY support ('drm/msm/dsi: add support for DSI-PHY on Milos'), indicating active enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260225054525.6803-5-mitltlatltl@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of February 25, 2026, the driver was still receiving new SoC configuration support ('drm/msm/dsi: Add DSI PHY configuration on SC8280XP')." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-samsung-redefine-premium-performance-by-bringing-th", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite for Samsung Galaxy S25 on January 22, 2025, showing this SoC family remained in new flagship mobile deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-hyundai-mobis-to-power-next-generation-adas-and-dig", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Ride Flex collaboration with Hyundai Mobis on January 6, 2025, showing adjacent supported Qualcomm automotive platforms were also entering new vehicle designs in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dsi/phy/dsi_phy.c", "claim": "The in-tree match table covers Qualcomm DSI PHY variants from older 28nm blocks through recent SA/SC/SM families including sa8775p, sm8450, sm8550, sm8650, sm8750, and kaanapali." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/msm/dsi/phy/dsi_phy.c showed heavy 2021-2026 activity (467 matches, newest 2026-03-27) with recent feature-enablement patches, so the code is actively maintained. Local shell inspection of dsi_phy.c showed DT compatibles spanning legacy and current Qualcomm families up to sm8750/kaanapali; the kernel.org tree URL is cited as canonical recall for that same file. Web search results on qualcomm.com showed Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile and Ride Flex automotive deployments in 2025, so hardware covered by this directory is still entering new products. No natural replacement driver exists: this directory is the upstream msm DSI PHY implementation for these SoCs. Lore removal-focused queries timed out, so confidence rests primarily on strong positive maintenance/deployment evidence rather than exhaustive proof of no removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.028779303613014583, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 87, "first_touch_ts": 1439677648, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772754783, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/msm/hdmi", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm MSM/Snapdragon HDMI TX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-bridge-connector-attach_encoder-v2-17-2ae6ca69b390@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 patch touching drivers/gpu/drm/msm/hdmi/hdmi.c shows the driver is still receiving upstream maintenance rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MSM_HDMI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_MSM_HDMI remains present in current kernels and maps to multiple Qualcomm direct-HDMI compatibles from 8084 through 8998." }, { "url": "https://www.arrow.com/en/products/dragonboard410c/arrow-development-tools.html", "claim": "Arrow's product page lists the DragonBoard 410C as Part Status Active in 2025 and documents an HDMI display interface on Snapdragon 410 hardware that uses this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. lore_activity on drivers/gpu/drm/msm/hdmi/hdmi.c returned recent 2026 maintenance mail on lore.kernel.org; no removal series surfaced in the successful lore query. Web search found LKDDb confirming current kernel presence and supported Qualcomm HDMI TX compatibles, and Arrow's live product page showing an HDMI-equipped DragonBoard 410C still sold as Active. Conclusion: keep support, but annotate as legacy/niche direct-HDMI Snapdragon hardware with low modern deployment and no single drop-in replacement driver for the same on-SoC block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051681917552065644, "commits_5y": 93, "substantive_commits_5y": 89, "first_touch_ts": 1377369181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768821106, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 54, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/mxsfb", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX LCDIF/eLCDIF", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260407-drm-lcdif-dbanc-v4-11-247a16e61ef9@bootlin.com/", "claim": "April 7, 2026 upstream patch series updates this driver, with Tested-by tags on TQMa8MPxL/MBa8MPxL hardware, showing current maintenance and real hardware use." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MMINI?lang=en&lang_cd=en", "claim": "NXP's i.MX 8M Mini product page was still active with refreshed 2025 design resources, indicating the SoC family covered by this driver remained a live product line in 2025." }, { "url": "https://developer.toradex.com/hardware/verdin-som-family/modules/verdin-imx8m-mini", "claim": "Toradex's Verdin iMX8M Mini page says the module can be bought from the Toradex webshop, evidence of new-system availability for mxsfb-covered i.MX8M Mini based products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: local Kconfig inspection via `exec_command` shows mxsfb covers several NXP i.MX LCDIF/eLCDIF generations including i.MX7 and i.MX8M, so this is not a one-off legacy block. `lore_activity` on `drivers/gpu/drm/mxsfb/lcdif_drv.c` found active 2026 functional cleanups with board testing (`lore.kernel.org` URL above), and no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced; a directory-level `lore_file_timeline` query returned no hits, which looks like path-granularity mismatch rather than inactivity. Web evidence came from `web.search_query`: NXP's product page still had 2025-updated EVK resources, and Toradex still marketed/sold an i.MX8M Mini module. That points to ongoing industrial/embedded deployments rather than obsolescence. No single upstream replacement covers the same older LCDIF/eLCDIF hardware; `DRM_IMX_LCDIF` is a separate newer block, not a drop-in replacement for mxsfb-supported SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13567171174502476, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1480989746, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753182088, "top_author": "Marek Vasut", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA GeForce/Quadro/Tesla GPUs (NV04 through Ada; partial GSP-era coverage)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/gpu/nouveau.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation says drm/nouveau supports NVIDIA GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla GPUs from NV04 through Turing, Ampere, and Ada families." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/gpu/nova/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation says nova intends to supersede nouveau only for NVIDIA GPUs based on GSP, so there is no single full replacement for all nouveau-supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4070-family/", "claim": "NVIDIA's product page shows GeForce RTX 4070-family Ada boards available to buy, indicating nouveau-covered NVIDIA hardware was still sold new in 2025 and remains on sale after that." }, { "url": "https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg", "claim": "ArchWiki's current Xorg packaging matrix still lists Nouveau and xf86-video-nouveau as the open-source NVIDIA stack, indicating ongoing real-world distro deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5837005.html", "claim": "A 2025 nouveau-specific revert/fix thread shows active upstream maintenance and bug-fix traffic rather than removal planning." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell `rg` found `module_init` in `nouveau_drm.c`. Phase input metadata already shows 569 substantive commits in 5y and most recent substantive touch on 2026-03-04, which is strong live-maintenance evidence. URLs were obtained via web search/open: kernel docs for support range and nova scope, NVIDIA product page for still-sold-new evidence, ArchWiki snippet for present distro deployment, and a spinics thread surfaced by web search for recent upstream nouveau fix/revert activity. No active removal/deprecation discussion was found; nova is only a partial future successor for GSP-based GPUs, so `replacement_driver` stays null. Recommendation stays `keep`, not `keep-annotate`, because activity is high and supported hardware includes still-sold Ada products.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 592, "substantive_commits_5y": 569, "first_touch_ts": 1260530974, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772658481, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 206, "c_file_count": 44, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv04", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA NV04/NV1x legacy display engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2003, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2025-May/047426.html", "claim": "A 2025 nouveau patch series still touched drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv04/crtc.c, showing the directory remains in live upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2024-July/045068.html", "claim": "A 2024 refactoring patch updated drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv04/crtc.c as part of normal nouveau upkeep; this is maintenance activity, not deprecation/removal work." }, { "url": "https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/nouveau/2024-April/044594.html", "claim": "A 2024 nouveau series touched multiple dispnv04 files including tvnv17.c and tvnv17.h, indicating ongoing integration work in this legacy path." }, { "url": "https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/256.29/README/supportedchips.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's legacy supported-chips list places RIVA TNT/TNT2 and GeForce 256/GeForce2-era parts into an old 71.86.xx legacy branch, supporting that this hardware family is long-obsolete." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIVA_TNT", "claim": "RIVA TNT (NV4) was introduced in 1998, anchoring the start of the NV04-era hardware generation." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_256", "claim": "GeForce 256 (NV10) was released in 1999, supporting that the dispnv04-covered hardware family is from the late-1990s/early-2000s and not a new-sales market in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory is built into nouveau via Kbuild and contains display-engine implementation files plus helper encoder drivers. Local shell inspection showed substantive commits through 2025-12-05 and additional treewide touches in 2026, so it is still maintained. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was missing, so mailing-list history was obtained via web search against lists.freedesktop.org archives: the 2025-May thread and 2024-July/2024-April threads all show active refactoring/feature work touching dispnv04, with no removal series found. Deployment evidence came from web search results on NVIDIA's legacy supported-chips page and Wikipedia generation pages. Conclusion: hardware is plainly obsolete and only likely present in retro, lab, or long-lived legacy systems today, but upstream still carries and updates the code, and there is no natural in-tree replacement driver for these NVIDIA GPUs, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1366954671, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764965317, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv04/i2c", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subdirectory contains nouveau display-engine I2C helper code for NV04-era hardware, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1736258704, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736258711, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA NV50/NVDISP display engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/nouveau/msg20192.html", "claim": "Upstream nouveau/drm development was still landing targeted dispnv50 fixes in December 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250811220017.1337-3-jajones@nvidia.com", "claim": "A 2025 upstream patch touched drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50/wndw.c, showing recent substantive work on this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6007232.html", "claim": "January 2026 build/test traffic references commit \"drm/nouveau/kms: add support for GB20x\" and warnings in dispnv50 files, indicating the code is part of ongoing enablement for very recent NVIDIA GPU generations." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_NOUVEAU.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU remains present through current kernel series and covers NVIDIA PCI display controllers plus Tegra platform GPUs, showing the overall driver stack is still shipping and broadly applicable." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subdirectory: local Kbuild inspection via shell showed many dispnv50 objects linked into nouveau. No removal discussion surfaced in the limited lore-oriented search; instead, web search produced recent patch traffic. Source acquisition: spinics nouveau patch via web search (`site:lore/spinics dispnv50` fallback), direct lore URL extracted by opening the stable-review result, spinics kernel-robot report via web search, LKDDb page via web search. Recommendation stays `keep` because the directory has strong recent maintenance signals and even current-generation GB20x-related activity; there is no in-tree replacement for nouveau's display path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 130, "substantive_commits_5y": 124, "first_touch_ts": 1526619686, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768344165, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 52, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvif", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Nouveau NVIF internal interface/support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 70, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1407611582, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767730807, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/core", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nvkm/core is an internal Nouveau/NVKM core support library subtree, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1754734846, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM engine subcomponent directory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747600163, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/bsp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tesla PureVideo HD VP2 (Feature Set A) BSP", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/bsp", "claim": "Kernel tree path is a tiny Nouveau BSP engine implementation with only g84.c in this directory." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/device/base.c", "claim": "The BSP engine is wired only into older NVIDIA Tesla-era chipsets such as G84, G86, G92, G94, G96, and GT200." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/bsp", "claim": "Path history is effectively dormant; latest visible change is a 2021 constructor conversion, with earlier activity mostly 2015-2019 refactors and one 2017 disable-default change." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo", "claim": "G84/G86/G92/G94/GT200 correspond to PureVideo HD VP2 / VDPAU Feature Set A, introduced in 2007-2008 for Blu-ray/HD-DVD era decode offload." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_%28microarchitecture%29", "claim": "These chips belong to NVIDIA's Tesla generation, long superseded by later GPU architectures." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is real kernel driver code, not docs/tests/helpers: one BSP engine object under Nouveau, referenced from device/base.c for Tesla-era GPUs. Local git log (via shell with git -c safe.directory=...) showed no substantive maintenance after 2021 and no sign of active removal discussion. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall chosen to correspond to the inspected local files/log. Wikipedia URLs were obtained via web search_query and used to identify the hardware generation as 2007-2008 PureVideo VP2/Tesla parts. Given dead upstream activity, no new-hardware sales by 2025, and only residual legacy use, deprecate is stronger than keep-annotate, but remove is not justified without active upstream removal work.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/ce", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal NVKM copy-engine subcomponent inside the nouveau DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1421893065, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602885, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/cipher", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal Nouveau NVKM engine subcomponent (`engine/cipher`) inside the broader GPU driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1421893064, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1667954688, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/device", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains nouveau nvkm internal engine/device support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 66, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762594869, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/disp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM display-engine implementation subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 104, "substantive_commits_5y": 98, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769028460, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 31, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/dma", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nvkm DMA engine support code within the nouveau DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1440729639, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1629277215, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/fifo", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal Nouveau NVKM FIFO engine implementation subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 83, "substantive_commits_5y": 77, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756485383, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 65, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/gr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM graphics-engine implementation subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 54, "substantive_commits_5y": 49, "first_touch_ts": 1421893065, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602875, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 65, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/mpeg", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal `nvkm` nouveau MPEG engine subcomponent, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1688656953, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/mspdec", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA PureVideo MSPDEC block for G98/GT215/GF100/GK104-era Nouveau GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/include/nvkm/engine/mspdec.h.html", "claim": "Current kernel still carries this engine interface, with constructors for g98, gt215, gf100, and gk104 MSPDEC variants." }, { "url": "https://cgit.freedesktop.org/drm/drm/commit/?id=ac35d19fe871c81b9d78053d675095b597270304", "claim": "A visible 2021 public DRM tree commit touched all mspdec files as part of a broad nvkm engine API refactor, indicating recent changes were mechanical rather than feature work." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo", "claim": "The covered chips map to old PureVideo generations: G98 VP3 (2007), GT215 VP4 (2009), GF100 VP4 (2010), and GK104 VP5 (2012)." }, { "url": "https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3142/~/support-timeframes-for-unix-legacy-gpu-releases", "claim": "NVIDIA classifies these generations as legacy: G8x/G9x/GT2xx have no further 340-series releases planned, Fermi support ended with 390 through 2022, and Kepler is on legacy 470." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_NOUVEAU.html", "claim": "The parent Nouveau driver remains present in current upstream kernels, so MSPDEC lives inside an active driver rather than an already-retired subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is real nvkm video-decode engine code, not a helper library, with per-chip constructors for G98/GT215/GF100/GK104. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and `web.open`: Codebrowser confirmed the live in-tree interface; the cgit commit showed the last easy-to-find public touch was a 2021 treewide refactor, matching the static signal of no substantive recent work; Wikipedia supplied launch-era chip/date mapping; NVIDIA's legacy-driver KB showed all covered generations are long into legacy status; LKDDb confirmed Nouveau itself is still upstream. That mix points to legacy hardware with low but nonzero field deployment and no natural replacement for the same old GPUs, so keep the code but annotate it as frozen legacy support rather than deprecating/removing it now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421893068, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/msppp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau nvkm engine subcomponent (MSPPP engine support), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421893066, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/msvld", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA PureVideo MSVLD (VP2-VP5 era)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/VideoAcceleration.html", "claim": "Nouveau's video acceleration matrix maps these decode engines to older NVIDIA generations (roughly GeForce 8/9 through 600/700 series), indicating legacy hardware rather than current products." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo", "claim": "PureVideo is NVIDIA's on-chip video-decoding block; Linux nouveau support is for older PureVideo generations rather than current NVDEC-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b15147bd7170b5930ff3c5e8c17cbe03800ddcdb", "claim": "Local git history shows the last clearly non-mechanical touch to this directory was commit b15147bd7170 on 2021-02-04." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=eccf7e8ad28e", "claim": "Local git history shows this directory entered the tree in early 2015 as a split-out MSVLD engine component." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver subcomponent, not a helper library: local source inspection shows per-chip constructors wired into nvkm device tables. Lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` failed because `lei` is not installed; web lore queries returned no indexed removal discussion, so I found no evidence of active upstream removal. Deployment assessment is based on the web-retrieved nouveau VideoAcceleration matrix and PureVideo background page: the covered chips are legacy Tesla/Fermi/Kepler-era decode blocks, so new sales in 2025 are effectively over, but some legacy desktops/laptops likely remain. Commit URLs are canonical recall to stable git.kernel.org pages, with dates/claims verified from local `git log`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421893064, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/nvdec", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA NVDEC (GM107/TU102/GA102; Maxwell/Turing/Ampere)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c472d828348cafa7874816f4ad2a2314d0000419", "claim": "Local git history shows a substantive NVDEC-related nouveau change on 2025-05-19: \"drm/nouveau/gsp: move subdev/engine impls to subdev/gsp/rm/r535/\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=142cd60243cac1dfa18d3714ed4dd0cdc3786180", "claim": "Local git history shows substantive feature work on 2023-10-31: \"drm/nouveau/nvdec/r535: initial support\"." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVDEC", "claim": "NVDEC is NVIDIA's hardware video-decoder block; the support table includes GM107, TU102, and GA102-class GPUs, indicating this directory maps to still-relevant NVIDIA GPU generations rather than a dead legacy-only block." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3080-3080ti/", "claim": "NVIDIA's RTX 3080/3080 Ti page identifies Ampere products and lists 5th-generation NVIDIA Decoder support, with buying-option links present on the page, supporting continued new-hardware availability in the 2025 window." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a standalone module entry-point, but real driver code: shell `rg`/file read showed nvkm NVDEC engine implementations for gm107, tu102, and ga102. Shell `git log` (using inline safe.directory override because repo ownership blocked plain git) showed substantive activity through 2025 and no sign of a removal series in local history. Web `open/find` on the NVIDIA RTX 3080 page showed Ampere/GA102-era products with decoder support and buying links; web `open` on Wikipedia NVDEC confirmed GM107/TU102/GA102-era deployment. The git.kernel.org commit URLs are canonical stable URLs reconstructed from the locally observed commit hashes.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1457914424, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747600163, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/nvenc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains nouveau NVKM internal NVENC engine support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1457914424, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747600163, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/sec", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM SEC engine support code under a GPU driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1421893064, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1667954688, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/sec2", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal Nouveau NVKM SEC2 engine subcomponent under DRM, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1488870313, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728895, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/sw", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM software-engine support code within a larger DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1421893067, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1688656953, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/engine/vp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM video-processor engine subcomponent, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/falcon", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains nouveau NVKM Falcon engine/helper code for internal GPU microcontroller support, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1487308470, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763421137, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/nvfw", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM firmware-support code (`nvfw`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1579049426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1678974795, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/acr", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM ACR subdevice support code within the DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1579049426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706730489, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/bar", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM BAR subdevice support code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602875, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/bios", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM BIOS subdevice support code within the drm/nouveau driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712334629, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/bus", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains nouveau NVKM internal bus subdevice support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728890, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/clk", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM clock subdevice support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1421893062, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757960288, "top_author": "Aaron Kling", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/devinit", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM devinit subdevice/helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602875, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/fault", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM fault subdevice implementation, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1526619680, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602875, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/fb", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA nouveau NVKM framebuffer/memory-controller path for NV50-through-Blackwell GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/nouveau/msg16811.html", "claim": "May 2025 nouveau patch series adds GB20x support in this fb subtree for GeForce RTX 50xx boards." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/nouveau/msg16708.html", "claim": "GH100 support patch shows this subtree being extended for Hopper and as the base for Blackwell-era support." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251113230323.1271726-1-ttabi@nvidia.com", "claim": "November 13, 2025 fix for nouveau fb flush-page addressing shows ongoing bug-fix maintenance in this code." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/50-series/rtx-5090/", "claim": "Official NVIDIA product page shows GeForce RTX 5090, a Blackwell GPU in the RTX 50 series, being marketed for sale." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local git history via exec_command shows active substantive work through 2025-11-13 in this exact path, plus 2024-2025 enablement for GH100/GB10x/GB20x and no real remove/deprecate discussion hits for the path. spinics.net patch URLs were obtained by web search on exact nouveau patch subjects; the patch.msgid.link URL was obtained from local git commit metadata via exec_command; the NVIDIA RTX 5090 URL was obtained by web search. Because this subtree supports current Blackwell hardware and still receives fixes, the correct hint is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764024802, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 64, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/fsp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Hopper / Blackwell FSP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=44f93b209e2a", "claim": "The directory was introduced with GH100 support, indicating it targets modern NVIDIA Hopper GPUs rather than legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=32cb1cc358ff", "claim": "The code was extended for GB10x support in late 2024, showing active enablement for newer NVIDIA generations." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=284ad706ad2f", "claim": "The code was further extended for GB20x support in 2025, reinforcing that this subdriver is still being brought up for current hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/data-center/h100/", "claim": "NVIDIA still markets H100 (Hopper) as a current data-center GPU product, so relevant hardware was sold new in 2025 and remains broadly available." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb200-nvl72/", "claim": "NVIDIA markets GB200/Blackwell systems as current products, matching the GB10x/GB20x enablement work in this directory and indicating ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a hardware-facing nouveau nvkm subdevice for the GPU Firmware Security Processor. lore-specific tooling was unavailable here (no working lore-http MCP and `lei` missing), so upstream activity was inferred from local `git log` on the directory, then mapped to canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall. Web search provided the NVIDIA product-page URLs. The directory is very new, gained GH100 then GB10x/GB20x support in 2024-2025, and only shows later treewide cleanups in 2026; that pattern fits active bring-up, not obsolescence. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for nouveau's FSP path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1747602884, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602885, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/fuse", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM fuse subdevice support code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728891, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/gpio", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal NVKM GPIO subdevice support code within nouveau, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728891, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/gsp", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM GSP subdevice support code within the larger nouveau DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 98, "substantive_commits_5y": 93, "first_touch_ts": 1550617198, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767509738, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/gsp/rm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM GSP Resource Manager subcomponent under drm/nouveau, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1747600163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770171477, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/gsp/rm/r535", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau NVKM GSP RM support code under DRM, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 60, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1747600163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771278684, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/gsp/rm/r570", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Nouveau GSP/RM r570 support code under nvkm/subdev, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1747600166, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770171477, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/i2c", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Nouveau NVKM internal I2C subdevice/helper implementation under the DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727978716, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/iccsense", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal Nouveau NVKM `subdev` support component (`iccsense`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1457914404, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/instmem", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM instmem subdevice/helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747602875, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/ltc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal Nouveau NVKM `subdev/ltc` hardware block implementation inside the broader `nouveau` driver, not a standalone kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1702372731, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/mc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA NV04-GA100 GPUs (nouveau NVKM MC subdevice)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/20230918202149.4343-17-skeggsb@gmail.com", "claim": "Patch series touching this MC code landed in late 2023 for tu102+/GSP-RM handling, indicating upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/20221229155249.669436-1-ben-linux@fluff.org", "claim": "This directory still received non-treewide upstream fixes in late 2022 (ga100 MC change), consistent with active maintenance on supported NVIDIA generations." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-eu/data-center/a100/", "claim": "NVIDIA still marketed the Ampere A100 with current product briefs and certified-system positioning, supporting the inference that at least part of the GA100-backed hardware family remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_NOUVEAU.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows nouveau remains present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and covers NVIDIA display-class PCI devices; this supports ongoing upstream support and continued deployment on legacy/discrete GPUs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NOUVEAU_PLATFORM_DRIVER.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows nouveau platform support for Tegra SoC GPUs including gk20a/gp10b, matching chips represented in this directory and indicating ongoing non-PCI deployment niches." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/gpu/nova/index.html", "claim": "Kernel docs say nova intends to supersede nouveau only for GSP-based GPUs and is still work in progress, so there is no full upstream replacement for this directory's broad NV04-GA100 coverage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an entry-point module but real hardware-driver code: per local shell inspection, this directory implements the NVKM MC block for many NVIDIA GPU generations. lore-http MCP was unavailable and `lei` was absent, so upstream activity was established from local `git log` plus patchwork links embedded in commit messages (shell), which showed substantive MC work in 2022-09/2023 and no obvious removal/deprecation hits. Web search provided the NVIDIA A100 product page, LKDDb pages for nouveau and nouveau_platform, and kernel nova docs. Recommendation is keep-annotate: the directory is legacy-heavy and low-churn, but it still covers deployed hardware including Tegra niches and at least some Ampere-era parts, with no clear full replacement yet.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728892, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/mmu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM MMU subdevice implementation, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1421893063, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770235509, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/mxm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM MXM subdevice/helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/pci", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM PCI subdevice support code under a larger DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1440729648, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747600166, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/pmu", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal nouveau NVKM PMU subdevice implementation under the DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1421893063, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739968319, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/privring", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau nvkm subdevice/helper code for the PRIVRING engine, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1613008204, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728893, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/therm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Nouveau NVKM internal thermal-management subdevice code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728893, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/timer", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nvkm timer subdev is an internal nouveau DRM helper/subdevice component, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/top", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM TOP subdevice support code for GPU register/topology handling, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1463719384, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698728893, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/vfn", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal nouveau NVKM subdevice implementation (`subdev/vfn`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1667954676, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749182406, "top_author": "Ben Skeggs", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nvkm/subdev/volt", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal nouveau NVKM voltage-management subdevice/helper code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1421892910, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725477703, "top_author": "Li Zetao", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Texas Instruments OMAP2/3/4/5 Display Subsystem (DSS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-bridge-connector-attach_encoder-v2-18-2ae6ca69b390@bootlin.com/", "claim": "omapdrm was still receiving upstream code changes in April 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-state-readout-v2-5-8549f87cb978@kernel.org/", "claim": "omapdrm core files were included in broader DRM subsystem work in April 2026, showing continuing integration work." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/Kconfig", "claim": "The in-tree Kconfig describes DRM_OMAP as the display driver for OMAP2/3/4 based boards, tying the driver to an older TI OMAP hardware generation." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/about-ti/newsroom/news-releases/2013/2013-05-21-new-omap5432-processor-based-evaluation-module-from-texas-instruments-delivers-exceptional-processing-and-graphics-capabilities-to-high-performance-industrial-applications.html", "claim": "TI's notable late-family OMAP5432 industrial push dates to 2013, consistent with the family being legacy rather than a current-volume 2025 design win." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMAP", "claim": "Wikipedia summarizes TI's 2012 retreat from smartphone/tablet OMAP and notes the last OMAP5 chips were released in Q2 2013, supporting an old/legacy market position." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/omap_drv.c; both showed fresh 2026 patches and no visible driver-removal series, so this is not a removal candidate. The Kconfig URL is a canonical kernel.org source-tree page recalled from stable project structure and used to anchor supported hardware scope. Deployment/market-age evidence came from web search results: TI's 2013 OMAP5432 announcement and the Wikipedia OMAP history page. Conclusion: hardware is legacy with low present-day deployment, but upstream attention is still real; keep the driver and annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07668118206817567, "commits_5y": 101, "substantive_commits_5y": 89, "first_touch_ts": 1361054286, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764064963, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/dss", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP Display Subsystem (DSS/omapdrm)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250911-omapdrm-reduce-clang-stack-usage-pt-2-v1-1-5ab6b5d34760@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2025 on a core DSS file (`dispc.c`), indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/am5728", "claim": "TI listed AM5728 as ACTIVE and orderable, with an on-chip display subsystem and HDMI support, showing related TI DSS-class hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM57X/11_01_02_01/exports/docs/linux/How_to_Guides/Target/How_to_Set_Display_for_AM572x_GP_EVM.html", "claim": "TI's AM57x Linux SDK documentation still described `omapdrm.displays=` boot options, showing ongoing real-world use of omapdrm on newer TI embedded platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_OMAP.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps `CONFIG_DRM_OMAP` to the upstream `drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/` driver family and describes it as the OMAP DRM driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/dss` is real driver code (module/Kconfig-backed DSS display pipeline for TI OMAP-family SoCs). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/dss/dispc.c`; it showed 2021-2025 activity with latest non-removal maintenance in 2025, so this is not a dead subtree. A bounded lore removal-subject regex timed out twice, so absence of removal discussion is an inference from the sampled recent timeline rather than a full corpus proof. Web search found TI's canonical AM5728 product page (`ACTIVE`, orderable) and TI AM57x SDK display docs explicitly using `omapdrm`, which supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` but only `deployments_today=low` because current use appears concentrated in legacy/industrial embedded TI boards rather than broad new consumer deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same TI DSS block; this argues for `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07948754051088221, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1451380068, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766614933, "top_author": "Luca Ceresoli", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/panel", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "MIPI-DSI/eDP/LVDS flat-panel controllers and modules", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260425001130.233935-1-val@packett.cool/", "claim": "April 2026 core-series patch adds atomic panel ops, showing active subsystem development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/b4-sent/2026-04/20260422-ch13726a-v6-2-03680d6673ff@gmail.com/", "claim": "April 2026 patch series adds a brand-new panel driver in this directory, indicating ongoing enablement of new hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260303152124.187791-1-jkeeping@inmusicbrands.com/", "claim": "March 2026 fix to panel-ilitek-ili9882t shows recent maintenance on existing in-tree panel drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-touch-display/", "claim": "Official Raspberry Pi Touch Display product page says the 7-inch touchscreen remains in production until at least January 2030." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/touch-display-2/", "claim": "Official Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 product page shows 5-inch and 7-inch DSI touchscreen displays on sale in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory is an active driver collection, not a dead single-device leaf: phase-1 stats already show 938 substantive commits in 5y and 215 authors. Lore evidence was obtained via `mcp__lore_http__.lore_substr_subject` (core API work and new panel-driver additions in Apr 2026) and `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` (recent fixes for panel-ilitek-ili9882t in Jan-Mar 2026). A removal/deprecation regex query timed out, and the successful lore results instead show additions and fixes, not removal traffic. Deployment evidence was obtained via `web.search_query`: Raspberry Pi still sells both the original Touch Display and Touch Display 2, matching this directory's role as the DRM panel home for current DSI/eDP/LVDS displays. No single upstream replacement exists; this directory is the replacement target for board-specific panel support, so removal/deprecation would strand actively supported hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02925280269271715, "commits_5y": 948, "substantive_commits_5y": 938, "first_touch_ts": 1387300186, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770109402, "top_author": "Anusha Srivatsa", "top_author_commits": 103, "c_file_count": 129, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/panfrost", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Arm Mali Midgard/Bifrost", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.10/gpu/panfrost.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation identifies Panfrost as the DRM driver for Arm Mali GPUs and documents active user-facing functionality." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/panfrost/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig defines Panfrost as support for Arm Mali Midgard (T6xx/T7xx/T8xx) and Bifrost (G3x/G5x/G7x) GPUs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas still markets active Linux-capable MPUs with Mali-G31 graphics, indicating supported Panfrost-class hardware remains in new embedded designs." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/rock3/3a", "claim": "Radxa still sells RK3568-based SBCs with Mali-G52 GPUs, another Panfrost-supported deployment class still available new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: the prompt's repo metrics already show strong current upstream attention (184 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-02-03, 48 authors). `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned zero events, which I treat as a path-coverage blind spot rather than inactivity. A follow-up `lore_regex` removal scan timed out, and no concrete removal evidence was found. Scope was confirmed from kernel docs/Kconfig (web search result plus canonical kernel.org recall). Current deployment evidence comes from vendor pages found via web search showing active 2025-era Mali-G31/G52 products, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Midgard/Bifrost job-manager GPUs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.038191524549804956, "commits_5y": 191, "substantive_commits_5y": 184, "first_touch_ts": 1555091806, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770135685, "top_author": "Adrián Larumbe", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/panthor", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Arm Mali Valhall CSF", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/gpu/panthor.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation exists for the Panthor CSF DRM driver, indicating an actively documented in-tree userspace/kernel interface rather than a legacy orphan." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.19-rc7/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists 'ARM MALI PANTHOR DRM DRIVER' with status 'Supported' and files covering drivers/gpu/drm/panthor/." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_PANTHOR.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies Panthor as support for Mali/Immortalis Valhall CSF GPUs and shows bindings for arm,mali-valhall-csf, Rockchip RK3588, and MediaTek MT8196." }, { "url": "https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/from-panthor-to-rk3588-advancing-graphics-video-soc-support-linux-kernel-7.html", "claim": "A 2026 Collabora upstream status post describes continued Panthor/RK3588 work in Linux 7.0, consistent with active upstream development rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/rock5/5b/", "claim": "Radxa still markets the ROCK 5B with 'Buy' availability and an RK3588 SoC using an Arm Mali-G610 MC4 GPU, showing relevant hardware remains sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local static evidence already shows a very new driver (first merged 2024-03-01) with heavy recent churn (201 substantive commits in 5y, last touch 2026-03-05, 34 authors), which is incompatible with obsolescence. Source acquisition: all cited URLs were obtained via web search. docs.kernel.org/6.19-rc7 MAINTAINERS shows Supported status; docs.kernel.org/6.15 Panthor docs and LKDDb confirm this is the active upstream driver for Valhall CSF GPUs, not a superseded one. Collabora's 2026 post and Radxa's current product page indicate ongoing enablement and new-product deployments around RK3588-class hardware. Removal check: web searches against lore.kernel.org for Panthor removal/deprecation returned no relevant hits in this environment, and direct lore tooling was unavailable here (no lore MCP resources exposed; `lei` absent). No natural in-kernel replacement covers the same CSF GPU class today; Panfrost covers older non-CSF families instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 207, "substantive_commits_5y": 201, "first_touch_ts": 1709283841, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772729589, "top_author": "Boris Brezillon", "top_author_commits": 80, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/pl111", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "ARM PrimeCell PL110/PL111 CLCD", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251211123345.2392065-1-linmq006@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix traffic exists for this driver: 'drm/pl111: Fix error handling in pl111_amba_probe' was posted in December 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026011947-everglade-defensive-bddf@gregkh/", "claim": "pl111 changes were still being carried into stable releases in January 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance value rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.0/gpu/pl111.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this as the DRM driver for the ARM PrimeCell PL110/PL111 CLCD controller, a simple LCD controller with KMS support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.19-rc7/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel maintainers documentation lists 'DRM DRIVER FOR ARM PL111 CLCD' as Maintained, with files under drivers/gpu/drm/pl111/." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/vexpress.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation for Versatile Express boards still includes a 'PL111 LCD display controller', showing ongoing deployment in emulator and board-model use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/pl111/pl111_drv.c showed activity through 2025-12 and stable carry-through in 2026-01, so upstream attention is current. Web search/open on docs.kernel.org and qemu.org showed the driver remains documented and maintained, and that PL111 persists in QEMU board models. This points to low but real present-day deployments in legacy ARM dev boards and emulation, not broad new physical-hardware sales. No natural in-kernel replacement covers the same PrimeCell CLCD block; use is niche rather than dead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08338284585892197, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1494271446, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767531055, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/qxl", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "QXL / SPICE paravirtual GPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "virtio_gpu", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260424112543.57819-1-mhun512@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is still current: a 2026 patch fixes qxl KMS poll cleanup, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/invocation.html?highlight=guestfwd", "claim": "QEMU documents `qxl` as a paravirtual graphics card that works best with guest drivers and is the recommended choice when using the SPICE protocol." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU states VirtIO devices are the recommended device models for virtual machines unless a specific hardware model must be exercised." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio-gpu.html", "claim": "QEMU documents virtio-gpu as the modern paravirtual GPU/display controller for guests, covering the same virtual-GPU use case with broader current capability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/gpu/drm/qxl/qxl_drv.c`; both showed recent 2025-2026 patch traffic, including a real bug fix, so this is not dormant. QEMU docs were obtained via `web.search_query`; they show QXL is a SPICE-era virtual GPU niche, while VirtIO is the generally recommended VM device family and virtio-gpu is the natural replacement for new guest deployments. Because QXL is virtual rather than sold hardware, `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `last_widely_available_year=null`. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: legacy/niche, replacement exists, but upstream attention is still active.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09319927654488953, "commits_5y": 78, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1365738667, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761902075, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/radeon", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD/ATI Radeon (legacy Radeon/TeraScale plus overlapping Southern Islands and parts of Sea Islands)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": "amdgpu", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6031224.html", "claim": "Radeon still receives upstream functional fixes in 2026; e.g. MSI address-limit handling patch merged in January 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg138848.html", "claim": "Radeon still has amd-gfx patch traffic in March 2026 for specific ASIC workarounds (additional HAINAN variants)." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_RADEON.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_RADEON remains present through Linux 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating upstream retention rather than pending removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AMDGPU_SI.html", "claim": "Southern Islands support overlaps with amdgpu, and LKDDb says SI dedicated GPUs are supported by both drivers with amdgpu the default." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_AMDGPU_CIK.html", "claim": "Sea Islands dedicated GPUs also overlap with amdgpu; LKDDb says amdgpu can cover CIK parts while some CIK APUs remain on radeon." }, { "url": "https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-r5-m420.c2859", "claim": "A late supported Radeon part (R5 M420 / HAINAN, GCN 1.0) launched in 2016 and is end-of-life, supporting the view that new sales have long ceased." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep, but annotate as legacy-only. Prompt metadata already shows very high recent activity for a 17.8-year-old driver, and web-searching lore mirrors found 2026 functional fixes/backports rather than removal discussion. Source acquisition: spinics patch URLs were obtained by web search on recent drm/radeon patch subjects; LKDDb cateee URLs were obtained by web search for CONFIG_DRM_RADEON / DRM_AMDGPU_SI / DRM_AMDGPU_CIK; the TechPowerUp URL was obtained by web search for a late HAINAN-based product. Conclusion: upstream attention is real, installed base is still meaningful in old desktops/laptops, but the hardware family is commercially obsolete and successor deployments have moved to amdgpu where overlap exists.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016660556385640183, "commits_5y": 417, "substantive_commits_5y": 404, "first_touch_ts": 1215996301, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773785055, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 49, "c_file_count": 103, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/renesas/rcar-du", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ-G Display Unit (DU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg512503.html", "claim": "August 31, 2025 patch series adds DSI command support for drm/rcar-du, indicating active feature work rather than maintenance-only status." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg552164.html", "claim": "April 23, 2026 v2 patch touches rcar-du encoder code as part of current DRM core integration work, showing the driver is still in active upstream traffic and not under removal." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzg-series/rzg2-mpus", "claim": "Renesas markets RZ/G2 MPUs for industrial/building-automation HMI systems and highlights long-term Linux support, implying ongoing deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2n/part-details/r8a774b1ha01bg-g2", "claim": "A specific supported SoC family member (R8A774B1 / RZ/G2N) is listed as Active by Renesas, with display-oriented attributes and distributor purchasing path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`Kconfig`, `rcar_du_drv.c`) shows this is the DRM driver for Renesas RZ/G1, R-Car Gen3, and RZ/G2 Display Unit hardware. Mailing-list evidence was obtained with web search because `lei` was unavailable in this environment: the 2025 DSI-command patch and 2026 bridge-connector cleanup show ongoing upstream development and no deprecation/removal thread surfaced. Deployment evidence came from Renesas product pages found by web search: RZ/G2 remains actively marketed for industrial/HMI use and at least one supported SoC is still marked Active, so this looks like current embedded/industrial hardware with moderate ongoing deployments and no natural upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1685367663, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769000396, "top_author": "Marek Vasut", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/renesas/rz-du", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Renesas RZ/G2L / RZ/V2H Display Unit", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/drm/renesas/rz-du", "claim": "Upstream activity is current rather than sunset; local git log on this directory shows regular fixes/features through 2026-03-02, including reboot fixes and added RZ/V2H(P) support, with no visible removal trend." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_RZG2L_DU.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_RZG2L_DU present in mainline kernels 6.9 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with supported compatibles r9a07g044, r9a07g043u, and r9a09g057." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active, with product longevity to 2037, and describes display interfaces plus Linux support for industrial HMI/embedded designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2H as Active and exposes MIPI-DSI/display-capable Linux-oriented AI MPU positioning, matching the newer SoC support added in this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: DRM/KMS code with module/device tables for Renesas DU hardware. Evidence chain: local source inspection via shell `rg` identified RZ/G2L/RZ/V2H compatibles and module descriptions; local shell `git log` showed active substantive work and no removal discussion in visible history; web search returned official Renesas product pages and LKDDb. Kernel.org log URL is canonical recall, paired with the local git-log result because lore/lei was unavailable in this environment. Recommendation stays `keep`: the driver is only ~2 years old, actively maintained, and targets still-active embedded SoCs for ongoing industrial/vision deployments. Deployments are likely niche rather than mass-market, so `low` rather than `medium`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1708532481, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772447318, "top_author": "Lad Prabhakar", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/renesas/shmobile", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Renesas SH-Mobile / R-Mobile LCDC (sh73a0, r8a7740)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/r-mobile-a1", "claim": "Renesas marks the related R-Mobile A1 family as Obsolete and describes it as a legacy application processor line for PND/portable devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_SHMOBILE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_SHMOBILE is still present in current kernels and maps this driver to DT compatibles renesas,r8a7740-lcdc and renesas,sh73a0-lcdc." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains shmob-drm platform DRM driver code. Local shell inspection (`sed`, `rg`) showed OF compatibles for sh73a0/r8a7740; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed active upstream maintenance through 2025-07-16 with many non-removal changes and no clear removal/deprecation series. Web search yielded the Renesas R-Mobile A1 product page and LKDDb page above. Conclusion: hardware appears obsolete and niche, but upstream attention is still real, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1685367663, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752685394, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/rockchip", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RK3xxx/RK33xx/RK35xx display subsystem (VOP/VOP2 and companion HDMI/DP/DSI blocks)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251022161948.199731-1-dmitry.osipenko@collabora.com/", "claim": "Upstream rockchip DRM fixes were still being posted in late 2025, with a rockchip-specific bugfix marked for stable backport." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026010839-evaporate-esophagus-d084@gregkh/", "claim": "The core rockchip DRM file was still being touched by stable releases in January 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2022/0926/1660.html", "claim": "Rockchip still markets the RK3588 with Linux support and modern display interfaces covered by this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-5-Ultra.html", "claim": "New retail hardware based on RK3588 was still on sale in 2026, showing continued new-device deployment for this SoC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (shell `sed`/`rg`) shows the driver covers old and new Rockchip display IP, including RK3568/RK3576/RK3588 paths in Kconfig and source. `lore_activity` on `rockchip_drm_drv.c` returned late-2025 rockchip-specific fixes with review and `Cc: stable`; `lore_file_timeline` on the same file shows heavy 2021-2025 activity and touches through 2026-01-08, with no removal signal surfaced. Web search (`web.search_query`) found Rockchip's RK3588 product page and current Orange Pi RK3588 boards, so the hardware is not legacy-only. Because this is active SoC display support with ongoing upstream fixes and current commercial boards, there is no natural replacement driver and removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.038743940464310754, "commits_5y": 404, "substantive_commits_5y": 387, "first_touch_ts": 1417512543, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768903786, "top_author": "Andy Yan", "top_author_commits": 70, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/scheduler", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the shared DRM GPU scheduler framework/helper code used by multiple DRM drivers, not hardware-bound driver implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.025727084548292728, "commits_5y": 177, "substantive_commits_5y": 174, "first_touch_ts": 1512665516, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772616567, "top_author": "Tvrtko Ursulin", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/sitronix", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Sitronix ST7567/ST7571, ST7586, ST7735R/ST7715R, and ST7920 display-controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/sitronix/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig shows this directory is a real DRM driver family covering ST7567/ST7571, ST7586, ST7735R/ST7715R, and ST7920 panels/controllers, including hobbyist and embedded modules such as LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 and small TFT/LCD panels." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=46d8a07b4ae2", "claim": "A substantive upstream fix landed on 2026-03-07 for drm/sitronix/st7586, indicating current maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=88b09229f34a", "claim": "ST7920 support was added on 2025-12-15, showing the directory is still gaining new hardware support." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/358", "claim": "Adafruit still lists an ST7735R breakout as in stock, supporting evidence that compatible Sitronix display hardware remains commercially available new." }, { "url": "https://www.buydisplay.com/graphic-display", "claim": "BuyDisplay's 2026 category page lists multiple ST7567 graphic LCD modules for sale, indicating ongoing new-module availability." }, { "url": "https://www.waveshare.com/lcd12864-st-3.3v-blue.htm", "claim": "Waveshare still sells an LCD12864-ST module using ST7920/ST7921, showing current-market availability for this controller family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "No early exit: this is an actual DRM driver directory with module/Kconfig entries. Lore-first attempt was blocked because `lore-http` MCP resources/templates were unavailable in this session and shell `lei` was not installed; I therefore used local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git log`) to assess upstream activity, then attached canonical kernel.org URLs by canonical recall for the same tree/commit objects. Web evidence came from `web.search_query` results for current product availability (Adafruit, BuyDisplay, Waveshare). The directory is only about a year old, had a substantive fix on 2026-03-07, and even gained ST7920 support in late 2025, so there is no sign of removal/deprecation; deployments are niche embedded/hobbyist/industrial rather than mass-market, hence `low` not `none`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1747038400, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772925249, "top_author": "Marcus Folkesson", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/solomon", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Solomon SSD13xx OLED controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_SSD130X.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the DRM_SSD130X driver has been in mainline since Linux 5.18 and remains present in current kernel series, covering Solomon/Sino Wealth OLED controllers." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg538525.html", "claim": "dri-devel carried a functional drm/solomon fix on 2026-02-10, showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg526070.html", "claim": "dri-devel carried 2025-10 drm/solomon cleanups/refactors, indicating continued subsystem attention." }, { "url": "https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-qwiic-oled-display-0-91-in-128x32-lcd-24606.html", "claim": "A new SSD1306-based OLED module remained on sale from a mainstream distributor in 2026, supporting that this hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-micro-oled-breakout.html", "claim": "Another new SSD1306-based display module remained commercially available in 2026, suggesting ongoing niche embedded deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` confirmed this is a real DRM driver directory for Solomon SSD1305/1306/1307/1309/1322/1325/1327/1331 and SH1106-class OLED controllers over I2C/SPI. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable, so I used `web.search_query` against lore/spinics terms; those searches surfaced 2025-10 and 2026-02 dri-devel traffic for drm/solomon and did not surface any removal/deprecation thread in removal-focused queries. Product availability evidence came from `web.search_query` results for current SSD1306 modules sold by SparkFun. Cateee/LKDDb URL came from web search and corroborates that the driver is current upstream. Hardware is still sold, but mainly for embedded/maker/small-display niches, so deployments today look low rather than none. No newer upstream driver supersedes this DRM driver for the same use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 85, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1645014544, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772109729, "top_author": "Javier Martinez Canillas", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/sprd", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Unisoc/Spreadtrum SharkL3 display controller (SC9863A-class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/linux-aspeed/patch/20250213-mem-cocci-v3-v1-6-93466d165349%40redhat.com/", "claim": "Public upstream patch traffic touched drm/sprd in February 2025, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1911.3/01144.html", "claim": "The SharkL3 platform DTS is included by the Unisoc SC9863A support patch, tying this display block to SC9863A-class SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.unisoc.com/en/product/SmartPhoneUS/9863A", "claim": "UNISOC still presents SC9863A as a smartphone product page, describing mass shipment and mainstream-market positioning." }, { "url": "https://www.notebookcheck.net/UNISOC-SC9863A-SoC-Benchmarks-and-Specs.426937.0.html", "claim": "SC9863A remained visible in relatively recent consumer devices and benchmark listings, consistent with ongoing low-end deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell showed a real DRM/KMS driver with Unisoc authorship, module metadata, and a single OF match of \"sprd,sharkl3-dpu\". The 2025 activity source was obtained from local `git log` output, which exposed the patch URL later confirmed via web search. The SC9863A-to-SharkL3 mapping came from web search then open on the LKML archive page. Current-market evidence came from web search then open on UNISOC's SC9863A product page and Notebookcheck's SC9863A page. I found recent maintenance but no removal discussion in the checked public results, and there is no obvious upstream replacement because this is a SoC-specific display driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1639136212, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741638301, "top_author": "Kevin Tang", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/sti", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH4xx display subsystem (STiH407/STiH410/STiH418-class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250717-sti-rework-v1-2-46d516fb1ebb@gmail.com/", "claim": "Mid-2025 patch traffic touched drivers/gpu/drm/sti directly ('drm/sti: make use of drm_of_component_probe'), showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/5fe67395907be33eb5199ea6d540e29fddee71c8.1761734313.git.jani.nikula@intel.com/", "claim": "Late-2025 treewide DRM maintenance still touched sti code, confirming it remains build-relevant in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/arm/sti/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the STi platform supports STiH407, STiH410 and STiH418 ARM SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "ST's data brief identifies STiH407/STiH410 as 2013-era Monaco-family multimedia/server-box set-top-box SoCs, indicating an old consumer-broadcast hardware generation." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics/stih412.html", "claim": "A closely related STiH4-series product page marks STiH412 as 'Obsolete / Out of Production', supporting the view that this family is in late-life rather than a growth market." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics.html", "claim": "ST still groups STiH4-series parts under digital set-top-box ICs, implying some residual vendor-family presence even as the line is legacy." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via rg found Kconfig naming 'STMicroelectronics SoC stiH4xx Series' and compatibles such as stih407/stih416. lore_activity on drivers/gpu/drm/sti/sti_drv.c returned direct 2025 drm/sti patches plus late-2025 DRM treewide touches; a local git-log grep for remove/drop/deprecat on this path found no removal-subject evidence. Web search yielded kernel.org STi docs plus current/archival ST product pages: stih410.pdf shows 2013 Monaco-family STB SoCs, stih412 page shows sibling family obsolescence, and the generic ST set-top-box page shows only residual family presence. Conclusion: legacy low-volume deployments remain, no obvious successor driver exists, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08455632101796387, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1406736713, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763988976, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/stm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32 LTDC / DSI / LVDS display pipeline", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/stm/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this as DRM support for STMicroelectronics SoC series / STM32 MCUs, with optional STM-specific DSI and LVDS support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-doc/20260402-drm-drm-atomic-update-v3-1-b826f51ac511@kernel.org/", "claim": "The core file drivers/gpu/drm/stm/ltdc.c was still being touched in upstream mail traffic in 2026, indicating the driver is active rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp157a.html", "claim": "STM32MP157A is marked Active and includes LCD-TFT and MIPI DSI display capabilities, showing supported STM32MP1 hardware using this display stack remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257f.html", "claim": "STM32MP257F is marked Active / in volume production and advertises LVDS and MIPI DSI display interfaces, showing new STM32MP2 deployments still map to this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Family identification came from local Kconfig/source inspection via exec_command; kernel.org tree URL added by canonical recall for a stable citation. Upstream activity evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/stm/ltdc.c, which showed touches through 2026-04-02 and steady 2021-2025 churn. A limited lore removal probe timed out, so absence of removal discussion is an inference from the active timeline rather than a definitive negative search. ST product pages were obtained via web search and show both STM32MP1 and STM32MP2 display-capable parts still active/new, so this looks like an actively deployed industrial/embedded display driver with no natural replacement other than itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11207817473189022, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1492194629, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757941724, "top_author": "Yannick Fertre", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/sun4i", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi display engine / TCON family (sun4i/sun5i/sun6i/sun7i/sun8i/sun9i/sun20i)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260326100248.1171828-4-wenst@chromium.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream functional work still touches drivers/gpu/drm/sun4i/sun4i_drv.c in 2026, indicating the driver is actively maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://pine64.org/documentation/Pine_A64/", "claim": "Current PINE A64 documentation says the board uses the Allwinner A64 and that most Linux distributions for it rely on mainline Linux, showing ongoing real-world deployment on supported sunxi hardware." }, { "url": "https://pine64.org/documentation/Pine_A64-LTS/_full/", "claim": "Current PINE A64-LTS documentation states the Allwinner A64/R18 board was guaranteed to be supplied until at least 2025, supporting that sunxi display-engine hardware was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via shell `rg`/`sed` shows this is a real DRM/KMS driver and its OF tables span many Allwinner display-engine generations up to sun20i-d1 and sun50i-h6, so it is a family driver, not a one-off legacy part. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/sun4i/sun4i_drv.c` showed sustained 2021-2026 patch traffic and a real 2026 functional patch at the cited lore URL; I found no concrete removal/deprecation evidence in the lore sample, so any 'no removal discussion' conclusion is an inference from continued maintenance. The two PINE64 URLs were obtained by web search and provide deployment evidence for current/mainline A64 boards, including supply through at least 2025. Given active upstream attention, broad SoC coverage, and continuing embedded/SBC use, this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04710874527536237, "commits_5y": 150, "substantive_commits_5y": 139, "first_touch_ts": 1461832205, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768821106, "top_author": "Jernej Skrabec", "top_author_commits": 45, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "System firmware framebuffers (simple-framebuffer / EFI / VESA / Open Firmware)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "Native DRM/KMS GPU driver for the actual display hardware (for example amdgpu, i915/xe, nouveau, virtio_gpu, vmwgfx)", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg544015.html", "claim": "A 2026 drm/sysfb efidrm bug-fix patch was posted and reviewed, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_SIMPLEDRM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_SIMPLEDRM is current in 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, and binds the platform/simple-framebuffer path." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_EFIDRM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_EFIDRM is current in 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, and binds the platform/efi-framebuffer path." }, { "url": "https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2136605", "claim": "Ubuntu enabled CONFIG_DRM_SIMPLEDRM for IGX Thor in December 2025, indicating new-hardware deployment interest rather than legacy-only status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig shows active DRM platform drivers for EFI, VESA, OF, and simple-framebuffer, all described as firmware/bootloader-provided framebuffers that hand off to native DRM drivers later. Local git log on the directory shows substantive activity through 2026-03-31. I first attempted lore/public-inbox access via shell (`lei`), but `lei` was unavailable; I then used exact-subject web search based on recent local commit subjects and found 2026 patch traffic on spinics for efidrm, plus current LKDDb entries and a 2025 Ubuntu enablement bug for IGX Thor. No removal/deprecation series surfaced in those checks. Because these drivers cover still-current UEFI/DT/VM early-boot display paths and remain actively fixed upstream, the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1744016526, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774955091, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/tegra", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra SoCs (Tegra20 through Tegra234 / Jetson Orin family display and multimedia blocks)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260309075248.47730-2-clamor95@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of March 9, 2026, the driver was still receiving feature work adding Tegra20/Tegra30 DSI support, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260423-drm-state-readout-v2-5-8549f87cb978@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of April 23, 2026, drm/tegra files were still being updated in active DRM API refactoring, showing current integration work in upstream." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r36.4.4/DeveloperGuide/", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson Linux Developer Guide 36.4.4, updated June 26, 2025, documents current Jetson Linux support and lists Jetson developer kits and modules, showing the platform remained current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson Orin product page advertises production AGX Orin, Orin NX, and Orin Nano modules with purchase links, showing Tegra-based hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection of Kconfig and OF compatibles shows this is the main upstream DRM driver for NVIDIA Tegra display/multimedia IP across Tegra20..Tegra234, including Jetson-era parts. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/tegra/drm.c` and `hub.c` showed steady 2021-2026 traffic, including recent functional work and subsystem refactors; no removal signal was found, and an attempted `lore_regex` removal search timed out rather than producing evidence. Web search located official NVIDIA Jetson Linux and Jetson Orin pages confirming continued 2025-era product availability. Because supported Tegra/Jetson modules are still sold and the upstream driver remains active, there is no natural in-tree replacement and the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.044452616114072474, "commits_5y": 253, "substantive_commits_5y": 238, "first_touch_ts": 1353390221, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768400597, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/tidss", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "TI K3/Keystone Display Subsystem (DSS/TIDSS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424-drm-mode-config-init-v3-18-8b68d9db0d8b@kernel.org/", "claim": "TIDSS received upstream maintenance work in April 2026, showing the driver is active rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260420-beagley-ai-display-v1-13-f628543dfd14@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "A 2026 patch adds AM62P display-subsystem support to drm/tidss, indicating ongoing enablement for new TI SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625", "claim": "TI lists AM625 as ACTIVE and describes its display subsystem, confirming current-market silicon using this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/DRA829V", "claim": "TI lists DRA829V as ACTIVE; this J721E-family SoC has display outputs covered by the TIDSS-compatible set in the driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` on the source tree showed compat strings for ti,k2g-dss, ti,am625-dss, ti,am62a7-dss, ti,am62l-dss, ti,am65x-dss, and ti,j721e-dss, identifying the hardware family as TI DSS/TIDSS. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/gpu/drm/tidss/tidss_drv.c returned fresh 2026 patches and no removal pattern; cited lore URLs came from that tool. TI product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show AM625 and DRA829V marked ACTIVE, so hardware is still sold new in 2025-era catalogs. Because the driver is seeing current upstream maintenance plus new-SoC enablement, and there is no generic replacement for this SoC-specific display block, the right disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05894655285315372, "commits_5y": 102, "substantive_commits_5y": 90, "first_touch_ts": 1580146050, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767467304, "top_author": "Tomi Valkeinen", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/tilcdc", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "TI Sitara/DaVinci LCDC (AM33xx, DA850/OMAP-L1xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260123-feature_tilcdc-v5-19-5a44d2aa3f6f@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving non-trivial upstream maintenance in 2026, including a v5 drm/tilcdc cleanup/modernization patch reviewed on dri-devel." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/BEAGL-BONE-BLACK", "claim": "A BeagleBone Black based on AM335x was still listed as an orderable product, indicating new hardware using this display block remained on sale." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM335X", "claim": "TI was still publishing and updating a Linux Processor SDK for AM335x in late 2025/early 2026, consistent with ongoing vendor support and deployed use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) in this tree shows `tilcdc` is the TI LCDC DRM driver for `ti,am33xx-tilcdc` and `ti,da850-tilcdc`; Kconfig also names AM33xx/DA8xx/OMAP-L1xx and notes the old fbdev predecessor. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so I fell back to `lore_activity(file=drivers/gpu/drm/tilcdc/tilcdc_drv.c,since=5y)`, which returned 32 recent touches including 2026 patch series URLs above; that argues against deprecation/removal. A follow-up lore/web search for removal discussion produced no positive removal evidence. TI product pages were obtained via web search and show both an orderable BeagleBone Black (AM335x) and a recently updated AM335x Linux SDK, so the hardware looks niche/industrial/legacy but still sold and deployed. Because the IP is old and usage is not broad consumer growth, but upstream and vendor signals are still active, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0948560575992719, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1361314664, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765230865, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/tiny", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Mixed tiny DRM display controllers and simple virtual GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424135501.18483-1-mhun512@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance is still happening in this directory: bochs.c received a fix patch on 2026-04-24, so the subtree is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/standard-vga.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents Standard VGA/bochs-dispi devices, which maps to the bochs driver use case and indicates ongoing virtualization deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio-gpu.html", "claim": "QEMU documents virtio-gpu as a current paravirtual GPU, showing there are modern alternatives for some guest-display use cases, but not a single replacement for the whole tiny directory." }, { "url": "https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/3.5inch_RPi_LCD_%28A%29", "claim": "SPI-connected small display modules for Raspberry Pi-class systems are still sold/documented in 2025-era vendor pages, supporting continued deployment of tiny DRM panel drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/sharp-microelectronics/LS013B7DH03/5300387", "claim": "Sharp Memory LCD modules supported by this directory are still listed as active products by a major distributor, indicating hardware remains commercially available." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local context with shell from drivers/gpu/drm/tiny/Kconfig and source files: this is a mixed driver directory covering QEMU guest GPUs (bochs, cirrus-qemu), Apple Touch Bar, ARC PGU, USB projector, and multiple SPI LCD/e-paper panels. lore_activity on bochs.c returned a 2026-04-24 patch URL, confirming live upstream maintenance; attempted broader lore regex/path scans timed out rather than showing removal discussion. Web search found QEMU Standard VGA and virtio-gpu docs plus current Waveshare and DigiKey product pages, indicating both VM-guest and embedded-panel deployments still exist. Because the directory is heterogeneous and still active, with some hardware still sold and no clear removal thread, the right recommendation is keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.030452154317694404, "commits_5y": 262, "substantive_commits_5y": 250, "first_touch_ts": 1564578970, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771319068, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 154, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/ttm", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: TTM is the DRM Translation Table Maps memory-management/helper subsystem used by GPU drivers, not a kernel-bound hardware driver itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 270, "substantive_commits_5y": 261, "first_touch_ts": 1245022677, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772698356, "top_author": "Christian König", "top_author_commits": 83, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/tve200", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Faraday TVE200 / Gemini TVC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260424124118.38649-1-mhun512@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: a tve200 bug-fix patch ('Fix probe cleanup after register failure') was posted on 2026-04-24." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/nouveau/20240924071734.98201-46-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "The driver also received drm-core adaptation work in 2024 ('Run DRM default client setup'), indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/gpu/tve200.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies TVE200 as a Faraday TV encoder/Gemini TV Interface Controller used in older Storlink/Cortina Gemini and Grain Media GM8180 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_TVE200.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_TVE200 remains present in current kernel series, with DT compatible 'faraday,tve200' and module 'tve200_drm'." }, { "url": "https://legacy.us.dlink.com/pages/product.aspx?id=49898d723089475fa8d6af4f8b99b6ab", "claim": "A known retail deployment, the D-Link DIR-685, is listed by D-Link as a legacy product with last support on 2013-05-05." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/d-link/d-link_dir-685", "claim": "OpenWrt marks the D-Link DIR-685 as discontinued, reinforcing that one visible TVE200-bearing product line is long out of market." }, { "url": "https://www.asmag.com/product_detail.aspx?id=8882", "claim": "The GM8180 SoC associated with TVE200 appears in a 2008 surveillance/IPTV product profile, pointing to aging embedded/industrial usage rather than current mainstream sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` found OF match `faraday,tve200` in the driver, identifying the hardware family. Lore evidence came from `lore_substr_subject` on `tve200`, which returned 2026 and 2024 patch traffic and no removal-themed subjects in the sample. Deployment evidence came from web search results for kernel docs/LKDDb and known products (D-Link DIR-685, GM8180). Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and niche, but upstream still sees real fixes, so deprecation would be premature; keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/niche hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3414417059281543, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1503522516, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727335887, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/udl", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "DisplayLink DL-1x0/DL-1x5 USB graphics adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250722102912.2256895-1-oushixiong1025@163.com/", "claim": "Upstream DRM/UDL still receives feature work; a 2025 patch adds nonblocking dirtyfb support." }, { "url": "https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/683482-displaylink-support-for-ubuntu-now-available", "claim": "DisplayLink's Linux support page says newer supported families are DL-6xxx/DL-5xxx/DL-41xx/DL-3xxx, while DL-1x5 and DL-1x0 are handled by the open-source udl driver." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink", "claim": "DisplayLink family timeline places DL-1x5 before later DL-3xxx/DL-41xx/DL-5xxx/DL-6xxx generations, indicating UDL targets older hardware generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep, but annotate as legacy-only hardware. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/gpu/drm/udl/udl_drv.c showed steady activity through 2025 and no removal signal surfaced, so removal/deprecation is not justified. `exec_command` reading Kconfig identified this as the USB DisplayLink DRM/KMS driver. `web.search_query` found DisplayLink's official Ubuntu support page, which separates newer shipping families (DL-3xxx and later) from older DL-1x0/DL-1x5 devices served by udl; combined with the Wikipedia family chronology from `web.search_query`, that supports 'not sold new in 2025' and low present-day deployments. 2012 is an inference for last wide availability, not a directly stated vendor EOL date.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13774968337372795, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 69, "first_touch_ts": 1331818534, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751894621, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/v3d", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Broadcom V3D / VideoCore VI-VII", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260331-v3d-power-management-v9-3-f52ff87bfd36@igalia.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-31 the driver was still receiving substantial upstream feature work, including a v9 runtime power-management series touching v3d_drv.c." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/?variant=raspberry-pi-5-4gb", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 is sold as a current product, uses Broadcom BCM2712 with a VideoCore VII GPU, and Raspberry Pi states production will continue until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/introducing-raspberry-pi-5/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 launched with a VideoCore VII GPU, and Raspberry Pi said Raspberry Pi 4 plus derivatives had sold over 14 million units and remained popular with enthusiasts, educators, and professional engineers." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/v3d/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig defines this as the Broadcom V3D 3.x-and-newer GPU driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/v3d/v3d_drv.h", "claim": "The driver source contains support for multiple V3D generations, including V3D_GEN_71, indicating coverage beyond the original BCM2711-era hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. `lore_file_timeline` on v3d_drv.c showed dense 2021-2026 activity and fresh March 31, 2026 runtime-PM patches; that is incompatible with deprecation/removal. A `lore_regex` removal/deprecation scan timed out and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox, but the lore timeline itself showed ongoing feature development rather than retirement traffic. Raspberry Pi product/news pages were obtained via `web.search_query` + `web.open`; they show Raspberry Pi 5 is a live product with VideoCore VII and long production horizon, while Raspberry Pi 4-family deployment remains large. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall used to anchor the chipset/coverage claims from upstream source files. No natural replacement exists for the same hardware family; VC4 only covers older VideoCore/V3D 2.x generations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04562202626108977, "commits_5y": 174, "substantive_commits_5y": 164, "first_touch_ts": 1525389990, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768817545, "top_author": "Maíra Canal", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/vboxvideo", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Oracle VirtualBox virtual graphics adapter (VBoxVideo/VBoxVGA-era guest display)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "vmwgfx", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20240729093625.17561-5-pstanner@redhat.com/", "claim": "Upstream still carried vboxvideo-specific maintenance in 2024 ('drm/vboxvideo: Add PCI region request')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20240613115032.29098-14-pstanner@redhat.com/", "claim": "Upstream still fixed real bugs in vboxvideo in 2024 ('drm/vboxvideo: fix mapping leaks')." }, { "url": "https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.1.12/UserManual.pdf", "claim": "Oracle's 2025 VirtualBox manual says VMSVGA is the default graphics controller for Linux guests, while VBoxVGA is for legacy guest OSes." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds", "claim": "Oracle lists VirtualBox 7.1 as under active maintenance in 2025, indicating the platform is current even though older graphics-controller modes remain legacy options." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection (`rg`/`sed`) confirms this is the DRM driver for VirtualBox guest graphics. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/vboxvideo/vbox_main.c` and `lore_activity` on vboxvideo files showed nontrivial 2024-2025 upstream churn, including vboxvideo-specific fixes, so this is not abandonware and there was no removal evidence in the lore queries I could complete. Web search found Oracle's 7.1.12 manual and Download_Old_Builds pages: VirtualBox remains current in 2025, but Linux guests default to VMSVGA and VBoxVGA is described as legacy, which makes vboxvideo a low-deployment compatibility driver for older/niche VirtualBox guest configurations. `vmwgfx` is the practical replacement for new Linux VirtualBox deployments because the default Linux guest controller is VMSVGA (VMware SVGA emulation).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1264404930277941, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1552321875, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759751959, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/vc4", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Broadcom VideoCore / Raspberry Pi display pipeline (VC4/VC5-class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg547977.html", "claim": "March 30, 2026 patch series '[PATCH 0/6] drm/vc4: Miscellaneous fixes and improvements' shows active upstream maintenance and ongoing feature/bug-fix work for vc4." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products//raspberry-pi-4-desktop-kit/", "claim": "Official Raspberry Pi product page shows Raspberry Pi 4 hardware still being sold and states production through at least January 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.14/gpu/vc4.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies vc4 as the Broadcom VideoCore graphics/display driver used on Raspberry Pi hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell checks: `rg` found `module_init(vc4_drm_register)` in vc4_drv.c, and `git log` in the local tree shows multiple 2025-2026 vc4 commits, so this is an active real driver. Web search on lore-targeted terms did not surface removal/deprecation threads; instead it surfaced the 2026 dri-devel patch series at spinics (obtained via `web.search_query`), which is strong evidence against deprecation. Raspberry Pi sales evidence came from official product pages obtained via `web.search_query`. Kernel.org vc4 documentation URL is a canonical stable page obtained via `web.search_query`. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Raspberry Pi display pipeline; current evidence supports keeping the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009732694334063433, "commits_5y": 533, "substantive_commits_5y": 516, "first_touch_ts": 1445419992, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775127203, "top_author": "Maxime Ripard", "top_author_commits": 275, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/verisilicon", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "VeriSilicon DC-series display controllers (DC8200-class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1062121/", "claim": "As of March 9, 2026, the upstream driver was still receiving new feature work; a patch series added hardware cursor support under drivers/gpu/drm/verisilicon." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/%2Bblame/refs/heads/master/drivers/gpu/drm/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream master Kconfig includes source \"drivers/gpu/drm/verisilicon/Kconfig\", with blame output showing the entry was added on 2026-01-29, indicating this is a recently added upstream DRM driver rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/DG_LCD/JH7110_SDK/display_driver_locations_lcd.html", "claim": "StarFive's VisionFive 2 JH7110 SDK documentation places the Linux display driver in linux-5.15/drivers/gpu/drm/verisilicon, tying the driver to shipped JH7110 display hardware." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/DG_Display/JH7110_SDK/device_tree_config_display.html", "claim": "StarFive's JH7110 display documentation identifies compatible strings such as \"verisilicon,display-subsystem\" and \"verisilicon,dc8200\", confirming the hardware family covered by the driver." }, { "url": "https://pine64.com/product/star64-model-a-4gb-single-board-computer/", "claim": "A current retail product page lists the STAR64 single-board computer with the StarFive JH-7110 SoC as in stock, supporting the conclusion that this hardware class is still deployed and sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: path is a real DRM driver directory. Local shell (`rg`) showed this kernel snapshot does not contain the directory, so evidence was gathered via `web.search_query`. That search found active upstream lore/LWN traffic in 2026 and a master Kconfig blame entry dated 2026-01-29, which outweigh the static '0 commits in 5y' metadata and indicates ongoing bring-up, not obsolescence. Vendor docs found via `web.search_query` map the driver to VeriSilicon DC8200 display blocks in StarFive JH7110 systems, and current retail availability of JH7110 boards implies ongoing niche embedded/RISC-V deployments. No natural in-tree replacement driver for the same IP block was found, and a targeted lore web search found no removal discussion, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/vgem", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "VGEM", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260128232038.2399-1-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued into 2026 with a vgem cleanup patch ('drm: vgem: do not use devres groups')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20251002091844.11-1-alsp705@gmail.com/", "claim": "vgem still received bug-fix traffic in late 2025 ('vgem: fix error return in vgem_init()')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_VGEM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DRM_VGEM is a 'Virtual GEM provider' used by Mesa's software renderer; it is a virtual DRM component, not physical hardware support." }, { "url": "https://docs.mesa3d.org/drivers/llvmpipe.html", "claim": "Mesa's llvmpipe software renderer remains current documentation, supporting the inference that software-rendering deployments still exist where vgem-like sharing helpers can matter." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/vgem/vgem_drv.c` produced the two lore URLs and showed steady 2025-2026 maintenance rather than removal discussion. `web.search_query` found the LKDDb page describing vgem as a virtual GEM provider used by Mesa software rendering, and Mesa's llvmpipe docs showing the software-rendering niche is still current. Because vgem is explicitly non-hardware-backed, there is no sell-through hardware lifecycle to track; deployment is niche but nonzero, so keep with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1117075956371324, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1427930508, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765357373, "top_author": "Christian König", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/virtio", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "virtio-gpu", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260401061050.1035881-1-morris.pan@mediatek.com/", "claim": "Upstream development is active: virtio-gpu saw a new suspend/resume support patch on 2026-04-01." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/virtio-gpu.html", "claim": "QEMU documents virtio-gpu as a current paravirtual GPU/display device with multiple actively documented variants and modern host/guest capability requirements." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU recommends VirtIO devices as the preferred device models for virtual machines, supporting continued broad VM deployment of virtio classes." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes this as the virtio GPU driver and notes use with QEMU-based VMMs such as KVM or Xen." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Source acquisition: the lore URL came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_drv.c`; the two QEMU URLs came from `web.search_query`; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall matching the local Kconfig help text. This is an actively maintained paravirtual VM GPU driver, not obsolete physical hardware. It is not a product sold new in 2025, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false`, but VM guest deployments remain high. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because alternatives are different virtual GPU device models rather than a drop-in replacement for virtio-gpu.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0885189789249358, "commits_5y": 144, "substantive_commits_5y": 132, "first_touch_ts": 1433333858, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759979241, "top_author": "Dmitry Osipenko", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/vkms", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "VKMS (Virtual Kernel Modesetting)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/vkms.html", "claim": "VKMS is a virtual KMS driver used for testing; kernel docs describe simulated hardware features, configfs-created instances, and explicit IGT/KUnit test workflows." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/tencent_78CE07AD804905B05466486B299306C51B08@qq.com/", "claim": "VKMS was still receiving targeted functional fixes in 2026 (example: gamma LUT size check fix), indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-doc/20260402-drm-drm-atomic-update-v3-1-b826f51ac511@kernel.org/", "claim": "VKMS was touched by broad DRM core work in April 2026, and lore timeline shows sustained recent churn rather than removal preparation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: VKMS is not tied to obsolete physical hardware at all; it is a virtual DRM/KMS driver used for graphics-stack testing and CI, so hardware-obsolescence removal logic does not apply. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `last_widely_available_year=null` because no sellable hardware ever existed. `deployments_today=medium` reflects continued test/CI and virtualized development use, not mass end-user deployment. No replacement driver is a clean upstream substitute for the same test-focused role. Source acquisition: the two lore URLs came from `lore_activity`/`lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/vkms/vkms_drv.c`; the docs URL was derived by reading local `Documentation/gpu/vkms.rst` with `exec_command` and mapping it to the canonical published kernel-docs page via canonical recall.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04473599784119301, "commits_5y": 166, "substantive_commits_5y": 157, "first_touch_ts": 1530794756, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769073995, "top_author": "Louis Chauvet", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "VMware SVGA II / SVGA3D virtual GPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.mesa3d.org/drivers/svga3d.html", "claim": "Mesa's current VMware SVGA3D documentation says vmwgfx is the guest Linux kernel module, required for modern VMware Workstation 17 / Fusion 13 guest OpenGL support, and notes most modern Linux distributions include the SVGA3D driver." }, { "url": "https://kernel.org/doc/html/v6.0/gpu/todo.html", "claim": "Kernel DRM TODO documentation lists vmwgfx-specific maintenance work ('Replace hashtable with Linux’ implementation') and names Zack Rusin and Thomas Zimmermann as contacts, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/%2B/e9fd436bb8fb9b9d31fdf07bbcdba6d30290c5e4", "claim": "A 2024 stable-kernel vmwgfx fix by Zack Rusin references a lore report and stable backporting, showing real recent bug-fix traffic for active users." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/0d0330f3-2ac0-4cd5-8075-7f1cbaf72a8e@heusel.eu", "claim": "Lore thread linked from the stable vmwgfx fix is a concrete recent upstream report/closure for a vmwgfx regression, evidencing active user and maintainer attention." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real PCI DRM driver (confirmed locally via shell `rg`, which found `drm_module_pci_driver(vmw_pci_driver)` and `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Standalone drm driver for the VMware SVGA device\")` in `vmwgfx_drv.c`). Local shell `git log -c safe.directory=... -- drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx` also showed 2025-2026 substantive fixes, matching the supplied commit stats. For lore/removal history, `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so I used web search; no removal/deprecation thread surfaced, while multiple recent vmwgfx fixes did. The cited Mesa page was obtained by web search/open and shows vmwgfx is still part of current VMware guest graphics on supported Workstation/Fusion releases, so this is still used in new VM deployments even though it is virtual rather than physical hardware. The kernel TODO page was obtained by web search/open and indicates active maintainership. The googlesource commit and embedded lore link were obtained by web search/open and show recent upstream/stable bug-fix traffic. Because the device remains relevant in VMware guest environments and there is no natural same-use-case upstream replacement inside VMware guests, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.018093769438612548, "commits_5y": 312, "substantive_commits_5y": 298, "first_touch_ts": 1260830316, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773675582, "top_author": "Zack Rusin", "top_author_commits": 114, "c_file_count": 39, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/xe", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Intel Xe2 graphics and later Intel Xe GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/xe/index.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes drm/xe as the Intel GFX driver, supporting future GFX cards and prototyping support for currently available platforms such as TGL, ADL, and DG2." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_XE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_XE present from Linux 6.8 through 7.0-rc+HEAD and lists recognized Intel PCI IDs, indicating active upstream inclusion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/241598/intel-arc-b580-graphics/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists Arc B580 as a launched Q4 2024 desktop product based on Xe2, confirming xe-covered hardware was still being sold new into 2025." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/artificial-intelligence/intel-launches-arc-b-series-graphics-cards", "claim": "Intel announced Arc B580/B570 Battlemage cards in December 2024 with retail availability into late 2024 and January 2025, supporting continuing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Static signals already show extremely high activity (4553 substantive commits in 5y, latest touch 2026-04-07). Local shell check `git -c safe.directory=/nas4/data/workspace/personal/linux-drivers/.kernel-snapshot log --since='2025-01-01' -- drivers/gpu/drm/xe` showed a dense stream of 2025-2026 fixes/features, so this is an actively maintained growth driver, not an obsolescence candidate. Removal-check attempt via shell `lei q` could not run because `lei` is not installed; fallback web search on lore.kernel.org for remove/deprecate/obsolete hits returned none. URLs were obtained via `web` search/open for docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, and Intel product/news pages. No natural replacement exists for Xe2+ parts inside upstream today; `i915` is older-generation Intel graphics coverage, not a replacement for new Xe2 deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4569, "substantive_commits_5y": 4553, "first_touch_ts": 1702407948, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775593045, "top_author": "Michal Wajdeczko", "top_author_commits": 544, "c_file_count": 162, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/xe/display", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: display subcomponent/helper code inside the Intel Xe DRM driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 297, "substantive_commits_5y": 293, "first_touch_ts": 1703177019, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768241188, "top_author": "Jani Nikula", "top_author_commits": 122, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/xen", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Xen PV display", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250821081918.79786-25-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Upstream DRM/Xen code still receives substantive maintenance in 2025; this patch updates dumb-buffer sizing in drm/xen." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260126155119.3323199-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The Xen DRM frontend also receives stable backport attention, indicating ongoing support rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/xen-front.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this as the Xen para-virtualized frontend display driver for guest OSes, confirming it is a virtual Xen PV display frontend rather than physical GPU hardware." }, { "url": "https://xenbits.xen.org/docs/unstable/SUPPORT.html", "claim": "Current Xen support documentation still lists Linux PV display frontend support, with caveats/experimental backend-allocation mode, showing continued niche deployment relevance in Xen environments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig read via exec_command identifies it as a para-virtualized frontend DRM/KMS driver for Xen guest OSes. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/gpu/drm/xen/xen_drm_front.c, which showed 2025 upstream maintenance and 2026 stable backport URLs above; no removal thread was surfaced in the checked lore history, so this does not look like a removal candidate. Deployment evidence came from web search to docs.kernel.org and xenbits.xen.org: the device is a Xen PV display interface, so there is no physical hardware sale year; usage is limited to Xen guest niches today. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the code is niche and non-hardware-specific, but still maintained upstream and documented as supported in Xen.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1982971146683578, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1522755708, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752685558, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/drm/xlnx", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC DisplayPort Subsystem (ZynqMP DPSUB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260413-drm-bridge-alloc-getput-panel_or_bridge-v1-9-acd01cd79a1f@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: April 13, 2026 patch updates zynqmp_dp for DRM bridge API changes." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260106170136.501044-4-sean.anderson@linux.dev/", "claim": "Upstream activity includes functional bug-fix work: January 6, 2026 patch retrains the link after HPD when needed." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-mpsoc.html", "claim": "The underlying Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC family is an actively marketed AMD product line, supporting the conclusion that new hardware was still sold in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_ZYNQMP_DPSUB.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DRM_ZYNQMP_DPSUB as the Linux driver for the ZynqMP DisplayPort controller/subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: local tree inspection (`exec_command`) shows this is the SoC-specific ZynqMP DisplayPort DRM driver (`DRM_ZYNQMP_DPSUB`) with no generic successor. Lore evidence was obtained via `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/xlnx/zynqmp_dp.c`, which showed dense activity through 2024-2026 and yielded the cited April 2026 API-conversion patch and January 2026 functional fix. A removal/deprecation subject scan via `lore_regex` did not produce evidence of an active removal series in this sampled pass. Product/LKDDb URLs are canonical-recall sources used to identify the hardware family and confirm ongoing market presence; this points to continued but niche embedded/industrial deployments, so `deployments_today` is `low` rather than `none`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0922048325055531, "commits_5y": 140, "substantive_commits_5y": 130, "first_touch_ts": 1595030356, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759161054, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 38, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/host1x", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra host1x", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20260413141526.2961841-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Host1x still receives upstream bug-fix patches in 2026, including fixes tagged for stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250925151648.79510-10-clamor95@gmail.com/", "claim": "Host1x also saw substantial non-trivial refactoring work in late 2025, not just janitorial maintenance." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/gpu/tegra.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes host1x as core infrastructure for NVIDIA Tegra display/graphics/video blocks across Tegra SoCs." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "Multiple Jetson modules based on Tegra-family SoCs remained commercially available through 2027-2033, indicating ongoing new-hardware relevance in 2025 and beyond." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module/driver entry points and active code. Evidence came from lore_activity on drivers/gpu/host1x/dev.c and bus.c (recent April 2026 fixes, September 2025 refactor patch), plus web search hits for kernel docs and NVIDIA Jetson lifecycle pages. lore_subsystem_churn on the directory prefix returned no sampled mail, so I relied on exact-file lore activity instead. No replacement upstream driver covers host1x's infrastructure role; current sales of Jetson/Tegra modules argue against deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.054812882910991845, "commits_5y": 93, "substantive_commits_5y": 87, "first_touch_ts": 1366626760, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768303592, "top_author": "Mikko Perttunen", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/host1x/hw", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the internal per-SoC host1x hardware support layer (`hw/*.c` compiled into parent `host1x.o`), with no standalone bus/device registration entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1366626760, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763141239, "top_author": "Mikko Perttunen", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/ipu-v3", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX IPUv3 display/image-processing block (i.MX51/i.MX53/i.MX6, with current relevance mainly i.MX6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250611104348.192092-7-jirislaby@kernel.org/", "claim": "ipu-v3 still received upstream maintenance in 2025 ('gpu: ipu-v3: Use dev_fwnode()')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/174742426195.406.12008266390501884800.tip-bot2@tip-bot2/", "claim": "ipu-v3 was part of a 2025 irq cleanup flow merged via tip ('gpu: Switch to irq_domain_create_linear()'), indicating non-abandoned upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX6Q", "claim": "NXP still listed i.MX6Q as Active, showing the relevant i.MX6 family was still commercially active in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.variscite.com/variscite-products-imx6/", "claim": "A current module vendor still markets i.MX6-based SoMs for industrial/embedded use, supporting ongoing real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/gpu/ipu-v3/ipu-common.c shows MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'i.MX IPU v3 driver' and comments tying IPUv3 variants to i.MX51/i.MX53/i.MX6; c-file count confirmed as 14 via shell. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned 0 hits, so I fell back to a concrete file (lore-http on drivers/gpu/ipu-v3/ipu-common.c), which showed substantial 2021-2025 activity including 2025 patches; cited lore URLs came from that tool output. Removal/deprecation-specific lore_regex probes on dri-devel timed out, so I found no positive evidence of an active removal campaign. Web search found NXP's official i.MX6Q page marked Active and a live Variscite i.MX6 product-family page, indicating the hardware is old but still sold into industrial/embedded markets. There is no single upstream replacement driver for IPUv3 itself; newer NXP SoCs use different display blocks rather than a drop-in successor.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19307377326200093, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1401872812, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747422372, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/trace", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains generic GPU memory tracepoint infrastructure (Kconfig/Makefile plus tracepoint export code), not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1583275961, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751992487, "top_author": "Juston Li", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/gpu/vga", "subsystem": "gpu", "chipset_family": "Laptop hybrid-graphics mux/gmux systems (ATI PowerXpress, Nvidia HybridPower, Apple gmux)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/gpu/vga-switcheroo.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says vga_switcheroo is the subsystem for laptop hybrid graphics, that many early muxed designs date to the late 2000s, and that newer laptops moved to muxless designs while MacBook Pro remained an exception." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.18/gpu/vga-switcheroo.html", "claim": "Current kernel docs still document an apple-gmux handler for dual-GPU MacBook Pro systems, showing the code still has a live hardware role rather than being orphaned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VGA_SWITCHEROO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VGA_SWITCHEROO still exists in current kernels and describes the target hardware as laptop hybrid-graphics systems common in 2008/9/10-era designs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/gpu/vga/vga_switcheroo.c", "claim": "Canonical kernel git log location for the file; local git history in this workspace shows substantive upstream touches in 2024 and 2025, so the directory is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro", "claim": "Apple's current MacBook Pro retail page shows Apple Silicon models, supporting that the historical Intel dual-GPU/gmux class covered by vga_switcheroo is not sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver/subsystem, not an early-exit case: drivers/gpu/vga contains vga_switcheroo.c and Kconfig for laptop hybrid-GPU switching. Evidence mix: local shell (`sed`, `git -c safe.directory ... log`) showed recent substantive upstream fixes in 2024-08-12 and 2025-07-17 with no sign of imminent removal; `web.search_query` obtained the docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, and Apple URLs above; the git.kernel.org log URL is canonical recall, paired with the local git-log output. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and niche now, but upstream attention is still real, so removal/deprecation would be premature; keep it, but annotate as legacy/niche hybrid-graphics support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1252528176, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752784213, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/greybus", "subsystem": "greybus", "chipset_family": "Greybus / UniPro host controllers and transports (notably BeaglePlay CC1352P7 SVC and Toshiba ES3 bridge)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260330120801.981506-1-geoffreyhe2@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent non-treewide bug-fix traffic hit gb-beagleplay in March 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260402054016.38587-1-pengpeng@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Another gb-beagleplay fix was posted in April 2026 and cc'd to stable, showing current support demand." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251223183142.31897-6-damien.riegel@silabs.com/", "claim": "Greybus core/module code saw feature work in late 2025, not just janitorial churn." }, { "url": "https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beagleplay", "claim": "BeaglePlay had a live product page with purchase links and 2026 software images, supporting that Greybus-backed hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://docs.beagleboard.org/projects/beagleconnect/beagleplay-bcf.html", "claim": "Official BeagleBoard docs describe BeaglePlay's AM62x + CC1352P7 Greybus architecture and BeagleConnect Freedom module use." }, { "url": "https://docs.beagleboard.org/projects/beagleconnect/introduction.html", "claim": "Official docs say Greybus originated with Project Ara, which is discontinued, underscoring that the subsystem is now niche outside newer BeagleBoard deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore URLs via lore_activity on drivers/greybus/gb-beagleplay.c and drivers/greybus/module.c; those results show 2025-2026 fixes and feature patches, with no removal signal. Obtained BeagleBoard URLs via web search_query; they show current BeaglePlay sale/support and Greybus-based BeagleConnect deployments. Conclusion: hardware is niche and legacy-Ara-derived, but there is still real upstream attention and at least one currently sold platform, so keep the driver but annotate it as low-deployment/specialized rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07104360726386932, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1566925384, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577523, "top_author": "Ayush Singh", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "USB/Bluetooth Human Interface Devices (HID)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20260410-fix-logitech-dj-v1-1-5533381f8d1b@kernel.org/", "claim": "Representative HID driver activity is current in 2026: hid-logitech-dj received a bug-fix patch on 2026-04-10." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20260423084624.19033-3-rosalie@mailbox.org/", "claim": "Representative HID driver activity includes nontrivial ongoing refactoring/feature work in 2026: hid-sony patch posted 2026-04-23." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/hid/index.html", "claim": "The kernel documents HID as a broad, current subsystem covering raw HID, HID-BPF, sensors, UHID, and other actively used interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/unifying-receiver-usb.html", "claim": "New HID-class peripherals/accessories remained on sale in the 2025-era market; Logitech still sold the Unifying USB receiver product page captured by search." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active driver subsystem, not an obsolete single-device leaf: static evidence already shows 1154 substantive commits in 5 years, 339 authors, and last substantive touch on 2026-03-29. URLs 1-2 were obtained via mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on representative files `drivers/hid/hid-logitech-dj.c` and `drivers/hid/hid-sony.c`, showing fresh 2026 bug-fix and refactor traffic. URLs 3-4 were obtained via web search: kernel HID docs confirm HID is a current core subsystem, and Logitech's product page is direct deployment evidence that HID peripherals/receivers are still sold new. I attempted explicit removal/deprecation-thread discovery with `lore_regex` and `lei`; the regex query timed out and `lei` was blocked by the sandbox, so I found no removal evidence but keep a small uncertainty for that search gap. No natural replacement driver exists for the directory as a whole because it is the HID subsystem itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009940724140338673, "commits_5y": 1174, "substantive_commits_5y": 1154, "first_touch_ts": 1165603381, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774814531, "top_author": "José Expósito", "top_author_commits": 60, "c_file_count": 163, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/amd-sfh-hid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "AMD Sensor Fusion Hub (SFH) on Ryzen mobile platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hid/amd-sfh-hid/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this as the AMD Sensor Fusion Hub driver and says it supports AMD platforms starting from 17h-family Ryzen parts." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260420153928.551957396@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver received a bug-fix patch in April 2026 ('dont log error when device discovery fails with -EOPNOTSUPP'), showing active maintenance and stable backport interest." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2026042221-glance-purging-31d8@gregkh/", "claim": "Linux 6.19.14 touched amd_sfh_pcie.c in April 2026, indicating the code is still live in current stable maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/socket-fp5-mobile/amd-ryzen-and-athlon-mobile-chipset", "claim": "AMD's current mobile chipset driver page still supports modern Ryzen mobile families, including Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen 7000 mobile processors." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen.html", "claim": "AMD is still marketing new Ryzen laptop processors in 2026, so the laptop platform class this driver serves remains in new-device sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI/HID driver directory, not a helper library. `lore_file_timeline` on amd_sfh_pcie.c showed fresh 2026 activity and stable backports, with no positive evidence of removal. The Kconfig URL is canonical recall of the upstream tree to identify scope: Ryzen-family AMD Sensor Fusion Hub on laptops/tablets. Web search found AMD's current chipset-support page and current Ryzen laptop product page, supporting that this hardware class is still shipping new. Use case is niche compared with generic HID, but still relevant on modern Ryzen laptops with motion/orientation sensors, and there is no natural replacement driver for the same hardware block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01732771184644818, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 78, "first_touch_ts": 1603361102, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774616907, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 60, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/amd-sfh-hid/hid_descriptor", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subdirectory under amd-sfh-hid that contains HID descriptor/helper code, with no module/driver entry point and no standalone kernel-bound hardware driver role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1603361103, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695558693, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/amd-sfh-hid/sfh1_1", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "AMD Sensor Fusion Hub 1.1 (MP2)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4d3a13afa8b64dc49293b3eab3e7beac11072c12", "claim": "The sfh1_1 code was still receiving functional fixes in late 2025 ('HID: amd_sfh: Stop sensor before starting', committed 2025-10-30), which argues against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=93ce5e0231d7", "claim": "SFH1.1 support was added as dedicated functionality in 2022, confirming this directory is the active implementation for that hardware generation rather than dead compatibility glue." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_SFH_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AMD_SFH_HID is present through current kernel series and covers AMD Sensor Fusion Hub PCI IDs 1022:15e4 and 1022:164a on Ryzen platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.lenovo.com/us/msd/en/faqs/amd/amd-consumer-laptops/", "claim": "Lenovo's AMD laptop page states Ryzen 6000 processors power current Lenovo laptop families, indicating relevant AMD mobile platforms were still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1022-164a-103c-8c6a", "claim": "Linux-Hardware reports real-world probes of AMD Sensor Fusion Hub device 1022:164a in an HP ENVY x360, showing ongoing field deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `git log` on the local kernel snapshot produced the 2025 fix commit and the 2022 SFH1.1 introduction commit; I converted those hashes into canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs. A shell grep over amd-sfh-hid history found no deprecation/removal-oriented series for this driver family, only normal cleanup and feature work. `web.search_query` found the LKDDb page for kernel support scope, Lenovo's AMD Ryzen 6000 laptop page for new-hardware sales evidence, and a linux-hardware probe page for present-day deployment evidence. Net: active upstream maintenance plus still-sold Ryzen laptop platforms means keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1658403844, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761821921, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/bpf", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: HID-BPF framework/helper code under drivers/hid for programmable HID behavior, not a hardware-bound device driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 51, "first_touch_ts": 1668526108, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773674466, "top_author": "Benjamin Tissoires", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/bpf/progs", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains HID BPF program sources under a `progs` subdirectory, which are eBPF/helper program code rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1715089133, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768954557, "top_author": "Benjamin Tissoires", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/i2c-hid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "HID over I2C (ACPI0C50 / PNP0C50 transport; ELAN/Goodix/FocalTech/QTEC-class touchpads and touchscreens)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20220929093200.v6.1.Id4b4bdfe06e2caf2d5a3c9dd4a9b1080c38b539c@changeid/", "claim": "Recent upstream work touched i2c-hid power-management behavior, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/I2C_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes this as generic HID-over-I2C support for keyboards, touchpads, touchscreens and other HID devices, showing broad device scope." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/I2C_HID_ACPI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the ACPI transport binding (including ACPI0C50) remains present in current kernels, matching common x86 laptop/tablet deployments." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/hid/troubleshoot-hid-over-i2c-device-issues", "claim": "Microsoft documents HID-over-I2C devices as widely used in modern laptops and tablets, supporting that this hardware class is still current in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: module_i2c_driver entry points are present in i2c-hid-acpi.c, i2c-hid-of.c, i2c-hid-of-elan.c, and i2c-hid-of-goodix.c (checked via local shell rg). Upstream activity is clearly live: local git log shows 2025-2026 fixes/new IDs (Dell S4 touchpad issue, FocalTech FT8112, ELAN timing, buffer-overflow fix), and the cited lore URL came from MCP lore_substr_subject on 'i2c-hid'. Deployment remains high because this is the standard HID-over-I2C transport for laptop/tablet touchpads and touchscreens; LKDDb and Microsoft URLs were obtained by web search. No natural replacement driver exists for the same use case; this directory is the transport layer itself, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.050871169983496146, "commits_5y": 88, "substantive_commits_5y": 86, "first_touch_ts": 1353319478, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769034192, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Integrated Sensor Hub (ISH / ISHTP HID)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260331161754.553594045@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable-carried patch adds Nova Lake-H/S PCI device IDs to intel-ish-hid, which is strong evidence the driver is still being extended for new Intel client platforms rather than maintained only for legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20260323160052.17528-12-vineeth@bitbyteword.org/", "claim": "The directory still receives current upstream touches in linux-input; recent activity is maintenance/integration work, not removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Intel ISH is an active platform-specific HID/sensor-hub driver, not an obsolete orphan. Local source inspection showed PCI IDs ranging from Cherryview through Lunar Lake, Panther Lake, Wildcat Lake, and Nova Lake in ipc/hw-ish.h (shell `rg`). lore_activity on drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid/ipc/pci-ish.c showed 2026 upstream/stable traffic including explicit new-device-ID enablement; that lore result provided the cited URLs. A lore_file_timeline query on the directory path returned no events, which appears to be a directory-path coverage blind spot rather than evidence of inactivity. No natural replacement exists for the same hardware function, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09047490688068502, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1471425187, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766142716, "top_author": "Zhang Lixu", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid/ipc", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Integrated Sensor Hub (ISH / ISHTP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_ISH_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_ISH_HID is still present in current kernels and maps multiple PCI IDs from pci-ish.c, including IDs added in recent kernel series." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid/ipc/pci-ish.c.html", "claim": "The upstream source file is an active PCI driver for Intel ISH and its device table includes recent platform-specific generations such as Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/client-computing/intel-unveils-panther-lake-architecture-first-ai-pc-platform-built-on-18a", "claim": "Intel announced Panther Lake client SoCs in 2025, with first SKU shipping before end of 2025 and broad availability starting January 2026, indicating the covered platform family is not legacy-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper-only subtree: local source inspection via exec_command showed module_pci_driver() in ipc/pci-ish.c and a large PCI ID table. Upstream attention is active: local git log via exec_command shows substantive fixes and new device-ID enablement through 2025-10 and 2026-02, with no local git-log evidence of deprecation/removal discussion. Deployment is still current rather than legacy-only because the driver keeps gaining support for new Intel client platforms (PTL/WCL/NVL locally; Panther Lake also visible in the cited upstream file), and Intel's Panther Lake launch page indicates new-market systems shipping in late 2025/early 2026. No natural replacement exists; this is the platform-specific ISH PCI transport layer. Cited URLs were obtained by web search; local git/source inspection informed the activity assessment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04064582170787803, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1471425187, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772117592, "top_author": "Zhang Lixu", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid/ishtp", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Integrated Sensor Hub (ISH) / ISHTP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/hid/intel-ish-hid.html", "claim": "Current upstream kernel documentation describes ISHTP as the transport layer for Intel ISH and includes host firmware loading for Lunar Lake and later, indicating ongoing upstream relevance rather than a legacy-only path." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_ISH_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_ISH_HID remains present in current kernels and lists supported PCI IDs including Comet Lake Integrated Sensor Solution, showing deployment beyond the original Cherry Trail/Skylake era." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Dell-XPS-PTL-Firmware-Intel-ISH", "claim": "A February 2, 2026 report ties Intel ISH firmware enablement to new Dell Panther Lake XPS laptops shipping in 2026, supporting that ISH-backed systems are still entering the market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found 7 C files under drivers/hid/intel-ish-hid/ishtp and Kconfig/help text identifies Intel Integrated Sensor Hub transport support. Lore-specific tooling was unavailable here (MCP server absent; `lei` not installed), so I used the provided static history signals as the upstream-activity baseline: 32 substantive commits in 5 years, 15 authors, most recent substantive touch 2026-02-02, with no evidence of removal talk found in web searches. URLs were obtained via web search (`turn3search2`, `turn0search1`, `turn4search1`). No natural replacement driver exists because ISHTP is the dedicated transport/bus layer for Intel ISH rather than a redundant implementation. Recommendation stays `keep`: active maintenance plus documented Lunar Lake support and 2026 Panther Lake laptop deployment argue against deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05730361102847825, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1471425187, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770039477, "top_author": "Zhang Lixu", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-thc-hid/intel-quicki2c", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Touch Host Controller (THC) QuickI2C", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=61bb2714dc3a", "claim": "Initial Intel QuickI2C driver skeleton landed in January 2025, showing this is a newly introduced upstream driver rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d56c9cca2e7f", "claim": "The driver was still receiving enablement work in March 2026, adding NVL device IDs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_QUICKI2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_INTEL_QUICKI2C in kernels 6.14 through 6.19-rc+HEAD and maps it to Intel THC PCI IDs including Lunar Lake-M Touch Host Controller devices." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/835819/overview-of-intel-core-ultra-200v-series-processors.html", "claim": "Intel documents Core Ultra 200V series processors (Lunar Lake) as current thin-and-light notebook products, supporting that the matched THC-based hardware family was sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection shows PCI/ACPI HID-over-I2C code for Intel THC, so this is a real driver. Commit hashes were obtained with shell `git log`; kernel.org commit URLs were then formed from those hashes (canonical recall). The LKDDb and Intel product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. A web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion produced no hits, while local git history shows sustained feature and ID additions through 2026; that points to an actively growing platform driver, not an obsolescence candidate. Deployment is `low` because this is limited to newer Intel laptop touch/touchpad designs, but it is clearly not legacy-only. No natural upstream replacement exists for THC QuickI2C; generic `i2c-hid` does not cover the THC transport/accelerator path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1736414056, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773788390, "top_author": "Even Xu", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-thc-hid/intel-quickspi", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Touch Host Controller (THC) QuickSPI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-doc/20241216014127.3722172-11-even.xu%40intel.com/T/", "claim": "The Intel THC QuickSPI driver was introduced as part of a 31+ message upstream patch series in December 2024, covering Meteor Lake/Lunar Lake support and adding Panther Lake device IDs, indicating active new-platform enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/4/498", "claim": "QuickSPI files received follow-up upstream maintenance in July 2025 as part of a treewide PM-runtime cleanup touching pci-quickspi.c and quickspi-hid.c, which is evidence of ongoing upkeep and no removal intent." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/hid/intel-thc-hid.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Intel THC as the PCH touch IP for touchscreens/touchpads/stylus, with QuickSPI/QuickI2C as the HID protocol drivers, and notes PCI IDs change across processor generations." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/90353/products-formerly-meteor-lake.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists Meteor Lake mobile products launched in Q4 2023 and Q2 2024, showing THC-capable platform generations were current products entering 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/213792/products-formerly-lunar-lake.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists Lunar Lake mobile products launched in Q3 2024, showing another supported THC generation was newly shipping into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell `rg` shows a real PCI HID-over-SPI driver with Intel THC platform IDs for MTL/LNL/PTL/WCL/ARL/NVL generations. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was gathered via web search/open on lore/LKML mirrors: the December 2024 patch series URL shows initial upstreaming and new platform IDs; the July 2025 LKML patch shows post-merge maintenance touching this directory. Web searches for removal/deprecation discussions returned no hits. Kernel docs (found by web search, then opened) confirm this is the native THC QuickSPI path for modern Intel touch hardware, so there is no natural upstream replacement driver beyond this driver itself. Because supported platform generations were still launching in 2024 and selling into 2025, present-day deployments are best classified as medium in new Intel laptops/tablets, and the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1736414055, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773788391, "top_author": "Even Xu", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/intel-thc-hid/intel-thc", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Intel Touch Host Controller (THC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_THC_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_THC_HID first appears in mainline in 6.14 and covers current Intel THC PCI IDs including Lunar Lake-M and newer IDs, indicating recent upstream enablement rather than legacy carryover." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/core-ultra-200h-and-200u-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/002/touch-host-controller-thc/", "claim": "Intel's 2025 Core Ultra 200H/200U datasheet documents THC as a shipping platform feature, so the hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/meteor-lake-u-p/core-ultra-processor-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/002/touch-host-controller-thc/", "claim": "Intel's Meteor Lake Core Ultra datasheet documents THC on earlier Core Ultra client platforms, showing THC spans multiple current-generation Intel mobile families rather than a one-off legacy device." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed this is the shared hardware layer for the Intel THC HID stack, built as intel-thc from drivers/hid/intel-thc-hid/Makefile and used by QuickSPI/QuickI2C front-end drivers. Activity check via shell `git log` on this path showed continuous upstream development from 2025-01-09 through 2026-02-02 with feature additions and bug fixes, and I found no evidence of an active removal series in the available search budget. URLs were obtained by web search for LKDDb and Intel EDC datasheets. Because THC is present in 2025 Intel Core Ultra platform documentation and the in-tree code is new and actively maintained, this is not an obsolescence candidate. No natural replacement driver exists for this directory itself; it is the common THC hardware support layer beneath Intel QuickSPI/QuickI2C.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1736414054, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770039570, "top_author": "Even Xu", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/surface-hid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Surface System Aggregator Module (SSAM) HID", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20260112105500.3664834-13-hadess@hadess.net/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance; it was touched by a linux-input patch in January 2026, arguing against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SURFACE_HID.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_SURFACE_HID as the SSAM HID transport for newer Microsoft Surface models, specifically Surface Book 3 and Surface Laptop 3." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SURFACE_KBD.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_SURFACE_KBD as the legacy SSAM keyboard transport for Surface Laptop 1 and 2." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Book_3", "claim": "Surface Book 3 is a 2020-era product and the line was discontinued/replaced by Surface Laptop Studio." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Laptop_3", "claim": "Surface Laptop 3 is a 2019-era product succeeded by Surface Laptop 4, indicating this driver targets older generations rather than current retail hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/collections/surface-copilot-plus-pc?icid=PC_cat_QuickLink_Surface_04012026", "claim": "Microsoft's current Surface retail lineup is newer Copilot+ PCs, not the older Surface Laptop 1/2/3 or Surface Book 3 systems covered by this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig/code inspection shows this is a real SSAM HID driver for integrated keyboard/touchpad support on Surface Laptop 1/2/3 and Surface Book 3. lore_activity on drivers/hid/surface-hid/surface_hid.c produced the Jan 12, 2026 maintenance patch URL and no removal signal, so removal is not justified. web search produced LKDDb pages for SURFACE_HID/SURFACE_KBD plus Wikipedia model pages and a current Microsoft Store Surface collection page; together they show the supported hardware is older/discontinued from new retail, but still likely deployed in a meaningful installed base. Recommendation is keep-annotate: active upstream support for aging hardware, no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3023536757785087, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1617088769, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738576603, "top_author": "Maximilian Luz", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hid/usbhid", "subsystem": "hid", "chipset_family": "USB Human Interface Device (HID) class / HID Boot Protocol", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20260416-wip-fix-core-v2-2-be92570e5627@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic touched drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c and was marked for stable, showing active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hid/usbhid/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes USB_HID as the transport for USB keyboards, mice, joysticks, tablets, UPS and monitor-control devices; the optional usbkbd/usbmouse Boot Protocol drivers are niche and 'almost certainly not what you want' except embedded/simple cases." }, { "url": "https://www.logitech.com/products/keyboards/k120-usb-standard-computer.html", "claim": "A mainstream USB wired keyboard remained on sale from a major vendor, indicating the covered hardware class is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/m100-usb-mouse.910-001601?addisttype=s", "claim": "A mainstream USB wired mouse remained on sale from a major vendor, indicating the covered hardware class is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: hid-core.c uses module_init and usbkbd/usbmouse use module_usb_driver. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c showed sustained 2021-2026 activity, including April 16 2026 fixes and refactors, so this is actively maintained. I did not get positive evidence of an upstream removal series from the fast lore probes; subject-regex searches timed out rather than finding removal talk. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall; it shows USB_HID is the normal generic path and the Boot Protocol subdrivers are limited embedded/simple fallback options, so there is no single upstream replacement for the directory as a whole. Logitech product URLs were obtained by web search and support that USB keyboard/mouse deployments remain common in new systems. Overall: generic USB HID remains current and widely deployed, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03588872708570536, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 82, "first_touch_ts": 1176280562, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771667232, "top_author": "Tomasz Pakuła", "top_author_commits": 58, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hsi", "subsystem": "hsi", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP SSI / Nokia HSI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260318191037.5661-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "HSI core still receives upstream attention; a non-mechanical hardening cleanup for hsi_core.c was posted on 2026-03-18." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240204-bus_cleanup-hsi-v1-1-f9318131e842@marliere.net/", "claim": "HSI core also saw treewide API maintenance in 2024, indicating the code is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N900_%28nokia-n900%29", "claim": "The remaining visible real-world deployment is niche legacy hardware: postmarketOS still documents Nokia N900 support, with modem calls only partial but SMS/mobile data working." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900", "claim": "The best-known end-user hardware tied to this stack, the Nokia N900, is a 2009 device; by 2023 it was already described as being kept alive mainly by postmarketOS rather than current retail sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this directory is the HSI bus/framework core, while its only concrete in-tree controller/client bindings are legacy OMAP SSI and Nokia N900 modem support; Kconfig explicitly calls OMAP SSI a legacy HSI variant used to connect an application engine to a cellular modem. lore_file_timeline on drivers/hsi/hsi_core.c produced the 2026 and 2024 lore URLs above, so there is still occasional upstream bug-fix/treewide maintenance and no confirmed removal signal. Web search produced the postmarketOS and Wikipedia URLs, which support 'low' present-day deployment on legacy hobbyist/industrial-ish devices rather than new 2025 sales. Because lore shows ongoing maintenance despite clearly legacy hardware, this fits keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7254539122845023, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1325770933, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1707232126, "top_author": "Ricardo B. Marliere", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hsi/clients", "subsystem": "hsi", "chipset_family": "Nokia HSI/SSI modem clients (N900/N9/N950, McSAAB/CMT speech)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NOKIA_MODEM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_NOKIA_MODEM covers Nokia modem support in this directory and names Nokia N900/N9/N950 device-tree compatibles, tying the directory to legacy Nokia handset modem hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SSI_PROTOCOL.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SSI_PROTOCOL is still present through current kernel series and describes the McSAAB SSI protocol used by these clients." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CMT_SPEECH.html", "claim": "CONFIG_CMT_SPEECH is still present and explicitly says it is the CMT speech protocol used by Nokia modems." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e3f88665a78045fe35c7669d2926b8d97b892c11", "claim": "The directory received a substantive fix on 2025-02-25 for a use-after-free in ssi_protocol, showing ongoing upstream bug-fix attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900", "claim": "The Nokia N900 launched in 2009, supporting the conclusion that the user-visible hardware class is long out of new-product circulation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell (`rg`, file reads) shows real HSI client drivers: `nokia-modem.c`, `ssi_protocol.c`, `cmt_speech.c`, and `hsi_char.c`, with Nokia modem aliases and SSI/Phonet plumbing. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was checked from local git history via shell; that showed a real 2025 security/bug fix in `ssi_protocol` and several recent treewide updates, with no evidence gathered of an active removal series. Deployment looks legacy-only: LKDDb ties the code to Nokia N900/N9/N950-era modem hardware, and the N900 source dates the product family to 2009. That argues against removal today, but the hardware is obsolete enough that the directory should be annotated as legacy rather than treated as strategic for new deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3005515847739209, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1325770933, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740445629, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hsi/controllers", "subsystem": "hsi", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP3 SSI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/hsi/controllers", "claim": "Path is still seeing upstream maintenance in recent kernels, with fixes and API updates through 2024-2025 rather than abandonment or removal prep." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OMAP_SSI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_OMAP_SSI is the OMAP SSI hardware driver; LKDDb ties it to ti,omap3-ssi / omap_ssi and shows it still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OMAP3503", "claim": "At least some OMAP3 family silicon was still sold new in 2025; TI lists OMAP3503 as ACTIVE and orderable." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMAP", "claim": "OMAP3 was a mainstream handset-era family long ago; by the 2010s it had shifted from broad mobile deployment to legacy/catalog and niche embedded use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this directory contains the OMAP SSI controller driver, and Kconfig labels SSI as a legacy HSI variant used between an application engine and cellular modem. Local git log via exec_command showed substantive fixes/API updates from 2022-07-04 through 2025-07-04 and no clear removal/deprecation series, so removal is not indicated. The git.kernel.org log URL is canonical recall, included to anchor that maintenance surface. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and confirms the driver maps to OMAP3 SSI hardware and is still in current kernels. TI product URL was obtained by web search and shows some OMAP3 parts remain ACTIVE/orderable in 2025, so hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025 stays true. Wikipedia URL was obtained by web search and is used only for the broad market-history inference that widespread deployment likely ended around 2012, leaving low present-day deployments. No natural replacement driver exists; this is a SoC-specific controller for a legacy modem interconnect, so the practical recommendation is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18127309477023293, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1400194491, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757105819, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hte", "subsystem": "hte", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra194/Tegra234 GTE (HTE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA lists Jetson AGX Xavier 32GB and Xavier NX modules available through January 2028, and Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial through July 2031, so Tegra194-family hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/faq", "claim": "NVIDIA FAQ reiterates Xavier-family module availability through 2028/2031 and notes only Xavier developer kits are EOL, indicating ongoing production-module deployments rather than a fully retired platform." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HTE_TEGRA194.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_HTE_TEGRA194 present from Linux 5.19 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with DT compatibles for both tegra194 and tegra234, indicating ongoing upstream support." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/driver-api/hte/index.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still carries the HTE subsystem and Tegra provider documentation, showing the interface remains maintained upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.4/driver-api/hte/tegra-hte.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes drivers/hte/hte-tegra194.c as the NVIDIA Tegra HTE/GTE provider for GPIO and LIC IRQ timestamping, confirming the hardware scope and niche use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell (`sed`) showed `drivers/hte` is a real subsystem plus NVIDIA Tegra provider/test driver, not a helper-only directory; `hte-tegra194.c` contains Tegra194 and Tegra234 mappings. Lore MCP was unavailable in this session (`list_mcp_resources` unknown server) and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was checked via local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/hte`, which showed substantive fixes/tree updates through 2026-02-21 and no removal series; that backs `keep`, not deprecate/remove. URLs were obtained by web search for NVIDIA lifecycle/FAQ, LKDDb, and kernel docs. Deployment is `low` because this is a niche embedded timestamping block used on Jetson/Xavier/Orin-class SoCs rather than broad commodity systems. No natural replacement driver exists for the same HTE/GTE provider role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1651655154, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718825043, "top_author": "Dipen Patel", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hv", "subsystem": "hv", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Hyper-V / VMBus guest devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hyperv/20260423124206.2410879-6-namjain@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "Upstream Linux Hyper-V/VMBus code is still receiving active feature work in 2026; this patch exports `vmbus_interrupt` for the `mshv_vtl` module and touches `drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c`." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hyperv/20260423124206.2410879-4-namjain@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "A 2026 v2 patch series is still restructuring shared Hyper-V/VMBus code, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/about/", "claim": "Microsoft documents Hyper-V as a current virtualization platform for Windows Server 2025, Windows 11, and Azure Local, showing it remains a current product in new deployments." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/supported-linux-and-freebsd-virtual-machines-for-hyper-v-on-windows", "claim": "Microsoft's current guest-support documentation says Hyper-V supports Linux and FreeBSD VMs on Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016, Windows 11/10, and Azure Local, and recommends Hyper-V-specific devices for Linux guests." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/hv` is the Microsoft Hyper-V guest driver stack (Kconfig says 'Microsoft Hyper-V guest support', including VMBus, utils, balloon, and newer MSHV/VTL pieces). I identified the family by local shell inspection of `drivers/hv/Kconfig` and module descriptions. Lore grounding: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c` showed heavy activity from 2021-2026 with newest touches on 2026-04-23; the cited lore URLs came directly from that MCP result. I attempted targeted removal/deprecation searches in lore (`lore_regex`, `lore_substr_subject`) plus `lei`, but regex/substring queries timed out and `lei` could not start in this sandbox, so I found no positive evidence of an upstream removal effort. Deployment evidence came from web search on Microsoft Learn pages showing Hyper-V is current in Windows Server 2025/Azure Local and that Linux guests are expected to use Hyper-V-specific devices. Because this is an actively maintained, currently deployed VM-guest interface with no natural in-kernel replacement, the correct hint is `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009891376668232902, "commits_5y": 303, "substantive_commits_5y": 293, "first_touch_ts": 1318308775, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775280353, "top_author": "Michael Kelley", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwmon", "subsystem": "hwmon", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level hwmon subsystem directory containing many unrelated hardware-monitor drivers, not one kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008606493424466613, "commits_5y": 1522, "substantive_commits_5y": 1506, "first_touch_ts": 1121116471, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775054757, "top_author": "Guenter Roeck", "top_author_commits": 276, "c_file_count": 236, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwmon/occ", "subsystem": "hwmon", "chipset_family": "IBM POWER8/POWER9/POWER10 OCC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hwmon/20260326224510.294619-4-sanman.pradhan@hpe.com/", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream maintenance in March 2026: NULL-dereference fix for occ p9_sbe remove path, tagged for stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hwmon/20241215-sysfs-const-bin_attr-hwmon-v1-1-ea72a6a46c36@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touch-ups in late 2024, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/openbmc/20220720201558.11337-1-eajames@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "OCC driver work is tied to OpenBMC deployments, showing ongoing BMC/server use rather than a dead niche." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/power-e1080", "claim": "IBM was still marketing new Power10-based systems in 2025; this driver family serves IBM Power OCC monitoring on such systems." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/power-e1050", "claim": "IBM also marketed additional Power10 Linux-capable systems, supporting the view that relevant hardware remained on sale in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via shell showed OCC hwmon support for POWER8 over I2C and POWER9/POWER10 via SBE/device-tree compatibles. lore_activity MCP on p9_sbe.c and p8_i2c.c showed real maintenance through 2026, including a stable-targeted bug fix; no removal signal surfaced in sampled lore results. Web search found current IBM Power10 product pages (E1080/E1050), so hardware is still sold new in 2025, but deployments are enterprise/BMC-specific and therefore low rather than broad. No upstream replacement driver covers the same OCC monitoring role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019851450559724555, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1545001985, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774902103, "top_author": "Eddie James", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwmon/peci", "subsystem": "hwmon", "chipset_family": "Intel PECI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/hwmon/peci", "claim": "Upstream directory history is recent and ongoing rather than abandoned; this matches the provided metadata showing substantive touches through 2026-03-24." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/hwmon/peci-cputemp.html", "claim": "The in-tree hwmon documentation describes `peci-cputemp` as the generic Intel PECI CPU temperature monitor for Xeon server processors." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/hwmon/peci-dimmtemp.html", "claim": "The companion `peci-dimmtemp` driver exposes DIMM temperature readings over the same Intel PECI path on supported server CPUs." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/th/th/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/eagle-stream/platform-electrical-data-sheet/platform-environmental-control-interface-peci/", "claim": "Intel's 2025 Eagle Stream platform documentation still documents PECI as an active thermal/manageability interface on current server platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains hwmon PECI modules (`peci-cputemp`, `peci-dimmtemp`) with module driver entry points. `docs.kernel.org` URLs were obtained via web search (`turn0search0`/`turn0search1`). The Intel Eagle Stream PECI URL was obtained via web search (`turn0search3`). The `git.kernel.org` log URL is canonical recall; it was used together with the provided static history (20 substantive commits in 5y, last touch 2026-03-24, 10 authors) and local Kconfig/source inspection via shell to judge maintenance state. I found no evidence of an active removal push; given recent upstream churn, current Intel platform PECI documentation, and lack of a successor driver for the same use case, this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1644390284, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774364134, "top_author": "Guenter Roeck", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwmon/pmbus", "subsystem": "hwmon", "chipset_family": "PMBus power-management devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260331161759.687315510@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream/stable maintenance is active: pmbus_core.c received a March 31, 2026 fix patch (regulator mutex protection) with review and stable backport handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260331161746.456228037@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The PMBus core also received another March 31, 2026 functional fix ('write-only' attributes), indicating ongoing bug-fix traffic rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://pmbus.org/current-specifications/", "claim": "PMBus remains a current industry standard in 2025/2026; the PMBus site lists current specification revision 1.5 and current SMBus revision 3.3.1." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS546D24A", "claim": "A PMBus-capable TI regulator represented in this subsystem's device class is still marketed as ACTIVE, showing new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adm1266.html", "claim": "An Analog Devices PMBus-capable sequencer supported by this directory is listed as RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS, showing ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/hwmon/pmbus` is an active driver subsystem, not dead glue code. lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/hwmon/pmbus/pmbus_core.c`, which showed activity through 2026-04-11 plus multiple reviewed stable backports on 2026-03-31; cited lore URLs were taken directly from those tool results. Deployment evidence came from web search results on the PMBus standards site and vendor product pages: PMBus.org shows the standard is current, TI shows TPS546D24A as ACTIVE, and Analog shows ADM1266 as RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS. This directory covers a broad, still-current PMBus ecosystem used in servers, telecom, industrial, and power-supply management, so there is no single replacement driver and no sign here of obsolescence-driven deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012260547142662986, "commits_5y": 255, "substantive_commits_5y": 250, "first_touch_ts": 1311878873, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774892813, "top_author": "Patrick Rudolph", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 73, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwspinlock", "subsystem": "hwspinlock", "chipset_family": "SoC hardware spinlock / hardware mutex blocks (TI OMAP/K3, Qualcomm, STM32MP, Allwinner sun6i, Spreadtrum)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-remoteproc/20260323102210.228551-1-antonio.borneo@foss.st.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2026 with a hwspinlock sparse-warning fix touching hwspinlock_core.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-remoteproc/20260319105947.6237-15-wsa+renesas@sang-engineering.com/", "claim": "The subsystem saw non-removal refactoring work in 2026 ('refactor provider.h from public header'), indicating active upkeep rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hwspinlock/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes current vendor drivers including OMAP/K3, Qualcomm, Spreadtrum, STM32 and Allwinner sun6i, so this directory serves multiple live SoC families rather than one orphaned device." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6412", "claim": "TI AM64x/K3-class heterogeneous processors are active products for Linux/RTOS industrial systems, matching the Kconfig ARCH_K3 dependency and showing ongoing new-hardware relevance." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/STM32MP25_microprocessor", "claim": "ST's current STM32MP25 heterogeneous MPU line targets new industrial/edge deployments, reinforcing that hwspinlock-style inter-processor synchronization remains relevant in contemporary embedded SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection of drivers/hwspinlock showed a real driver/framework directory with provider drivers for OMAP/K3, QCOM, SPRD, STM32 and SUN6I. `lore_file_timeline` on hwspinlock_core.c and `lore_activity` on stm32_hwspinlock.c returned 2026 fix/refactor traffic and no removal-themed subjects in the inspected recent activity. Web search found current TI AM64x/K3 and ST STM32MP25 product pages, supporting that heterogeneous SoCs needing hardware spinlocks are still sold for new industrial/embedded designs. No natural replacement driver exists; this is the upstream framework/provider set for that function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07141392702981543, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1297965123, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768430215, "top_author": "Andrew Davis", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwtracing/coresight", "subsystem": "hwtracing", "chipset_family": "Arm CoreSight debug and trace IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20260421-enable-byte-cntr-for-ctcu-v17-6-9cf36ff55fc0@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Active upstream feature work for CoreSight continued in April 2026, including a v17 patch series touching CTCU/TMC/ETR code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-renesas-soc/20260422233744.149872-5-marek.vasut+renesas@mailbox.org/", "claim": "New SoC enablement for CoreSight was still being added in April 2026 via Renesas device-tree support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/trace/coresight/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation treats CoreSight as a current, supported tracing subsystem with multiple active component drivers and user documentation." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-system/coresight-debug-trace/soc-600", "claim": "Arm still markets CoreSight SoC-600 as a current debug/trace IP product, indicating the hardware family remains relevant for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-system/coresight-debug-trace/coresight-stm-500", "claim": "Arm still markets current CoreSight components such as STM-500, supporting the conclusion that CoreSight-based hardware is still sold for new systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: prompt metadata already shows 422 substantive commits in 5y, 62 authors, and a most recent touch on 2026-01-21. I confirmed live upstream activity with lore_activity on drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-core.c, which surfaced April 2026 CoreSight patches, and lore_substr_subject on 'coresight' showed current Qualcomm and Renesas patch traffic. Removal/deprecation-specific lore queries timed out rather than producing evidence of a removal series. Shell rg over drivers/hwtracing/coresight/Kconfig shows broad ARM/ARM64 support and many active component drivers (ETM4x/ETE, TRBE, STM, CTI, TMC, TPDM/TPDA, CPU debug). Web search provided the kernel docs URL and current Arm product pages for CoreSight SoC-600 and STM-500. This is not a legacy one-off chipset driver; it is the upstream Linux framework for contemporary Arm on-chip trace/debug IP, with no natural replacement beyond the same subsystem.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.037826933858939336, "commits_5y": 428, "substantive_commits_5y": 422, "first_touch_ts": 1428070624, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768991547, "top_author": "James Clark", "top_author_commits": 95, "c_file_count": 38, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwtracing/intel_th", "subsystem": "hwtracing", "chipset_family": "Intel Trace Hub (TH) / NPK on Intel client and server SoCs/PCHs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260116175250.821002-3-alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Upstream was still adding new platform IDs in 2026 via \"intel_th: pci: Add Nova Lake support\", indicating active maintenance for upcoming Intel platforms." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250211185017.1759193-6-alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Upstream added Panther Lake-P/U support in 2025, showing the driver is being extended for current-generation Intel hardware rather than only legacy parts." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/ipla/software-development-platforms/servers/platforms/intel-pentium-silver-and-intel-celeron-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/001/intel-trace-hub/", "claim": "Intel documents Trace Hub as a silicon debug architecture and trace-collection block present on Intel platforms, with system-memory/PTI/DCI trace destinations." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099574/processors/intel-core-ultra-processors.html", "claim": "Intel's 2025 support documentation describes Lunar Lake (Core Ultra Series 2) as a current product family, consistent with the in-tree driver's support for modern Intel generations including Lunar Lake/Arrow Lake/Panther Lake." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell `rg` showed `drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/pci.c` carries IDs through Lunar/Arrow/Panther/Nova Lake, so this is an actively extended silicon-specific driver. lore-http `lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/pci.c` showed substantial recent traffic and no visible removal trend; cited lore URLs came from those tool results. Intel EDC and Intel support URLs came from web search and show Trace Hub is a real Intel silicon feature and that supported Intel product families remain current. Deployments are not universal end-user workloads, but the hardware block is still shipping across modern Intel platforms, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05797340117241875, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1443986938, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525658, "top_author": "Alexander Shishkin", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwtracing/ptt", "subsystem": "hwtracing", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Kunpeng 930/920 PCIe Tune and Trace (PTT)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/trace/hisi-ptt.html", "claim": "Upstream documentation identifies this as the HiSilicon PCIe Tune and Trace device and states it exists on Kunpeng 930 SoC PCIe root complexes." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9b47d9982d1d", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream maintenance change on 2024-05-02, showing recent non-removal activity." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ff0de066b463", "claim": "The driver was added upstream in 2022 as support for HiSilicon PCIe Tune and Trace trace functionality, confirming it is a relatively new driver rather than legacy carry-over." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng-920", "claim": "HiSilicon's product page shows Kunpeng 920 as a server CPU family with PCIe 4.0 I/O, placing this driver in current server hardware rather than only historical devices." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100096058/b12b126a/technical-specifications", "claim": "Huawei's TaiShan 200 server specifications list Kunpeng 920 processor configurations in current product documentation, supporting that systems using this platform were still being marketed in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains a PCI driver (hisi_ptt.c plus Kconfig/Makefile and module entry points). Local shell inspection of Kconfig, source, and Documentation/trace/hisi-ptt.rst identified the hardware as HiSilicon PCIe Tune and Trace on Kunpeng SoCs; the kernel.org doc URL is canonical recall from that local doc path. Local `git log` (using `git -c safe.directory=...`) showed active substantive maintenance through 2024-05-02 and no sign of a removal trajectory; the cited git.kernel.org commit URLs were constructed from those locally observed commit IDs using canonical recall. Web search found official HiSilicon/Huawei product pages showing Kunpeng 920/TaiShan server availability, so hardware appears still sold in 2025, but deployment is likely low because this is a niche Huawei ARM server PMU/tracing block. No natural replacement driver exists for the same hardware-specific tracing/tuning function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1662675977, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714646171, "top_author": "Yicong Yang", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/hwtracing/stm", "subsystem": "hwtracing", "chipset_family": "MIPI System Trace Module (STM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260402165933.895706-5-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-02 the STM core was still receiving non-removal maintenance patches upstream, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/9f3d559a264a83cf45518fcf35cc7ef1d7dfd500.1774045440.git.ljs@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-20 the STM code was being adapted for current MM API changes, another sign of active upkeep rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/trace/stm.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes STM as the generic System Trace Module framework and names Intel Trace Hub and CoreSight STM as example devices." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/trace/intel_th.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Intel Trace Hub as hardware blocks that expose a Software Trace Hub (STH) subdevice implemented as an STM device." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/ipla/software-development-platforms/servers/platforms/intel-pentium-silver-and-intel-celeron-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/001/intel-trace-hub/", "claim": "Intel product documentation describes Intel Trace Hub as a silicon debug feature using MIPI STPv2, showing this STM-style hardware exists in shipping platform documentation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/hwtracing/stm/Kconfig shows this directory is a generic STM class/framework for MIPI STP with Intel Trace Hub and CoreSight STM examples, plus protocol and source modules. lore_file_timeline on drivers/hwtracing/stm/core.c showed fresh 2026 maintenance traffic and no removal-oriented subjects in the sampled recent activity. Web search located current kernel docs for STM and Intel TH, plus Intel platform docs for Trace Hub. Hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true is an inference from continued upstream maintenance plus current kernel/vendor documentation for still-relevant SoC debug blocks; deployments are likely niche debug/embedded rather than mass-market, so low deployment and keep-annotate fit better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10887290913542289, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1443986938, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577788, "top_author": "Mikhail Lappo", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i2c", "subsystem": "i2c", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level I2C subsystem/core code and helpers, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver for one device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.048374769453817336, "commits_5y": 166, "substantive_commits_5y": 154, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768374140, "top_author": "Wolfram Sang", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i2c/algos", "subsystem": "i2c", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains I2C bus algorithm/helper implementations for adapter logic, not chipset-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761667539, "top_author": "Cezar Chiru", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i2c/busses", "subsystem": "i2c", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: aggregates many unrelated I2C bus controller drivers under a subsystem directory, not one kernel-bound hardware driver or chipset family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008701566784282196, "commits_5y": 1261, "substantive_commits_5y": 1250, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775085766, "top_author": "Wolfram Sang", "top_author_commits": 150, "c_file_count": 144, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i2c/muxes", "subsystem": "i2c", "chipset_family": "I2C mux/switch chips (NXP PCA954x/PCA984x, Maxim MAX735x/MAX736x, plus generic GPIO/pinctrl/register/CPLD muxes)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-i2c/20260415165846.43926-5-sanman.pradhan@hpe.com/", "claim": "The major in-tree chip-family driver in this directory, i2c-mux-pca954x, was still receiving upstream maintenance patches in April 2026, indicating active support rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/interfaces/ic-spi-i3c-interface-devices/ic-logic-multiplexers-switches/eight-channel-ic-bus-switch-with-reset%3APCA9548A", "claim": "NXP lists PCA9548A, a representative PCA954x device supported by this directory, as an active product, showing the hardware class is still sold." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/i2c/muxes/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a mixed active subsystem covering multiple current chip families and generic I2C mux mechanisms, not a single obsolete legacy driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active subsystem, not an obsolescent one. `lore_file_timeline` showed dense 2021-2026 patch traffic for `i2c-mux-pca954x.c`, including April 15, 2026 fixes and cleanups, and no evidence of a removal series; an attempted `lore_regex` scan for patches touching `drivers/i2c/muxes/` returned no removal signal. Web search found NXP's official PCA9548A page marking a supported mux part as active. Kernel Kconfig was read locally via shell, and the kernel.org tree URL is cited by canonical recall to anchor that this directory spans multiple still-relevant mux/switch implementations and generic platform mux drivers. With current upstream maintenance plus actively sold supported silicon, deprecation/removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09845057814888201, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 49, "first_touch_ts": 1281543663, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762189455, "top_author": "Wolfram Sang", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i3c", "subsystem": "i3c", "chipset_family": "MIPI I3C host controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423085718.70762-5-akhilrajeev@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Core I3C code in drivers/i3c/master.c was still receiving substantial upstream feature work in April 2026, including ACPI enumeration support for child devices." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-i3c/20260113072702.16268-20-adrian.hunter@intel.com/", "claim": "drivers/i3c/device.c was still receiving nontrivial upstream work in January 2026, including optional Runtime PM support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/driver-api/i3c/protocol.html", "claim": "Linux maintains current subsystem documentation for I3C protocol concepts and APIs, indicating this is an active supported subsystem rather than legacy-only code." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/848530/25-3/i3c-controller-features-01.html", "claim": "Intel's 2025 Agilex 3 SoC documentation describes integrated I3C controllers, showing I3C hardware remains present in new products in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed drivers/i3c is the I3C core plus active master-controller support, not a dead helper directory. The two lore URLs were obtained via lore_file_timeline on drivers/i3c/master.c and drivers/i3c/device.c; both show recent feature development and no removal trend. The docs.kernel.org and Intel URLs were obtained via web search_query; together they support that I3C is a current Linux subsystem and still ships in new SoCs in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the upstream Linux I3C subsystem itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.034576600125400266, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1542015229, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772206387, "top_author": "Frank Li", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i3c/master", "subsystem": "i3c", "chipset_family": "MIPI I3C master host controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/i3c/index.html", "claim": "Mainline kernel documentation has a dedicated I3C subsystem and master-controller driver API, indicating an actively supported subsystem rather than a legacy holdover." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-i3c/2025-January/001930.html", "claim": "A 2025 upstreamed patch added MIPI I3C HCI PCI support for Intel Panther Lake, showing new platform enablement in this driver area." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6131381.html", "claim": "There was active March 31, 2026 discussion around fixing atomic register updates in mipi-i3c-hci, showing current maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6139103.html", "claim": "There was active April 4, 2026 patch traffic fixing dw-i3c-master memory-management issues, showing current maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h/part-details/r9a09g057h44gbg-ac0", "claim": "Renesas lists the RZ/V2H as an active product with 1 I3C channel and visible distributor inventory, showing current-market hardware using this class of controller." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/i3c/master/Kconfig/Makefile showed multiple real controller drivers (ADI, Cadence, Synopsys DW/AST2600, Silvaco, MIPI HCI, Renesas), so this is an active multi-vendor hardware-driver directory. URLs were obtained via web search/open: docs.kernel.org confirms the subsystem is current; infradead archive and spinics results show 2025-2026 new-feature and bug-fix traffic for files in this directory. I also searched lore-oriented terms and found maintenance/new-enablement hits but no removal/deprecation thread; that no-removal conclusion is an inference from the search results plus the directory's very recent substantive activity. Renesas product page was opened from web search and shows an active 2026-orderable SoC with I3C, so hardware is still sold and seeing new deployments. No single replacement driver exists because this directory contains the upstream controller-specific implementations for the use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023013231715792462, "commits_5y": 149, "substantive_commits_5y": 145, "first_touch_ts": 1542015229, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773265829, "top_author": "Frank Li", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/i3c/master/mipi-i3c-hci", "subsystem": "i3c", "chipset_family": "MIPI I3C HCI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6158414.html", "claim": "April 2026 review traffic shows an active 16-patch maintenance/refactoring series for this driver, not removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6130807.html", "claim": "March 2026 bug-fix posting for DMA/IBI handling shows ongoing real upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MIPI_I3C_HCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver remains present through current kernels and covers Intel PCI IDs plus AMD ACPI ID AMDI5017 and generic platform bindings." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MIPI_I3C_HCI_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows new PCI support wiring and recently added Intel device IDs including Panther Lake-class controllers." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/id/id/design/products/platforms/details/arrow-lake-s/800-series-chipset-family-platform-controller-hub-pch-datasheet-volume/intel-serial-i-o-improved-inter-integrated-circuit-i3c-controllers/https%3A%2525252F%2525252Fedc.intel.com%2525252Fcontent%2525252Fwww%2525252Fjp%2525252Fja%2525252Fdesign%2525252Fproducts%2525252Fplatforms%2525252Fdetails%2525252Farrow-lake-s%2525252F800-series-chipset-family-platform-controller-hub-pch-datasheet-volume%2525252Fintel-serial-i-o-improved-inter-integrated-circuit-i3c-controllers%2525252F/https%3A%25252F%25252Fedc.intel.com%25252Fcontent%25252Fwww%25252Fth%25252Fth%25252Fdesign%25252Fproducts%25252Fplatforms%25252Fdetails%25252Farrow-lake-s%25252F800-series-chipset-family-platform-controller-hub-pch-datasheet-volume%25252Fintel-serial-i-o-improved-inter-integrated-circuit-i3c-controllers%25252Fhttps%3A%2525252F%2525252Fedc.intel.com%2525252Fcontent%2525252Fwww%2525252Fjp%2525252Fja%2525252Fdesign%2525252Fproducts%2525252Fplatforms%2525252Fdetails%2525252Farrow-lake-s%2525252F800-series-chipset-family-platform-controller-hub-pch-datasheet-volume%2525252Fintel-serial-i-o-improved-inter-integrated-circuit-i3c-controllers%2525252F%25252F/", "claim": "Intel public Arrow Lake S PCH documentation dated February 6, 2025 describes a MIPI I3C HCI-compliant controller in a then-current platform, indicating new-hardware relevance in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: local `rg` showed platform and PCI driver entry points plus substantial core/DMA/PIO implementation. Upstream attention is active: local `exec_command` git log showed multiple substantive fixes through 2026-03-11, and web search found March-April 2026 spinics threads for bug fixes and a 16-patch review series; I found no removal/deprecation discussion. Deployment is not legacy-only: web search found LKDDb coverage for Intel PCI IDs and AMD ACPI AMDI5017, and Intel Arrow Lake 2025 documentation explicitly describes an HCI-compliant I3C controller. There is no natural replacement driver for the same class; this is the generic standards-based HCI driver itself. Source acquisition: spinics/LKDDb/Intel URLs via `web.search_query`; activity pattern also corroborated by local `exec_command` (`git log -c safe.directory=...`).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02396154312498807, "commits_5y": 124, "substantive_commits_5y": 119, "first_touch_ts": 1606123338, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773263402, "top_author": "Adrian Hunter", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/idle", "subsystem": "idle", "chipset_family": "Intel x86 CPU idle states (intel_idle / Nehalem-and-later Intel processors)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "acpi_idle", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/pm/intel_idle.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation says `intel_idle` is the default CPU idle driver for Nehalem and later Intel processors and describes `acpi_idle`/ACPI table interaction." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_IDLE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_IDLE remains present through current kernel series and describes it as the cpuidle driver for Intel processors." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/xeon-6-product-brief.html", "claim": "Intel's Xeon 6 product brief shows Intel server CPUs covered by this driver family were still being sold and launched in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-next/msg80161.html", "claim": "A linux-next 2025 merge-conflict notice references fresh `drivers/idle/intel_idle.c` work, showing ongoing upstream integration rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/idle/intel_idle.c` is a real cpuidle hardware driver for Intel CPUs, not a helper library. I inspected the file locally via shell (`rg`/`sed`), which identifies it as the native idle loop for modern Intel processors and says it operates in lieu of legacy ACPI idle handling. Local `git log` via shell shows substantive maintenance through 2026-01-07 (`intel_idle: Add C-states validation`, `Add cmdline option to adjust C-states table`, `Add C1 demotion on/off sysfs knob`, etc.), and I found a public linux-next URL via web search corroborating active upstream traffic with no removal discussion. Kernel docs and LKDDb were obtained by web search; the Intel Xeon 6 product brief was obtained by web search and supports that covered hardware is current, widely deployed, and still sold new in 2025. Because the driver serves current Intel CPUs and is actively maintained, the correct disposition is keep; `acpi_idle` is only a fallback/alternative, not a reason to deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1224647921, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767817063, "top_author": "Artem Bityutskiy", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subsystem-level Industrial I/O core/parent directory containing framework and multiple child drivers, not one hardware-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.028141920997338303, "commits_5y": 245, "substantive_commits_5y": 240, "first_touch_ts": 1335377498, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835079, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/accel", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed digital accelerometer families (Analog Devices ADXL/ADIS, Bosch BMA/BMC/BMI, Kionix KX, NXP/Freescale MMA/FXLS, ST, Murata/SCA, others)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/iio/accel", "claim": "Canonical upstream path log for drivers/iio/accel; used to support that this subtree is still seeing regular upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adxl380.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADXL380 as PRODUCTION / recommended for new designs, with a Linux driver resource and 2025-2026 documentation updates." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bosch-sensortec/BMA400/8634935", "claim": "Bosch BMA400 remains an active accelerometer SKU with current distributor stock, indicating ongoing real-world deployment rather than legacy-only status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree, not a helper library: local `rg --files` and `sed` on Kconfig showed 70+ concrete accelerometer drivers across many vendors. Local `git log` (using `git -c safe.directory=...`) showed heavy 2025-2026 activity in this path, including feature work for adxl380/bma220/adxl345 and bug fixes, and no path-level deprecation/removal series beyond routine code cleanup. The kernel.org log URL was included by canonical recall as the stable public path URL corresponding to that log inspection. The ADXL380 and DigiKey BMA400 URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; together they show hardware covered by this subtree is still sold new and used in current embedded/industrial/wearable designs. Because this directory is an actively maintained aggregate for many still-current accelerometer families, there is no single replacement driver and no basis for deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014171193320327038, "commits_5y": 528, "substantive_commits_5y": 520, "first_touch_ts": 1346955669, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774180092, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 101, "c_file_count": 71, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/adc", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Industrial I/O ADCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/iio/index.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation lists many individual IIO ADC drivers under the Industrial I/O driver set, showing the subtree is actively maintained rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/iio/iio_adc.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation states the IIO subsystem supports many ADCs and documents current ADC abstractions used by these drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad4695.html", "claim": "Analog Devices markets the AD4695 as 'recommended for new designs', indicating hardware covered by this directory is still sold for new products." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/ADS8688", "claim": "Texas Instruments lists ADS8688 as ACTIVE, showing another ADC family covered by this subtree remains in current production." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/ADS8688W", "claim": "Texas Instruments lists ADS8688W as ACTIVE, reinforcing that new ADC parts in this class are still shipping." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection with exec_command of drivers/iio/adc/Kconfig and file list confirmed this is a large live ADC-driver subtree, not a helper library. Provided static history is strongly active: 1469 substantive commits in 5 years, most recent on 2026-03-22, 223 authors. Web search against lore.kernel.org for subtree removal/deprecation discussion found no results, so there is no visible upstream removal push from the evidence gathered. Sources were obtained via web search (docs.kernel.org, analog.com, ti.com). Overall this directory serves many current industrial/embedded ADC devices across vendors, so there is no natural replacement and no deprecation signal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012151735647075683, "commits_5y": 1481, "substantive_commits_5y": 1469, "first_touch_ts": 1337027049, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774181731, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 189, "c_file_count": 168, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/addac", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed addac: Analog Devices AD74115/AD74413R SWIO and Apex STX104 PC/104", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-iio/msg100730.html", "claim": "Recent upstream mailing-list traffic touched this directory in April 2025 for ad74115, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5627216.html", "claim": "Recent upstream mailing-list traffic touched this directory in April 2025 for ad74413r, further showing active upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad74115h.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD74115H as 'Recommended for New Designs' and offers samples/buy options, supporting that this hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad74413r.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD74413R as 'Recommended for New Designs' with current product and evaluation-board information, supporting continued market availability." }, { "url": "https://apexembeddedsystems.com/products/stx104-nd-16-bit-analog-i-o-pc104-module-with-1m-sample-fifo-and-without-dual-16-bit-dacs", "claim": "Apex Embedded Systems still advertises an STX104-family PC/104 module for sale, showing the legacy board niche remains commercially active." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/iio/addac/Kconfig and source files shows three real hardware drivers: AD74115, AD74413R, and STX104. Local git log (shell) shows substantive touches through 2025-05-21. Lore-specific tooling was unavailable here, so upstream activity was checked via web search hits on public mailing-list mirrors (spinics) for recent patch subjects; those 2025 patches show maintenance, and I found no removal/deprecation discussion in the retrieved results. Product availability was checked via vendor product pages found with web search: AD74115H and AD74413R are current ADI industrial parts, and Apex still markets STX104-family hardware. Overall this directory serves niche but still-deployed industrial/embedded I/O hardware, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1639328951, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747833627, "top_author": "William Breathitt Gray", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/afe", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Generic IIO analog front-end rescalers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20251209-iio-inkern-use-namespaced-exports-v2-2-9799a33c4b7f@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The driver file still receives upstream maintenance touches; no removal/deprecation subject is evident from recent lore activity." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/INA180", "claim": "Current-sense amplifiers in the class supported by this driver are still active products sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/afe/iio-rescale.c", "claim": "The driver is a generic platform/OF rescaler for current-sense amplifiers, current-shunt sensors, voltage dividers, RTDs, and temperature transducers rather than a single obsolete ASIC." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/iio/afe/iio-rescale.c shows compatible strings for generic analog front-end building blocks (current-sense-amplifier, current-sense-shunt, voltage-divider, temperature-sense-rtd, temperature-transducer), so this is not tied to one discontinued chip family. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/iio/afe/iio-rescale.c returned recent 2025-12 and 2026-03 touches and did not surface removal/deprecation traffic in the visible subjects. TI INA180 product page was obtained via web search and confirms this hardware class remains an active new-design component. The git.kernel.org tree URL is a canonical-recall source for the in-tree driver definition. Because the driver services still-current generic components and has no obvious upstream replacement, removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4539280317326061, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1524935002, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1697570732, "top_author": "Liam Beguin", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/amplifiers", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices RF/precision amplifier family (AD8366, ADA4250, ADL8113, HMC425A and similar)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20251212153908.138422-3-antoniu.miclaus@analog.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: ADL8113 driver support was still being added/reviewed in December 2025, which is strong evidence this directory is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/amplifiers/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a real driver collection covering multiple Analog Devices amplifier/attenuator parts, not a dead single-device stub." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ADL8113.html", "claim": "ADL8113 was marketed by Analog Devices as recommended for new designs, indicating new-hardware availability in 2025-era planning windows." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad8366.html", "claim": "AD8366 remained listed by Analog Devices as recommended for new designs, supporting continued availability rather than pure legacy status." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/hmc425a.html", "claim": "HMC425A remained listed by Analog Devices as recommended for new designs, reinforcing that this driver family still maps to sellable hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local Kconfig showed four active drivers plus a broad supported-parts list under AD8366/HMC425A. `lore_activity` on adl8113.c showed repeated v4-v7 patch traffic and a December 12, 2025 linux-iio posting adding new support; that outweighs any age-based deprecation signal. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits for the directory path itself, so I relied on per-file lore evidence instead. `web.search_query` found Analog Devices product pages for ADL8113, AD8366, and HMC425A, all marked recommended for new designs. I found no credible removal/deprecation discussion. These parts look niche industrial/RF/test-equipment components, so deployments are low, but there is still upstream and vendor evidence for keeping the directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09136013114562569, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1337026539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766317273, "top_author": "David Lechner", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/buffer", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Industrial I/O buffer core/helper infrastructure shared by IIO drivers, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1439718681, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766318515, "top_author": "Nuno Sá", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/cdc", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices AD7150/AD7151/AD7156 and AD7745/AD7746/AD7747 capacitance-to-digital converters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260316090023.14691-14-i.shihao.999@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch exists in 2026 for this directory, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad7150.html", "claim": "AD7150 is listed by Analog Devices as PRODUCTION with pricing/sample-buy information, so at least part of this family was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad7746.html", "claim": "AD7746 is listed by Analog Devices as PRODUCTION with pricing/sample-buy information, supporting continued new-sales availability for the other half of the driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local rg inspection of drivers/iio/cdc shows two real I2C sensor drivers: ad7150.c covers AD7150/1/6 and ad7746.c covers AD7745/6/7. lore_file_timeline MCP on both files showed activity through 2026, but the visible changes are low-volume maintenance/treewide cleanups rather than feature work; repeated lore_regex MCP attempts for removal/deprecation subjects timed out, so I found no evidence of active removal discussion. The AD7150 and AD7746 Analog Devices product pages were obtained via web search and both show PRODUCTION status, so the hardware is still sold and the driver should not be deprecated or removed. Recommendation is keep-annotate because this is a niche industrial/embedded sensor family with ongoing but light upstream attention and no obvious single replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6332284961820187, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1617780997, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1690912555, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/chemical", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed industrial/environmental chemical sensor family (VOC, CO2, particulate matter, pH/EC/ORP, oxygen)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/chemical/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a live collection of many current chemical/environmental sensor drivers, including Bosch BME680, Sensirion SCD30/SCD4x/SGP30/SGP40/SPS30, Senseair Sunrise CO2, and others; it is not a single legacy chipset." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260313071014.2102-1-tomasborquez13@gmail.com/", "claim": "A linux-iio patch in March 2026 still touched files in this directory (including sunrise_co2.c), showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260225101735.2368252-1-flavra@baylibre.com/", "claim": "A linux-iio treewide API update in February 2026 touched drivers in this directory (including scd4x.c), indicating the subtree remains integrated and maintained." }, { "url": "https://sensirion.com/products/catalog/SPS30/", "claim": "Sensirion still markets the SPS30 particulate-matter sensor with a 'Buy now' path and current product collateral, supporting that covered hardware was still sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://developer.sensirion.com/sensirion-products/scd4x-co2-sensors/", "claim": "Sensirion still promotes the SCD4x CO2 family as a current product line with evaluation hardware, supporting ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local Kconfig inspection via `exec_command` showed a broad, modern sensor class rather than one obsolete device; cited the canonical git.kernel.org Kconfig URL by canonical recall. `lore_activity` on `sunrise_co2.c` and `scd4x.c` returned 2026 linux-iio patches, and none indicated deprecation/removal. `web.search_query` found current Sensirion product pages for SPS30 and SCD4x, showing hardware covered by this directory is still sold for HVAC/IAQ/industrial monitoring. No single upstream replacement driver exists because this directory aggregates many distinct sensor vendors/protocols.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0319396763822534, "commits_5y": 130, "substantive_commits_5y": 124, "first_touch_ts": 1443036206, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835078, "top_author": "Vasileios Amoiridis", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/cros_ec_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "ChromeOS EC sensor hub", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260128032702.1714041-1-gwendal@chromium.org/", "claim": "Recent functional upstream work touched this driver family in January 2026 ('iio: cros_ec: Allow enabling/disabling calibration mode')." }, { "url": "https://chromeos.dev/en/posts/embedded-controller", "claim": "Google states the ChromeOS embedded controller handles sensors including accelerometer/gyroscope/light, uses two accelerometers for lid angle on convertible Chromebooks, and the EC code supports more than 200 Chromebook variants." }, { "url": "https://chromeos.dev/en/android/manifest", "claim": "ChromeOS developer docs list accelerometer and gyroscope as hardware features that may be available on some Chromebooks, indicating ongoing deployed Chromebook sensor support." }, { "url": "https://news.acer.com/acer-chromebook-plus-spin-514-first-acer-chromebook-with-mediatek-kompanio-ultra-processor", "claim": "Acer announced the Chromebook Plus Spin 514 in September 2025, a new convertible ChromeOS laptop shipping in North America in October 2025, showing this hardware class is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/Makefile showed this is the ChromeOS EC sensor-hub driver family (core, contiguous sensors, lid-angle, activity). `lore_file_timeline` on cros_ec_sensors_core.c and cros_ec_sensors.c showed active 2026 maintenance and a functional January 2026 patch; sampled recent lore activity did not show removal traffic. Web search + `open` on chromeos.dev provided current deployment evidence for EC-managed Chromebook sensors and >200 Chromebook variants; web search + `open` on Acer's 2025 launch page showed new convertible Chromebooks still shipping. No natural upstream replacement covers the same ChromeOS EC sensor-hub interface, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07152983875000982, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1477416005, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769708131, "top_author": "Gwendal Grignou", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/hid-sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: under drivers/iio/common and appears to contain shared HID sensor helper/library code for other IIO drivers, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1346955611, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772367493, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/inv_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared IIO common helper code for InvenSense sensors under drivers/iio/common, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1689877288, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733591461, "top_author": "Jean-Baptiste Maneyrol", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/ms_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: located under drivers/iio/common and appears to contain shared IIO sensor helper code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1443967082, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1700163341, "top_author": "Javier Carrasco", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/scmi_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: under drivers/iio/common and named scmi_sensors, indicating shared SCMI sensor helper/common glue rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1615653784, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762700336, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/ssp_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Samsung SSP sensorhub (Rinato/Thermostat wearable sensor-hub variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260415050749.3858046-7-sanjayembedded@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver is still seeing upstream maintenance in 2026; recent linux-iio patches touch ssp_sensors/ssp_dev.c rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IIO_SSP_SENSORHUB.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_IIO_SSP_SENSORHUB to this directory and lists only two DT compatibles: samsung,sensorhub-rinato and samsung,sensorhub-thermostat." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_2", "claim": "Samsung Gear 2 (codename Rinato) is a 2014 Exynos 3250 smartwatch, indicating the known supported hardware is an old wearable platform rather than current-volume hardware." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_2_%28samsung-rinato%29", "claim": "Current community deployment is niche but nonzero: postmarketOS still documents Samsung Gear 2 mainline work and notes the sensor hub remains relevant on that device." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection (rg/sed) showed this is a real SPI/IIO Samsung Sensorhub driver with OF matches samsung,sensorhub-rinato and samsung,sensorhub-thermostat, not just a helper library. lore_file_timeline on drivers/iio/common/ssp_sensors/ssp_dev.c returned multiple 2026 cleanup/fix patches and no removal signal, so this is not a removal candidate despite old hardware. Web search produced LKDDb plus Samsung Gear 2 / postmarketOS pages; together they point to legacy Samsung wearable hardware, no evidence of new 2025 sales, but some hobbyist/community deployments remain. No natural generic replacement driver exists for the same board-specific sensorhub, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/niche rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17147185443032822, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1422557345, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760341089, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/common/st_sensors", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared STMicroelectronics IIO sensor support code under drivers/iio/common, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1359655003, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751213739, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/dac", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed industrial/embedded DACs (primarily Analog Devices, plus Microchip, TI, Maxim/ADI, ST, NXP and similar DAC devices/IP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/iio/dac/", "claim": "Mainline Linux still carries a large, actively maintained DAC driver directory under IIO; code browser snapshot was generated on 2026-02-08." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=93583174a3df", "claim": "Mainline gained new hardware support in 2025 with the commit \"iio: dac: ad3530r: Add driver for AD3530R and AD3531R\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f52690c50893", "claim": "Mainline gained additional new hardware support in 2025 with the commit \"iio: dac: Add MAX22007 DAC driver support\"." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad3530r.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD3530R as \"RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS\" and offers an evaluation board, showing current-market relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max22007.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists MAX22007 as \"RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS\" for industrial analog-output applications." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory, not helper code. Local `exec_command` inspection of `drivers/iio/dac/Kconfig` showed dozens of supported DAC parts across multiple vendors, and local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/iio/dac` showed sustained 2025-2026 fixes plus new-device enablement. The two git.kernel.org commit URLs are canonical-recall URLs built from hashes obtained via that local git log. Vendor product pages were obtained via `web.search_query` and show at least some covered hardware families are still sold for new designs in 2025. I attempted lore-first evidence: local `lei` was unavailable, and `web.search_query` against lore returned no obvious removal/deprecation hits, so there is no positive evidence of an upstream removal effort. Because the directory is broad and industrial/embedded rather than mass-consumer, deployments are best rated medium, but the maintenance and hardware lifecycle signals clearly support keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015538808065779442, "commits_5y": 310, "substantive_commits_5y": 299, "first_touch_ts": 1338872545, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774179986, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 59, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/dummy", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: Industrial I/O dummy/testing driver scaffold, not kernel-bound support for a real hardware device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24867779219799044, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1445776381, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747833626, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/filter", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "ADMV8818", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/iio/filter/admv8818.c", "claim": "Upstream file history shows the driver was added in 2021 and received multiple substantive fixes in 2023-2025, with latest substantive touches on 2025-04-22." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/admv8818.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADMV8818 as 'recommended for new designs' and describes it as a 2 GHz to 18 GHz digitally tunable high-pass/low-pass filter for test, military/radar, satellite, industrial, and medical equipment." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/resources/evaluation-hardware-and-software/evaluation-boards-kits/eval-admv8818.html", "claim": "Analog Devices still advertises the EVAL-ADMV8818 evaluation board, indicating ongoing commercial availability and support ecosystem." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ADMV8818.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ADMV8818 present continuously from Linux 5.17 through current HEAD, with SPI and DT bindings for adi,admv8818." }, { "url": "https://wiki.analog.com/resources/tools-software/linux-drivers/iio-filter/admv8818", "claim": "Analog Devices documents this exact Linux IIO filter driver and the supported EVAL-ADMV8818 platform, indicating a maintained vendor-supported Linux use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real SPI IIO hardware driver for the Analog Devices ADMV8818 RF tunable filter. Local shell inspection of drivers/iio/filter/admv8818.c identified the device; local git log showed active maintenance, including four substantive bug-fix commits plus one cleanup on 2025-04-22, so this is not abandonment territory. I attempted lore-first checking via shell `lei q`, but `lei` was not installed; separate web searches against lore.kernel.org returned no removal/deprecation hits, so there is no visible active upstream removal discussion. URLs were obtained by web search for Analog Devices/LKDDb pages; the git.kernel.org log URL is a canonical recall URL built from the locally observed path/history. Hardware is still sold new in 2025, but deployments are niche RF/defense/test-industrial rather than mass-market, so deployments_today is low. No natural replacement driver exists because this is a chip-specific control driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1639675786, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745345392, "top_author": "Sam Winchenbach", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/frequency", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices frequency synthesizers / microwave up-down converters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260227140152.77529-9-antoniu.miclaus@analog.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists for this directory family: adf4377 saw non-treewide driver cleanup work in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260123194758.15445-1-suunj1331@gmail.com/", "claim": "adf4377 also received a functional fix in January 2026, indicating active bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260323233316.40047-1-neelb2403@gmail.com/", "claim": "adf4350 received driver-specific changes in March 2026, showing continued attention on older chips in the directory too." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adf4351.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADF4351 as 'Recommended for New Designs', supporting that at least part of the family is still sold for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adf4377.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADF4377 as 'Recommended for New Designs', showing current-market relevance for newer synthesizers covered here." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/admv1013.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADMV1013 as 'Recommended for New Designs', indicating ongoing availability of the microwave converter side of the directory." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adrf6780.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADRF6780 as 'Recommended for New Designs', reinforcing continued deployment in RF/microwave equipment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with 9 chip-specific IIO drivers. Lore evidence was obtained with mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/iio/frequency/adf4377.c and adf4350.c; both showed 2025-2026 driver-specific fixes/cleanups and no sign of removal traffic. A lore_file_timeline call on the directory path returned no aggregate hits, likely because the index keys files rather than directories, so file-level lore activity was used instead. Deployment evidence was obtained via web search on official analog.com product pages; multiple supported chips are still marked 'Recommended for New Designs'. The hardware is niche but still relevant in wireless infrastructure, instrumentation, radar/EW, and industrial RF systems. No natural single replacement driver exists because the directory covers multiple distinct Analog Devices parts.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03854665909068456, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1338869945, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835077, "top_author": "Antoniu Miclaus", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/gyro", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed industrial/embedded MEMS gyroscopes (ADI ADIS/ADXRS, Bosch BMG160/BMI055/BMI088, NXP FXAS21002C, ST L3G*/LSM330/LSM9DS0, InvenSense ITG3200/MPU3050, HID sensor-hub gyros)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260225101735.2368252-1-flavra@baylibre.com/", "claim": "drivers/iio/gyro/bmg160_core.c was touched in a 2026 linux-iio series, showing recent upstream maintenance activity in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250710171107.443790-8-jic23@kernel.org/", "claim": "drivers/iio/gyro/st_gyro_core.c was part of a 2025 iio/st_sensors cleanup from the IIO maintainer, indicating the ST gyro path is still maintained upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250825135401.1765847-7-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "A 2025 linux-iio patch removed redundant PM-runtime calls in gyro drivers including drivers/iio/gyro, showing continued maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/products/motion-sensors/imus/bmi088/", "claim": "Bosch lists BMI088 as a current IMU for drones and robotics; the kernel BMG160 driver states it also supports BMI088 gyroscope hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/FXAS21002C", "claim": "NXP marks FXAS21002C as no longer manufactured, showing some chips covered by this directory are legacy even though the directory as a whole is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile enumerate many loadable IIO gyro drivers. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/iio/gyro/bmg160_core.c and st_gyro_core.c; the 2025 PM-runtime patch URL was returned by lore_activity on bmg160_core.c. Deployment evidence came from web search of official vendor pages: Bosch BMI088 current product page and NXP FXAS21002C discontinued page. Conclusion: mixed portfolio with some discontinued parts, but active upstream maintenance and at least one currently sold supported gyro/IMU family argue to keep, not deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03060373898261483, "commits_5y": 103, "substantive_commits_5y": 95, "first_touch_ts": 1346955700, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772364011, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/health", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Wearable optical heart-rate and pulse-oximeter sensors/AFEs (TI AFE440x, Maxim MAX3010x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250813225840.576305-6-afd@ti.com/", "claim": "AFE4404 driver saw non-treewide maintenance in 2025 ('Use dev_err_probe() helper'), indicating active upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260120-lock-impr-v5-6-d4d22347041f@gmail.com/", "claim": "MAX30102 driver saw targeted maintenance in 2026 ('Use IIO cleanup helpers'), indicating the directory is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AFE4404", "claim": "TI lists AFE4404 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least part of this directory's hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max30102.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists MAX30102 as PRODUCTION with sample/buy options, supporting current new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max30105.html", "claim": "Analog Devices marks MAX30105 obsolete and recommends MAX30101 for future designs, showing mixed lifecycle status within the MAX3010x family handled here." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: lore_file_timeline on afe4404.c and max3010x files showed recent 2025-2026 driver-specific fixes/cleanups and no removal evidence in returned history. Vendor availability was checked with web search: TI AFE4404 is ACTIVE/orderable; ADI MAX30102 is PRODUCTION; ADI MAX30105 is obsolete/NRND-like. Overall this is a small, niche embedded/wearable sensor directory with live upstream maintenance and at least some still-current parts, so keep it, but annotate that deployment is limited and lifecycle is mixed across chips. URLs were obtained via lore-http `lore_file_timeline` and `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05638382950076473, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1449922477, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769703110, "top_author": "Andrew Davis", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/humidity", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed digital humidity/temperature sensors (Aosong AM2315, TI HDC100x/HDC2010/HDC302x, ST HTS221, Measurement Specialties HTU21, Silicon Labs Si7005/Si7013/20/21, ScioSense ENS210, HID humidity sensors)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251203152345.335989249@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream/stable patch traffic exists for this directory (hdc3020 fixes), so the directory is still seeing real maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/HDC3020", "claim": "TI lists HDC3020 as ACTIVE and orderable, showing at least one supported sensor family in this directory is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/hts221.html", "claim": "ST marks HTS221 obsolete/not recommended for new design and points to Sensirion SHT40-AD1B as a replacement, indicating some chips in the directory are aging out even though the directory as a whole is not." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` on Kconfig showed this directory is a bundle of many unrelated humidity-sensor drivers, not one dying chipset. `lore_activity(file=drivers/iio/humidity/hdc3020.c,since=3y)` produced late-2025 stable/backport traffic via the cited lore URL, which argues against deprecate/remove. `web.search_query` plus `open/find` on TI and ST product pages showed mixed market status: TI HDC3020 is ACTIVE, while ST HTS221 is obsolete with a vendor-recommended replacement. That mix supports `keep-annotate`: keep the directory, but annotate that some constituent sensor drivers cover obsolete parts.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10405392888244015, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1386102150, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760870784, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "MEMS inertial measurement units (IMUs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-iio/20250901-icm42pmreg-v3-0-ef1336246960%40geanix.com/T/", "claim": "The directory still sees active upstream maintenance in 2025, e.g. a multi-patch inv_icm42600 runtime-PM fix series." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-iio/20250728140704.2e176f1b%40jic23-huawei/T/", "claim": "The subsystem was still gaining new hardware enablement in 2025, e.g. the Bosch SMI330 driver series." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adis16550.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADIS16550 as 'Recommended for New Designs', showing at least one supported IMU family is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/lsm6dsv32x.html", "claim": "ST lists LSM6DSV32X as 'Active' and 'Product is in volume production', indicating continued new-deployment relevance for supported ST IMUs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INV_ICM45600_SPI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows inv_icm45600 SPI support in recent kernels (6.19 and 7.0), evidence that this directory covers current-generation IMUs rather than only legacy parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile shows this is an umbrella driver directory for many active IMU families (ADI ADIS, Bosch BMI/SMI, InvenSense ICM/MPU, ST LSM*, NXP FXOS, Kionix KMX61), not a single obsolete device line. Local git log shows substantive fixes/additions through 2026-03-09, matching the provided activity stats. No removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the lore web lookups I ran; instead, web search found active 2025 patch traffic and new-driver work. Because hardware covered here is still on sale and upstream attention is current, this should be kept. Source acquisition: both lore URLs and vendor/LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search results; local activity assessment came from shell commands against the source tree.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026561837852077542, "commits_5y": 119, "substantive_commits_5y": 110, "first_touch_ts": 1353363732, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772892690, "top_author": "Nuno Sa", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/bmi160", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Bosch BMI160 IMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/fb653ed07fa99e3ebc51374bb367cba5712e4ca1.1773114154.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of March 10, 2026 the driver still receives targeted upstream fixes rather than removal work ('Remove potential undefined behavior in bmi160_config_pin()')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026032913-national-disbelief-847f@gregkh/", "claim": "The March 2026 bmi160 fix was picked into stable, indicating ongoing maintenance for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/products/motion-sensors/imus/bmi160/", "claim": "Bosch still publishes the BMI160 product page and positions it as a 6-axis IMU for mobile and wearable use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Bosch-Sensortec/BMI160?qs=Lj1LZLjqIN1DEsUDgjehlg%3D%3D", "claim": "A major distributor lists BMI160 lifecycle status as obsolete, indicating the silicon is no longer a current-growth part." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/es/products/detail/bosch-sensortec/BMI160/6136300", "claim": "DigiKey lists BMI160 part status as obsolete / no longer manufactured." }, { "url": "https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1716.html/", "claim": "BMI160-based sensor modules are still sold as new retail hardware, supporting continued low-level hobbyist/embedded deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` showed this is a real I2C/SPI Bosch BMI160 IIO driver. `lore_file_timeline` returned fresh 2026 activity and stable backports; the cited lore URLs came from that tool. `web.search_query` returned the Bosch, Mouser, DigiKey, and DFRobot URLs. Net: silicon family is obsolete at major distributors, but boards/modules remain on sale and upstream still fixes bugs, so removal is not justified; keep it but annotate as legacy/declining hardware with low current deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03914619237681904, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1460810361, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773577234, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/bmi270", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Bosch BMI260 family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/iio/imu/bmi270", "claim": "Local kernel history shows this driver is new and active, with non-removal commits from initial merge in September 2024 through fixes and feature work up to January 11, 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/products/motion-sensors/imus/bmi270", "claim": "Bosch still markets BMI270 as a current IMU product, with current product-page positioning for wearables, hearables, AR/VR, laptops, and ordering links visible in 2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BMI270_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows upstream support in current kernels and enumerates active bindings/IDs for I2C, OF compatibles, and ACPI IDs BMI0160/BMI0260, indicating ongoing deployment targets rather than dead legacy-only hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: the directory is a real, recently added IMU driver with continuing upstream fixes/features, not a stagnant legacy block. No removal discussion was found from available local history; recent commits include motion events, step-counter work, PM fixes, and newer GPD firmware matching. Deployments look low but real: Bosch still sells/promotes the part, and LKDDb shows DT plus ACPI IDs used on current handheld/laptop-class systems. Sources obtained via `exec_command` local file/git inspection plus canonical kernel.org log URL recall, and via `web` open/search for Bosch product and LKDDb pages.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1727684463, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768136539, "top_author": "Gustavo Silva", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/bmi323", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Bosch BMI323", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/log/drivers/iio/imu/bmi323/bmi323_core.c", "claim": "Public kernel log mirror shows the driver was added in 2023 and kept receiving non-removal maintenance and bug-fix commits through 2025-08-25, indicating active upstream attention rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/products/motion-sensors/imus/bmi323", "claim": "Bosch still presents BMI323 as a current IMU product with datasheet, software, application targets, and ordering/distributor links, supporting that the hardware remained an active product line in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/news/launch-bmi323.html", "claim": "Bosch positioned BMI323 for new consumer designs such as wearables, fitness trackers, smartwatches, tablets, laptops, toys, and remote controls, which argues against obsolescence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local rg confirmed bmi323_core/i2c/spi driver code with module_i2c_driver/module_spi_driver. Upstream activity checked via local git -c safe.directory log and corroborated with web.open on the git.zx2c4 cgit log URL; it shows steady fixes/features through 2025-08-25 and no removal signal. Deployment evidence came from web.search/open on Bosch product and launch pages; product is still marketed as current hardware, though listed retail distributor stock on the product page is currently empty, so deployments_today is conservative 'low'. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the BMI323 itself, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1700161825, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756111232, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/bno055", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Bosch BNO055", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/products/smart-sensor-systems/bno055/", "claim": "Vendor product page labels BNO055 'Not recommended for new designs' and shows major distributors out of stock, indicating declining new-design use." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/iio/bno055.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation exists for the driver and describes active support for Bosch BNO055 on serial and I2C buses." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BOSCH_BNO055.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_BOSCH_BNO055 present in current kernel series, indicating the driver remains upstream rather than deprecated." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BOSCH_BNO055_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists the I2C frontend and device match data for BNO055 in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BOSCH_BNO055_SERIAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists the UART/serdev frontend and device match data for BNO055 in current kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: core plus I2C and serdev front-ends. Local `exec_command` inspection confirmed Bosch BNO055 IMU support and driver entry-point macros. Local `exec_command` git history check (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/iio/imu/bno055`) showed ongoing upstream fixes through 2026-03-01 and no sign of removal churn; separate lore web searches for BNO055 removal discussion returned no hits. Web `search_query` + `open`/`find` on Bosch's product page showed the part is NRND and out of stock at major distributors, so new deployments are likely low, but active bug-fix traffic argues against deprecation. No clear in-tree replacement driver covers the same fused-sensor BNO055 use case, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/NRND hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1663782176, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772367943, "top_author": "David Lechner", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/inv_icm42600", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "TDK InvenSense ICM-426xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260423020922.4057-1-joaovictor.fernandes@usp.br/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: the driver saw a refactor patch on 2026-04-23." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260319182956.146976-5-macroalpha82@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver is still gaining new hardware support: a 2026 patch adds support for icm42607." }, { "url": "https://invensense.tdk.com/icm-42688-p/", "claim": "TDK InvenSense still markets ICM-42688-P as a current SmartMotion 6-axis IMU product." }, { "url": "https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TDK-InvenSense/ICM-42688-P?qs=OlC7AqGiEDk8QrNAV728zw%3D%3D", "claim": "A mainstream distributor lists ICM-42688-P for purchase/backorder with current ordering data, indicating ongoing commercial availability." }, { "url": "https://invensense.tdk.com/news-media/tdk-to-showcase-ultra-low-power-sensing-and-processing-solution-powered-by-renesas-for-next-generation-iot-industrial-and-portable-applications", "claim": "TDK referenced ICM-42688-P in a new reference-design announcement published on 2025-10-13, showing continued use in new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: local shell inspection of the driver shows active I2C/SPI IDs for multiple ICM-426xx parts and no in-tree successor driver covering the same devices. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on inv_icm42600_core.c, which shows heavy recent activity and feature work, including 2026 refactoring and new chip support; an attempted `lore_regex` removal scan timed out, and the visible recent lore subjects showed maintenance/expansion rather than retirement. Web evidence came from `web.search_query`: the official TDK product page still lists ICM-42688-P, Mouser still sells it, and a 2025 TDK news page shows it in a new reference design. That combination argues against deprecation or removal and supports ongoing embedded/industrial/robotics deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03928691671072728, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 49, "first_touch_ts": 1593263844, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835077, "top_author": "Jean-Baptiste Maneyrol", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/inv_icm45600", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "TDK InvenSense ICM-456xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/iio/imu/inv_icm45600", "claim": "Upstream driver directory is very new and still seeing post-merge fixes in 2025-2026, which argues against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/imu/inv_icm45600/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes this as support for the InvenSense ICM-456xx family and lists supported parts including ICM-45605/06/08/34/86/87/88-P/89." }, { "url": "https://invensense.tdk.com/products/motion-tracking/6-axis", "claim": "TDK InvenSense still markets the 6-axis family in 2025/2026 and lists ICM-45605 and ICM-45686 as current products with purchase paths." }, { "url": "https://invensense.tdk.com/products/motion-tracking/6-axis/dk-45686/", "claim": "TDK provides a current DK-45686 development kit page with 2024-07-25 datasheet and 2025 resource updates, indicating active commercial support for ICM-45686-based designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: multiple bus front-ends (I2C/SPI/I3C) plus core/accel/gyro code, confirmed via local shell `rg`. Upstream activity checked with local shell `git log` on the directory: initial merge in 2025 and several bug fixes through 2026-02-23; a separate local `git log --grep='remove|deprecat|obsolete|drop'` found no removal/deprecation hits. The two kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, cross-checked against local repo contents and local git history. The two TDK URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` results and show current product-family marketing plus an active development kit/resources page, supporting that the hardware is still sold and relevant for new designs. Deployment is rated low, not medium/high, because this is a recently upstreamed consumer/embedded IMU family rather than a broadly deployed legacy platform class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1760871561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835079, "top_author": "Remi Buisson", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/inv_mpu6050", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "TDK/InvenSense MPU60x0/65x0/9x50 and ICM206xx IMUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260401082737.781018-4-andrej.skvortzov@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving non-trivial upstream fixes in 2026, including probe/regulator error-path work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260323134528.788770328@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Fixes for this driver family are being backported to stable, indicating ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://invensense.tdk.com/products/motion-tracking/6-axis/mpu-6000/", "claim": "TDK marks MPU-6050 as EOL and names ICM-42670-P as the recommended replacement for that specific part." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/tdk-invensense/MPU-6050/4038009", "claim": "Even though the MPU-6050 IC is obsolete, MPU-6050-based boards/modules and accessories are still sold through mainstream distribution channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (shell `rg`/`sed`) shows a real multi-chip IMU driver covering MPU6050/9150/6500/9250 and ICM206xx parts. lore_file_timeline on `inv_mpu_core.c` produced the cited 2026 linux-iio and stable URLs, showing active fixes/backports rather than retirement. Web search produced the cited TDK and DigiKey URLs: TDK shows the base MPU-6050 is EOL with a newer silicon recommendation, while DigiKey still lists MPU-6050 ecosystem hardware for sale. Net: legacy silicon in an active installed base with continuing maintenance; annotate as legacy-heavy, but do not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.039690760189758464, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1360518163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835077, "top_author": "Jean-Baptiste Maneyrol", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/smi330", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Bosch SMI330 / BMI330 6-axis IMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6f3d8de8886dae587467e1a2600d3bff4ad23e30", "claim": "Driver was added upstream on 2025-11-09, indicating a very new in-tree device rather than legacy carry-over." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=188c33824098ced363676b4e63f062b7a747ed81", "claim": "The directory received a substantive follow-up cleanup on 2026-01-16, showing ongoing upstream maintenance after merge." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/25/247", "claim": "Public review traffic exists for the SMI330 bring-up patch series, consistent with a recently upstreamed active driver and not a removal candidate." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/en/products/motion-sensors/imus/bmi330/", "claim": "Bosch still lists BMI330 as a current product, with current technical collateral and ordering/distributor links, supporting that the hardware remained a new-sale part in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/media/boschsensortec/downloads/datasheets/bst-bmi330-ds000.pdf", "claim": "The vendor datasheet is a 2025 document for BMI330, reinforcing that the part is contemporary hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMI330_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows in-tree I2C support in 6.19 and HEAD, confirming active kernel integration rather than orphaned code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMI330_SPI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows in-tree SPI support in 6.19 and HEAD, confirming active kernel integration rather than orphaned code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real IIO driver code with SPI/I2C bus glue and module entry points (shell: `rg`, `sed`). Lore-specific shell path was blocked because `lei` is not installed, so upstream-history evidence was taken from local `git log` (shell) and mapped to canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall; public review evidence came from web search to LKML. Web search also found the Bosch product page and 2025 datasheet showing the BMI330/SMI330 family is still current hardware, likely used in embedded/industrial/robotics deployments but not at mass PC-like scale. No natural replacement driver exists for the same chip; this is the direct upstream driver for that sensor family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1762693011, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768592697, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/st_lsm6dsx", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics LSM6DSx / ASM330 / ISM330 6-axis IMU family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260324084808.654118-1-flavra@baylibre.com/", "claim": "As of March 24, 2026 the driver was still receiving substantive upstream feature work ('Add support for rotation sensor'), indicating active maintenance rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/mems-and-sensors/inemo-inertial-modules/lsm6dsox.html", "claim": "ST lists LSM6DSOX as an active product in volume production, showing the covered family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/lsm6dsv16x.html", "claim": "ST lists LSM6DSV16X as active / volume production, showing the driver continues to cover current-generation parts, not just legacy devices." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/imu/st_lsm6dsx/st_lsm6dsx_i2c.c", "claim": "The in-tree match tables cover a broad and expanding family including newer IDs such as lsm6dsv, lsm6dsv16x, lsm6dso16is, ism330is, asm330lhb, and asm330lhhxg1, so this is the consolidated upstream driver for the product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. lore_file_timeline on st_lsm6dsx_core.c showed dense 2021-2026 traffic and recent 2026 feature-series patches, with no visible removal trend. web search found ST product pages marking LSM6DSOX and LSM6DSV16X active / volume production. Kernel source URL is canonical recall, used to confirm this single driver covers both older and current ST IMU variants. No natural replacement driver exists; newer chips are being added here, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03341642614386742, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1484397637, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772364010, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/imu/st_lsm9ds0", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics LSM9DS0 / LSM303D IMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IIO_ST_LSM9DS0.html", "claim": "CONFIG_IIO_ST_LSM9DS0 is still present in current kernels through 7.0-rc+HEAD, so the driver remains upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IIO_ST_LSM9DS0_I2C.html", "claim": "The driver still binds real IDs including i2c \"lsm9ds0\", OF compatible \"st,lsm9ds0-imu\", and also \"lsm303d\" / ACPI ACCL0001." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/lsm9ds0.html", "claim": "ST marks LSM9DS0 as \"Obsolete\" and \"Out of Production\"." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/stmicroelectronics/LSM9DS0TR/4311632", "claim": "A major distributor lists LSM9DS0TR as obsolete and no longer manufactured." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module entry points and I2C/SPI bus glue plus probe core were confirmed locally via shell file reads. Upstream activity was checked first via local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` on this directory because lore MCP resources were unavailable and `lei` was not installed; the directory has multiple non-removal touches through 2025-02-24 and no deprecation/removal commits surfaced from local grep over commit subjects. Web search produced LKDDb pages confirming the driver is still in HEAD and still matches concrete device IDs, while ST and DigiKey pages show the silicon is obsolete/out of production. Result: hardware is legacy with likely low new deployment, but upstream maintenance is still active enough that removal/deprecation is premature; keep it, but annotate as legacy/obsolete hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1621256062, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740391732, "top_author": "andy.shevchenko@gmail.com", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/light", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "IIO light sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-iio/20250728144541.004f380a%40jic23-huawei/T/", "claim": "Recent linux-iio patch traffic touched drivers/iio/light/ltr390.c in 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/light/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is an active menu of many ambient-light, color, UV, and proximity sensor drivers in the upstream kernel." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OPT4001", "claim": "TI lists OPT4001 as ACTIVE and orderable, showing at least part of this driver family corresponds to hardware still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.vishay.com/en/product/84366/", "claim": "Vishay's VEML6030 product page offers samples/buy flow, indicating current commercial availability for another supported light-sensor family." }, { "url": "https://www.vishay.com/doc?84366=", "claim": "The VEML6030 datasheet lists current applications including mobile devices, industrial lighting control, and consumer/computing displays, supporting ongoing deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a real IIO driver directory with many module-backed sensor drivers. Activity evidence came from local `rg`/`sed` inspection and local `git -c safe.directory=... log/shortlog` commands, which showed many 2025-2026 touches across multiple files and authors. The lore URL was obtained via `web.search_query` on the linux-iio archive mirror and shows recent patch review on a file in this directory; a separate removal/deprecation search on lore mirrors produced no concrete removal thread. The kernel.org tree URL is a canonical-recall stable source for directory scope. TI and Vishay URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` on official vendor domains and show currently marketed parts that map to drivers in this directory. Because the directory covers many still-sold sensor SKUs and has strong ongoing upstream maintenance, the correct recommendation is keep, with no single replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012874979019109667, "commits_5y": 466, "substantive_commits_5y": 459, "first_touch_ts": 1338869549, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774513353, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 96, "c_file_count": 68, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/magnetometer", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Assorted industrial/consumer 3-axis magnetometers and Hall-effect magnetic sensors (Asahi Kasei, Bosch, Infineon, TI, Allegro, MEMSIC, ST, Honeywell, PNI, Yamaha, HID sensor-hub)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMAG5273", "claim": "TI lists TMAG5273 as ACTIVE and orderable, showing at least one chip supported by this directory remains a current product in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/sensor/magnetic-sensors/magnetic-position-sensors/3d-magnetics/tlv493d-a1b6/", "claim": "Infineon lists TLV493D-A1B6 as active/preferred and planned available until at least 2039, indicating ongoing new-design relevance for this driver class." }, { "url": "https://www.allegromicro.com/en/products/sense/linear-and-angular-position/linear-sensors-1d/als31300", "claim": "Allegro still markets ALS31300 as a current 3D linear Hall-effect sensor with I2C, matching a driver in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and 25 C files enumerate many separate sensor drivers. lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/iio/magnetometer, since=5y) and lore_subsystem_churn(path:drivers/iio/magnetometer/, 365d) returned zero indexed lore hits, so there is no lore evidence here of an active removal campaign; I treated that as an index blind spot rather than inactivity because the supplied static metadata shows 132 substantive commits in 5y, 41 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-02-27. Web search obtained the TI, Infineon, and Allegro URLs above, which show multiple supported chips are still active/current. This directory covers a broad live sensor class used in embedded/industrial and some consumer designs, with no single upstream replacement driver, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.029469342668412585, "commits_5y": 140, "substantive_commits_5y": 132, "first_touch_ts": 1346955752, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772206387, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/multiplexer", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Generic io-channel-mux IIO front-ends", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260316232942.46641-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch exists in 2026 for drivers/iio/multiplexer/iio-mux.c, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IIO_MUX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IIO_MUX present from Linux 4.13 through current 7.0-rc/HEAD, with OF compatible \"io-channel-mux\" and module name iio-mux." }, { "url": "https://mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/mux/adi%2Cadgs1408.txt", "claim": "Kernel DT binding example shows current mux-controller hardware such as ADGS1408/1409 used together with an \"io-channel-mux\" consumer node, demonstrating the driver's continuing real-world use case." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adgs1408.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADGS1408 as \"Recommended for New Designs\" with evaluation boards and pricing, showing relevant mux hardware is still sold for new systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file read via shell showed this is a real platform driver with OF compatible \"io-channel-mux\" and generic mux-controller/IIO consumer wiring, not a dead vendor-specific chip driver. lore_activity on drivers/iio/multiplexer/iio-mux.c returned 2025-12/2026 maintenance cleanups and no removal signal; lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no hits, so file-level lore evidence was used instead. Web search produced LKDDb, kernel DT binding mirror, and Analog Devices product pages; together they show ongoing kernel support plus still-sold compatible mux hardware. Because it is a generic enabler for current embedded/industrial analog front-ends, there is no natural replacement and removal would strand valid designs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.42859271005914534, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1496485766, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736002097, "top_author": "Matteo Martelli", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/orientation", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "HID Sensor Hub orientation sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260307-iio-fix-timestamp-alignment-v2-1-d1d48fbadbbf@baylibre.com/", "claim": "March 2026 linux-iio patch fixes hid-sensor-rotation userspace ABI/timestamp handling, showing active maintenance for deployed users." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260301-iio-hid-sensor-rotation-cleanup-v2-1-245c6ad59afc@baylibre.com/", "claim": "March 2026 linux-iio patch updates hid-sensor-rotation to use ext_scan_type, showing current subsystem refactoring rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20240902222824.1145571-20-andy.shevchenko@gmail.com/", "claim": "September 2024 linux-iio patch touches hid-sensor-incl-3d, indicating both drivers in this directory still receive upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/hid/intel-ish-hid.html", "claim": "Kernel docs say HID sensor hubs are found in tablets, 2-in-1 convertible laptops, and embedded products, and Intel ISH appears across multiple CPU generations and commercial devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HID_SENSOR_DEVICE_ROTATION.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_HID_SENSOR_DEVICE_ROTATION remains present through current 6.x kernels and 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HID_SENSOR_INCLINOMETER_3D.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_HID_SENSOR_INCLINOMETER_3D remains present through current 6.x kernels and 7.0-rc+HEAD." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains two real HID Sensor Hub IIO drivers: quaternion rotation and 3D inclinometer. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on both .c files returned fresh 2024-2026 linux-iio/stable patches, including bug fixes and API cleanups, with no evidence of a removal series in the returned history. Deployment evidence came from web search results opened from docs.kernel.org and LKDDb: HID sensor hubs are still used in current tablets/2-in-1s/embedded systems, and both configs are still built in current kernels. Hardware is niche rather than mainstream, but still present and maintained; no direct replacement driver covers the same HID usage pages, so removal would be premature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04005728559446922, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1386102719, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773490558, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/position", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Intel HID custom hinge sensor; Azoteq IQS624/625", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250930-dev-sprintf-cleanup-v1-8-5d65d096a952@analog.com/", "claim": "`hid-sensor-custom-intel-hinge.c` still received upstream maintenance in 2025 (sysfs_emit cleanup patch touching the file)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20241031-iio-fix-write-event-config-signature-v2-7-2bcacbb517a2@baylibre.com/", "claim": "`iqs624-pos.c` received a functional API-fix patch in 2024, indicating the driver is still kept build- and API-correct upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.azoteq.com/product/iqs624/", "claim": "Azoteq still markets IQS624 devices and evaluation kits, with distributor links and current product collateral; this is evidence the IQS624 family was still sold for new designs in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HID_SENSOR_CUSTOM_INTEL_HINGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_HID_SENSOR_CUSTOM_INTEL_HINGE remains present across current kernel series, supporting the view that the Intel hinge driver is still carried as live kernel support rather than legacy orphan code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains two real IIO drivers. Local shell inspection of `drivers/iio/position/Kconfig` and the `.c` files identified the covered hardware as Intel HID hinge (`HID-SENSOR-INT-020b`) and Azoteq IQS624/625 angular-position sensors. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on both source files: both show touches in 2024-2026 and no visible removal/deprecation series in the returned history. Web search provided the Azoteq product page and LKDDb page. Overall this looks niche, platform-specific hardware with low deployment volume, but still supported and at least partly still sold, so deprecation/removal is not justified; annotate as niche instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18025534372752394, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1585297559, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760871558, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/potentiometer", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Digital potentiometers (Analog Devices, Microchip, Maxim, Texas Instruments, Renesas)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260202201537.2194476-1-lukas.schmid@netcube.li/", "claim": "linux-iio carried a 2026 fix for mcp4131, showing the directory still receives non-removal maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250609070616.3923709-2-jic23@kernel.org/", "claim": "linux-iio saw 2025 treewide cleanup touching the potentiometer drivers, consistent with an actively maintained subsystem rather than abandoned code." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad5272.html", "claim": "ADI still markets the AD5272 digital potentiometer product family, indicating covered hardware remains on sale." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPL0102-100", "claim": "TI still lists TPL0102 as a current product, indicating this driver directory covers hardware still available for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MCP4131", "claim": "Microchip still lists MCP4131 as a current digital potentiometer product, supporting continued hardware availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and driver sources showed 12 real I2C/SPI digital-potentiometer drivers spanning ADI/Microchip/Maxim/TI/Renesas. lore_regex on patch bodies (linux-iio, since 5y) returned recent 2025-2026 touches including an mcp4131 bug fix and subsystem cleanups; that is active maintenance, so not a removal candidate. A separate lore_regex subject scan for removal/deprecation timed out rather than returning evidence, which lowers confidence slightly but does not indicate an actual removal effort. Vendor product-page URLs are canonical recall of stable official pages and show at least several covered chip families still sold in 2025. These parts are niche embedded/industrial components, so deployments today are low, but there is no single upstream replacement driver for the same use case; annotate as niche/long-tail rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04587339929517379, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1443633653, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835077, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/potentiostat", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Texas Instruments LMP91000/LMP91002 potentiostat AFE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250822-enomam_logs-v1-7-db87f2974552@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream attention in 2025, including a driver-specific cleanup patch under the potentiostat subtree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260225101735.2368252-1-flavra@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The file was still being mechanically updated in 2026 as part of active IIO-wide API churn, with no removal/deprecation signal in the observed recent lore activity." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/LMP91000", "claim": "TI lists LMP91000 as ACTIVE, orderable, and positions it as a configurable AFE potentiostat for electrochemical sensing, with evaluation hardware and support collateral." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/store/ti/en/p/product/?p=LMP91000SD%2FNOPB", "claim": "TI still offers direct part purchasing, supporting the conclusion that the hardware remained sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Identified the covered hardware by shell-reading Kconfig and lmp91000.c (`sed`), which show TI LMP91000 plus `ti,lmp91002` support. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/iio/potentiostat/lmp91000.c`; recent hits are sparse and mostly treewide/mechanical, but there is still maintenance and no observed removal discussion. TI URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; they show the part is ACTIVE/orderable and tied to electrochemical sensor designs, so this is a niche industrial/embedded driver with low but ongoing deployments. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same chip family, so removal would strand still-sold hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24516322983937108, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1475004783, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756121789, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/pressure", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed IIO pressure sensor families (BMP280, MPRLS, ABP2, ADP810, MPL3115, others)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1049426/", "claim": "A new Honeywell ABP2 pressure-sensor driver series for drivers/iio/pressure was still being posted in December 2025, showing active upstream expansion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1042830/", "claim": "A new Aosong ADP810 pressure-sensor driver series for drivers/iio/pressure was posted in October 2025, indicating current enablement of newly supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6003210.html", "claim": "Existing mprls0025pa code in drivers/iio/pressure received a functional fix patch in January 2026, showing ongoing maintenance of deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://automation.honeywell.com/us/en/products/sensing-solutions/sensors/pressure-sensors/board-mount-pressure-amplified/basic-abp2-series-board-mount-pressure-sensor", "claim": "Honeywell still marketed the ABP2 digital pressure-sensor family with I2C/SPI interfaces and 2025 collateral, so at least part of this driver directory covers hardware still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: 40 C files with module/driver entry points. Local shell (`rg --files`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed broad 2025-2026 churn, including new drivers and fixes across multiple chips. URLs were obtained via web search: LWN pages for late-2025 ABP2 and ADP810 patch series, Spinics for a January 2026 mprls0025pa fix, and Honeywell product search for current-market ABP2 hardware. I found evidence of active addition/fix traffic and no removal/deprecation discussion in the searched lore-adjacent results. Because this directory aggregates many still-relevant industrial/mobile/embedded pressure sensors rather than one obsolete chipset, there is no single replacement driver and removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026001191685132735, "commits_5y": 223, "substantive_commits_5y": 216, "first_touch_ts": 1370454083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772364010, "top_author": "Petre Rodan", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/proximity", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed proximity and distance sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6097780.html", "claim": "March 14, 2026 review traffic for `iio: proximity: rfd77402` shows active upstream maintenance, not removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6023357.html", "claim": "A January 2026 v7 patch series adds interrupt support and cleanups for `rfd77402`, indicating substantive ongoing development in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6096046.html", "claim": "A March 13, 2026 patch series adds a new `vl53l1x` proximity driver and explicitly says it needs a separate driver instead of extending `vl53l0x-i2c.c`, implying growth rather than consolidation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/iio/proximity/", "claim": "Kernel.org DT binding index for `iio/proximity` contains current bindings for multiple devices in this directory, including files updated into 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/vl53l0x", "claim": "ST marks VL53L0X as Active and in volume production, with ordering available, so at least some covered hardware is still sold new beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.vishay.com/en/product/84150/", "claim": "Vishay's VCNL3020 product page remains live with sample/buy options, supporting ongoing availability of hardware served by this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RFD77402.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_RFD77402` present through current 6.19-rc/HEAD kernels, confirming the driver remains enabled upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: 21 C drivers plus shared `sx_common` helper, confirmed locally via shell `rg`/`sed` on `Kconfig`. Local `git log` shows substantive 2025-2026 activity across multiple files, and web search found no removal/deprecation thread; instead, spinics/lore-indexed results show active fixes and feature work (`rfd77402`) plus new-driver expansion (`vl53l1x`). Availability evidence came from web search to official vendor pages (ST VL53L0X active/volume production; Vishay VCNL3020 sample/buy-now). Because the directory covers many still-relevant embedded/mobile/industrial sensors and has current upstream attention, `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02161281974369264, "commits_5y": 157, "substantive_commits_5y": 150, "first_touch_ts": 1394992832, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773486932, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/resolver", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices AD2S resolver-to-digital converters (AD2S90/AD2S1200/AD2S1205/AD2S1210)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260316090023.14691-9-i.shihao.999@gmail.com/", "claim": "The directory still sees upstream attention in 2026; ad2s1210 received a resolver-specific patch on 2026-03-16." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250210-gpio-set-array-helper-v3-9-d6a673674da8@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver had reviewed and acked maintenance work in 2025, indicating active subsystem stewardship rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20230920170253.203395-5-dlechner@baylibre.com/", "claim": "AD2S1210 support was added upstream in 2023, so part of this directory is relatively new rather than legacy-only code." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad2s1210.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD2S1210 as PRODUCTION and offers Sample & Buy, supporting that hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad2s1205.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD2S1205 as PRODUCTION with ordering information, showing ongoing new-hardware availability for this family." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad2s90.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists AD2S90 as PRODUCTION with priced orderable models, indicating even the oldest supported chip remains commercially available." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` on Kconfig and MODULE_DESCRIPTION identified this as real IIO SPI driver code for AD2S90/1200/1205/1210 resolver converters. `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` provided the cited lore URLs and show steady 2023-2026 maintenance, including reviewed 2025 patches; sampled lore evidence did not show a removal/deprecation thread, so absence of removal talk is an inference from recent activity rather than exhaustive proof. `web.search_query` found the official Analog Devices product pages, all marked PRODUCTION with ordering/sample paths, so the hardware family still appears to be sold for industrial/automotive niches. No upstream replacement driver covers the same chips; these are chip-specific drivers, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14649559245873683, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1526815068, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760871558, "top_author": "David Lechner", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/temperature", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "Mixed discrete temperature-sensor ICs and sensor-hub temperature devices (Melexis MLX9061x/32/35, TI TMP006/007/117, ADI/Maxim MAX*/LTC2983, Microchip MCP9600, HID sensor-hub)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20260420141512.196932-1-luizmugnaini@usp.br/", "claim": "mlx90614 still received nontrivial upstream maintenance in April 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20240219131114.134607-2-m.felsch@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "tmp117 received functional driver work in 2024 (vcc-supply support), indicating live deployments and maintainer attention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iio/20250825-mcp9600-iir-v7-4-2ba676a52589@kernel.org/", "claim": "mcp9600 gained new functionality in 2025 (IIR filter support), showing ongoing subsystem investment rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMP117", "claim": "TMP117 was listed by TI as ACTIVE, so hardware covered by this directory was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.melexis.com/en/product/MLX90614/Digital-Plug-Play-Infrared-Thermometer-TO-Can", "claim": "MLX90614 remained a current Melexis product page in 2025-era web indexing, supporting continued market availability." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max31865.html", "claim": "MAX31865 was listed by Analog Devices as PRODUCTION, supporting continued availability of covered RTD/temperature hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/mcp9600", "claim": "Microchip still offered the MCP9600 product, supporting continued new deployments in industrial/embedded systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `sed` on drivers/iio/temperature/Kconfig shows this is a live collection of many vendor-specific temperature-sensor drivers, not a dead compatibility shim. Lore evidence was gathered with `lore_activity` on tmp117.c, mlx90614.c, and mcp9600.c; these returned 2024-2026 feature/cleanup patches. Two `lore_regex` subject scans for removal/deprecation discussion timed out, so I found no positive removal evidence. Vendor availability URLs were obtained with `web.search_query` on official domains (ti.com, melexis.com, analog.com, microchip.com). Because multiple covered chip families are still sold and upstream work is recent, there is no natural single replacement and the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04596414859382685, "commits_5y": 103, "substantive_commits_5y": 96, "first_touch_ts": 1376751053, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769703110, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iio/trigger", "subsystem": "iio", "chipset_family": "IIO standalone triggers / STM32 TIM-LPTIM triggers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/iio/triggers.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes IIO triggers as a current subsystem mechanism, including timer, interrupt, and sysfs-provided triggers used by multiple sensors/drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32-arm-cortex-mpus/stm32mp1-series/stm32mp153/stm32mp153c.html", "claim": "Current STM32MP153C product page lists multiple general-purpose timers and low-power timers, matching the STM32 TIM/LPTIM trigger use case." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32-arm-cortex-mpus/stm32mp1-series.html", "claim": "STM32MP1 series is an actively marketed embedded platform in current industrial/IoT/medical/automation deployments, supporting ongoing relevance for STM32 timer-trigger integration." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: six .c files with module entry points, including generic software triggers and STM32 platform drivers. Local Kconfig inspection via shell showed active configs for hrtimer, interrupt, sysfs, tightloop, STM32 timer, and STM32 low-power timer triggers. lore_file_timeline(path='drivers/iio/trigger') returned no events, which appears to reflect directory-path indexing limits rather than inactivity; prompt metadata already shows 25 substantive commits in 5y with last substantive touch on 2025-06-26 and 19 authors, so this is not a dead driver set. Local git subject grep over the path found no obvious remove/deprecate/obsolete commits. URLs were obtained via web search (`docs.kernel.org`, `st.com`). No natural replacement exists because these are the trigger providers themselves rather than a superseded hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1830989222676057, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1369257408, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750962772, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/core", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: InfiniBand/RDMA core subsystem infrastructure and helper code, not a hardware-specific kernel driver for a distinct device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.007135470912637058, "commits_5y": 395, "substantive_commits_5y": 381, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Mark Zhang", "top_author_commits": 38, "c_file_count": 61, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/bng_re", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM5770X", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1138298.html", "claim": "Patch series introducing bng_re says it is a new Broadcom RoCE driver for the BCM5770X family and supports 50/100/200/400/800G link speeds." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_BNG_RE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INFINIBAND_BNG_RE exists in Linux 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating current upstream presence rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/57708-PB", "claim": "Broadcom product brief for BCM57708 describes an 800Gb/s NIC in current product literature, supporting that this hardware family is a current datacenter offering." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Broadcom-BNG-RE-Linux-6.19", "claim": "Coverage of the merge-bound patch series describes bng_re as Broadcom's next-generation RoCE driver for BCM5770X hardware, reinforcing that it is newly upstreamed rather than obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on the directory and Kconfig identifies Broadcom next-generation RoCE HCA support with dependency on `BNGE`. Web search found the public patch-series mirror on Spinics, LKDDb config page, Broadcom BCM57708 product brief, and Phoronix merge coverage. Provided static metadata shows first tree touch on 2025-11-24 and a substantive touch on 2026-03-05, so this is an active newly added driver with no evident removal discussion. Hardware appears current but specialized to high-end AI/datacenter Ethernet/RDMA deployments, so deployments are low-volume rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1763971109, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772703271, "top_author": "Siva Reddy Kallam", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Broadcom NetXtreme-E RoCE HCAs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this as Broadcom NetXtreme-E 10/25/40/50 gigabit RoCE HCA support (`CONFIG_INFINIBAND_BNXT_RE`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260320135437.48716-10-sriharsha.basavapatna@broadcom.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma saw bnxt_re feature work in March 2026 (`RDMA/bnxt_re: Support create_qp_umem() devop`), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260302110036.36387-7-sriharsha.basavapatna@broadcom.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma also carried bnxt_re functionality work in March 2026 (`Support application specific CQs`), reinforcing current development activity." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/57500-PB", "claim": "Broadcom's BCM57500 product brief documents current NetXtreme-E controllers with RoCEv1/v2 support across 200/100/50/40/25/10GbE, showing the hardware family remains a marketed data-center NIC line." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-revolutionizes-ai-networking-landscape-high-performance", "claim": "Broadcom announced new 400G RoCE/RDMA Ethernet NICs in May 2024 for AI/data-center deployment, showing ongoing new-deployment relevance for Broadcom RoCE NICs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re` is plainly a real driver directory (local shell read of Kconfig/main.c). Chipset family label comes from Kconfig; URL given from canonical kernel.org recall. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_activity` on `drivers/infiniband/hw/bnxt_re/main.c`, which returned multiple 2026 linux-rdma patches touching bnxt_re, with Broadcom authors and reviewers; that strongly argues against deprecation/removal. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no matches, likely because it wants exact file paths rather than directories, so I did not treat that as negative evidence. Hardware availability/deployment evidence came from `web.search` and `web.open` on Broadcom product briefs and Broadcom's 2024 400G RoCE NIC announcement. Because Broadcom is still marketing NetXtreme-E/RoCE NICs and the driver is actively developed, the right recommendation is keep; there is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03530534384808791, "commits_5y": 310, "substantive_commits_5y": 304, "first_touch_ts": 1487083875, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770039479, "top_author": "Kalesh AP", "top_author_commits": 76, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/cxgb4", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T4/T5/T6 iWARP RDMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/11-v2-1c49eeb88c48+91-rdma_udata_rep_jgg@nvidia.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma saw a cxgb4 patch on 2026-04-06 ('RDMA/cxgb4: Convert to ib_respond_udata()'), showing current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio's current product page still markets T6 Unified Wire adapters and lists T6 models such as T62100-CR and T6225-CR, indicating related hardware remained on sale after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "The same Chelsio page labels 'T5 and Legacy Adapters' separately, implying older generations are legacy even though newer related hardware is still sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via shell (`sed`/`rg`) identified this as the Chelsio RDMA/iWARP driver; device.c says 'Chelsio T4/T5 RDMA Driver' and code handles CHELSIO_T4/T5/T6. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on drivers/infiniband/hw/cxgb4/provider.c, which returned recent linux-rdma activity including the 2026-04-06 cxgb4 patch URL cited above. Removal-signal probes via `lore_regex`, `lore_substr_subject`, and `lei q` did not yield usable evidence (timeouts / sandboxed lei daemon failure), so the recommendation is based on positive maintenance evidence plus current vendor product status. Web evidence came from `web search_query` and `open` on Chelsio's canonical product page, which shows T6 products still offered while classifying T5 as legacy. Conclusion: keep the driver, but annotate it as niche/legacy-leaning hardware support with ongoing maintenance and no clear in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11410388831763697, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1271889006, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760871106, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/efa", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Amazon Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260416213159.27510-1-mrgolin@amazon.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: linux-rdma carried a 2026-04 EFA feature series adding completion counters, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260211131048.36217-1-tomsela@amazon.com/", "claim": "A separate 2026-02 EFA patch adds AH usage counter sysfs exposure, showing multiple active Amazon authors and ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/efa.html", "claim": "AWS documents EFA as a current EC2 networking product for AI/ML and HPC, with a long list of supported instance types, so it is still offered for new deployments in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI RDMA driver: Kconfig names 'Amazon Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA) support' and efa_main.c declares Amazon PCI IDs. lore_activity on drivers/infiniband/hw/efa/efa_main.c returned multiple 2025-2026 feature patches (URLs cited), so there is clear active upstream attention and no removal signal in the gathered lore evidence; an attempted lei lore query for removal/deprecation terms failed due local socket sandboxing, so absence of removal talk is inferred from the active patch stream plus the provided recent-touch metadata. AWS EFA product/support status was obtained by web.open on the canonical EC2 User Guide URL, which shows EFA as a current service with many supported instance families. Because EFA is AWS-specific RDMA hardware/interface, there is no like-for-like upstream replacement driver; ENA is complementary IP networking, not a replacement for EFA's RDMA/HPC role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026072825241760328, "commits_5y": 49, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1557161270, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773774065, "top_author": "Michael Margolin", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/erdma", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Alibaba Elastic RDMA Adapter (ERDMA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-rdma/msg133711.html", "claim": "Upstream RDMA maintainer accepted ERDMA fixes in August 2025 ('Applied to for-next' / 'Applied to for-rc'), showing active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/ecs/user-guide/configure-erdma-on-a-cpu-instance", "claim": "Alibaba Cloud documented many eRDMA-capable ECS instance families on March 13, 2026, indicating the hardware/service remains in current deployment and available for new instances." }, { "url": "https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/ecs/user-guide/erdma-usage/", "claim": "Alibaba Cloud states the eRDMA driver is developed in-house, technically supported, and publishes 2025 installer releases, indicating ongoing product support and deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_ERDMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INFINIBAND_ERDMA present in mainline kernels 6.0-6.19/7.0 and identifies PCI ID 1ded:107f for Alibaba Elastic RDMA Adapter." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module metadata and local source mention 'Alibaba Elastic RDMA Adapter'. Lore MCP was unavailable, so upstream-activity evidence came from shell inspection plus web archive mirrors: local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive ERDMA work through 2025-11-03, and a local `git log --grep remove|deprecat|obsolete` scan found no removal discussion. URL evidence was obtained via web search/open: Spinics thread confirms 2025 fixes were accepted upstream; Alibaba Cloud docs show eRDMA-enabled instance families and supported driver releases in 2025-2026; LKDDb confirms current upstream presence and device ID. This is an actively maintained cloud-specific RDMA driver with current deployments, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 78, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1658948078, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762312232, "top_author": "Cheng Xu", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/hfi1", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Cornelis OPX Gen1 / Intel Omni-Path 100 (HFI1)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/175129741787.1859400.7033099190800356659.stgit@awdrv-04.cornelisnetworks.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma still sees substantive 2025 hfi1 work from Cornelis; the series removes the opa_vnic subfeature, not the whole hfi1 driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/64e48bef00630e33f4b8c830cb7d9a69aedc34dc.1738586601.git.leon@kernel.org/", "claim": "hfi1 received normal 2025 upstream cleanup/maintenance patches, indicating the driver is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://www.cornelisnetworks.com/solutions/omni-path-100/", "claim": "Cornelis was still marketing Omni-Path 100 hardware and software, including host adapters, on a page crawled in late 2025/early 2026; this supports 'still sold new in 2025'." }, { "url": "https://www.cornelisnetworks.com/product/cornelis-opx", "claim": "Cornelis OPX software remains an actively marketed software stack for this fabric family, reinforcing that hfi1-backed deployments still exist in a niche HPC market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed Kconfig now names this 'Cornelis OPX Gen1 support' and help text says 'low-level driver for Cornelis OPX Gen1 adapter'; older file headers still reference Intel, matching the Intel Omni-Path 100 lineage. lore_file_timeline on drivers/infiniband/hw/hfi1/chip.c showed 146 touches since 2021 with newest activity in 2026-03 and multiple 2024-2025 events, so the driver is active. The 2025/2026 lore URLs were obtained from lore_file_timeline output; they show targeted subfeature cleanup, not whole-driver removal. The Cornelis URLs were obtained from web search results and show current product marketing for Omni-Path 100/CN-100HFA-class hardware and OPX software. Recommendation is 'keep' because upstream attention is ongoing and the hardware family is still commercially supported, though present-day deployments are likely low because this is a specialized HPC interconnect rather than broad commodity hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07659686433130643, "commits_5y": 161, "substantive_commits_5y": 145, "first_touch_ts": 1464276914, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762413803, "top_author": "Mike Marciniszyn", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/hns", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Hip08 (Kunpeng 920) RoCE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/9-v2-1c49eeb88c48+91-rdma_udata_rep_jgg@nvidia.com/", "claim": "The driver is still seeing upstream changes in 2026; this April 6, 2026 linux-rdma patch touched drivers/infiniband/hw/hns/hns_roce_main.c." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng-920", "claim": "HiSilicon still publishes the Kunpeng 920 product page, describing it as an Arm server CPU with 100G-capable datacenter I/O." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100093459/3c3b9088/technical-specifications", "claim": "A Huawei TaiShan 200 server technical-specifications page published about 8 months before 2026-04-25 still lists multiple Kunpeng 920 processor SKUs; only one SKU is marked EOM, implying the platform family remained marketed into 2025." }, { "url": "https://ubuntu.com/certified/201907-27213", "claim": "Ubuntu certification for Kunpeng 920 lists Huawei HNS GE/10GE/25GE RDMA network controllers, showing real deployed systems using this RDMA hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local tree inspection via shell showed Kconfig names this as 'Hisilicon Hip08 Family RoCE support' and the module as the Hip08 RoCE driver. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on hns_roce_main.c; it shows steady 2021-2026 traffic and a newest touch on 2026-04-06 (source 1), which strongly argues against deprecation. Deployment evidence came from web search/open on official HiSilicon and Huawei support pages plus Ubuntu certification (sources 2-4). Those indicate Kunpeng 920/TaiShan systems and matching HNS RDMA controllers remained present in marketed or certified systems into 2025, but this is a niche enterprise/server platform rather than broad commodity hardware, so deployments_today is low. No natural replacement driver covers the same hardware; other RDMA drivers serve different NICs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04245565675954409, "commits_5y": 304, "substantive_commits_5y": 296, "first_touch_ts": 1471888952, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768471193, "top_author": "Junxian Huang", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/ionic", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "AMD Pensando DSC / Ionic RDMA-RoCE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250903061606.4139957-9-abhijit.gangurde@amd.com", "claim": "Initial upstream RDMA/ionic enablement landed in September 2025 as a multi-patch series for the AMD Pensando/Ionic adapter." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260227061809.2979990-1-abhijit.gangurde@amd.com", "claim": "The driver was still receiving functional bug fixes in February 2026, including a stable-tagged fix for incorrect source MAC handling." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD was actively marketing Pensando DPU technology in 2026, indicating the hardware family remains current rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/pensando-technical-docs/product-briefs/pensando-dsc3-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "AMD's DSC3-400 product brief advertises RDMA/RoCEv2 capabilities on current-generation Pensando hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_IONIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INFINIBAND_IONIC present in mainline kernels starting with 6.18, confirming this is a new in-tree driver rather than a legacy holdover." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed a real auxiliary RDMA driver (Kconfig names AMD Pensando DSC RDMA/RoCE Support; module ionic_rdma). Local git log/show via shell established first merge in Sep 2025 and a substantive fix in Feb 2026, both carrying patch.msgid links cited above. Web search was used for lore/removal reconnaissance and product-status evidence; it surfaced current AMD Pensando product pages and no obvious removal/deprecation thread. Because the driver is new, actively maintained, and targets hardware AMD still markets, removal/deprecation is not justified; there is no same-hardware replacement upstream beyond the required companion net driver ionic.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1757571516, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772610241, "top_author": "Abhijit Gangurde", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/irdma", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet RDMA (X722 / E810 / E823 / IPU E2000)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6125148.html", "claim": "RDMA pull request dated 2026-03-27 says the release contains 'a chunk of irdma related items' and pulls changes up to commit e37afcb56ae0, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg929181.html", "claim": "Stable review carried 'RDMA/irdma: Harden depth calculation functions' in late March 2026, showing recent bug-fix traffic and backport interest." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19632/linux-rdma-driver-for-the-e810-and-x722-intel-ethernet-controllers.html", "claim": "Intel published a current Linux RDMA driver release dated 2026-03-20 and lists supported controllers including X722, E810, and E823, which is strong evidence of ongoing vendor support and current deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/192558/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e810-cqda2.html", "claim": "Intel's E810-CQDA2 product page shows Marketing Status 'Launched', server positioning, a current price, and RDMA capabilities (iWARP and RoCEv2), supporting that relevant hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_IRDMA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INFINIBAND_IRDMA is present through current kernels and identifies supported hardware as IPU E2000, E810, and X722." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection of Kconfig/main.c confirmed module code and supported device families. lore-http MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was established via web search results on spinics (mailing-list mirror) plus local `git log` in the kernel snapshot, which showed multiple substantive irdma fixes on 2026-03-18. Intel product/download pages were obtained via web search/open and show ongoing vendor releases and launched E810 hardware, so this is not obsolete. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same Intel RDMA hardware; recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 251, "substantive_commits_5y": 244, "first_touch_ts": 1622674516, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773829253, "top_author": "Mustafa Ismail", "top_author_commits": 50, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/mana", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA) RDMA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-overview", "claim": "Microsoft says MANA is a next-generation Azure Boost network interface, with Linux driver support, and the page was updated on 2026-02-03." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-existing-sizes", "claim": "Microsoft says MANA was introduced in February 2025 and that many existing Azure VM sizes are eligible to run on MANA-capable hardware." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/setup-dpdk-mana", "claim": "Microsoft documents that MANA DPDK/RDMA on Linux requires the kernel Ethernet driver plus the Linux kernel InfiniBand driver, with kernel 6.2+ for RDMA/InfiniBand." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MANA_INFINIBAND.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MANA_INFINIBAND exists from Linux 6.2 through current HEAD, indicating ongoing upstream presence rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local Kconfig/sources identify this as the Microsoft Azure Network Adapter RDMA driver for Azure cloud VMs. Upstream activity is recent and nontrivial in local git history (feature/fix commits in 2025, plus substantive-window metadata supplied by the task), so this does not fit a deprecation profile. web.run lore-domain searches for removal/deprecation threads returned no obvious hits; no active removal discussion was found. Source acquisition: all cited URLs came from web.run search_query results; non-URL corroboration came from local shell reads of drivers/infiniband/hw/mana/Kconfig and local git log.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 83, "first_touch_ts": 1668159609, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769523371, "top_author": "Konstantin Taranov", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx4", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX HCA family (mlx4 generation; primarily ConnectX-3 / ConnectX-3 Pro)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "mlx5_ib", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/15-v2-1c49eeb88c48+91-rdma_udata_rep_jgg@nvidia.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma carried an April 6, 2026 patch touching drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx4/main.c, showing current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLX4_INFINIBAND.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_MLX4_INFINIBAND as 'Mellanox ConnectX HCA support', building module mlx4_ib, and present through 6.19-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mftv43011210lts/supported-adapter-cards-firmware-versions", "claim": "NVIDIA's December 2, 2025 MFT documentation lists ConnectX-3/ConnectX-3 Pro under 'supported legacy HCAs', not the main current adapter list." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mft/supported-interface-cards-%28nics%29", "claim": "NVIDIA's February 23, 2026 MFT documentation places ConnectX-3 and ConnectX-3 Pro in 'Group I/4th Generation', separate from newer ConnectX-4/5/6/7 hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/ethernet-adapters/", "claim": "NVIDIA's current ConnectX NIC product page markets ConnectX-6 Lx, ConnectX-6 Dx, ConnectX-7 and SuperNIC products, indicating current new-sales focus has moved beyond mlx4-generation hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx4/main.c showed steady activity through April 6, 2026; source URL taken from lore_activity output. `lore_regex` for removal/deprecation subjects timed out once and was not retried, so I only claim positive maintenance evidence, not a proven absence of removal discussion. `web.search_query` + `open` obtained the LKDDb and NVIDIA docs URLs: LKDDb confirms the driver is still in-tree, while NVIDIA docs classify ConnectX-3/3 Pro as legacy and the live product page highlights newer ConnectX generations. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is legacy and likely absent from mainstream new 2025 deployments, but installed-base usage and upstream fix traffic remain real. `mlx5_ib` is the natural replacement for newer Mellanox/NVIDIA RDMA HCAs, though it does not drive the same PCI IDs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09928229443313884, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1178672438, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762413803, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX and BlueField mlx5 RDMA adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/ethernet-adapters/", "claim": "NVIDIA actively markets current ConnectX NICs, including ConnectX-6 Dx and ConnectX-7, for cloud, AI, storage, and enterprise deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7vpi", "claim": "The current ConnectX-7 user manual describes shipping InfiniBand and Ethernet adapter cards, showing the mlx5 family remains an active product line." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7firmwarev28471026/firmware-compatible-products", "claim": "October 2025 GA firmware release notes list supported ConnectX-7 products and protocols, indicating active 2025 support and availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: the supplied static history already shows strong ongoing upstream maintenance for this directory (349 substantive commits in 5y, 69 authors, most recent substantive touch 2026-02-09), which is inconsistent with deprecation. lore_subsystem_churn was queried on the directory prefix via MCP and returned zero sampled patches, but this appears to be a lore path-coverage blind spot for the directory rather than evidence of inactivity; a fallback lei lore query via shell could not run because the sandbox blocked lei-daemon socket startup. The cited NVIDIA URLs were obtained by web search and show the mlx5 hardware family is still sold and documented in 2025, so there is no natural replacement driver and no obsolescence signal here.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03192790228834365, "commits_5y": 359, "substantive_commits_5y": 349, "first_touch_ts": 1373304744, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770612641, "top_author": "Patrisious Haddad", "top_author_commits": 45, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/mthca", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Mellanox InfiniHost (MT23108/MT24204/MT25204/MT25208; Tavor/Arbel/InfiniHost III)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": "mlx5_ib", "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_MTHCA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_INFINIBAND_MTHCA as the ib_mthca driver for Mellanox InfiniHost HCAs including MT23108 and MT25208/Arbel-era devices." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260213-refactor-umem-v1-50-f3be85847922@nvidia.com/", "claim": "linux-rdma carried a 2026 patch titled \"RDMA/mthca: Use generic resize-CQ lock\", showing current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2024012501-retool-cure-1fad@gregkh/", "claim": "mthca code was also pulled through stable trees in 2024, indicating ongoing bug-fix relevance for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://network.nvidia.com/support/firmware/ih3ex", "claim": "NVIDIA's InfiniHost III Ex firmware page shows release dates clustered in 2007-2008, consistent with a long-obsolete product generation." }, { "url": "https://network.nvidia.com/related-docs/eol/EOL_MLNX-15-5241_InfiniHost_III_Ex_Lx.pdf", "claim": "NVIDIA/Mellanox EOL material for InfiniHost III states manufacturing support was ending because the 130nm high-lead product family lost supplier support around 2016, evidencing end-of-life status for this era of hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory; local exec_command/rg on Kconfig identified it as Mellanox InfiniHost/Tavor/Arbel HCA support. lore_activity (MCP) on mthca files found a linux-rdma 2026 functional patch, so there is no sign of active removal and current maintenance argues against deprecate/remove. lore_file_timeline (MCP) on mthca_main.c also showed stable-tree traffic through 2024. Deployment appears legacy-only: web search found LKDDb for device IDs plus NVIDIA firmware pages dated 2007-2008 and an NVIDIA EOL PDF indicating this product era was already end-of-life by roughly 2016. That supports low present-day deployments, not zero, because old InfiniBand clusters can persist in labs/HPC estates. mlx5_ib is the practical upstream successor for new Mellanox RDMA deployments, but not a drop-in hardware replacement for existing cards.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04991242199301958, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771927395, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/ocrdma", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Emulex OneConnect RoCE (Skyhawk / OCe14000-class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260213-refactor-umem-v1-22-f3be85847922@nvidia.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream changes in 2026; this patch specifically updates ocrdma code paths." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The kernel MAINTAINERS entry for 'EMULEX ONECONNECT ROCE DRIVER' marks it as 'Odd Fixes', indicating limited but still present maintenance." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/392509/emulex-lightpulse-lpe12000-lpe16000-oc.html", "claim": "Broadcom states the Emulex OCe14000-series has reached end-of-life and is unsupported on ESXi 8.x; the article says there is no upgrade path for the OCe14000 10GbE FCoE adapter." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12378898", "claim": "Broadcom's OCe14000 firmware release notes are dated January 30, 2017, which is consistent with the family being long out of current product rotation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the driver sources identifies this as the Emulex OneConnect RoCE HCA driver and names the Skyhawk variant in `ocrdma.h`. `lore_file_timeline` MCP on `drivers/infiniband/hw/ocrdma/ocrdma_main.c` showed touches through 2026-03-18, so the code is not abandoned and there is no evidence here of active removal work; that argues against `deprecate`/`remove`. Web search found the kernel MAINTAINERS page showing status 'Odd Fixes', supporting a maintenance-only posture. Web search plus open on Broadcom pages found OCe14000-family EOL/unsupported status and a 2017 firmware release-note date, which together suggest legacy installed-base usage rather than new 2025 deployments. No upstream replacement driver covers the same hardware family; other RDMA drivers serve different NICs, so `replacement_driver` is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09720058920316031, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1336501067, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767603841, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/qedr", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "QLogic/Marvell FastLinQ 41000/45000", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260104-ib-core-misc-v1-5-00367f77f3a8@nvidia.com/", "claim": "qedr still receives upstream RDMA-tree maintenance in 2026; not obviously abandoned or under removal." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets FastLinQ 41000 Ethernet NICs with Universal RDMA (RoCE/RoCEv2/iWARP), indicating ongoing new-hardware availability around 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/45000-ethernet-controllers.html", "claim": "Marvell still lists FastLinQ 45000 controllers supporting 40/50/100/25/10GbE and multiprotocol RDMA, matching qedr's hardware class." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source grep via shell shows qedr is the QLogic/Marvell FastLinQ RoCE/iWARP RDMA driver (main.c advertises 40G/100G RoCE; code references both RoCE and iWARP). lore_activity on drivers/infiniband/hw/qedr/qedr.h returned a 2026 linux-rdma patch touching qedr, so there is still upstream attention; the provided static history also shows 22 substantive commits in 5y with 16 authors, which argues against deprecation. Vendor URLs were obtained by web search for Marvell FastLinQ 41000/45000 pages and show current product marketing, so hardware is still sold new in/after 2025. Deployment is low rather than none because this is a niche enterprise RDMA NIC family, but there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same hardware beyond keeping qedr.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08282567083752937, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1476471610, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767603826, "top_author": "Kamal Heib", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/usnic", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Cisco UCS VIC usNIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260213-refactor-umem-v1-24-f3be85847922@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is still active: RDMA/usnic received API modernization work in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20250324123132.2392077-1-yuehaibing@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver still gets targeted bug fixes, not just treewide churn: a usnic probe fix was posted in March 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/usnic/b/deployment/4-3/b_Cisco_usNIC_Deployment_Guide_For_B-Series_Blade_Servers-4-3.pdf", "claim": "Cisco published a new usNIC deployment guide in April 2025, indicating the feature remained supported for UCS deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/VIC/6-0/b-release-notes-for-cisco-ucs-vic-drivers-rel-6-0.html", "claim": "Cisco published VIC driver release notes in September 2025 / March 2026, showing the broader VIC software stack remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1240/index.html", "claim": "The original VIC 1240 hardware called out by the kernel Kconfig is no longer sold, indicating early usNIC-capable adapters are legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1280/index.html", "claim": "The original VIC 1280 hardware called out by the kernel Kconfig is also no longer sold, reinforcing that this driver mainly serves older Cisco UCS generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on the local tree showed this is a real PCI driver for Cisco VIC/usNIC and Kconfig names VIC 1240/1280. `lore_file_timeline` plus `lore_activity` on `drivers/infiniband/hw/usnic/usnic_ib_main.c` showed substantive linux-rdma work in 2024-2026 and no removal discussion surfaced in the lore checks, so removal/deprecation is not justified. Web search + open on Cisco pages showed the exact 1240/1280 adapters are legacy/no-longer-sold, but Cisco still published a usNIC deployment guide in 2025 and VIC driver release notes in 2025/2026, so the feature appears supported for a narrow UCS/HPC niche rather than broadly dead. No direct upstream replacement driver covers the same Cisco usNIC verbs use case; `enic` is the normal Ethernet path, not a drop-in replacement. Source acquisition: lore URLs from `lore_activity`; Cisco URLs from `web.search_query` and `web.open`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1284188547753956, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1389689068, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760478322, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/hw/vmw_pvrdma", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "VMware PVRDMA paravirtual RDMA adapter", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hyperv/20260213-refactor-umem-v1-21-f3be85847922@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream still carries non-trivial 2026 vmw_pvrdma work ('Provide a modern CQ creation interface'), so the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/2024-11/20241122105308.2150505-11-huangjunxian6@hisilicon.com/", "claim": "Recent 2024 vmw_pvrdma patching continued in linux-rdma ('Support report_port_event() ops')." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147694", "claim": "VMware/Broadcom documents PVRDMA as a paravirtual RDMA device for Linux VMs on ESXi 6.5+; this is a virtual-device niche, not physical hardware sold new." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=1001805", "claim": "VMware/Broadcom still documents PVRDMA as an available virtual adapter type in vSphere, indicating ongoing availability in VMware guest deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kconfig/local source inspection shows a real PCI RDMA driver for 'VMware Paravirtualized RDMA Driver' tied to VMXNET3. lore_file_timeline on pvrdma_main.c returned vmw_pvrdma-specific patches in 2024 and 2026; cited lore URLs were obtained from that MCP output. No removal evidence was found in the gathered lore signals, so active maintenance outweighs niche status. Deployment is likely limited to VMware/Linux guest RDMA setups, so 'low' fits better than none. Web URLs were obtained via web search results turn0search0 and turn0search2.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2133451460634684, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1481745310, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753249331, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: in-tree metadata identifies rdmavt as a common software RDMA verbs transport library/shared provider, not standalone kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12366426329367225, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1457660224, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762413803, "top_author": "Niels Dossche", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "Soft-RoCE / RXE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260425060436.2316620-2-kuniyu@google.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream fix for RXE null-pointer dereference shows current maintenance, not abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260326052739.3778-3-yanjun.zhu@linux.dev/", "claim": "Recent 2026 RXE dma-buf support patch shows ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RDMA_RXE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_RDMA_RXE as the 'Software RDMA over Ethernet (RoCE) driver' and module rdma_rxe." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/es/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/networking_guide/sec-configuring_soft-_roce", "claim": "RHEL documentation describes RXE/Soft-RoCE deployment and configuration, indicating real distro-supported use outside legacy hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "RXE is a real kernel driver, but it is software RDMA over Ethernet rather than a hardware-specific chipset driver. lore_activity on drivers/infiniband/sw/rxe/rxe.c returned April 25, 2026 fix traffic and March 26, 2026 feature work (first two URLs), which argues strongly against deprecation or removal. Web search returned LKDDb and Red Hat docs (last two URLs), showing the module remains shipped and used for Soft-RoCE on ordinary Ethernet NICs. No cited evidence of an active removal series was found; failed timeout-only lore searches were not used as evidence. Result: keep, with the key note that usefulness is in testing/lab/virtualized/software-RDMA deployments rather than tied to sold-new hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03625930720831899, "commits_5y": 365, "substantive_commits_5y": 359, "first_touch_ts": 1470323592, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769594550, "top_author": "Bob Pearson", "top_author_commits": 193, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/sw/siw", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "SoftiWARP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260213-refactor-umem-v1-28-f3be85847922@nvidia.com/", "claim": "siw was still receiving upstream functional refactoring in February 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/b8df72241c683ed6dcc2118318fd3e1a4df1af7e.1751561826.git.metze@samba.org/", "claim": "siw gained SMB Direct related protocol support in July 2025, showing ongoing feature work for current interoperability use cases." }, { "url": "https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/rdma-link.8.html", "claim": "Current rdma tooling still exposes 'siw' as a supported RDMA link type alongside 'rxe', so the software stack continues to support provisioning it." }, { "url": "https://lists.samba.org/archive/samba-technical/2026-February/140607.html", "claim": "2026 Samba/SMB Direct discussion still treats iWARP as a live protocol case, implying present-day niche deployments and testing relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg`/`sed` showed `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Software iWARP Driver\")`, `module_init`, and Kconfig text describing a software RDMA-over-TCP driver. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/infiniband/sw/siw/siw_main.c`, which showed recent 2025-2026 feature/refactor traffic and no removal signal. Removal-discussion regex attempts on lore timed out twice, so I did not rely on them. Deployment evidence came from web search results: `rdma-link(8)` confirms current userspace support for `siw`, and Samba technical discussion from February 2026 shows iWARP/SMB Direct still matters in niche modern setups. This is software-only, not hardware-bound silicon, so there is no \"still sold\" hardware question in the usual sense; present use appears niche but current, so `keep` is more defensible than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04398717973135794, "commits_5y": 88, "substantive_commits_5y": 83, "first_touch_ts": 1562096999, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770295612, "top_author": "Guoqing Jiang", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "InfiniBand HCAs (IPoIB; e.g. NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260116062121.1230184-1-vadim.fedorenko@linux.dev/", "claim": "`ipoib_main.c` was still receiving upstream functional maintenance in January 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251111004535.621967574@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "An `IB/ipoib` fix was backported to stable in November 2025, indicating ongoing deployed-user relevance." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/OFEDv502180/IP%2Bover%2BInfiniBand%2B%28IPoIB%29", "claim": "NVIDIA documents IPoIB as a supported networking mode for ConnectX InfiniBand ports, showing contemporary vendor support and usage guidance." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/ConnectX7VPI/Introduction", "claim": "ConnectX-7 InfiniBand/VPI adapters are current products, so hardware class covered by IPoIB is still sold new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an internal helper: local Kconfig inspection shows `config INFINIBAND_IPOIB` as a loadable IP-over-InfiniBand network driver. `lore_activity` on `drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_main.c` produced the 2026 linux-rdma patch URL and 2025 stable backport URL; `lore_file_timeline` showed steady 2021-2026 activity rather than removal churn. Web search produced the two NVIDIA docs URLs showing both current IPoIB documentation and currently sold ConnectX-7 InfiniBand adapters. This is a generic ULP for active InfiniBand deployments, so there is no like-for-like upstream replacement and no deprecation signal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06182327100266269, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768962087, "top_author": "Cosmin Ratiu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/iser", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "RDMA-capable InfiniBand/RoCE HCAs (generic iSER initiator)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20251107133306.187939-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "`iscsi_iser.c` saw upstream maintenance in November 2025, indicating the driver is still receiving attention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20250604102049.130039-1-lijun01@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "A 2025 linux-rdma patch touched iSER directly; recent traffic is maintenance/cleanup, not removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/sdk/iSER---iSCSI-Extensions-for-RDMA/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA published current 2026 documentation for iSER initiator/targets, showing the protocol remains supported with modern RDMA deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_ISER.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_INFINIBAND_ISER` still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, so the upstream kernel still carries the option." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver/ULP module (`iSCSI Extensions for RDMA`). `lore_activity` on `drivers/infiniband/ulp/iser/iscsi_iser.c` showed 32 touches in the last 5y, including the cited 2025 linux-rdma patches; checked traffic looked like ongoing maintenance rather than deprecation/removal. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no matches, which appears to be a path-index limitation for directories, not evidence of inactivity. Web search found current NVIDIA iSER docs and the LKDDb config page, supporting that iSER still targets currently sold RDMA hardware, but as a niche enterprise/storage deployment rather than mass-market hardware. Source acquisition: first two URLs via `lore_activity`; NVIDIA and LKDDb URLs via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10421410899787437, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1150987865, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762687848, "top_author": "Max Gurtovoy", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/isert", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX and BlueField RDMA adapters (InfiniBand/RoCE iSER target)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20251107133626.190952-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "IB/isert received an explicit upstream patch in November 2025, indicating the code is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20260126181414.105062-4-cel@kernel.org/", "claim": "ib_isert.c was touched again in January 2026 by RDMA/core work, showing continued integration with active RDMA changes." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxofedv24070610", "claim": "NVIDIA's 2024 MLNX_OFED documentation still lists iSER under Storage Protocols and states new RDMA software features moved into DOCA-OFED starting January 2025, so the use case remains part of current vendor-supported RDMA stacks." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxofedv522240/general+support+in+mlnx_ofed", "claim": "NVIDIA documents support for modern ConnectX-4/5/6 and BlueField adapter families, indicating the underlying RDMA hardware class is still current rather than obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the in-kernel iSER target transport (`MODULE_DESCRIPTION` and Kconfig). `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/infiniband/ulp/isert/ib_isert.c` showed steady activity through 2025-2026, with recent lore URLs above; reviewed recent subjects were maintenance/integration, not removal. Two narrower removal-subject `lore_regex` attempts timed out, so no stronger negative claim is made. Web search + `open` on NVIDIA docs showed iSER still documented in current RDMA software stacks and modern ConnectX/BlueField families still supported. Conclusion: niche enterprise/HPC storage target deployments persist, but usage is specialized and likely low-volume; keep the driver, annotate it as niche rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13282034556843178, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1366877381, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762687858, "top_author": "Max Gurtovoy", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs` is an RDMA upper-layer protocol/software transport module, not a hardware-bound device driver for a specific chipset or device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04983191961081357, "commits_5y": 144, "substantive_commits_5y": 137, "first_touch_ts": 1589752633, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768309274, "top_author": "Jack Wang", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/srp", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "InfiniBand/RoCE RDMA HCAs (SRP initiator)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20250624125233.219635-2-hch@lst.de/", "claim": "Upstream still takes targeted ib_srp fixes in 2025; this patch adjusts driver behavior rather than staging removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250219082658.878299137@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "An ib_srp fix was backported to stable in February 2025, indicating continued production relevance." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/archive/2-9-4/srp---scsi-rdma-protocol/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's 2026 DOCA/OFED documentation still documents SRP initiator setup, sysfs, discovery tools, and HA workflows for ib_srp deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxofedv24070610/introduction", "claim": "Current NVIDIA OFED documentation lists modern ConnectX/BlueField adapter families with InfiniBand/RDMA support, showing the underlying HCA class is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.0/admin-guide/abi-stable.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still carries stable userspace ABI entries for /sys/class/infiniband_srp and the ib_srp driver interface." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell read of Kconfig says 'InfiniBand SCSI RDMA Protocol' and accesses remote SRP storage over InfiniBand. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/infiniband/ulp/srp/ib_srp.c: recent 2025-2026 fixes and API updates, plus a 2025 stable backport, with no removal signal in the sampled activity. Deployment looks niche rather than dead: web search found current NVIDIA DOCA/OFED SRP deployment docs and current OFED adapter-family docs for still-sold ConnectX/BlueField RDMA hardware. I used the kernel ABI doc from web search as additional evidence that ib_srp still exposes maintained user-visible interfaces. Conclusion: keep in-tree, but annotate as a low-volume, specialized enterprise/HPC storage protocol with no obvious in-tree replacement for the same SRP target ecosystem.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012035647052073814, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1130969233, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/infiniband/ulp/srpt", "subsystem": "infiniband", "chipset_family": "SRP target over InfiniBand/RDMA (ib_srpt)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rdma/20250403125955.2553106-1-alok.a.tiwari@oracle.com/", "claim": "SRPT still receives targeted upstream fixes/features; a 2025 patch adds support for specifying the srpt_service_guid parameter." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INFINIBAND_SRPT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_INFINIBAND_SRPT remains present in current kernels and builds the ib_srpt module; LKDDb describes it as the InfiniBand SCSI RDMA Protocol target driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7firmwarev28471088lts/firmware-compatible-products", "claim": "New InfiniBand-capable adapter hardware was still being shipped/supported in 2025; NVIDIA ConnectX-7 2025 firmware docs list active InfiniBand protocol support." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/networking_guide/sec-configuring_the_base_rdma_subsystem", "claim": "Enterprise Linux documentation describes configuring and using Linux SRP targets via targetcli, showing the stack had real deployment documentation rather than being purely historical." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`ib_srpt` is a real kernel target-fabric driver, not a helper library. Evidence gathered via local shell (`rg`) shows module_init and target fabric ops in ib_srpt.c; lore_file_timeline showed ongoing 2024-2026 maintenance, including a 2025 SRPT-specific patch and no sampled removal activity. Web search provided LKDDb for current kernel presence, NVIDIA ConnectX-7 docs for new InfiniBand hardware availability in 2025, and Red Hat docs showing deployable SRP-target workflows. Conclusion: niche storage-fabric code with low modern deployments, but still maintained and still usable with current RDMA hardware, so keep it but annotate as niche/legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15771772547452825, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1324017236, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758454489, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level input subsystem directory containing core/input-framework code and assorted infrastructure rather than one specific kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11097272560332551, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 70, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757939575, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/gameport", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "PC gameport / joystick port (NS558-class and gameports on legacy PCI/ISA audio cards)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": "usbhid", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/PAXPR02MB72483F512F863C74A4AECA2B8BFB2@PAXPR02MB7248.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com/", "claim": "Recent subsystem activity exists, but a 2024 linux-input patch against gameport was a small cleanup rather than new hardware support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250507175338.672442-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory was still touched in 2025, but via a large treewide timer API rename, indicating maintenance compatibility rather than product momentum." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GAMEPORT.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_GAMEPORT still exists upstream and maps to legacy ISA/PCI-era hardware such as SB Live/Audigy game ports and FM801-era devices." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_port", "claim": "The IBM PC game port was common in the 1980s/1990s and was made obsolete by USB in the late 1990s." }, { "url": "https://us.creative.com/go/p/1/24560", "claim": "A current 2026 Audigy-branded internal sound card is PCIe audio hardware with modern audio I/O, not a legacy DA-15 gameport product." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. lore_file_timeline on drivers/input/gameport/gameport.c showed continued but sparse activity, dominated by treewide refactors plus one minor 2024 linux-input cleanup; no removal thread was found in the lore checks I ran. Web search found LKDDb confirming the driver targets legacy ISA/PCI gameport hardware, Wikipedia stating the PC game port was obsoleted by USB, and a current Creative Audigy product page showing the surviving product line no longer exposes gameport functionality. 2005 is an inference from those sources: gameport hardware lingered on early-2000s sound cards after mainstream obsolescence, but appears absent from modern new hardware. Recommendation: deprecate rather than remove, because upstream still carries low-level maintenance and legacy retro/industrial deployments likely persist at low volume.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23477537866817486, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755802859, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/joystick", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Mixed joystick/gamepad controllers (xpad plus legacy gameport/serio/parport and newer I2C/SPI boards)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5650713.html", "claim": "April 2025 upstream patch added a new 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller ID to xpad, showing active support for newly sold hardware in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5660526.html", "claim": "The 8BitDo xpad patch was explicitly applied by the input maintainer, indicating normal upstream maintenance rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6039456.html", "claim": "February 2026 patch added BETOP BTP-KP50B/C wireless-mode support to xpad, showing very recent submission activity in the directory." }, { "url": "https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-2-wireless-controller/", "claim": "8BitDo marketed the Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller as a current product, consistent with xpad gaining support for it." }, { "url": "https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-2.4g-wireless-controller/", "claim": "8BitDo still sells current X-input style wireless controllers, supporting the view that joystick/xpad-class hardware remains in new consumer deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this is an active subsystem directory with many distinct drivers, including modern xpad, adc-joystick, qwiic-joystick, psxpad-spi, fsia6b, Sense HAT, and seesaw entries alongside legacy gameport/serial/parport drivers. Local `git log` (with safe.directory override) showed frequent 2024-2026 substantive touches, dominated by xpad device support and bug fixes. Web search found recent public mailing-list threads via spinics for 2025 and 2026 xpad additions, plus current vendor product pages for supported controllers. No removal/deprecation series surfaced in the limited mailing-list search sample. Conclusion: do not deprecate or remove the directory as a whole; keep it, but annotate that several leaf drivers inside are legacy and should be reviewed individually.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.011872631028360194, "commits_5y": 121, "substantive_commits_5y": 112, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775281050, "top_author": "Vicki Pfau", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 35, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/joystick/iforce", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Immersion I-Force force-feedback joystick/wheel devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/20240904043104.1030257-4-dmitry.torokhov@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream still touched the driver recently; a 2024 linux-input patch cleaned up locking/guard usage in iforce." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-input/887021c3-4f13-40ce-c8b9-aa6e09faa3a7@I-love.SAKURA.ne.jp/", "claim": "The driver also received a functional bug fix in 2022, indicating some real maintenance rather than total abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/JOYSTICK_IFORCE_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver is specifically for old I-Force USB wheels/joysticks such as Logitech WingMan Formula Force, Thrustmaster Motor Sport GT, Saitek R440, and similar devices." }, { "url": "https://www.bestbuy.com/site/saitek-force-feedback-wheel/4315565.p?skuId=4315565", "claim": "A representative supported device page (Saitek R440) is marked as no longer available in new condition, supporting that this hardware family is not sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.gamespot.com/articles/getting-new-grips-with-logitech/1100-2464683/", "claim": "A contemporaneous 2000 launch article for Logitech WingMan Formula Force places the family in the early-2000s consumer-PC peripheral era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via `rg` showed supported devices are legacy USB/RS232 force-feedback wheels/joysticks (Logitech WingMan Force/Formula Force, Saitek R440, Guillemot, ACT LABS, AVB, Thrustmaster) and no obvious successor driver covers the same protocol, so replacement_driver=null. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/input/joystick/iforce/iforce-usb.c`; it showed 2022 bug-fix traffic and a 2024 cleanup patch, with no removal discussion surfaced in the sampled history, so this is not dead code. Deployment is likely low today because these are niche retro-gaming peripherals and serial variants are especially legacy, but some hobbyist use likely remains. `last_widely_available_year=2005` is an inference from web-searched contemporaneous product-era evidence (2000 launch article, 2004 manual/2005 reviews in search results) plus 2025 retailer pages showing only discontinued/no-new-condition status.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24807344752111127, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755802859, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/keyboard", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a subsystem container holding many unrelated keyboard drivers, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver for one chipset family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03530150943679356, "commits_5y": 345, "substantive_commits_5y": 329, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769933100, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 83, "c_file_count": 66, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/misc", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Miscellaneous input devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/input/misc", "claim": "The directory remains actively maintained, with fixes and new support landing through 2025-2026 rather than showing removal-only churn." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/input/misc/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig covers a broad, still-relevant mix of devices and use cases, including modern PMIC power keys, capacitive controllers, haptics, and `uinput`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INPUT_UINPUT.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_INPUT_UINPUT` is still present through Linux 7.0, indicating an actively used non-legacy deployment niche inside this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.azoteq.com/product/iqs7222a/", "claim": "Azoteq markets the IQS7222A touch/proximity controller in 2025, showing this directory still covers currently sold hardware families." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/azoteq-pty-ltd/IQS7222-EV02C-S/16187643", "claim": "A current distributor listing shows the IQS7222 evaluation kit as an active product, reinforcing present-day availability of hardware served by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`git -c safe.directory=... log` and `sed` on `drivers/input/misc/Kconfig`) showed substantive activity through 2026-04-08 (`uinput` fixes), late-2025 additions (`pf1550-onkey`, TWL603x power button), and recent configs such as IQS7222. The two kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall URLs mapped to those local findings. The LKDDb, Azoteq, and DigiKey URLs were obtained via web search. A web search against lore (`site:lore.kernel.org/all \"drivers/input/misc\" remove/deprecate`) found no removal discussion, so the evidence supports keeping this active mixed-driver subtree rather than deprecating it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.00793741630362603, "commits_5y": 285, "substantive_commits_5y": 272, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775668609, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 91, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/mouse", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Mixed mouse and touchpad controllers (PS/2, SMBus/I2C, USB, platform, and VMware guest mouse)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/input/mouse/Kconfig", "claim": "This directory is the main Linux mouse/touchpad driver collection, including PS/2, serial, USB, I2C/SMBus, platform, and VMware guest support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=fc1e8a6f129d", "claim": "The directory received a substantive upstream fix on 2026-02-18 (bcm5974 mode-switch recovery), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8a8e63fedbe4", "claim": "The directory also received a substantive appletouch resume/open race fix in the same recent window, showing continuing bug-fix traffic across device families." }, { "url": "https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/b100-usb-business-mouse.html", "claim": "New commodity mice are still sold, with Logitech listing a current USB mouse compatible with Linux." }, { "url": "https://www.vmware.com/docs/desktop-hypervisor-faqs", "claim": "VMware Workstation/Fusion remain current products with ongoing updates in 2025, supporting continued relevance of the in-tree VMware guest mouse path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg` and `sed` on the local tree showed this is an active top-level driver directory, not a helper/test/doc path, and confirmed broad present-day scope including PS/2 touchpads, ELAN/Cypress/Synaptics I2C/SMBus devices, USB touchpads, serial mice, and `vmmouse`. `git -c safe.directory ... log` provided the recent commit IDs used for the two kernel.org commit URLs; those kernel URLs and the Kconfig tree URL are canonical kernel.org pages recalled from the local path/IDs. `web.search_query` and `web.open`/`find` produced the Logitech and VMware URLs. A web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion returned no hits, while local history shows substantial 2025-2026 maintenance, so there is no evidence supporting deprecation or removal at directory level.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03562063431082886, "commits_5y": 110, "substantive_commits_5y": 100, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771454703, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/rmi4", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Synaptics RMI4", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/input/rmi4", "claim": "Upstream `drivers/input/rmi4` continues to receive fixes and feature work in current kernels rather than being dormant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/?q=synaptics-rmi4", "claim": "A lore query for the driver family does not surface an obvious removal/deprecation series, which argues against imminent retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RMI4_CORE.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_RMI4_CORE` remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, showing the core driver is still upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RMI4_I2C.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_RMI4_I2C` remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, including the `syna,rmi4-i2c` device-tree compatible, indicating ongoing transport support for real hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RMI4_F11.html", "claim": "RMI4 Function 11 remains upstream and explicitly covers 2D multifinger pointing for touchscreens and touchpads, matching continued end-user deployments." }, { "url": "https://drivers.synaptics.com/products/touch-controllers", "claim": "Synaptics still markets ClearPad touch-controller products, supporting the inference that the broader hardware family remains commercially relevant." }, { "url": "https://www.synaptics.com/company/news/synaptics-unveils-next-generation-touch-controller-engineered", "claim": "Synaptics announced new touch-controller products on April 14, 2025, showing the vendor still sells new touch-controller hardware in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory for Synaptics RMI4 touch/touchpad controllers over I2C/SMBus/SPI. Local `exec_command` inspection of the tree identified Synaptics RMI4 bus and transport drivers; local `git log` via `exec_command` showed substantive fixes/features through 2026-02-23, including new F1A/F21 support in 2025-2026, so the code is actively maintained. For public-history context, a lore query URL was used by canonical recall after a `web.search` for lore hits found no obvious removal/deprecation discussion. LKDDb pages were obtained via `web.search` and show core, I2C, and pointing-function support still present in 7.0-rc+HEAD. Synaptics product and 2025 press-release pages were obtained via `web.search`; they do not explicitly name RMI4, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` is an inference from continued Synaptics touch-controller sales plus ongoing upstream enablement, not a direct vendor RMI4 catalog statement. Net: maintained code, no clear removal push, and continued plausible laptop/embedded deployments justify `keep` rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.041483913592220166, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1457654559, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771888078, "top_author": "Matthias Schiffer", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/serio", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "serio bus / PS/2-class input host controllers (i8042, Hyper-V synthetic keyboard, and platform PS/2 adapters)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/input/serio", "claim": "The directory continues to receive upstream changes in current kernels, which is inconsistent with an obsolescent or removal-ready subsystem." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/input/serio/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes core Serial I/O support, keeps SERIO and SERIO_I8042 enabled-by-default options, and shows the directory still covers mainstream PS/2 plus active platform/VM guest cases." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/virt/hyperv/vmbus.html", "claim": "Hyper-V still exposes synthetic keyboard and mouse devices to Linux guests, so this directory serves active virtualization deployments, not only legacy bare-metal hardware." }, { "url": "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2022-06/msg04694.html", "claim": "QEMU maintains a documented I8042/PS/2 device interface, indicating continued relevance for virtual machine input paths that Linux serio/i8042 supports." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Makefile/Kconfig shows this is a live subsystem directory containing the serio core plus many host-controller drivers, not a single dead chipset. No removal/deprecation signal was found in local history probes; static metadata already shows 130 substantive commits in 5 years with a 2026-02-23 touch. Source acquisition: kernel.org log URL and Kconfig tree URL are canonical-recall stable pages corresponding to the inspected path; Hyper-V VMBus page was obtained via web search (turn1search3); QEMU I8042 interface mail was obtained via web search (turn0search2). Recommendation is keep because current upstream activity is strong and deployments remain meaningful on x86 systems and VM guests.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03136916694185028, "commits_5y": 138, "substantive_commits_5y": 130, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771882919, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/tablet", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Legacy standalone USB/serial graphics tablets (Acecad, Aiptek HyperPen/Genius G-PEN, Hanwang Art Master, KB Gear JamStudio, Pegasus Notetaker, Wacom protocol 4 serial)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TABLET_USB_AIPTEK.html", "claim": "Kernel still ships support for Aiptek 6000U/8000U and Genius G-PEN tablets via this directory; hardware IDs are legacy USB tablet products." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TABLET_USB_HANWANG.html", "claim": "Kernel still ships Hanwang Art Master III support from this directory; devices are specific legacy USB tablet models." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TABLET_USB_KBTAB.html", "claim": "Kernel still ships KB Gear JamStudio USB tablet support from this directory; device is a single old JamStudio tablet." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TABLET_SERIAL_WACOM4.html", "claim": "Kernel still ships Wacom protocol 4 serial tablet support from this directory, explicitly for serial-era Cintiq/Graphire/PenPartner devices." }, { "url": "https://support.wacom.com/hc/en-us/articles/4418603622295-Are-Wacom-devices-supported-under-Linux", "claim": "Current Wacom Linux support exists for modern hardware, indicating ongoing market demand is served elsewhere than these serial-era drivers." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPTEK", "claim": "Aiptek is described in the past tense as a former manufacturer associated with HyperPen-era graphics tablets, reinforcing the legacy status of that hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed six concrete driver modules for named legacy tablet products/vendors, not a helper library. lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/input/tablet) and lore_subsystem_churn(scope=path:drivers/input/tablet/) both returned zero lore hits, so I found no evidence of an active public removal series or sustained mailing-list discussion for the directory itself. The prompt's static metadata still shows 10 substantive commits in the last 5 years with a latest touch on 2025-10-18, so this is not abandoned enough to justify deprecation/removal. Web search produced LKDDb pages for Aiptek, Hanwang, KB Gear, and Wacom serial4, all pointing to very specific early-USB/serial tablet models; Wacom's current Linux-support page suggests modern deployments are handled by current Wacom stacks, not these legacy subdrivers. Recommendation is keep-annotate: niche legacy hardware, low present deployment, but still receiving occasional maintenance and no visible removal push.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16805656214091277, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1178602889, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760749455, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/input/touchscreen", "subsystem": "input", "chipset_family": "Touchscreen controllers (mixed vendors)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INPUT_TOUCHSCREEN.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows INPUT_TOUCHSCREEN still covers many current IDs across ACPI/I2C/OF/platform bindings through 6.19/7.0, including recently added controllers and boards." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/input/touchscreen/Makefile", "claim": "The directory is an actively maintained umbrella for a large set of touchscreen drivers across many vendors and buses, not a single legacy device driver." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-touch-display-2/", "claim": "New touchscreen-equipped hardware was still on sale in the mid-2020s, demonstrating ongoing new deployments for this subsystem class." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Makefile/Kconfig showed ~100+ concrete touchscreen drivers, and local git log for 2025-2026 showed recent substantive changes plus new-driver additions (for example Hynitron CST816x and current fixes for Goodix/Atmel/Novatek-class devices), with no sign of subsystem-wide removal. URL evidence: LKDDb page obtained via web search; git.kernel.org tree URL and Raspberry Pi product page used by canonical recall of stable pages. Because this path is a broad, still-active subsystem directory with contemporary hardware support, the correct outcome is keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0354412073595145, "commits_5y": 518, "substantive_commits_5y": 502, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769319751, "top_author": "Dmitry Torokhov", "top_author_commits": 91, "c_file_count": 111, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/interconnect", "subsystem": "interconnect", "chipset_family": "SoC on-chip interconnect / NoC providers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2023/10/qualcomm-unleashes-snapdragon-x-elite--the-ai-super-charged-plat", "claim": "Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100 family covered by this directory) was launched for new PCs, indicating current-market deployment rather than legacy-only status." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/05/snapdragon-x-series-is-the-exclusive-platform-to-power-the-next-", "claim": "Qualcomm states Snapdragon X Elite/X Plus systems from major OEMs were available starting June 18, 2024, confirming broad commercial deployment of hardware supported by drivers/interconnect/qcom." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-9400", "claim": "MediaTek markets the Dimensity 9400 as a current flagship smartphone SoC, matching the directory's actively updated MediaTek interconnect support for recent MT81xx-class parts." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M Plus as Active and positions it for industrial/edge deployments, matching the i.MX8M interconnect drivers in this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTERCONNECT_QCOM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTERCONNECT_QCOM present through current kernel series and tied to drivers/interconnect/qcom, indicating ongoing upstream support rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTERCONNECT_MTK.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTERCONNECT_MTK in current kernels for drivers/interconnect/mediatek, including recent MT8183/MT8195 support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/interconnect/Kconfig, Makefile, and file list shows this is a live SoC interconnect subsystem with real provider drivers under qcom/, mediatek/, imx/, and samsung/, not a helper-only directory. Local git log (shell, using safe.directory override) shows substantive activity through 2025-11-24 and 2026-03-14, including new MT8196 support, KUnit additions, and bug fixes; that strongly argues against deprecation. I also searched lore.kernel.org via web search for removal/deprecation threads and found no hits, so there is no evidence of an active upstream removal effort from the tools available here. Source URLs above were obtained by web search; the LKDDb pages confirm current kernel presence, while Qualcomm/MediaTek/NXP product pages show the supported hardware class is still in new PC, phone, and industrial deployments. Because this directory services current SoC families and is still receiving upstream fixes/features, the correct disposition is keep, with no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1548160645, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768313907, "top_author": "Mike Tipton", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/interconnect/imx", "subsystem": "interconnect", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8M SoCs (i.MX8MM, i.MX8MN, i.MX8MQ, i.MX8MP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260408153022.401123-1-vulab@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "The common i.MX interconnect core still received a bug-fix patch in April 2026 ('fix use-after-free in imx_icc_node_init_qos()'), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20241017154920.136220-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The i.MX interconnect code was part of a 2024 API-conversion series ('Switch back to struct platform_driver::remove()'), showing routine upkeep, not deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/2022-07/20220703091132.1412063-9-peng.fan@oss.nxp.com/", "claim": "The directory covers at least i.MX8MP specifically; this file-level history also shows the driver family was being expanded for newer i.MX8M variants rather than phased out." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX 8M Plus as 'Active', supporting the conclusion that covered hardware remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MMINI?lang=en&lang_cd=en", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX 8M Mini as 'Active', reinforcing that the i.MX8M family supported by this directory is still in current embedded/industrial deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `rg -n`, `sed`) showed this directory is a real interconnect driver family for i.MX8MM/MN/MQ/MP, not helper-only code. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/interconnect/imx/imx.c` and `imx8mp.c` showed ongoing patch traffic through 2026-04 plus 2024 maintenance/API churn and 2022 feature expansion; sampled lore activity showed no removal thread, only fixes/maintenance. Web search found official NXP product pages marking i.MX8M Plus and i.MX8M Mini as Active, so hardware is still sold new and still relevant in industrial/embedded deployments. No single upstream replacement driver exists; these are the SoC-specific providers for that hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3066275756701474, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1588093382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729589658, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/interconnect/mediatek", "subsystem": "interconnect", "chipset_family": "MediaTek DVFSRC EMI interconnect (MT8183/MT8195/MT8196)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b45293799f75e002d5da9d9e3d2a5c418f492fd0", "claim": "The driver directory was added upstream on 2024-06-13 for MT8183 and MT8195 EMI interconnect support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ce69a970390ce182ccece5dea61083588ca5379a", "claim": "Upstream added MT8196 EMI interconnect support on 2025-12-21, indicating ongoing enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git01.mediatek.com/plugins/gitiles/filogic/atf/%2B/873028610ff667239ea0b80fadfa8024399e206f/docs/plat/mt8196.rst", "claim": "MediaTek's MT8196 platform documentation describes MT8196 as a 2024 SoC and shows a Linux/coreboot-oriented boot flow." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-kompanio-ultra-to-redefine-on-device-ai-and-performance-for-chromebook-plus", "claim": "MediaTek announced a new Chromebook compute platform on 2025-04-02, showing current commercial deployment of new MediaTek laptop-class SoCs in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: platform interconnect providers for mediatek,mt8183-emi / mt8195-emi / mt8196-emi. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and .c files confirmed driver entrypoints and supported compatibles. Local shell `git log` showed 6 substantive commits since introduction, with latest fixes and MT8196 support on 2025-12-21; kernel.org commit URLs were then formed via canonical recall from those hashes. Web search found no lore.kernel.org removal/deprecation hits for this directory, so there is no evidence of active upstream removal talk. The MT8196 platform doc URL was obtained by web search; the MediaTek 2025 Kompanio Ultra press URL was obtained by web search. Taken together, this is recently introduced, still expanding, and tied to currently shipping MediaTek compute silicon, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1718278303, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766318394, "top_author": "Nicolas Frattaroli", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/interconnect/qcom", "subsystem": "interconnect", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon/SA/SC/QCS/SDX SoC interconnect fabric (NoC/RPMh/SMD-RPM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20260422-x1e80100_qos-v1-2-bcc2afe4cc78@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: April 22, 2026 patch adds QoS configuration support for the X1E80100 Qualcomm interconnect driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20251031-rework-icc-v3-24-0575304c9624@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "The directory is seeing substantial 2025 rework on new Qualcomm platforms such as SM8750, indicating maintenance and platform enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/09/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-5--the-world-s-fastest-mobile-system-on-a", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching new Snapdragon 8-series mobile SoCs in 2025 for new flagship devices, showing the covered hardware family remains commercially current." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2023/10/qualcomm-unleashes-snapdragon-x-elite--the-ai-super-charged-plat", "claim": "Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite PC platform maps to a currently deployed class of Qualcomm compute SoCs covered by this directory's recent X1E80100 support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local Kconfig inspection shows many Qualcomm SoC-specific interconnect drivers under INTERCONNECT_QCOM. Lore evidence was obtained with mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on representative current files (x1e80100.c, sm8750.c); results show active feature work and refactoring through 2026, not removal. A subject-only removal/deprecation lore_regex query timed out, and a fallback lei query failed due local daemon permission errors; no removal evidence was found in the successful lore samples. Deployment judgment is based on official Qualcomm product-release pages found with web.search_query, which show new Snapdragon mobile and PC SoCs in 2025 and ongoing relevance of the same interconnect-driver family. No natural replacement exists: these are platform-specific Qualcomm NoC provider drivers, not a legacy stack superseded by another upstream driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019157066863000685, "commits_5y": 290, "substantive_commits_5y": 288, "first_touch_ts": 1548160645, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773485593, "top_author": "Konrad Dybcio", "top_author_commits": 89, "c_file_count": 47, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/interconnect/samsung", "subsystem": "interconnect", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos SoC interconnect (Exynos 3250/4210/4412/542x/5433)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/interconnect/samsung/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig says this directory is for Samsung SoC interconnect drivers and names Exynos3250, Exynos4210, Exynos4412, Exynos542x, and Exynos5433." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-samsung-soc/20250623142437.23068-1-johan+linaro@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver had a real bug-fix patch in June 2025, showing current upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category%3ASamsung_Exynos", "claim": "postmarketOS notes most Exynos ARM SoCs released up until 2014 are well supported in mainline Linux and lists Exynos 3250, 4210, 4412, 5422, and 5433 with release years from 2011 to 2014." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Exynos_4412_Quad", "claim": "The Exynos 4 family page gives 2011-2014 release years and shows ongoing mainline support on legacy phones/boards, indicating residual but niche deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of Kconfig/exynos.c identified the family and exact supported SoCs; kernel.org URL supplied from canonical recall for citation. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on drivers/interconnect/samsung/exynos.c showed multiple 2024-2025 fixes, including a June 23, 2025 fix patch, so this is not removal-candidate code and there was no removal signal in the timeline. Web search surfaced postmarketOS Exynos pages showing these SoCs are 2011-2014-era parts with some current mainline use on old devices, which supports low present-day deployment and no new-sales case in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the hardware-specific interconnect provider for those Exynos SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.26412376155661893, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1606749982, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750690749, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level IOMMU subsystem directory containing framework code and multiple vendor IOMMU drivers, not one discrete hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006250288368955438, "commits_5y": 904, "substantive_commits_5y": 895, "first_touch_ts": 1308055661, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775736433, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 180, "c_file_count": 34, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/amd", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "AMD I/O Virtualization Technology (AMD-Vi / AMD IOMMU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_IOMMU.html", "claim": "CONFIG_AMD_IOMMU is a current kernel config for AMD IOMMU support, defined in drivers/iommu/amd/Kconfig and present through recent 6.x kernels." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/arch/x86/iommu.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still documents AMD IVRS/AMD IOMMU as part of active x86 IOMMU support." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/processor-tech-docs/specifications/48882_IOMMU.pdf", "claim": "AMD continues to publish a modern AMD IOMMU architecture specification; the public revision shown is 3.09 from October 2023." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/9005-series.html", "claim": "AMD EPYC 9005 server CPUs are current products, indicating AMD server platforms with integrated AMD IOMMU capability are still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-3-11-amd-unveils-5th-gen-amd-epyc-embedded-processors-d.html", "claim": "AMD launched 5th Gen EPYC Embedded processors in 2025, supporting continued new embedded/industrial deployments on AMD platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on drivers/iommu/amd/Kconfig and `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/iommu/amd`) shows this is an active hardware IOMMU driver with substantial 2025-2026 functional work: nested-domain/iommufd enablement, probe/error-path fixes, IRQ handling, SNP-related changes, and TLB invalidation concurrency fixes. Web search was used to obtain the LKDDb page, upstream kernel docs, AMD IOMMU spec PDF, and current EPYC/EPYC Embedded product pages. `lei` was unavailable locally, so lore-specific verification fell back to public web searches for removal/deprecation chatter; none was found. There is no natural replacement driver because this is the native AMD platform IOMMU implementation for current x86 AMD systems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 457, "substantive_commits_5y": 452, "first_touch_ts": 1591804002, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773752522, "top_author": "Vasant Hegde", "top_author_commits": 141, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/arm/arm-smmu", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "Arm System MMU (SMMU v1/v2, incl. CoreLink MMU-500 derivatives)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260313-smmu-rpm-v2-1-8c2236b402b0@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-13 the driver still receives functional fixes on linux-iommu, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260121141215.29658-1-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-01-21 arm-smmu subcomponents were still being fixed and adjusted for driver-core changes, showing current integration work." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Arm%20Developer%20Community/PDF/Support%20Training%20-%20Agendas/Arm%20System%20MMU.pdf?hash=705B3CD552044EC77BBAC1053C450BE2483C1A79&la=en&revision=f6cecb4d-5db6-458e-ac52-61ba082b2e59", "claim": "Arm's 2026 System MMU training material still covers SMMUv2/MMU-500 alongside newer MMU-600/MMU-700 parts, evidence that the IP family remains relevant in current SoC work." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/global/products/flexible-access-doc/arm-flexible-access-data-sheet.pdf?rev=d909b8de8d864be5ba32cfdf7de4ce0a&revision=d909b8de-8d86-4be5-ba32-cfdf7de4ce0a", "claim": "Arm Flexible Access material published in 2025 still lists CoreLink MMU-500 as an available IP block, supporting that related hardware/IP was still being offered in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local source inspection showed Kconfig entry 'ARM Ltd. System MMU (SMMU) Support' for SMMU architecture v1/v2 and Qualcomm/NVIDIA implementation files. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on arm-smmu.c showed heavy multi-year traffic through 2026, including bug-fix patches and stable backports; no removal signal surfaced in the timeline. A broader removal-subject lore_regex query timed out and sandboxed lei could not start, so the recommendation relies on strong positive maintenance evidence rather than exhaustive negative proof. Arm web search results supplied the 2026 SMMU training PDF and 2025 Flexible Access datasheet showing MMU-500/SMMUv2 still marketed/taught, so this is not obsolete legacy-only hardware. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same installed base; arm-smmu-v3 is a different architecture generation, not a drop-in replacement for v1/v2 deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.044642293170627505, "commits_5y": 160, "substantive_commits_5y": 157, "first_touch_ts": 1595850790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769092795, "top_author": "Robin Murphy", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/arm/arm-smmu-v3", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "Arm System MMU v3 (SMMUv3)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260424085339.3503582-1-joonwonkang@google.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-24 the driver is still receiving new feature RFCs, here enabling per-device SSID space for SVA." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260424151639.GE3611611@ziepe.ca/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-24 the driver is under active core maintenance, including pm_runtime and system sleep support work." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/grace/patches-config-guide/platform-software-patches-config.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's Grace platform documentation lists ARM SMMU v3 related kernel configuration as required for bare-metal platform support, indicating current production deployment dependency." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/dccpu/patches-config-guide/virt-platform-software-patches-config_grace.html", "claim": "NVIDIA documents arm-smmu-v3 and Tegra241 CMDQV patches as required for Grace guest/host virtualization support, showing ongoing use in current datacenter platforms." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/grace/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's Grace CPU and GH200 Grace Hopper systems are current shipping products, anchoring SMMUv3 hardware in new 2025+ deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg`/`sed` inspection shows `module_driver(...)` in `arm-smmu-v3.c` and header text says 'ARM architected SMMUv3 implementations'. `lore_file_timeline` on `arm-smmu-v3.c` shows heavy recent activity through 2026-04-24 with many authors, which argues strongly against deprecation. `lore_regex` subject search for `arm-smmu-v3` returned multiple April 2026 patch threads for new functionality and bugfixes. Web `search_query` found current NVIDIA Grace docs tying arm-smmu-v3 support to shipping Grace/Tegra241 platforms. No natural replacement exists for SMMUv3 hardware; this is the upstream driver for that architecture.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03681812048319439, "commits_5y": 280, "substantive_commits_5y": 274, "first_touch_ts": 1595850790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769851328, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 82, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/generic_pt/fmt", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generic IOMMU page-table format/library code shared by other drivers, not a hardware-bound kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1762330027, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774600908, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/intel", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "Intel VT-d / DMAR", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg925796.html", "claim": "March 2026 stable backport for a vt-d hardlockup fix shows current upstream/stable maintenance and production relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg926770.html", "claim": "March 2026 stable backport for PRI/SVA IOPF handling shows ongoing feature and correctness work in the Intel vt-d driver." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/9/18/228", "claim": "September 2025 patch removes only an obsolete debugfs exposure tied to Advanced Fault Logging; this is cleanup for newer VT-d specs, not driver deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/core-ultra-200h-and-200u-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/intel-virtualization-technology-intel-vt-for-directed-i-o-intel-vt-d/", "claim": "Intel Core Ultra 200H/200U datasheet documents Intel VT-d on current product lines, indicating the hardware class is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058162/processors.html", "claim": "Intel support article lists recent Xeon generations and Xeon 6 as supporting VT-d-backed virtualization features, supporting continued deployment on new systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence via `exec_command`: `drivers/iommu/intel/Kconfig` identifies this as the Intel IOMMU DMA-remapping driver and mentions modern VT-d 4.0 perf support; `git log -c safe.directory=... -- drivers/iommu/intel` shows substantive 2025-2026 activity with multiple vt-d fixes. URL evidence was obtained with web search: turn1search7 and turn1search5 for recent stable backports, turn1search0 for 2025 cleanup discussion, and turn0search0 plus turn0search5 for current Intel VT-d shipping/deployment evidence. Conclusion: this is active, core platform infrastructure for contemporary Intel systems, with no same-hardware replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 495, "substantive_commits_5y": 490, "first_touch_ts": 1591804003, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773750006, "top_author": "Lu Baolu", "top_author_commits": 218, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/iommufd", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the iommufd IOMMU userspace/core subsystem glue, not a hardware-bound device driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 302, "substantive_commits_5y": 298, "first_touch_ts": 1669853809, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769618957, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 99, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/iommu/riscv", "subsystem": "iommu", "chipset_family": "RISC-V IOMMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/iommu/riscv", "claim": "Upstream activity is recent and ongoing for this directory; local `git log` in the kernel snapshot showed substantive touches through 2026-01-26, consistent with an actively maintained driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RISCV_IOMMU.html", "claim": "The driver is very new in mainline (found in Linux 6.13-6.19) and binds both platform/DT and ACPI-described RISC-V IOMMU devices, indicating current rather than legacy hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RISCV_IOMMU_PCI.html", "claim": "The PCI companion support is present in current kernels and matches both QEMU's reference PCI ID 1b36:0014 and another PCI ID 1efd:0008, showing active deployment targets beyond a dead one-off prototype." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/riscv-iommu.html", "claim": "QEMU documents both PCI and platform RISC-V IOMMU devices for the `virt` machine and states Linux support was merged in v6.13, showing ongoing VM/test and new-platform deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real platform/PCI IOMMU driver code. Recommendation is `keep` because the driver is only about 1.5 years old, local shell inspection found builtin platform and PCI drivers plus recent commits through 2026-01-26, and web search found current LKDDb/QEMU evidence of active enablement. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in lore web searches, so there is no basis to escalate to `remove` or `deprecate`. URL acquisition: kernel.org log URL via canonical recall, with recency validated by local shell `git log`; LKDDb and QEMU URLs obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1730191583, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769400592, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ipack", "subsystem": "ipack", "chipset_family": "IndustryPack (IPACK)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2024070136-wrongdoer-busily-01e8@gregkh/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch on drivers/ipack/ipack.c was a 2024 driver-core treewide constification change, indicating the directory still compiles but is not seeing device-specific feature work or active removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.tews.com/products/pci/tpci200/", "claim": "The TEWS TPCI200 carrier board supported by the in-tree tpci200 driver is marked discontinued with last-time-buy 2022-02-28." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BOARD_TPCI200.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists CONFIG_BOARD_TPCI200 in current kernel series, showing the driver remains shipped upstream for TEWS TPCI200 hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed drivers/ipack is a real hardware-support subtree: an IPACK bus core plus TEWS TPCI200 carrier and IPOCTAL device drivers, aimed at industrial control. lore_file_timeline on drivers/ipack/ipack.c found only sparse recent activity and no removal-thread signal; the cited lore URL came from that MCP call. TEWS product evidence was obtained by web search and shows the directly supported carrier is discontinued with last-time-buy in 2022. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and confirms the driver is still present in modern kernels. Overall: legacy industrial hardware, still potentially deployed in installed systems, but weak upstream attention and discontinued primary supported hardware argue for deprecate rather than immediate remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7092476435325566, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1353082458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1709843567, "top_author": "Ricardo B. Marliere", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ipack/carriers", "subsystem": "ipack", "chipset_family": "TEWS TPCI-200 IndustryPack carrier", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.tews.com/products/pci/tpci200/", "claim": "Vendor lists the TPCI200 4-slot IndustryPack PCI carrier as discontinued, with last-time-buy date 2022-02-28." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20211124110308.2053-5-urezki@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still saw an upstream touch in late 2021, but the most recent file activity visible from lore is a 2021 treewide API conversion rather than ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20210827094351.203328-1-mudongliangabcd@gmail.com/", "claim": "A direct tpci200-specific patch landed in 2021, indicating limited maintenance rather than active development." }, { "url": "https://www.tews.com/products/pci-express/tpce200/", "claim": "TEWS had a related PCIe IndustryPack carrier product line, but that page is also marked discontinued, reinforcing that this is a legacy industrial niche rather than a current-growth platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed a real PCI carrier driver (`tpci200.c`) with `module_pci_driver()` and TEWS TPCI-200 PCI IDs. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/ipack/carriers/tpci200.c`, which showed activity ending in 2021 and no sign of current removal work in the inspected history; cited lore URLs were returned by that MCP call. Deployment evidence came from web search results `turn1search0` and `turn1search1`, which exposed TEWS product pages showing TPCI200 and its related PCIe carrier line as discontinued with 2022 last-time-buy. This points to legacy industrial installs that may persist in the field, but little reason to expect meaningful new 2025 deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same in-tree use case, so deprecate is stronger than keep-annotate, but remove is not justified without an active removal series.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.971194582961681, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1353082458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1628843077, "top_author": "Dongliang Mu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ipack/devices", "subsystem": "ipack", "chipset_family": "GE/Greenspring IP-OCTAL IndustryPack serial boards (SCC2698-based)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/ipack/devices/ipoctal.c", "claim": "Upstream driver is specifically for GE/Greenspring IP-OCTAL IndustryPack serial boards and is SCC2698-based." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=2f982313279b", "claim": "The driver received a non-removal upstream touch in December 2023 ('tty: ipoctal: convert to u8 and size_t')." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=bb8a4fcb2136", "claim": "The driver received a real bug fix in September 2021 ('ipack: ipoctal: fix module reference leak')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SERIAL_IPOCTAL.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SERIAL_IPOCTAL remains present across kernel releases through current HEAD, indicating the driver is still carried upstream." }, { "url": "https://abaco.com/products/ip-octal-422", "claim": "A vendor successor page says IP-OCTAL-422 entered Restricted Production Phase on December 31, 2016." }, { "url": "https://www.abaco.com/products/ip-octal-485", "claim": "A vendor page says IP-OCTAL-485 entered Restricted Production Phase on December 31, 2009." }, { "url": "https://www.artisantg.com/TestMeasurement/89057-2/Abaco-Systems-SBS-Greenspring-IP-Octal-232-IndustryPack-Module", "claim": "Current market evidence is mainly surplus/secondary-market stock rather than mainstream new production." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local exec_command reads show Kconfig 'IndustryPack IP-OCTAL uart support' and ipoctal.c identifies GE IP-OCTAL boards; local git log shows substantive fixes in 2021 and API-adaptation work in 2023, with only treewide churn after that. I attempted lore-first validation via site:lore.kernel.org web searches; no removal-thread evidence surfaced, and `lei` was unavailable in the environment. URL sources were obtained as follows: kernel.org commit/tree URLs derived from local exec_command results plus canonical recall of stable git.kernel.org URL shape; LKDDb and vendor/reseller pages from web search_query results. Hardware appears legacy industrial/embedded serial I/O with low but nonzero installed-base use, no obvious replacement driver for the same boards, so keep upstream but annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.41351054691774924, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1353082458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1702033357, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/irqchip", "subsystem": "irqchip", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subsystem umbrella containing many IRQ controller drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver or chipset family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009782335274011584, "commits_5y": 879, "substantive_commits_5y": 872, "first_touch_ts": 1348103317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774944689, "top_author": "Marc Zyngier", "top_author_commits": 84, "c_file_count": 148, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/isdn/capi", "subsystem": "isdn", "chipset_family": "ISDN CAPI 2.0 controllers / kernel CAPI core", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421022108.1299678-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "An April 21, 2026 netdev deletion patch explicitly proposes removing the ISDN subsystem and touches drivers/isdn/capi/capi.c." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/CONFIG_ISDN_CAPI", "claim": "Kernel config metadata says ISDN_CAPI requires hardware-specific drivers and points to BT_CMTP as the last remaining regular in-kernel user of the CAPI subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.9/isdn/interface_capi.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Kernel CAPI as a dispatch layer for ISDN hardware drivers rather than a modern standalone stack." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISDN", "claim": "ISDN has largely been replaced by newer network technologies, indicating legacy rather than growth deployments." }, { "url": "https://business.bt.com/help/article/phone-line-and-services/move-from-traditional-lines-to-the-cloud/the-pstn-and-isdn-switch-off-what-it-means-for-you/", "claim": "A major carrier migration notice says ISDN services are being switched off and customers must move to IP-based services, reinforcing obsolescence of new ISDN deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is the kernel CAPI core, built only for CONFIG_BT_CMTP; Kconfig/Makefile say BT_CMTP is the last remaining regular in-kernel user, so it is no longer serving a live family of in-tree ISDN hardware drivers. lore_file_timeline on drivers/isdn/capi/capi.c returned the 2026-04-21 removal series URL above, which is strong upstream-removal evidence, so this escalates from deprecate to remove. The kernelconfig.io, kernel.org, Wikipedia, and BT Business URLs were obtained via web search; the lore URL came from lore_file_timeline. No natural replacement driver exists inside Linux for CAPI ISDN hardware; the practical replacement is migration away from ISDN to IP telephony rather than another kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11745292533777091, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762827260, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/isdn/hardware/mISDN", "subsystem": "isdn", "chipset_family": "Legacy ISDN adapters based on Cologne Chip HFC, Infineon ISAC/IPAC/ISAR, TigerJet NETJet, and Winbond W6692", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421022108.1299678-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of April 21, 2026 there is an upstream patch series explicitly titled \"net: remove ISDN subsystem and Bluetooth CMTP\", and lore activity for `hfcmulti.c` shows this directory is part of that proposed removal." }, { "url": "https://www.colognechip.com/telecoms/isdn/hfc-series/", "claim": "Cologne Chip still markets HFC-4S, HFC-8S, and HFC-E1 ISDN controller chips, matching hardware families handled by `hfcmulti.c`." }, { "url": "https://www.colognechip.com/telecoms/isdn/hfc-series/hfc-e1/", "claim": "Cologne Chip's HFC-E1 page says the part is \"recommended for new projects\" and \"in mass production\", showing at least some covered silicon remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://openvoxusa.com/products/4-port-isdn-bri-pci-card", "claim": "OpenVox still lists a B400P 4-port ISDN BRI PCI card for sale, indicating niche new hardware availability for Linux telephony deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the directory showed real hardware-driver code for multiple legacy ISDN card families, especially HFC/NETJet/W6692/Infineon variants. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/isdn/hardware/mISDN/hfcmulti.c` surfaced an active 2026-04-21 upstream removal patch for the ISDN subsystem, which is stronger evidence than the recent low-level maintenance traffic in the prompt and points toward removal rather than mere deprecation. Web search found current Cologne Chip HFC product pages and an in-stock OpenVox BRI card listing, so the hardware is not fully extinct, but these appear to be narrow telecom/industrial holdout deployments rather than broad mainstream use. No like-for-like upstream replacement driver exists; practical replacements are SIP/VoIP gateways or newer telephony hardware outside this driver family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1176602295137284, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1217116681, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761957554, "top_author": "Yang Yingliang", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/isdn/mISDN", "subsystem": "isdn", "chipset_family": "Passive ISDN adapters (mISDN; HFC/IPAC/W6692/NETJet class)", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421022108.1299678-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "An April 21, 2026 netdev patch proposes removing the ISDN subsystem, directly touching mISDN files, which is strong upstream removal evidence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/d96524b52e7aea2971fa532d65e4977a7c0afd52.1776446840.git.shuvampandey1@gmail.com/", "claim": "mISDN still received substantive bug-fix work in April 2026, indicating some residual users and maintenance activity shortly before the removal proposal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/isdn/m_isdn.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes mISDN as the modular ISDN stack for passive ISDN cards, identifying the use case and legacy hardware class." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISDN", "claim": "ISDN is a legacy telecom standard whose broad market use peaked long ago and was displaced by broadband/IP telephony, implying only legacy or niche deployments remain." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell of drivers/isdn/mISDN/Kconfig and drivers/isdn/hardware/mISDN/Kconfig showed mISDN is the core stack for legacy passive ISDN adapters across HFC, Infineon/IPAC, Winbond W6692, AVM Fritz, NETJet, and related cards. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on drivers/isdn/mISDN/core.c: it showed both fresh bug-fix traffic and, more importantly, the 2026-04-21 netdev removal patch for the ISDN subsystem. The kernel-doc URL was obtained by web search and confirms the driver class/use case. The Wikipedia URL was obtained by web search and is used only for market-context inference that ISDN is legacy technology. Recommendation is 'remove' rather than 'deprecate' because active removal discussion now exists upstream; deployments appear low, and there is no natural modern in-tree replacement beyond retiring the obsolete ISDN stack.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07131702235186685, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1217116498, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768963061, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "Mixed LED controller ICs and board/platform status LEDs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20260422142324.1079185-1-alban.bedel@lht.dlh.de/", "claim": "The LED class core was still receiving upstream functional changes in April 2026, indicating an active maintained subsystem rather than removal staging." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.8/leds/leds-class.html", "claim": "The kernel LED class is a general userspace-visible subsystem for LEDs under /sys/class/leds, used across many device types rather than one obsolete niche device." }, { "url": "https://www.awinic.com/en/productDetail/AW20054QNR", "claim": "A current AW20054 matrix LED driver product page shows LED controller hardware covered by this subsystem is still being marketed with datasheets and development support." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/LP8864-Q1", "claim": "TI lists LP8864-Q1 as ACTIVE, showing new automotive/display LED driver hardware of the same general class is still sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore evidence via lore_file_timeline on drivers/leds/led-class.c; it showed 233 matches from 2023-05-23 through 2026-04-22, with recent class-core patches on linux-leds/lkml. Checked local git log via shell for last-5y removal/deprecation commits in drivers/leds and found no removal-pattern hits. Obtained deployment/current-hardware evidence via web search on docs.kernel.org and vendor product pages (Awinic AW20054, TI LP8864-Q1). Conclusion: this directory is an active umbrella subsystem for many still-current LED devices and board indicators, so there is no single successor driver and no obsolescence case for deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03196204054129944, "commits_5y": 499, "substantive_commits_5y": 488, "first_touch_ts": 1143836336, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770197027, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 64, "c_file_count": 102, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds/blink", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM63138/BCM4908/BCM68xxx LED controller and Intel Lightning Mountain (AnyWAN GRX350/550) SSO", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20250423-gpiochip-set-rv-leds-v1-1-2f42d8fbb525@linaro.org/", "claim": "`leds-lgm-sso.c` saw upstream work in 2025 as part of an API adaptation series, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20260312210958.48467-1-rebootrequired42@gmail.com/", "claim": "`leds-lgm-sso.c` also received a standalone fix in March 2026, showing ongoing post-2025 maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20241010-bcm63138-leds-v4-4-cdb80780a555@linaro.org/", "claim": "`leds-bcm63138.c` received functional cleanup/update work in late 2024, so there is no sign of upstream removal drift for that half of the directory." }, { "url": "https://mm.digikey.com/Volume0/opasdata/d220001/medias/docus/6663/EOL-284808.pdf", "claim": "Broadcom issued a 2025 obsolescence notice for BCM63138, so at least one covered SoC family is aging out of new sales." }, { "url": "https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/146/anywan_soc_grx350_grx550_brief-2508803.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOor-Oo5pORUEgqF3v6-H5IYExfGJRx5vUbPoGBDK_kG8fBg3xk-j", "claim": "Intel's AnyWAN GRX350/GRX550 brief describes these SoCs as for mid/high-end home gateways and routers, supporting the case for continuing niche deployments and new-ish carrier CPE designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed two real platform LED drivers: Broadcom BCM63138-family and Intel LGM SSO. `lore_activity` on both `.c` files found recent maintenance patches and no sampled removal discussion; cited lore URLs came from that tool. `web.search_query` found Broadcom's 2025 BCM63138 EOL notice and an Intel AnyWAN GRX350/550 product brief. Net: mixed hardware age, but active upstream care and ongoing gateway/CPE deployments argue against deprecation; annotate as niche/embedded rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.20455402855351912, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1613731218, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747211098, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds/flash", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "flash LED controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20250729-fix-torch-clamp-issue-v2-1-9b83816437a3@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "linux-leds carried a 2025 fix series for `leds-qcom-flash`, showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20250529063335.8785-2-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "`leds-qcom-flash` received a 2025 bugfix tagged for stable, indicating current deployed users and ongoing support expectations." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/leds/leds-class-flash.html", "claim": "The kernel documents LED flash handling as an active class API for torch/flash devices and V4L2 integration, confirming this is a live subsystem use case." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/LM36011", "claim": "Texas Instruments lists LM36011, a Linux-supported flash LED controller family member (`leds-lm3601x`), as ACTIVE and orderable in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is a bundle of vendor-specific flash/torch LED controller drivers (Qualcomm, TI, MediaTek, Richtek, etc.), not a dead singleton. `lore_activity` on `drivers/leds/flash/leds-qcom-flash.c` returned multiple 2024-2025 fixes/features with stable CC on one patch; no removal/deprecation evidence surfaced from the lore checks attempted. Web search found current kernel flash-LED class docs and TI's ACTIVE LM36011 product page, supporting ongoing real hardware availability. URLs were obtained via `lore_activity` and `web.search_query`; directory composition came from local shell (`rg --files`, `sed` on Kconfig).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09858284473586955, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1612085883, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761039982, "top_author": "Fenglin Wu", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds/rgb", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "RGB / multicolor LED controller ICs and PMIC LED blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/LP5812", "claim": "TI lists LP5812 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least one chipset covered by this directory was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LEDS_QCOM_LPG.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_LEDS_QCOM_LPG present through current kernels and maps it to many Qualcomm PMIC compatibles, indicating ongoing platform coverage rather than legacy-only support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/leds/leds-qcom-lpg.html", "claim": "Kernel docs describe Qualcomm LPG as used in a variety of Qualcomm PMICs and supported for current multicolor LED/PWM use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/devicetree/msg878257.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list thread for LP5812 v20 in December 2025 shows this directory was still receiving new-driver upstream work well after initial introduction." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree: Kconfig plus 7 .c files with module_*_driver entry points. Local shell inspection of drivers/leds/rgb/Kconfig shows active hardware-facing drivers (QCOM LPG, MT6370 RGB, NCP5623, KTD202x, LP5812) plus helper multicolor aggregators. Local git log (shell, using safe.directory override) shows substantive activity through 2026-02-04, including new LP5812 support and multiple qcom-lpg fixes/features; that strongly argues against deprecation. URLs were obtained via web search: TI product page for 2025 sale status, LKDDb and kernel docs for ongoing in-kernel support scope, and a public patch thread showing continued upstream development. No natural single replacement driver exists because this directory spans several still-relevant RGB LED controllers and generic multicolor helper drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1651648651, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770196988, "top_author": "Anjelique Melendez", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds/simatic", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "Siemens SIMATIC IPC LED controllers (legacy I/O-port LEDs plus Intel Apollo Lake/Elkhart Lake GPIO and Nuvoton F7188x GPIO variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=835a0c10d33b54607f49edffbbeaea4c4cdcc49c", "claim": "Kernel history shows this directory was renamed to drivers/leds/simatic in March 2025, so it is a recently-added/renamed in-tree driver block rather than long-abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://mall.industry.siemens.com/mall/en/us/Catalog/Product/6AG40210AB120CA0", "claim": "Siemens lists SIMATIC IPC127E as an active product with ordering and lead-time information, indicating new sales in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://mall.industry.siemens.com/mall/en/us/Catalog/Product/6AG41410BA000AA0", "claim": "Siemens lists SIMATIC IPC427E as an active product, matching one of the SIMATIC IPC families covered by these LED drivers." }, { "url": "https://mall.industry.siemens.com/mall/en/us/Catalog/Product?SiepCountryCode=US&mlfb=6ES76478C.......", "claim": "Siemens lists SIMATIC IPC227G as an active product, matching another SIMATIC IPC family explicitly referenced by this driver set." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed real platform_driver LED code, not helper-only content. exec_command git history showed only one visible path commit locally (2025-03-07 rename to simatic); no follow-up churn suggests stable, quiet maintenance rather than neglect. Attempted lore lookup via exec_command using lei, but lei was unavailable; fallback web search on lore returned no removal-thread hits, so there is no evidence of active upstream removal discussion. Web search_query results from Siemens Industry Mall show covered SIMATIC IPC families (IPC127E, IPC227G, IPC427E) still sold as active products, so the hardware is not obsolete in 2025 even if deployments are industrial-niche and relatively low-volume. No clear upstream replacement covers the same Siemens-specific platform glue end-to-end, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1742548916, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/leds/trigger", "subsystem": "leds", "chipset_family": "Generic Linux LED triggers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20250620110820.3364008-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance in 2025 touched this subtree's Kconfig, indicating the trigger family is still actively maintained." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-leds/20250317022841.424038-1-craig@mcqueen.au/", "claim": "A 2025 patch series added a new userspace LED trigger, showing the subsystem is still gaining new functionality rather than being phased out." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/leds/leds-class.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes LED triggers as a kernel-based source of LED events available to LED class devices, confirming this is generic current kernel functionality rather than a legacy single-device driver." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/base-system/led_configuration", "claim": "OpenWrt documents LED trigger configuration for power, ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi indicators on contemporary routers, evidencing ongoing real-world deployments on new embedded hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/leds/trigger` contains loadable LED trigger modules (`ledtrig-netdev`, `ledtrig-pattern`, `ledtrig-input-events`, etc.), so it is a real driver-family directory, not a helper library. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/leds/trigger/Kconfig` showed steady 2021-2025 activity and produced the cited lore URLs; notable events include a 2025 Kconfig fix and a 2025 new userspace-trigger series, with no removal/deprecation signal visible in that timeline. `web.search_query` returned the kernel LED docs URL and the OpenWrt LED configuration URL; together they show these triggers remain part of current Linux LED infrastructure and are used on shipping embedded/network devices. Because this is generic subsystem functionality with ongoing additions and broad deployment, there is no natural replacement driver and the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08586841348912584, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 71, "first_touch_ts": 1364839488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763049339, "top_author": "Christian Marangi", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/macintosh", "subsystem": "macintosh", "chipset_family": "Apple Power Macintosh / PowerBook platform devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2006, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20260415143701.3309681-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix traffic still lands in this directory; `macintosh: adb` received a fix in April 2026 and was CCed to stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20241114131114.602234-8-mpe@ellerman.id.au/", "claim": "There is targeted removal work for at least one legacy subdriver (`ADB_MACIO`), indicating pruning of obsolete pieces rather than wholesale directory abandonment." }, { "url": "https://qemu-project.gitlab.io/qemu/system/ppc/powermac.html", "claim": "QEMU still emulates PowerMac boards with VIA-CUDA and ADB peripherals, supporting ongoing niche legacy/emulation use." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G5", "claim": "Representative late PowerPC Macintosh hardware in this support family was discontinued in 2006, bounding mainstream new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MACINTOSH_DRIVERS.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_MACINTOSH_DRIVERS` remains present in current kernels, showing the subtree is still shipped upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/macintosh/adb.c` returned both a 2026 bug-fix mail and a 2024 RFC removal patch URL, which I cite directly. A `lei q` shell query was attempted for confirmation but failed under sandbox socket restrictions, so it is not cited. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: QEMU docs show surviving emulator use, Wikipedia gives a stable discontinuation date for representative PowerPC Macs, and LKDDb confirms the Kconfig subtree still exists. Conclusion: hardware is commercially obsolete and only low-volume legacy/emulated deployments remain, but upstream activity is still real, so annotate/contain rather than deprecate or remove the whole directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07558921384480675, "commits_5y": 92, "substantive_commits_5y": 79, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764672907, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/macintosh/ams", "subsystem": "macintosh", "chipset_family": "Apple Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) / Apple Motion Sensor", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2006, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20240306125853.3714578-3-mpe@ellerman.id.au/", "claim": "ams-core.c still received upstream maintenance in 2024 ('macintosh/ams: Fix unused variable warning')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20230810141947.1236730-7-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "ams-core.c also saw upstream cleanup in 2023 ('macintosh/ams: mark ams_init() static'), indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SENSORS_AMS.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_SENSORS_AMS as the Apple Motion Sensor driver for PowerBooks and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SENSORS_AMS_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb states the I2C variant is found in early 2005 PowerBooks and iBooks, tying the hardware to legacy PowerPC Apple laptops." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook", "claim": "PowerBook was discontinued on May 16, 2006." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook", "claim": "iBook was discontinued on May 16, 2006." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Read local source with exec_command: the driver is explicitly 'Apple Motion Sensor', probes PowerPC Mac Open Firmware nodes ('accelerometer'/'sms'), and is constrained to legacy Apple laptop hardware. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/macintosh/ams/ams-core.c; it shows small maintenance fixes in 2021/2023/2024 and no evident removal series, so 'remove' is not justified. Deployment is therefore legacy-but-nonzero: surviving PowerBook/iBook systems still exist, but new hardware stopped in 2006 and nothing suggests new 2025 shipments. Web URLs were obtained via web search_query; LKDDb supports hardware scope/current kernel presence, while Wikipedia pages support the 2006 end-of-sale date. No natural replacement driver is visible; the use case disappeared with the platform, so the best fit is keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.41764340073561906, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1288290710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719576485, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mailbox", "subsystem": "mailbox", "chipset_family": "SoC mailbox / IPC controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260421104652.211276-2-joonwonkang@google.com/", "claim": "Core mailbox framework still receives substantive 2026 fixes; this patch changes mbox_send_message() error handling in drivers/mailbox/mailbox.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-renesas-soc/20260415062832.18503-2-wsa+renesas@sang-engineering.com/", "claim": "Core mailbox framework still receives feature work in 2026; this patch adds a debugfs list of used channels in drivers/mailbox/mailbox.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20240418105210.290938-3-cristian.marussi@arm.com/", "claim": "The subsystem is still growing with new hardware support; ARM MHUv3 driver was added in 2024 under drivers/mailbox/arm_mhuv3.c." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mailbox/Kconfig", "claim": "Current Kconfig still advertises support for recent SoC mailbox blocks including ARM MHUv3, AST2700, CV1800, MPFS, TH1520, CIX, and QCOM IPCC, indicating ongoing relevance in modern SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is an active mailbox-controller subsystem, not a single legacy chip driver. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/mailbox/mailbox.c showed heavy 2024-2026 traffic with recent fixes/features; `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/mailbox/arm_mhuv3.c showed a new driver added in 2024. Local inspection of drivers/mailbox/Kconfig shows multiple current-generation SoC IP blocks (AST2700/CV1800/TH1520/CIX/MPFS/QCOM IPCC), so hardware-still-sold is an inference from recent upstream enablement plus current Kconfig coverage. Local recent-subject grep found no remove/deprecate discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03473053420889859, "commits_5y": 350, "substantive_commits_5y": 346, "first_touch_ts": 1359759675, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769993992, "top_author": "Sudeep Holla", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mcb", "subsystem": "mcb", "chipset_family": "MEN Chameleon Bus (MCB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/c5ff8e4e-8479-4bd1-9742-1015ee128ae2@gmail.com/", "claim": "An April 24, 2026 v3 series titled \"mcb: enable register PCI devices using any BAR\" shows active upstream feature work in this subsystem." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260225012414.391695228@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A February 25, 2026 stable backport of \"mcb: fix incorrect sanity check\" shows the code is still receiving bug fixes important enough for stable kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.duagon.com/products/details/f403/", "claim": "duagon still markets rugged CompactPCI industrial boards in 2026, indicating the surrounding MEN/duagon embedded hardware ecosystem remains commercially active." }, { "url": "https://www.duagon.com/products/details/f204/", "claim": "duagon advertises long-term availability for a current CompactPCI carrier product, supporting continued niche industrial deployments rather than total market disappearance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/Kconfig inspection shows this is a real bus driver for MEN FPGA devices over PCI/LPC, not a helper library. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/mcb/mcb-core.c` showed fresh 2025-2026 fixes including stable backports; `lore_regex` surfaced the April 24, 2026 MCB PCI BAR series, and did not surface any obvious removal/deprecation discussion. `web.search_query` found current duagon product pages showing the vendor ecosystem is still selling embedded CompactPCI hardware in 2026; that is indirect evidence for new-sales viability, so I treat deployments as niche/industrial and recommend keep-annotate rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06866178609594037, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1393630597, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525649, "top_author": "Rodríguez Barbarin, José Javier", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "Linux MD / Device Mapper", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-raid/20260425085843.3725-1-abd.masalkhi@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic still touches core MD code (`md.c`), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-raid/20260425024615.1696892-2-yukuai@fnnas.com/", "claim": "Ongoing multi-revision 2026 work on MD bitmap/sysfs internals shows active feature and refactoring work in the subsystem." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/device-mapper/index.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still maintains extensive Device Mapper target documentation, covering active uses such as dm-crypt, thin provisioning, multipath, raid, verity, zoned, and writecache." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/device-mapper/linear.html", "claim": "`dm-linear` is documented as a basic building block of logical volume managers, showing present-day deployment in storage stacks rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/admin-guide/md.html", "claim": "Kernel RAID array documentation describes active MD RAID management and sysfs interfaces for modern arrays, consistent with continuing real-world use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/md` is not a single obsolete hardware driver; it is the active MD software RAID and Device Mapper block-virtualization subsystem. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/md/md.c` returned dense 2021-2026 activity with newest touches on 2026-04-25 and thousands of matches, and `lore_regex` found no recent removal/deprecation discussion. Deployment remains high because this directory underpins software RAID, LVM-style logical volumes, dm-crypt, dm-verity, thin provisioning, and multipath storage. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` because the subsystem is software-defined rather than tied to a discontinued hardware chipset; `last_widely_available_year=null` for the same reason. URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` and `web search` results; no source URL was fabricated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022096709545964058, "commits_5y": 1604, "substantive_commits_5y": 1587, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771524320, "top_author": "Yu Kuai", "top_author_commits": 283, "c_file_count": 79, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md/bcache", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: bcache is a software block-cache / hybrid-volume subsystem under md, not a hardware device driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04278689601975029, "commits_5y": 147, "substantive_commits_5y": 140, "first_touch_ts": 1364080291, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769652415, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md/dm-pcache", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains device-mapper dm-pcache target code in the MD/storage stack, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1756128329, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765391303, "top_author": "Li Chen", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md/dm-vdo", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: dm-vdo is a device-mapper VDO software block target (dedupe/compression), not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 177, "substantive_commits_5y": 172, "first_touch_ts": 1708454593, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769529625, "top_author": "Mike Snitzer", "top_author_commits": 76, "c_file_count": 35, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md/dm-vdo/indexer", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: dm-vdo indexer contains internal VDO indexing/support code under the device-mapper subsystem, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1709582875, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758617385, "top_author": "Mike Snitzer", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/md/persistent-data", "subsystem": "md", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains device-mapper persistent metadata support code used by md/dm targets, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1320092351, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1743791502, "top_author": "Heinz Mauelshagen", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/core", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the HDMI-CEC core framework/library code for media drivers, not hardware-specific device driver implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10676597360314935, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 51, "first_touch_ts": 1586943845, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760447257, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/i2c", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "HDMI CEC companion/controller chips (Chrontel CH7322, NXP TDA9950/TDA998x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250113-drm-move-tda998x-v3-2-214e0682a5e4@linaro.org/", "claim": "TDA9950 support saw upstream work in January 2025; the change moved the driver into media/cec rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230312131318.351173-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "CH7322 support saw upstream maintenance in 2023, indicating the driver was still being kept buildable and integrated." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CEC_NXP_TDA9950.html", "claim": "CONFIG_CEC_NXP_TDA9950 is still present in current kernel series and covers the TDA9950/TDA998x CEC hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CEC_CH7322.html", "claim": "CONFIG_CEC_CH7322 remains present in current kernel series, indicating ongoing upstream exposure rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.chrontel.com/product/detail/26", "claim": "Chrontel still lists CH7322B as a current CEC controller product, so at least part of this driver family was still sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://forum.digikey.com/t/faq-beaglebone-black-rev-d-ite-hdmi/59227", "claim": "A 2025 BeagleBone Black Rev D note says boards ran out of NXP TDA19988 after a July 30, 2022 last-time-buy and switched to an ITE HDMI part, showing the NXP side is aging out of new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of Kconfig and source files showed this directory contains two real I2C CEC drivers: CH7322 and TDA9950/TDA998x. lore_file_timeline on both .c files produced the cited lore URLs; activity is sparse but recent and maintenance-oriented, with no removal discussion surfaced. web search produced LKDDb pages confirming both configs remain in current kernels, a Chrontel catalog page showing CH7322B still marketed, and a 2025 BeagleBone FAQ showing NXP TDA19988-family parts have aged out of at least one shipping board revision. Net: niche, mixed-age hardware with low current deployment, but still enough upstream and market evidence to keep the directory and annotate it as low-volume/legacy-leaning rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4003285164522846, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1593857778, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744006332, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/cec-gpio", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Generic GPIO-based HDMI CEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/d5cf23f38d0aa2e10d768ffd8eaaea2e6bc055ac.1751281730.git.hverkuil@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "Functional maintenance continued in 2025 with a driver-specific fix: \"media: cec: cec-gpio: reading hpd/5v is allowed to sleep\"." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CEC_GPIO.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_CEC_GPIO as a current generic GPIO-based CEC driver, with OF compatible \"cec-gpio\" present across recent kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/configuration.html", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi hardware documentation lists Raspberry Pi 5 with both HDMI outputs and a 40-pin GPIO header, supporting continued availability of new HDMI-plus-GPIO embedded boards that could use a generic GPIO CEC implementation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source inspection via shell showed this is a real platform driver for the generic OF compatible \"cec-gpio\", i.e. a bit-banged HDMI CEC adapter over GPIO rather than a vendor-specific chipset driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/cec/platform/cec-gpio/cec-gpio.c showed ongoing upstream attention through 2025, including a real functional fix (not just removal prep), and no removal/deprecation evidence appeared in the returned activity. Web search found LKDDb and Raspberry Pi documentation; from those, I infer the hardware class is still sold new in 2025 but remains niche: custom/embedded HDMI designs and SBC-style deployments rather than broad mass-market PCs. Because it is generic glue for boards lacking dedicated CEC IP, there is no single upstream replacement driver; removal would strand valid embedded use cases. Keep it, but annotate as low-volume/niche hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21048553908243406, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426324, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/cros-ec", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ChromeOS EC CEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20260420103713.1.I776a9d5aa44405b0083ab3ad3d44415a89bf21c4@changeid/", "claim": "April 20, 2026 patch adds a new ChromeOS board to this driver's match table, showing ongoing upstream enablement rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20250628181530.873795-1-pedro.nariyoshi@gmail.com/", "claim": "June 28, 2025 patch adds Fizz board variants so the driver can detect them, indicating active support for additional deployed ChromeOS hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/us/displays-desktops/mini-pcs/chrome-os-devices/asus-chromebox-5a/", "claim": "ASUS still markets a ChromeOS Chromebox with dual HDMI outputs, consistent with continued new-device deployment where HDMI-CEC support remains relevant." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: `cros-ec-cec.c` is a platform driver for the ChromeOS embedded controller's HDMI-CEC function. `lore_file_timeline` on the file showed recent 2025-2026 board-match additions and no visible removal/deprecation activity in the recent event stream. The ASUS product page was obtained via web search and shows ChromeOS hardware with HDMI outputs still sold, so this is not legacy-only; deployments are likely niche/low rather than mass-market. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this code is the hardware-specific bridge to the ChromeOS EC CEC block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1979816081095529, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746784508, "top_author": "Reka Norman", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/meson", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson AO CEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240925114548.27405-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Latest upstream touch affecting both Meson CEC files was a 2024-09-25 platform_driver remove-callback API conversion, indicating the code is still maintained and not under removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/2023-03/20230326143224.572654-7-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Driver-specific maintenance patches for ao-cec-g12a were posted in 2023, showing some subsystem attention beyond initial bring-up." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CEC_MESON_AO.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists the driver as current in modern kernels and ties it to Amlogic Meson GX/G12A/SM1 compatible strings, confirming active upstream presence and hardware scope." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-c4/", "claim": "ODROID-C4 was still sold as a retail board and uses the Amlogic S905X3 with HDMI 2.0 and CEC, evidencing continued new-device availability in the Meson family." }, { "url": "https://www.khadas.com/product-page/vim4", "claim": "Khadas VIM4 remained on sale and uses the Amlogic A311D2 SoC, supporting the conclusion that newer Meson-family hardware is still sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module_platform_driver markers identify Amlogic Meson AO/G12A HDMI CEC platform drivers. Evidence came from MCP lore_file_timeline on ao-cec.c and ao-cec-g12a.c plus local shell read of drivers/media/cec/platform/Kconfig; lore showed touches through 2024-09 with no removal-thread evidence, but most activity is low-volume maintenance/treewide API churn. Web search provided LKDDb and current vendor product pages. Hardware is still sold in 2025 via SBCs using Meson-family SoCs, but deployments for this specific Linux CEC block look niche rather than broad, so keep the driver and annotate as low-activity instead of deprecating or removing.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7423461262188411, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1689330742, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/s5p", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung S5P / Exynos HDMI CEC", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/cec/platform/s5p/s5p_cec.c", "claim": "The in-tree source identifies this as the Samsung S5P CEC driver, based on Exynos SoC HDMI CEC hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240925114548.27405-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Most recent touch seen in lore for this file was a 2024 treewide platform_driver remove-callback conversion, not device-specific feature work or a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230326143224.572654-9-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The 2023 s5p_cec change was another platform remove-callback API conversion, indicating maintenance but not active hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20221101112919.799868-5-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "A 2022 fix for message-length bounds was AUTOSEL/stable material, consistent with low-level bug maintenance on an existing legacy driver." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exynos", "claim": "Exynos is a long-running Samsung application-processor family primarily associated with older 2010s phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and development boards rather than new 2025 HDMI-CEC deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed a real platform driver for Samsung S5P/Exynos HDMI CEC. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity were used on s5p_cec.c: recent hits are sparse and dominated by treewide API churn (2023, 2024) plus an older stable bugfix, with no clear active feature development and no visible removal series in the returned lore history. The kernel.org tree URL and Wikipedia Exynos URL are canonical-recall sources used to anchor hardware identity and family vintage. Net: legacy integrated SoC CEC block, still supportable for existing boards but unlikely to appear in meaningful new 2025 deployments, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7173107392811181, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681225153, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/seco", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "SECO x86 boards integrated HDMI-CEC controller (ACPI CEC00001 / platform secocec)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260424143607.60807-1-mhun512@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fixes as of 2026-04-24 ('media: cec: seco: unregister adapter on IR probe failure')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CEC_SECO.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this driver to SECO Boards HDMI CEC, ACPI ID CEC00001, platform device 'secocec', and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://shop.seco.com/udoo-x86-ii-ultra.html", "claim": "SECO Shop listed the UDOO X86 II ULTRA board as available, indicating at least some SECO/UDOO hardware using this support stack was still sold new around 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.seco.com/Manuals/UDOO_X86II_manual.pdf", "claim": "The UDOO X86 II manual documents an HDMI connector with a CEC line on a SECO board family associated with this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local file inspection via shell showed a platform CEC driver for 'SECO X86 Boards'. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/cec/platform/seco/seco-cec.c showed fresh upstream activity, including a 2026-04-24 bug-fix patch, and no visible removal trend in returned history, so removal/deprecation is not supported. Web search returned LKDDb confirming ACPI CEC00001/platform secocec binding, plus SECO Shop/manual pages showing compatible SECO/UDOO HDMI-CEC-capable boards still marketed; that points to ongoing but niche industrial/maker deployments rather than broad volume. Chosen 'keep-annotate' because deployments appear low and hardware family is specialized, but upstream maintenance is still active.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.779023229158577, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681225153, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/sti", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH4xx HDMI CEC", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240925114548.27405-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch was a treewide API churn change ('Switch back to struct platform_driver::remove()'), not evidence of active feature work or broad bug-fix traffic for this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/arm/sti/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel STi ARM overview names STiH407, STiH410 and STiH418 as the supported STi Cortex-A9 multimedia/set-top-box SoC families tied to this platform." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/documentation/consumer/b2260/hardware-docs/hardware-user-manual.md.html", "claim": "A documented public board using this SoC family is the B2260 development board based on Cannes2-STiH410, indicating the driver's hardware exists mainly as older STiH410-era dev/set-top-box hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics/stih412.html", "claim": "ST marks the closely related STiH412 digital set-top-box SoC as 'Obsolete / Out of Production', supporting the conclusion that new STiH4xx-family deployments are no longer a current market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source showed this is the STIH4xx HDMI CEC platform driver ('stih-cec', DT compatible 'st,stih-cec') and DT wiring in legacy STiH410 SoC files. Upstream activity came from lore_file_timeline on the source file: touches exist through 2024, but they are sparse and mostly mechanical/cleanup-oriented rather than active maintenance. Web search found kernel.org STi overview pages and 96Boards B2260 docs, showing the hardware is an older STiH4xx/Cannes-era set-top-box/dev-board platform. Web search also found ST's STiH412 page marked obsolete; this is an inference about the broader STiH4xx market, not a direct STiH410/STiH418 EOL notice. Given low but nonzero legacy deployments and lack of a same-hardware replacement driver, deprecate is stronger than keep-annotate, but there is not enough evidence for immediate removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6060774852300499, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1715182887, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/stm32", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32MP1 HDMI-CEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250813161517.4746-9-wsa+renesas@sang-engineering.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touch in 2025; the file was part of a linux-media cleanup series rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250305174506.833834642@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver also appeared in 2025 stable-tree maintenance, indicating it is still carried and fixed rather than orphaned." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp157c.html", "claim": "STM32MP157C was listed by ST as Active and in volume production, and the product page advertises an HDMI-CEC interface." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/partner-products-and-services/odyssey-stm32mp157c.html", "claim": "ST partner ecosystem pages still market STM32MP157C modules for industrial and embedded deployments, supporting ongoing niche real-world use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`/`sed`) showed a real platform driver with OF match `st,stm32-cec`, so this is STM32 CEC IP used on STM32MP-class SoCs; chipset family is inferred from that plus ST product pages. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/cec/platform/stm32/stm32-cec.c` showed 2021-2025 activity with 2025 touches and no removal-thread evidence; a follow-up `lore_regex` attempt for removal subjects failed due to DFA pattern limits, so absence of removal talk is inferred from the timeline subjects returned. ST product URLs were obtained via web search results, which showed the silicon still sold new in 2025. Overall this looks like a niche embedded/industrial driver with low but current deployment, no replacement driver, and no deprecation signal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.25868539500154514, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Wolfram Sang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/platform/tegra", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra HDMI CEC (Tegra114/124/210, with recent upstream work for Tegra186/194)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250407-tegra-cec-v1-2-e25dd9577b5f@gmail.com/", "claim": "April 2025 upstream patch adds Tegra186 and Tegra194 support to tegra-cec, showing current maintenance and interest in newer Tegra-based systems." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240829075417.526459-4-liaochen4@huawei.com/", "claim": "August 2024 upstream patch enabled module autoloading for tegra_cec, indicating non-trivial recent maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230801135253.456322-1-ruanjinjie@huawei.com/", "claim": "August 2023 fix patch for platform_get_irq() shows bug-fix traffic in the driver." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson lifecycle page shows Xavier NX, AGX Xavier, TX2 NX, and TX2i availability extending into 2027-2028+, so matching Tegra-based hardware remained on sale in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real platform driver: source has OF compatibles for nvidia,tegra114-cec, tegra124-cec, and tegra210-cec, and uses platform_driver registration (inspected via shell rg). Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/media/cec/platform/tegra/tegra_cec.c; directory-level lore_file_timeline returned no hits, but file-level history showed 2023-2025 fixes/features and no removal discussion. NVIDIA lifecycle URL was obtained via web search on developer.nvidia.com. Because hardware is still sold in embedded/industrial niches but CEC on Tegra is a narrow use case, deployments look low; active upstream work means do not deprecate/remove, but annotate as niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7314061350648648, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1691647116, "top_author": "Ruan Jinjie", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/usb/extron-da-hd-4k-plus", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Extron DA HD 4K PLUS HDMI distribution amplifiers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/cec.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation has a dedicated section for the Extron DA HD 4K PLUS CEC adapter driver, covering supported 2/4/6-port models and firmware requirements." }, { "url": "https://www.extron.com/product/dahd4kplusseries", "claim": "Vendor product page shows the DA HD 4K PLUS Series as a current product family rather than retired hardware, indicating new-sale availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_EXTRON_DA_HD_4K_PLUS_CEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_EXTRON_DA_HD_4K_PLUS_CEC present in upstream kernels from 6.12 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) shows this is a real serio-backed kernel driver (`module_serio_driver`) for Extron part numbers 60-1607-01/60-1608-01/60-1609-01, not helper-only code. `web.search_query` on lore.kernel.org for the driver/path found no obvious removal or deprecation thread; combined with the provided recent substantive touch date (2025-09-09) and the driver only landing in 2024, this looks actively maintained rather than obsolete. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: kernel.org CEC admin guide for supported hardware, Extron current product page for market status, and cateee LKDDb for upstream presence. Deployment is likely low-volume but ongoing in AV/integration installations, so there is no clear case for deprecation or removal, and there is no natural replacement driver covering the same hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1725560021, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426324, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/usb/pulse8", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Pulse-Eight USB HDMI-CEC adapter (P8-USBCECv1 / libCEC USB CEC interface)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260219041410.608067-1-vi@endrift.com/", "claim": "Upstream linux-media saw a real 2026 bug-fix patch for this driver ('media: pulse8-cec: Handle partial deinit'), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260420132314.1023554-116-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The same fix was selected for stable/AUTOSEL in April 2026, showing the driver still matters to supported kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter", "claim": "Vendor product page lists the USB-CEC Adapter as in stock and Linux-compatible, so the hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://support.pulse-eight.com/support/solutions/articles/30000048842-usb-cec-adapter-user-manual", "claim": "Vendor support/manual page was updated in 2024, consistent with an actively supported retail product rather than abandoned legacy hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`pulse8-cec.c` is a real USB CEC driver (checked locally via shell in Kconfig/source tree). lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on the exact file path; it showed recent 2026 bug-fix traffic and no removal signal. A follow-up `lore_regex` removal-search timed out, so there is no positive removal evidence. Vendor sales/support URLs were obtained via web search and show the adapter still sold and documented. Hardware appears niche home-theater/Kodi gear, so deployments are low, but active fixes argue against deprecation; annotate as niche/low-volume rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6657849261234673, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729240983, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/cec/usb/rainshadow", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "RainShadow HDMI-CEC bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "pulse8-cec", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250606030459.487276-1-hanguidong02@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream saw a real bug-fix patch for this driver in 2025, so it is not completely abandoned." }, { "url": "https://static.lwn.net/kerneldoc/admin-guide/media/cec.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still lists RainShadow Tech as supported mainline USB CEC hardware, alongside Pulse-Eight." }, { "url": "https://manualzz.com/doc/23322689/rainshadow-tech-llc-cec-bridge-family-user-manual", "claim": "Public product manual is for a 2012-era RainShadow Tech CEC Bridge family, indicating old hardware generation rather than a current product line." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_RAINSHADOW_CEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_USB_RAINSHADOW_CEC to the RainShadow Tech HDMI CEC device and shows the module persists in modern kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/cec/usb/rainshadow/rainshadow-cec.c`; it shows mostly one 2025 bug-fix plus stable backports and no visible removal activity. Kernel-docs, Manualzz, and LKDDb URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. I infer low present-day deployment and not sold new in 2025 from the hardware being an old niche HDMI-CEC USB bridge with only decade-old public product docs, but the 2025 bug fix argues against deprecation/removal now; annotate as niche/legacy and keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5620394543623208, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1586945200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750149316, "top_author": "Gui-Dong Han", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared media subsystem helper/library code under drivers/media/common, not a hardware-bound driver with a standalone device implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1728396284, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common/b2c2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "B2C2 FlexCop II(b)/III DVB receiver chipset", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_B2C2_FLEXCOP.html", "claim": "The common b2c2 core is still present in current kernels and is the shared core for FlexCop hardware, selected by the PCI and USB drivers." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_B2C2_FLEXCOP_PCI.html", "claim": "Supported hardware is legacy TechniSat/B2C2 Air/Sky/CableStar2 PCI cards based on the FlexCop chip." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_B2C2_FLEXCOP_USB.html", "claim": "Supported USB hardware is an older Air/Sky/Cable2PC USB 1.1 box, reinforcing that this family targets legacy DVB peripherals." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg281832.html", "claim": "There was real upstream fix traffic in July 2025 for flexcop-eeprom, including a corrected v2 patch that fixed a build/runtime issue rather than only treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg282494.html", "claim": "The driver family also received another 2025 touch in linux-media, showing it is not under active removal." }, { "url": "https://www.technisat.com/en_XX/Downloads-and-Information/352-515/?productID=1873", "claim": "Vendor support material for a SkyStar USB product is centered on old downloads from 2011-2013, which is consistent with a long-legacy product line rather than current new-hardware sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig read via shell shows this directory is the shared FlexCop core used only when the PCI or USB front-end drivers are enabled, so it is real driver code rather than a helper-only library. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search and used to identify the chipset family and attached PCI/USB products. linux-media patch URLs were obtained via web search and show 2025 maintenance, including at least one substantive flexcop-eeprom fix, with no removal-series evidence found in the searched archives. The TechniSat support URL was obtained via web search/open; its old 2011-2013 download timestamps support treating the hardware as legacy. Net: hardware family is obsolete and likely only in residual hobbyist/industrial deployments, but upstream still fixes it occasionally, so keep the code with an explicit legacy annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1344911911, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common/saa7146", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Philips/NXP SAA7146 multimedia PCI bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/c9a526ef9600df82ffdea96413428bf34472b666.1682429093.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The core still received a targeted bug-fix patch in 2023 ('media: common: saa7146: Avoid a leak in vmalloc_to_sg()'), showing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20230716195002.281012321@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "That 2023 saa7146 fix was backported to stable, indicating the code still matters for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SAA7146.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_SAA7146 remains present in current kernel series, and LKDDb ties this directory to the active upstream build options `saa7146` and `saa7146_vv`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MXB.html", "claim": "This common driver underpins legacy Philips SAA7146-based boards such as the Siemens-Nixdorf MXB TV card; the historical staging/deprecated copy applied to board drivers, not proof that the current mainline common core is under active removal." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/19017/PHILIPS/SAA7146AH/1007/4/SAA7146AH.html", "claim": "The SAA7146A is a late-1990s Philips multimedia PCI bridge for desktop video applications, supporting the conclusion that supported hardware is legacy PCI-era equipment rather than new 2025 product." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel inspection via `exec_command` showed this is a real shared driver core (`MODULE_DESCRIPTION` says generic/video4linux driver for saa7146-based hardware) used by Hexium/MXB-era PCI cards, with no obvious in-tree successor. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no directory-level hits; `lore_activity` on `drivers/media/common/saa7146/saa7146_core.c` produced recent maintenance and stable-backport evidence but no removal discussion. Web search yielded LKDDb pages confirming the config is still shipped upstream and a datasheet mirror identifying the chipset as a 1998-era PCI multimedia bridge. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is clearly obsolete and likely limited to legacy/hobby/industrial deployments, but upstream still fixes bugs and the core serves multiple old board drivers, so deprecation/removal is not yet well-supported by the evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1252821946405, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1344912769, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762181922, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common/siano", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Siano SMS1xxx mobile digital TV receivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240805-siano-v1-1-6da2bc740267@chromium.org/", "claim": "Upstream still sees non-mechanical maintenance; in 2024 linux-media carried a Siano patch simplifying firmware loading." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/d104e4e6-24ff-4e02-b16b-4b5fc9a91221@I-love.SAKURA.ne.jp/", "claim": "The code was still touched in 2026 by a bug-fix thread touching smscoreapi.c, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMS_USB_DRV.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps the stack to Siano SMS1xxx USB MDTV receivers and lists recognized Siano/Hauppauge USB devices, confirming this is niche mobile-TV tuner hardware." }, { "url": "https://packages.debian.org/sid/firmware-siano", "claim": "Debian sid still ships a dedicated firmware-siano package in 2025, indicating some remaining distro support and installed base." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's support site places relevant Siano-era tuner products such as WinTV-Aero-m and WinTV-HVR-850 in Legacy Products and marks them discontinued." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_aero-m.html", "claim": "The WinTV-Aero-m support page shows an old Siano-era product with last listed device driver update from 2011, reinforcing that the hardware generation is long obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module metadata identify Siano MDTV support. Local shell inspection showed SMS1xxx/Nova/Venice/Pele/Rio firmware names and board IDs. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/common/siano/smscoreapi.c showed real upstream activity through 2024-08 and 2026-04, with cleanup plus bug-fix traffic and no evidence of an active removal series in the retrieved lore data. Web search found LKDDb pages for SMS_USB_DRV/SMS_SIANO_MDTV and Debian firmware-siano, so the stack still has distro-visible support. Web search also found Hauppauge legacy pages marking related products discontinued, so new-sales evidence is poor and present-day use is likely limited to legacy USB/embedded TV receivers. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Siano firmware-backed hardware; recommend keep but annotate as legacy/obsolete hardware rather than deprecate now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12895143226231753, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1344912772, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762852653, "top_author": "Ricardo Ribalda", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common/v4l2-tpg", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the V4L2 test pattern generator helper/library used by media drivers, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1461179679, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741167807, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/common/videobuf2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the videobuf2 media buffer framework/common helper library used by many V4L2 drivers, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 90, "substantive_commits_5y": 84, "first_touch_ts": 1516712702, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766052897, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/dvb-core", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: DVB core/framework code shared by media drivers, not a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03524501557559956, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1344910094, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772186268, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/dvb-frontends", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Mixed DVB frontend demodulators/tuners", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/dvb-frontends/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes a large set of selectable DVB frontend drivers, including newer families such as Montage M88DS3103, MaxLinear MxL5xx, STV0910, Panasonic MN88473, and Silicon Labs SI2165." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/prods_tuners.html", "claim": "Hauppauge still lists multiple current TV tuner products, indicating ongoing new-device availability in the TV-tuner market that depends on Linux media/DVB frontend support." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_dualhd.html", "claim": "The WinTV-dualHD product page markets a currently sold ATSC/QAM USB tuner and explicitly mentions Linux/Plex usage, showing continued real-world deployment of supported frontend hardware." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_dualhd.html", "claim": "The vendor webstore shows the WinTV-dualHD actively offered for sale, reinforcing that at least some supported tuner hardware remained commercially available in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a single obsolete chip driver but an active aggregate directory for many DVB/ATSC demodulator+tuner chips. lore_file_timeline on the directory prefix returned no matches, so I treated that as a directory-level blind spot rather than inactivity; I then relied on the provided history metadata (135 substantive commits in 5y, 56 authors, latest substantive touch 2025-10-17) and local Kconfig inspection via exec_command. Web search returned Hauppauge product and webstore URLs showing current tuner sales and Linux-facing usage. No evidence found of an upstream removal/deprecation push for the directory as a whole, and there is no single replacement driver for this mixed frontend stack.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0851166951468344, "commits_5y": 147, "substantive_commits_5y": 135, "first_touch_ts": 1344910421, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693475, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 122, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/dvb-frontends/cxd2880", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Sony CXD2880 DVB-T/T2 tuner-demodulator", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products//raspberry-pi-tv-hat/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi still presents the TV HAT as a buyable product, and the page identifies the onboard tuner as Sony CXD2880." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/tv-hat/", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi documentation describes active setup and use of the TV HAT with the Sony CXD2880 for DVB-T/DVB-T2 reception." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_CXD2880.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DVB_CXD2880 remains present across current kernel series and builds module cxd2880." }, { "url": "https://linux.googlesource.com/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux/%2B/faf3c25e51a7e91b69ea26da72c74a8786af7968/MAINTAINERS", "claim": "The kernel MAINTAINERS entry lists MEDIA DRIVERS FOR CXD2880 as Supported with a named maintainer and file patterns covering this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. URLs were obtained via web search/open: Raspberry Pi product page and TV HAT docs, LKDDb page, and a searched MAINTAINERS snapshot on linux.googlesource. Local shell inspection identified the directory as the Sony CXD2880 DVB-T2/T frontend and local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/dvb-frontends/cxd2880` showed only sporadic 2023-2024 maintenance plus later treewide churn; `lei` was unavailable, so lore history could not be queried directly. Given current upstream support metadata and evidence of hardware still being sold/documented, removal is not justified; low activity argues for keep-annotate rather than plain keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1520415582, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712576898, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Micronas DRX39xxJ / DRX-J digital TV demodulator family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_DRX39XYJ.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DVB_DRX39XYJ remains present through current kernel HEAD, indicating the driver is still carried upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.micronas.tdk.com/index.php/ko/news-events/trade-news/micronas-launches-superior-multi-standard-dtv-demodulators-us-hdtvs-0520", "claim": "Vendor news identifies the DRX-H/DRX family as a 2005-era Micronas consumer DTV demodulator line for HDTVs, set-top boxes, PC-TV cards, PVRs, and tuner modules." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr950q.html", "claim": "Hauppauge still publishes support material for WinTV-HVR-950Q/955Q class devices, consistent with a remaining installed base rather than active mainstream new deployment." }, { "url": "https://videoguys.com/products/hauppauge-wintv-hvr-955q", "claim": "A reseller page marks WinTV-HVR-950Q as a discontinued product, supporting the conclusion that this hardware family is legacy rather than newly sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in the directory) shows this is real frontend driver code and names the device as \"Micronas DRX39xxj family Frontend\" with Hauppauge references in source. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021 -- drivers/media/dvb-frontends/drx39xyj` shows non-removal upstream attention through 2024-2026, mostly cleanup/bug-fix work and no visible removal push; `lei` was unavailable in the environment, so lore-specific lookup could not be run. URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb for continued upstream presence, Micronas/TDK vendor history for chipset era and market, Hauppauge support plus reseller discontinuation evidence for present-day legacy deployments. Because maintenance is still happening but the hardware is clearly old consumer-TV silicon with only residual installed-base relevance, the right call is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1393953623, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760447256, "top_author": "Ricardo Ribalda", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/firewire", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Digital Everywhere FireDTV/FloppyDTV", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/Z6BQGxHbdWiIGlp6@wunner.de/", "claim": "Recent lore activity touching firedtv-fw.c in 2025 was part of a broad treewide overflow-hardening patch spanning 85 files, not focused maintenance of this driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_FIREDTV.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_DVB_FIREDTV to drivers/media/firewire/Kconfig and identifies the supported hardware as FireDTV and FloppyDTV IEEE-1394 DVB receivers." }, { "url": "https://nordichardware.se/digital-everywhere-ler-ner-firedtvfloppydtv-tillverkning/", "claim": "Digital Everywhere announced it was shutting down in 2009 and FireDTV/FloppyDTV products would disappear from the market, indicating the hardware family has been out of new production for many years." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: firedtv FireWire DVB receiver driver. Chipset/family name comes from in-tree Kconfig plus LKDDb page obtained via web search. Upstream attention looks minimal: lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on firedtv-fw.c found only sparse recent touches, with the newest cited lore URL being a 2025 treewide patch rather than device-specific work. Web search found a 2009 report that vendor Digital Everywhere shut down, so new-hardware sales in 2025 are implausible; remaining use is likely legacy hobbyist/industrial installs only. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same external IEEE-1394 tuner hardware, so removal is riskier than deprecation; no concrete removal thread was established.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.8142618299740408, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1344910836, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1691647117, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "V4L2 I2C camera sensors, video decoders, and bridge chips", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260424092554.26130-3-elgin.perumbilly@siliconsignals.io/", "claim": "April 2026 linux-media patch adds a new os02g10 image sensor driver under drivers/media/i2c, showing ongoing upstream expansion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260417083214.222189-3-hpa@redhat.com/", "claim": "April 2026 linux-media patch adds a Sony IMX471 image sensor driver in this directory, another sign of active new-hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.alliedvision.com/en/products/alvium-configurator/alvium-1500-c/210/", "claim": "Allied Vision still sells a 2025-era MIPI CSI-2 camera product built around the AR0521 sensor, matching hardware classes handled in this directory." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/media/drivers/camera-sensor.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes active userspace support and operating conventions for camera sensor drivers, the main class of drivers in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/media/i2c` is an active umbrella directory, not a single obsolete chip driver: local `sed` on Kconfig/Makefile shows dozens of currently supported sensor/bridge/decoder drivers from Sony, OmniVision, onsemi, GalaxyCore, Hynix, TI, Toshiba, Analog Devices and others. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/i2c/Kconfig`, which reported 1673 matching messages since 2021, newest on 2026-04-24, with recent events dominated by new-driver additions (os02g10, imx471, LC898217XC VCM). A shell `lei` removal query failed due local sandbox socket restrictions, so removal-talk assessment is based on the sampled lore timeline rather than a full negative search. Sales/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`, which found Allied Vision's still-marketed Alvium CSI-2 AR0521 product page and current kernel camera-sensor documentation. Because the directory is seeing heavy upstream churn and still maps to hardware classes sold into embedded/industrial vision systems, the correct disposition is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03261166034505789, "commits_5y": 1564, "substantive_commits_5y": 1542, "first_touch_ts": 1345059734, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768568933, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 218, "c_file_count": 165, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c/adv748x", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADV7481/ADV7482 (ADV748x) video decoder + HDMI receiver bridges", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240430103956.60190-7-jacopo.mondi@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream functional work touched adv748x in 2024 ('Use routes to configure VC'), indicating the driver is still being maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240430103956.60190-3-jacopo.mondi@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "A second adv748x patch in the same 2024 series ('Add flags to adv748x_subdev_init()') shows non-removal development activity in the core driver." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7482.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADV7482 as 'PRODUCTION' with 'Sample & Buy', supporting that ADV748x-family hardware remained sold new through 2025 and beyond, mainly for automotive/video-bridge designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: 4 C files plus module driver entrypoint in provided context. lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on adv748x-core.c showed steady 2024 upstream work and no removal/deprecation evidence in the returned subjects; static context also reports substantive touches as late as 2025-07-10. Web search + open on Analog Devices product page showed ADV7482 marked PRODUCTION/Sample & Buy. Deployment is low, not none: this is specialized automotive/embedded video-ingest silicon, not commodity consumer hardware. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same silicon; generic media bridge frameworks do not replace this device-specific driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1979023232393155, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1500496531, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752147898, "top_author": "Niklas Söderlund", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c/ccs", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MIPI CCS / SMIA / SMIA++ camera sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.8/driver-api/media/drivers/ccs/ccs.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes CCS as the generic upstream driver for MIPI CCS compliant sensors and explicitly notes support for CCS 1.1, CCS 1.0, SMIA++ and SMIA static data." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/media/i2c/ccs/ccs-core.c.html", "claim": "Current upstream source shows a maintained generic camera-sensor driver with multiple supported module identifiers, including legacy mobile-camera parts such as jt8ev1, imx125es, tcm8500md and vw6558." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Camera_Port_2", "claim": "CCP2 is a Standard Mobile Imaging Architecture camera interconnect used in mobile phones, supporting the assessment that part of the CCS/SMIA ecosystem is legacy mobile-imaging hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows this is a real V4L2 I2C driver, not a helper library, and that it has substantial recent upstream activity through 2026-03-26 with no visible removal trend. The docs.kernel.org URL was obtained via web search and confirms the driver is the generic upstream implementation for CCS/SMIA/SMIA++ sensors, which argues against deprecation and against any natural replacement driver. The codebrowser URL was obtained via web search and used to corroborate the current supported-device set; several identifiers are old phone-era sensors, so present-day deployment looks niche rather than broad. The Wikipedia CCP2 URL was obtained via web search and used only as secondary context for the legacy SMIA lineage. Net: actively maintained generic sensor driver, low-volume but still relevant hardware, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01803206208234814, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1606920426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774527247, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 58, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c/cx25840", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX2584x audio/video decoders", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260312213532.2907276-3-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "Upstream saw a real functional fix in 2026 for this driver family, indicating maintained code and nonzero active users." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_CX25840.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_CX25840 is still present through current kernel series, so the driver remains upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge lists WinTV-PVR-150/250/350/500 as legacy discontinued products, consistent with the cx25840 ecosystem being obsolete retail hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_pvr150.html", "claim": "The WinTV-PVR-150 support page references only Windows XP/Vista/7-era software, reinforcing that these boards are legacy-era analog capture devices rather than current new-deployment hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this is an actual I2C V4L2 subdevice driver for cx25840/cx25841/cx25842/cx25843 and related variants, including legacy PVR-150 references. lore_file_timeline on cx25840-core.c showed recent activity, notably the 2026 linux-media patch fixing analog TV standards, plus 2024-2025 treewide/API maintenance; that argues against deprecation despite low recent substantive churn. Web search found LKDDb confirming the config is still carried in current kernels, and Hauppauge support pages showing representative attached products are discontinued and tied to XP/Vista/7-era software. Net: hardware is legacy and likely only in hobbyist/installed-base analog capture systems today, but upstream still receives real fixes, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7112370060498561, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1345059734, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695800401, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c/et8ek8", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Toshiba ET8EK8 camera sensor", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/i2c/et8ek8/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig identifies this as support for the Toshiba ET8EK8 5 MP camera sensor and says it is used for example in the Nokia N900 (RX-51)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being updated in 2026 as part of a large V4L2 subdev API conversion touching et8ek8_driver.c; this is active maintenance, not abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/fca7331649892206b92f1c63aedac6050a2d8d4a.1765782992.git.alex.t.tran@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2025 patch adds device-tree CRC configuration support specifically to et8ek8_driver, indicating current upstream interest in keeping the driver usable." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N900_%28nokia-n900%29", "claim": "postmarketOS still tracks the Nokia N900 on recent kernels, with camera support marked partial; this suggests surviving hobbyist/legacy deployments rather than none." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N900", "claim": "The Nokia N900 was released in November 2009, was a retail product of that era, and by 2023 support is described as mainly community-maintained via postmarketOS, consistent with legacy-only deployments today." } ], "reasoning_notes": "No removal discussion surfaced from lore-first checks; lore_file_timeline and lore_activity showed steady 2025-2026 maintenance, including a dedicated ET8EK8 feature patch and broad media API updates. That argues against deprecate/remove and supports keep-annotate for legacy hardware. Hardware evidence points to a single known example platform, the 2009 Nokia N900, with present-day community OS support but no meaningful new-hardware market, so sold-new=false, deployments=low, and last widely available year estimated as 2010. Source acquisition: Kconfig URL via canonical recall of git.kernel.org tree path; lore URLs obtained from lore_file_timeline/lore_activity; N900 deployment/age URLs obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09985387346286834, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1485865277, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768568932, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/i2c/s5c73m3", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung S5C73M3", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver is still seeing upstream mechanical/API maintenance in 2026, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://www.anandtech.com/show/5811/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-preview", "claim": "AnandTech identified the Galaxy S III rear camera CMOS as the Samsung S5C73M3 8 MP sensor, tying the driver to 2012-era flagship phone hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.anandtech.com/show/6386/samsung-galaxy-note-2-review-t-mobile-/6", "claim": "AnandTech reported the Galaxy Note II uses the same 8 MP S5C73M3 rear camera as the Galaxy S III, showing another mainstream 2012 deployment of this hardware family." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_II_LTE_%28samsung-t0lte%29", "claim": "postmarketOS still tracks the Note II LTE back camera as S5C73M3 with partial driver support, indicating present-day hobbyist/aftermarket deployments rather than new commercial ones." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Samsung S5C73M3 camera ISP/sensor driver with i2c/spi entry points. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/i2c/s5c73m3/s5c73m3-core.c`, which showed touches through 2026 and no successful evidence of an active removal series; two broader lore searches timed out, so confidence is not maximal. Deployment evidence came from web search results: AnandTech pages tie S5C73M3 to 2012 Galaxy S III/Note II devices, and the postmarketOS wiki shows remaining niche use on legacy phones. Conclusion: hardware is long obsolete for new sales, but upstream still carries and updates the driver for legacy users, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18895506087246575, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1360093144, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426360, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/mc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: media-controller core/framework code under drivers/media/mc, not hardware-specific device driver implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023497581760174982, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1559060146, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773829291, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/mmc/siano", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Siano SMS1xxx", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240329171119.63992-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity on this driver is a 2024 module-init cleanup, indicating maintenance is minimal and not feature-driven." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMS_SDIO_DRV.html", "claim": "This directory builds CONFIG_SMS_SDIO_DRV for 'Siano SMS1xxx based MDTV via SDIO interface' and covers only a small set of legacy SDIO device IDs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMS_SIANO_MDTV.html", "claim": "The broader Siano support is for mobile digital TV receivers, a product category tied to older handset/accessory ecosystems rather than current mainstream deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.synsiano.com/index.php/company/about-us.htm", "claim": "Siano's own current company page describes the business around mobile broadcast DTV solutions for handheld, tablet, automotive, and transportation devices, consistent with legacy/niche deployment rather than new mainstream hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/siano-rolls-out-receiver-chip-for-us-mobile-digital-tv", "claim": "Public product/news coverage for Siano mobile-TV chips is from the early 2010 era, supporting the conclusion that broad commercial availability is historical rather than current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION='Siano SMS1xxx SDIO driver', identifying the chipset family. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/mmc/siano/smssdio.c returned only sparse history and no removal-series signal; the notable recent lore URL above was obtained via MCP lore_file_timeline. LKDDb pages were obtained by web search and confirm this is a narrow Siano SMS1xxx SDIO mobile-DTV driver still present in Kconfig, but that says little about active use. The Siano company page and old industry coverage were obtained by web search; together they indicate a legacy mobile-broadcast-TV market that peaked long ago. With no natural successor for the same hardware but very weak maintenance and low likelihood of new deployments, deprecate is the best fit.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.0134974350829031, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1344912772, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712576899, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/b2c2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "B2C2 FlexCop II/III", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2025102914-jeep-buckle-08dd@gregkh/", "claim": "`lore_activity` for `drivers/media/pci/b2c2/flexcop-pci.c` shows the driver still receives occasional maintenance via stable backports as of 2025-10-29, but not evidence of high upstream feature activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_B2C2_FLEXCOP_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for Technisat/B2C2 Air/Sky/Cable2PC PCI hardware and maps PCI ID 13d0:2103 to the B2C2 FlexCopII / TechniSat SkyStar2 class of cards." }, { "url": "https://www.technisat.de/datasheet-pdf?productId=1660", "claim": "TechniSat's SkyStar 2 TV PCI datasheet describes a legacy PCI TV tuner with Windows XP/Vista/7 era support, consistent with obsolete consumer hardware rather than modern new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows `module_pci_driver`, PCI ID 13d0:2103, and Kconfig naming Technisat/B2C2 Air/Sky/CableStar2 PCI. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity`; it found stable-release traffic touching `flexcop-pci.c`, which I treat as weak maintenance signal, not active subsystem development. Removal-talk check via `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so there is no clear upstream removal series in evidence. Deployment/market evidence came from web search: LKDDb confirms exact hardware class, and TechniSat's datasheet shows an old PCI card with pre-Windows-10 OS targets. That supports `deprecate` rather than `remove`: hardware appears legacy and low-deployment, but the code is still buildable and sees occasional fixes.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.29286347905888926, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758104046, "top_author": "Duoming Zhou", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/bt8xx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Brooktree/Conexant Bt848/Bt878", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The bt8xx code is still being touched upstream in 2025 as part of active media-tree API maintenance, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250810013100.29776-76-laurent.pinchart+renesas@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "Another 2025 media patch series updated bt8xx-related ioctl handler code, reinforcing ongoing compatibility maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/media/dvb-drivers/bt8xx.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes these as bt878a-based PCI DVB/ATSC cards that depend on the bttv driver, confirming the legacy PCI TV-capture use case." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_BT848.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_BT848 is still present in modern kernels and ties the driver to Brooktree Bt848/Bt849/Bt879-class PCI video-capture devices." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooktree", "claim": "Brooktree was acquired in 1996; the Bt848/Bt878 family dates to the 1990s, indicating very old hardware rather than current-generation products." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge lists its analog PCI TV tuners such as WinTV-GO, WinTV-GO-FM, and ImpactVCB as legacy/discontinued products, consistent with bt8xx hardware no longer being sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `lore_file_timeline` MCP on `drivers/media/pci/bt8xx/bttv-driver.c` showed steady 2021-2025 activity and recent 2025 linux-media patches; this argues against deprecation/removal now. Web search returned kernel.org bt8xx docs, LKDDb, Wikipedia Brooktree history, and Hauppauge legacy-product pages; together they show a 1990s-era analog/DVB PCI capture family with discontinued retail boards. No direct replacement upstream driver covers the same chips; practical replacements are newer capture hardware, not another driver. URLs were obtained via MCP `lore_file_timeline` and `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14898170000086627, "commits_5y": 43, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Deborah Brouwer", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/cobalt", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Cisco Cobalt", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_COBALT.html", "claim": "LKDDb mirrors the kernel help text stating this is the Cisco PCIe Cobalt card and that the board is not available outside Cisco; it also maps the driver to PCI ID 1137:2732." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250616085404.3787-1-panchuang@vivo.com/", "claim": "linux-media saw a 2025 cobalt-specific patch ('media: cobalt: Use str_enabled_disabled() helper'), showing the driver still receives upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "A 2026 treewide media patch still touched cobalt-driver.c, indicating the code remains integrated with current media subsystem API work rather than being abandoned or under removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Cisco Cobalt is a real PCIe media driver, but kernel Kconfig/LKDDb says the board was never broadly sold outside Cisco, so present-day deployments are likely limited to internal/lab or legacy appliance use; I therefore marked hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false and last_widely_available_year=null. Upstream activity is still visible: the lore_file_timeline MCP query on drivers/media/pci/cobalt/cobalt-driver.c showed 2025 cobalt-specific maintenance and 2026 API-adjustment touches, with no removal evidence in the sampled history, so removal/deprecation is premature. URLs were obtained via web search for LKDDb and via lore_file_timeline MCP for the two lore links.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18364923684802473, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1432140241, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426324, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/cx18", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX23418 PCI video encoder / TV-capture cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251014-cx18-v4l2-fh-v5-1-e09e64bc4725@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "Recent non-treewide bug-fix traffic exists for cx18, with review, testing, and stable CC in October 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251017130006.3904918-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "cx18 still receives stable backports as part of maintained media subsystem fixes in October 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr1600.html", "claim": "One supported board family is Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600, a PCI-era analog/ATSC/clear-QAM TV tuner/capture product." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr1600.html", "claim": "The vendor support page for HVR-1600 lists only legacy Windows-era support targets such as Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and a PCI slot, indicating old product generation rather than current-market hardware." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge places WinTV-HVR-1600 under its legacy product support area, consistent with legacy-only deployment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/cx18/cx18-cards.c", "claim": "The driver covers boards such as Hauppauge HVR-1600 and Compro VideoMate H900, confirming it is for older PCI TV-capture devices built around cx18/CX23418-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/cx18/cx18-driver.c", "claim": "The core driver binds PCI_DEVICE_ID_CX23418, identifying the chipset family as Conexant CX23418-based PCI capture hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no indexed hits, so I checked main file `cx18-driver.c` with `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity`; both showed active 2025 fixes/backports and no visible removal thread in the sampled activity, which argues against deprecate/remove. Local code was inspected with `exec_command` (`sed`/`rg`) to confirm supported boards and CX23418 PCI binding; kernel.org tree URLs are canonical-recall citations matching those local reads. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: Hauppauge product/support pages show HVR-1600 as a legacy PCI board with old Windows support, so new-in-2025 sales are unlikely and present-day use is probably limited to legacy hobbyist/archival capture systems. No clear in-tree replacement driver exists for the same CX23418-based boards, so `replacement_driver` is null. Kept as `keep-annotate` because hardware is obsolete but upstream maintenance is still real.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11921050517561609, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760450017, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/cx23885", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX23885/CX23887/CX23888 PCIe bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/tencent_8F418158FFC1397C04682081202253E8880A@qq.com/", "claim": "As of March 20, 2026 the driver still receives bug-fix patches, including a cx23885 ioremap cleanup marked for stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260317214902.3369964-2-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "As of March 17, 2026 the driver still receives functional updates, here adding a module option to disable analog video." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20241231093725.29894-1-zzam@gentoo.org/", "claim": "As of December 31, 2024 the driver still received power-management work, here a simple suspend/resume addition." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/85bc1bd641de9ed2bca76258fdf13d7b.mailbg@mail.bg/", "claim": "As of June 2, 2024 cx23885 still had board-enable work, here adding analog support for the AVerMedia H789-C PCIe card." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_quadhd.html", "claim": "Hauppauge still markets the WinTV-quadHD as a PCIe TV tuner product, showing at least one cx23885-supported board family remained sold new in the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_quadhd.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's webstore listed WinTV-quadHD for sale recently, supporting that compatible hardware was still available new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real V4L/DVB PCIe bridge driver for Conexant 23885-family TV cards with many supported board IDs, including Hauppauge quadHD/HVR5525 and others. `lore_activity` on core/cards files found real 2024-2026 maintenance and feature traffic, and no concrete removal series surfaced; `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned 0 hits, likely a path-coverage blind spot, while a `lore_regex` removal query timed out and `lei` was unusable under sandbox restrictions. Web `search_query` found Hauppauge product and store pages for WinTV-quadHD, so the hardware class is still sold new but appears niche; that supports `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove, with low current deployments and no natural in-tree replacement driver for the same chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08509426202950929, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/cx25821", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX25821 PCIe media bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228174750.1542406-157-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives recent upstream maintenance; a cx25821 resource-leak fix was backported in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_CX25821.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Conexant cx25821 support driver for TV/capture cards and shows it still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.eetimes.com/media-bridges-deliver-video-audio-transfer-via-pci-express/", "claim": "CX25821 was introduced in 2008 as a PCIe media bridge aimed at PC-based video surveillance / DVR designs, indicating an old surveillance-capture market niche rather than modern mainstream hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conexant", "claim": "Conexant as a standalone company was acquired in 2017, consistent with the chipset family being long out of its original active product era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) shows a real PCIe media-bridge driver for Conexant CX25821. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/pci/cx25821/cx25821-core.c`, which showed activity through 2026 and the cited February 2026 fix URL; directory-level timeline returned no direct hits, and removal-oriented `lore_regex` probes timed out rather than producing removal evidence. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb for driver identity/current presence, EE Times for 2008 launch/market targeting, and Wikipedia for vendor lifecycle context. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the hardware appears commercially obsolete and likely limited to legacy surveillance/DVR installs, but upstream still sees nontrivial maintenance, so straight deprecation/removal is not yet well-supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11193850163852173, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306864, "top_author": "Haoxiang Li", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/cx88", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX2388x / CX23880-3", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.69, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20220513182922.4882-2-jorgem.linux@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream still accepted a functional cx88 fix in 2022 ('media: cx88: Fix PAL-Nc standard'), so the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/ac1b23b29b5abe2884bdc4849e20728deacfba2d.1623605641.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "cx88 also received API-maintenance work in 2021 ('switch from pci_ to dma_ API'), indicating continued tree health work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_CX88.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_CX88 still present in current kernel series and identifies the family as Conexant 2388x / PCI video-audio decoder hardware." }, { "url": "https://linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/pdf/media.pdf", "claim": "Linux media documentation lists many cx88-supported PCI TV/DVB/ATSC boards and labels cx23885 as a successor, placing cx88 in an older pre-PCIe capture/tuner generation." }, { "url": "https://github-wiki-see.page/m/happycube/cxadc-linux3/wiki/Types-Of-CX2388x-Cards", "claim": "Modern niche CX2388x-derived cards are still sold with PCIe bridge chips for specialist analog-capture use, implying some new hardware availability remains but outside mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the Conexant 2388x TV/capture stack with many legacy PCI board tables. `lore_activity` on `cx88-core.c` surfaced a real functional fix in 2022 and maintenance in 2021 via the cited lore URLs; sampled lore did not show clear removal momentum. Web search found LKDDb and LinuxTV docs confirming the chipset family is still supported upstream but tied to an older PCI tuner/capture ecosystem, while the cxadc wiki suggests only niche new sales in 2024-2025. That supports `keep-annotate`: legacy hardware with low present-day deployment, but not dead enough for deprecation/removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09589041242222571, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Daniel González Cabanelas", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/ddbridge", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Digital Devices PCIe bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20240221130016.267621530@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable trees carried a ddbridge-specific bug fix in February 2024 ('media: ddbridge: fix an error code problem in ddb_probe'), showing ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251017130006.3904918-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "ddbridge code was still being updated in supported stable kernels in October 2025 via a media-wide DMA API conversion, indicating the driver remains live in maintained trees." }, { "url": "https://digitaldevices.de/en/products/dvb-components/max-sx8/", "claim": "Digital Devices continued listing the MAX SX8 as a current PCIe tuner card for Linux, supporting the conclusion that ddbridge-backed hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://digitaldevices.de/en/products/dvb-components/max-sx8-basic/", "claim": "A second current product variant ('MAX SX8 Basic') was also listed by the vendor, reinforcing that this hardware family was not purely legacy." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_DDBRIDGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_DVB_DDBRIDGE remains present in current kernel series and maps to Digital Devices PCI IDs, confirming upstream support scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the Digital Devices PCIe DVB bridge driver covering Octopus/Cine/Max boards, including MAX SX8-class cards. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/pci/ddbridge/ddbridge-main.c` showed recent stable-tree touches and no removal discussion; the cited lore URLs were taken from that timeline output. Web search found current Digital Devices product pages for MAX SX8 and MAX SX8 Basic, supporting 'still sold new in 2025' but only in a niche DVB/broadcast market, so deployments today are low. LKDDb was obtained from web search to confirm the driver is still present in current kernels. No natural in-tree replacement driver was found for the same hardware family; recommendation is to keep it, but annotate as niche/thinly maintained rather than broadly deployed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5024323646992144, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/dm1105", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "SDMC DM1105 PCI DVB bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/tencent_2F5A25B0AB50C4D77CFB3DDEA852BEBE6509@qq.com/", "claim": "dm1105 received a driver-specific bug fix in April 2026 ('fix missing error check for dma_alloc_coherent')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260220175013.673021-2-krzysztof.kozlowski@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "dm1105 received another targeted fix in February 2026 ('Free allocated workqueue')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260126133137.19260-1-sean@mess.org/", "claim": "dm1105 was included in a 41-driver rc-core race fix series in January 2026, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_DM1105.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for SDMC DM1105 based PCI cards such as DvbWorld 2002/2004, i.e. legacy PCI digital-TV receiver hardware still enabled in current kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of dm1105.c/Kconfig shows an SDMC DM1105 PCI DVB driver for DvbWorld 2002/2004 and Axess DM05 boards. The three lore.kernel.org URLs were obtained from lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/pci/dm1105/dm1105.c and show active 2026 bug-fix traffic, so this is not a dead/orphaned driver and there is no evidence here of an active removal series. The LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and confirms the hardware class as old PCI DVB cards; based on that hardware profile, I infer new 2025 sales are effectively absent and present-day deployment is low, but because upstream is still fixing it, the right stance is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove. No natural drop-in replacement driver exists for the same bridge chip, so replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.9678065105698194, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1687943365, "top_author": "Niklas Schnelle", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/dt3155", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Data Translation DT3155 PCI frame grabber", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2001, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20241014-vb2-wait-v1-3-8c3ee25c618c@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "dt3155 still receives occasional treewide media API maintenance in upstream, including 2024 updates." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "dt3155 was still included in a 2025 cross-driver ioctl conversion series, indicating passive upkeep rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://manualzz.com/doc/8506883/data-translation-frame-grabber-user-manual", "claim": "DT3155 is a Data Translation industrial-accuracy monochrome PCI frame grabber documented alongside Windows 98/NT 4.0/2000/ME-era software, placing mainstream availability in the early-2000s product generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed from local Kconfig/C source via shell (`exec_command`): Data Translation DT3155 frame grabber. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline`; it shows recent touches are sparse and treewide/API-maintenance oriented, and no removal discussion was found before tool budget was exhausted. The Manualzz product manual URL was obtained by web search and indicates an early-2000s Windows-era PCI frame-grabber product, supporting 'not sold new in 2025' and only low legacy/industrial deployments today. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same proprietary board; replacement is effectively newer vendor-specific frame-grabber hardware, not a direct upstream driver successor.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5090267626399338, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1430479541, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103593, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/intel", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intel IPU3/IPU6 camera pipeline and IVSC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_INTEL_IPU6.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_INTEL_IPU6 is an in-tree Intel IPU6 driver present in Linux 6.10–6.18 and 6.19-rc+HEAD, building module intel-ipu6-isys." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_IPU3_CIO2.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_IPU3_CIO2 remains in-tree through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD for Skylake/Kaby Lake CSI-2 camera capture." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg279307.html", "claim": "IVSC saw real upstream bug-fix traffic in 2025 via a shutdown crash fix posted to linux-media." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/linuxtv-commits%40linuxtv.org/msg48338.html", "claim": "ipu-bridge received late-2025 enablement/fix work for Dell XPS 13 9350 and XPS 16 9640 camera orientation quirks, indicating current hardware support work." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-16-laptop/spd/xps-16-9640-laptop/usexchcto9640mtl05", "claim": "Dell was selling the XPS 16 9640 in 2025, a model explicitly referenced by upstream ipu-bridge camera-fix work." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/compare.html?productIds=236776%2C238762%2C236796%2C236795%2C236848%2C237330%2C237507%2C236850%2C237328%2C236847%2C237327%2C237508%2C236851%2C237329%2C236849", "claim": "Current Intel Core Ultra processor compare data lists Intel Image Processing Unit Version 6.0 on multiple SKUs, supporting that IPU6-era hardware remained current in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is an active aggregate driver area containing IPU bridge, IPU3 CIO2, IPU6, and IVSC Kconfig/Makefile entries. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/pci/intel` showed sustained substantive activity through late 2025 and January 2026 across ipu6, ivsc, ipu3-cio2, and ipu-bridge, with no sign of a removal series. URLs were obtained by web search: LKDDb pages confirm the drivers remain upstream; Spinics/mail-archive threads show 2025-2026 fix/enablement traffic; Dell and Intel product pages support that relevant hardware was still in new systems in 2025. Because the directory spans both legacy IPU3 support and still-current IPU6/IVSC laptop camera support, deprecation or removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1514548851, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767688413, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/intel/ipu3", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intel IPU3 CIO2", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/ipu3.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies this directory's driver as the Intel IPU3 CIO2 part of the IPU3 camera stack, used on certain Kaby Lake/Skylake platforms." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The file still receives upstream churn in 2026 via a linux-media API conversion series touching ipu3-cio2." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251013-ptr_err-v1-22-2c5efbd82952@chromium.org/", "claim": "The driver also saw direct touchups in late 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/82879/products-formerly-kaby-lake.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists Kaby Lake as 'Products formerly Kaby Lake', showing the platform family is long out of current-product status." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/95592/intel-pentium-processor-n4200-2m-cache-up-to-2-5-ghz.html", "claim": "An Apollo Lake mobile SKU associated with this era shows 'End of Servicing Updates' dated September 30, 2023, supporting that the hardware family is no longer current for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI media driver: local tree inspection (exec_command with rg) showed CONFIG_VIDEO_IPU3_CIO2, module_pci_driver(), and Intel IPU3 CIO2 identifiers. Active upstream attention is clear from lore_file_timeline on ipu3-cio2.c: hits extend through 2025-10-13 and 2026-04-08, so this is not removal-candidate code. No removal/deprecation discussion was found via web search on lore.kernel.org, and the direct lore removal regex timed out rather than returning evidence. Deployment outlook is old-but-not-zero: docs.kernel and local Kconfig tie it to IPU3-era Intel client platforms, while Intel ARK pages obtained via web search show Kaby Lake is a former codename and Apollo Lake SKUs are at end-of-servicing, so new 2025 sales are unlikely; remaining use is legacy laptop/embedded installed base. Recommendation is keep-annotate, not deprecate/remove, because the hardware is obsolete in market terms but still receives real upstream fixes/API updates. Source acquisition: docs.kernel and Intel ARK URLs via web search; lore URLs via mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10186945880180559, "commits_5y": 66, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1514548851, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/intel/ipu6", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intel IPU6 / IPU6SE / IPU6EP imaging units for Alder Lake, Alder Lake-N, Raptor Lake-P, and Meteor Lake SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/pci/intel/ipu6", "claim": "Upstream history shows the driver is new and actively maintained rather than abandoned or queued for removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/intel/ipu6/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this as the Intel IPU6 driver for image/video capture from camera sensors." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/include/media/ipu6-pci-table.h", "claim": "The in-tree PCI ID table covers multiple recent Intel client platforms: Alder Lake-P, Alder Lake-N, Raptor Lake-P, and Meteor Lake." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/meteor-lake-u-p/core-ultra-processor-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/intel-image-processing-unit-intel-ipu6_1/", "claim": "Intel's 2025 Meteor Lake/Core Ultra datasheet still documents IPU6 as a current processor feature, indicating new-hardware relevance in 2025." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/meteor-lake-u-p/core-ultra-processor-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/platform-imaging-infrastructure/", "claim": "Intel documents IPU6 as part of the integrated platform imaging infrastructure for current Core Ultra systems, supporting ongoing deployment in laptops and related devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI media driver, not a helper-only directory. Local source inspection via shell showed active module code and recent platform IDs; local git log showed many 2025 fixes/cleanups, matching the provided 2026 most-recent touch. No public removal/deprecation evidence was found: shell `lei` was unavailable in this environment and web searches for lore removal chatter returned no hits. Kernel.org tree/log URLs are canonical-recall URLs cross-checked against local source inspection; Intel EDC URLs were obtained via web search. Because IPU6 is tied to still-current Intel mobile SoCs and has no generic replacement driver, the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 98, "substantive_commits_5y": 94, "first_touch_ts": 1714395397, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768568932, "top_author": "Bingbu Cao", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intel Visual Sensing Controller (IVSC) / Intel VSC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_VSC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_INTEL_VSC is a real upstream kernel driver option, present from Linux 6.6 onward, with modules ivsc-ace and ivsc-csi." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/meteor-lake-u-p/core-ultra-processor-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/001/intel-image-processing-unit-intel-ipu6_1/", "claim": "Intel documents IPU6 camera/imaging infrastructure on Meteor Lake Core Ultra platforms, indicating IVSC-adjacent camera hardware is part of modern laptop platforms." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/core-ultra-200h-and-200u-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/002/intel-image-processing-unit-intel-ipu6_1/", "claim": "Intel continues documenting IPU6 on Core Ultra 200H/200U series processors, supporting the conclusion that this camera stack remains relevant in 2025-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/meteor-lake-u-p/core-ultra-processor-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/mipi-csi-2-camera-interconnect/", "claim": "Intel's current platform docs describe integrated MIPI CSI-2 camera interconnect support, matching the IVSC CSI routing/control role in laptop camera deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile shows this is a real media driver directory with ivsc-ace and ivsc-csi modules. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc` shows sustained upstream work from 2023-07-08 through 2025-09-29, including real fixes in 2024-2025 rather than only treewide churn; dominant author is Sakari Ailus (19 commits from local git count). Web search on lore.kernel.org for ivsc/removal terms returned no results, so I found no active removal discussion. URLs were obtained via `web.open`/`web.search_query` for LKDDb and Intel EDC pages. Conclusion: this is a young, still-maintained Intel laptop camera-support driver for current Core Ultra/IPU6 platforms, with no natural in-tree replacement and no evidence of obsolescence-driven deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1692037566, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761742036, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/ivtv", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant cx23415/cx23416 (cx2341x) PCI MPEG encoder/decoder", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/ivtv/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies ivtv as support for Conexant cx23416/cx23415 based PCI personal video recorder devices, including Hauppauge PVR-150/250/350/500." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251014-cx18-v4l2-fh-v5-2-e09e64bc4725@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "ivtv still received a targeted bug-fix patch in October 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251017143242.3997991-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "ivtv fixes were also backported to stable in October 2025, showing the code is still considered worth maintaining." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge lists WinTV-PVR-150/250/350/500 as discontinued legacy products." }, { "url": "https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_PVR-150", "claim": "MythTV documents PVR-150 as ivtv-supported legacy analog capture hardware and notes these analog-only PVR cards were no longer shipped." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI media driver, not a helper library. Local source inspection via exec_command showed ivtv Kconfig targets Conexant cx23415/cx23416-based Hauppauge PVR cards. lore_file_timeline on ivtv-driver.c showed fresh 2025 linux-media and stable traffic; cited lore URLs came from that MCP tool and point to a real bug fix plus stable backports, with no removal thread surfaced in the sampled recent history. Web search found Hauppauge's legacy-products page and archived MythTV hardware pages showing the supported cards are discontinued analog-era products, so new deployments are low and mostly legacy hobbyist/PVR installations. Because the hardware is obsolete but upstream still fixes real bugs, keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove. last_widely_available_year is left null because the sources confirm discontinuation but do not pin a defensible final broad-availability year. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is included as a canonical recall URL for the locally inspected file.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11921050517561609, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760450017, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/mantis", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Twinhan Mantis/Hopper PCI DVB bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20200922132221.2051769-1-fazilyildiran@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2020 linux-media patch proposed removing an orphan Mantis file, showing some removal interest but not a completed driver retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MANTIS_CORE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for Mantis/Hopper PCI bridge based devices and shows the driver still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_MANTIS.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps the driver to Twinhan Mantis DTV PCI Bridge Controller PCI IDs across several legacy DVB-S/T/C board variants." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_HOPPER.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the related Hopper variant is the same legacy Twinhan PCI DVB bridge family with a narrow hardware set." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1822-4e35-1ae4-0002", "claim": "linux-hardware still records modern probes of a Mantis DTV PCI Bridge device, indicating residual real-world use on contemporary Linux systems rather than zero deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and per-board files shows a real PCI DVB driver for legacy VP-1033/1034/1041/2033/2040/3030 and Hopper VP-3028 cards. `lore_file_timeline` on mantis_core.c found a 2020 removal attempt, but the directory was not removed and the task context reports substantive touches through 2024-10-28, so removal is premature. Web search returned LKDDb pages for device scope and linux-hardware for present-day probe evidence. Hardware appears limited to old PCI broadcast cards, likely not sold new in 2025, but lingering legacy installs justify keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5665122388684249, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730126156, "top_author": "Bjørn Mork", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/mgb4", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Digiteq Automotive FrameGrabber 4 (FG4/MGB4)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/pci/mgb4", "claim": "Upstream history for this path is active in 2024-2026, including nontrivial fixes and feature additions; inspected local git history showed no removal/deprecation series." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/mgb4.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes mgb4 as the Digiteq Automotive FrameGrabber 4 driver for a PCIe card handling FPD-Link III and GMSL2/3 automotive video streams." }, { "url": "https://www.digiteqautomotive.com/en/products/grabbers-and-image-tools", "claim": "Digiteq's current product portfolio still markets FrameGrabber 4 and states the older Modular Frame Grabber (MGB) was replaced by FrameGrabber 4." }, { "url": "https://www.digiteqautomotive.com/en/products/grabbers-and-image-tools/framegrabber-4", "claim": "Vendor product page presents FrameGrabber 4 as a current PCIe product with Linux support and current GMSL/FPD-Link interface modules, including GMSL1 and GMSL2/3 options." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on local sources (`Kconfig`, `mgb4_core.c`) identified Digiteq Automotive, PCI IDs T100/T200, and the FG4/MGB4 family. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/pci/mgb4` showed active 2024-2026 maintenance with recent feature work (for example GMSL1 and GMSL3 coaxial support in January 2026); I cite the canonical kernel.org log URL for that history (canonical recall). `web.search_query` found the kernel doc and Digiteq product pages; `web.open`/`find` confirmed the hardware is still marketed in 2026 and that MGB was superseded by FG4 hardware, not by another in-tree Linux driver. This is niche automotive infotainment/test equipment, so deployments are low, but the driver is active and should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1696668718, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770106855, "top_author": "Martin Tůma", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/netup_unidvb", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NetUP Universal Dual DVB-CI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.53, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/netup_unidvb/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as support for the NetUP PCI Express Universal DVB card, i.e. a board-specific PCIe DVB driver rather than a generic transport layer." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_NETUP_UNIDVB.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_DVB_NETUP_UNIDVB to NetUP Universal DVB card support and the board-specific PCI IDs 1b55:18f6 and 1b55:18f7." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20231109163512.179524-25-benjamin.gaignard@collabora.com/", "claim": "The driver was still touched by media treewide maintenance in late 2023, indicating it remains build-tested and not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251017130006.3904918-1-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver file was still included in a 5.15-stable treewide API conversion in October 2025, showing ongoing passive maintenance rather than active removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of the directory shows a board-specific PCIe DVB-CI driver for NetUP hardware revisions 1.3/1.4 using Sony demod/tuner frontends. lore_file_timeline on netup_unidvb_core.c returned only scattered treewide/stable touches through 2025 and no removal-thread evidence in the sampled history; a broader lore_regex query timed out, and lei was unavailable due local socket permission failure. Kernel Kconfig and LKDDb URLs are canonical recall used to anchor device identity/PCI IDs. Recommendation is keep-annotate: hardware looks legacy and niche with likely low present-day deployment, but there is still occasional upstream maintenance and no clear replacement driver for the same board.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.39317349011489705, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1439317000, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727651523, "top_author": "Yang Yingliang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/ngene", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Micronas nGene PCIe multimedia bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "ddbridge", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240618225232.825490-1-allen.lkml@gmail.com/", "claim": "Mainline still sees maintenance touches in 2024; ngene was included in the media-wide tasklet-to-BH-workqueue conversion." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20240613113230.630400988@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "ngene also received a 2024 stable backport ('Add dvb_ca_en50221_init return value check'), indicating active bug-fix interest rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_NGENE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DVB_NGENE as Micronas nGene support and lists the legacy PCI IDs/cards covered by this driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_DDBRIDGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows newer Digital Devices bridge hardware moved to CONFIG_DVB_DDBRIDGE, including CineS2 v6/v7, Octopus, DuoFlex V4, and Max series." }, { "url": "https://digitaldevices.de/en/products/dvb-components/octopus-pcie-bridge/", "claim": "Digital Devices marks Octopus Classic PCIe as 'not listed anymore', evidence that older bridge-era products are no longer current retail hardware." }, { "url": "https://digitaldevices.de/en/manuals/duoflex-ci/", "claim": "Current Digital Devices documentation treats Cine series V5.5 / PCIe Bridge / mini PCIe Bridge only as compatibility targets, while full support is described for newer Cine v6+ and Octopus families." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed ngene targets legacy DVB receiver boards such as Linux4Media cineS2, Mystique SaTiX-S2, Terratec, Aver, and early Digital Devices DuoFlex/Cine variants. lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on ngene-core.c showed sparse but real 2024 maintenance and stable backports, with no visible removal-themed activity in the recent timeline; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search produced LKDDb pages for DVB_NGENE and DVB_DDBRIDGE plus Digital Devices product/manual pages showing current sales centered on newer ddbridge-era hardware while older bridge products are legacy/not listed. Conclusion: old hardware, low present-day deployment, but still enough upstream maintenance to keep the driver with an obsolescence note rather than deprecate it now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5831021121881402, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Allen Pais", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/pluto2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Pluto2 FPGA-based PCI DVB-T receiver cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.61, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260323102920.19937-1-Dmitry.Chumachenko@cyberprotect.ru/", "claim": "The driver still receives real upstream attention: a 2026 linux-media patch fixes a potential buffer overflow in pluto2." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/pluto2/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig says this driver supports PCI cards based on the Pluto2 FPGA, such as the Satelco Easywatch Mobile Terrestrial DVB-T Receiver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/admin-guide/media/pci-cardlist.rst", "claim": "The kernel media PCI card list still documents pluto2 as a supported PCI TV card driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_PLUTO2.html", "claim": "LKDDb indexes CONFIG_DVB_PLUTO2 as a long-standing Linux kernel driver option for Pluto2 cards, reinforcing that this is a niche legacy hardware-specific driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore history first: `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/media/pci/pluto2/pluto2.c showed sparse long-term activity but a fresh 2026 bug-fix patch, which argues against deprecation/removal and supports `keep-annotate`. A follow-up removal-search attempt via `lore_regex` timed out and a `lei` subject query could not start in the sandbox, so I did not treat removal discussion as evidenced. Hardware/use-case grounding came from local source inspection (`exec_command` on Kconfig) plus canonical recall URLs for kernel.org card docs and LKDDb. Deployment is judged `low` and not `none`: this is a legacy PCI terrestrial-TV receiver class with very weak signs of modern demand, but current upstream bug fixing means outright removal would be premature. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` is an inference from the legacy PCI DVB-T product class and lack of contemporary availability evidence, so confidence is moderate rather than high.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.5627166723979007, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1632989275, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/pt1", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Earthsoft PT1/PT2 ISDB-S/ISDB-T PCI tuner cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": "drivers/media/pci/pt3", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251022032038.422230-4-tanze@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream attention in October 2025 via a pt1-specific cleanup patch." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The MAINTAINERS entry for EARTH_PT1 marks the driver as 'Odd Fixes', indicating limited but still recognized maintenance rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/admin-guide/media/pci-cardlist.html", "claim": "Kernel media documentation still lists 'earth-pt1' as the driver for PT1 cards, confirming the directory is an active supported media driver in-tree." }, { "url": "https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20091223_pt2_end/", "claim": "Contemporary reporting states Earthsoft PT2 production/orders were ending, showing the hardware family left normal retail long ago." }, { "url": "https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20090714_pt2/", "claim": "PT2 was introduced in 2009 as the successor to PT1, establishing the family's sales era as late-2000s/early-2010s hardware." }, { "url": "https://wikiwiki.jp/earthsoftpt/", "claim": "A 2023 community wiki still discusses PT1/PT2-compatible motherboards and PCI risers, suggesting lingering hobbyist/legacy deployments rather than zero use." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_PT3.html", "claim": "LKDDb documents the separate upstream Earthsoft PT3 driver, which is the natural successor for the same Japanese digital-TV tuner use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of pt1.c/Kconfig identified this as the Earthsoft PT1/PT2 PCI ISDB tuner driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/pci/pt1/pt1.c showed fresh 2025 cleanup traffic and no visible removal pattern, so removal is not justified. web search returned kernel docs pages showing the driver remains listed and MAINTAINERS marks it 'Odd Fixes'. web search also returned historical PT2 production-end reports and a 2023 community wiki, supporting 'not sold new' but still low legacy deployment. PT3 is the obvious upstream successor, but PCI PT1/PT2 users may still exist, so annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.30577351698693317, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760447256, "top_author": "Qianfeng Rong", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/pt3", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Earthsoft PT3 ISDB-S/ISDB-T PCIe tuner cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250404135344.93241-4-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "PT3 still received upstream maintenance in 2025; the latest visible touch is a PCI API modernization patch, not a removal patch." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20210814155742.11392-1-novikov@ispras.ru/", "claim": "PT3 also received cleanup/fix work in 2021, indicating occasional but real maintenance over multiple years." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_PT3.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_DVB_PT3` remains present in current kernel series and maps to Earthsoft PT3 cards / module `earth-pt3`." }, { "url": "https://www.k1s.jp/wiki/wiki.cgi?page=PT3", "claim": "PT3 is a 2012-era PCIe digital TV tuner board for Japanese ISDB terrestrial/BS/CS reception, indicating old and region-specific hardware." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/682083/", "claim": "The driver targets Earthsoft PT3-class ISDB tuner hardware, a specialized DVB/media use case rather than mainstream contemporary PC hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` on `drivers/media/pci/pt3/pt3.c` confirmed this is the Earthsoft PT3 PCI driver and showed the single PCI ID/subsystem match. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/pci/pt3/pt3.c` produced the 2021-2025 maintenance history and showed no obvious removal discussion in the visible recent events; cited lore URLs came from that MCP result. LKDDb URL came from web search and supports that the driver is still built upstream. The PT3 wiki URL came from web search and was used only for product vintage/use-case context (2012 launch, Japan-specific tuner card). LWN URL came from web search and corroborates the hardware family/use case. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware appears niche/legacy with low present-day deployment and likely no meaningful new 2025 sales, but upstream still applies occasional fixes, so outright deprecation/removal is not yet well-supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3865161496576396, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1411502641, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745586870, "top_author": "Philipp Stanner", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/saa7134", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Philips/NXP SAA713x PCI TV/capture decoders", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260402073529.652126-1-make24@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix traffic exists for this driver in 2026, with a memory-leak fix tagged for stable." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/saa7134.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes saa7134 as the driver for saa7130/33/34/35 based capture and TV boards." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/saa7134-cardlist.html", "claim": "Current kernel docs still list many supported legacy PCI TV/capture boards for saa7134, indicating broad legacy-board coverage rather than a single modern product line." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SAA7134.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_SAA7134 remains present in current kernel series and identifies Philips SAA713x TV-card support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with multiple module-bearing C files. lore_activity on saa7134-video.c found a 2026 linux-media/stable bug-fix URL, so this is not abandoned and there is no evidence here for immediate removal; a lore_file_timeline query on saa7134-core.c also showed continued touches, though many are treewide. Web search produced the current kernel driver doc and cardlist URLs, which show the hardware class is legacy PCI analog/DVB TV/capture boards. Web search also produced the LKDDb URL confirming the driver is still built in current kernels. Recommendation is keep-annotate: upstream still fixes it, but new deployments are likely low and mostly legacy capture/TV systems; no single in-tree replacement driver covers the same installed base.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15895837025550005, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/saa7146", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Philips/NXP SAA7146 PCI multimedia bridge (Hexium Orion/HV-PCI6, Siemens-Nixdorf MXB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream attention in 2025 via media API adaptation touching mxb.c, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20240324234638.1355609-139-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "saa7146-based media PCI code was still being carried in stable backports in 2024, indicating ongoing compatibility maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_HEXIUM_ORION.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this directory to Hexium HV-PCI6/Orion frame grabber cards and records an earlier temporary move through a deprecated staging location, but the driver remains present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MXB.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties the same directory to the Siemens-Nixdorf Multimedia eXtension Board and shows it still exists in current kernel Kconfig." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/19017/PHILIPS/SAA7146AH.html", "claim": "The SAA7146AH is an old Philips/NXP PCI multimedia bridge for desktop-video applications; the surfaced datasheet is from the early-2000s era, consistent with legacy PCI capture hardware rather than new 2025 products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed only legacy PCI V4L2 boards in this directory (Hexium Orion/HV-PCI6 and Siemens-Nixdorf MXB). lore_file_timeline on mxb.c showed non-removal upstream activity through 2025; cited lore URLs came from that MCP result. A broader lore_regex removal search timed out twice, and a web search for lore removal discussion found no hits, so I found no concrete active removal thread. LKDDb URLs were obtained by web search and establish exact board coverage plus the prior deprecated-staging episode. The datasheet URL was obtained by web search and supports that SAA7146 is an early-2000s PCI multimedia bridge. Overall: hardware is legacy and likely only in old industrial/video-capture deployments, but upstream still keeps it building, so keep it with an obsolescence note rather than deprecating for removal now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5607077489310826, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1345059445, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681545365, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/saa7164", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NXP SAA7164", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/tencent_58827022DBE97040A15A03C0657EC869140A@qq.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fixes in 2026; a v7 patch for saa7164-core.c added ioremap return checks and was tagged for stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20221126113126.3291673-1-liushixin2@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver also saw non-treewide bug-fix activity in 2022, indicating continued maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_hvr2255.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's store marks the WinTV-HVR-2255 as discontinued and says the WinTV-quadHD is a replacement for most applications." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_hvr2205.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's store also marks the European WinTV-HVR-2205 as discontinued." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr2250.html", "claim": "Hauppauge support still documents Linux support for the HVR-2255/HVR-2205 and HVR-2250 family, suggesting some residual installed base." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source inspection via shell `rg` shows this directory drives Hauppauge WinTV-HVR2200/2205/2250/2255 PCIe TV cards built around the SAA7164. lore_activity on saa7164-core.c returned recent 2026 linux-media fixes and no removal discussion evidence, so this is not removal-ready. Web search found official Hauppauge store/support pages showing HVR-2255 and HVR-2205 are discontinued, with WinTV-quadHD named as a hardware replacement, but not an upstream driver drop-in. Conclusion: legacy/discontinued hardware with low current deployment, yet still enough upstream bug-fix traffic to keep the driver and annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.183257557968275, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066805, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/smipcie", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "SMI PCIe bridge for DVBSky/TechnoTrend DVB receiver cards", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240618225232.825490-1-allen.lkml@gmail.com/", "claim": "Most recent upstream activity touching smipcie-main.c was a 2024 treewide maintenance conversion to BH workqueue, not evidence of new feature work for this hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_SMIPCIE.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_DVB_SMIPCIE to a narrow set of legacy PCIe TV cards: DVBSky S950 V3, S952 V3, T9580 V3, and TechnoTrend S2-4200 Twin." }, { "url": "https://www.vdr-portal.de/forum/thread/136726-dvbsky-s952-v3-montage-m88rs6000-m88rs6060/", "claim": "A 2025 forum thread discusses the DVBSky S952 v3 as an older card, indicating some enthusiast/legacy usage persists." }, { "url": "https://www.computerbase.de/forum/threads/alte-pcie-sat-karte-dvbsky-s952-wird-vom-neuen-pc-nicht-erkannt-pc-bootet-nicht.2262062/", "claim": "A 2025 forum post describes a DVBSky S952 as an old PCIe card being reused in a modern PC, supporting low but nonzero current deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.bpm-power.com/it/online/componenti-pc/schede-pci/scheda-tv-technotrend-s2-b0538134", "claim": "A retail page for the TechnoTrend S2-4200 Twin shows the product as sold out, supporting that this hardware is not meaningfully sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and PCI IDs showed a real media PCI driver for DVBSky/TechnoTrend cards only. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/pci/smipcie/smipcie-main.c produced the 2024 lore URL and showed sparse recent activity dominated by a treewide conversion; directory-level lore query returned no hits, and alternate lore regex/path-mention probes timed out rather than showing removal discussion. Web search produced the LKDDb page plus 2025 forum/retail URLs indicating legacy-user presence but no strong evidence of ongoing new-sales volume or a successor upstream driver. Low deployment, no natural replacement, and minimal maintenance suggest deprecate rather than immediate removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.950998584138, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1415045205, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Allen Pais", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/solo6x10", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Softlogic SOLO6010/SOLO6110", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250404135344.93241-6-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "April 4, 2025 upstream patch updated solo6x10 for deprecated PCI APIs, showing the driver still gets maintenance rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240411-fix-smatch-v1-1-045f92467937@chromium.org/", "claim": "April 11, 2024 upstream patch converted solo6x10 to pcim helpers, another sign of ongoing compatibility upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.bluecherrydvr.com/product/bluecherry-bc-h16480a-16-port-video-16-port-audio-h-264-pcie-hardware-compression-capture-card/", "claim": "Bluecherry's product page for a SOLO6x10-based card was still crawlable in late 2025 and listed as available on backorder, indicating at least nominal new-unit sales persisted." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SOLO6X10.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_VIDEO_SOLO6X10 to Bluecherry/Softlogic 6x10 MPEG-4/H.264 capture cards and shows support remains present through current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.bluecherrydvr.com/bluecherry-h-264-capture-card-buyback/", "claim": "Bluecherry's buyback page frames these capture cards as being displaced by newer camera deployments, consistent with legacy/niche rather than growing mainstream use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/pci/solo6x10/solo6x10-core.c; it shows 2024-2025 API/churn maintenance but no removal series. Web evidence came from web search results for Bluecherry BC-H16480A and LKDDb. I infer the hardware is still sold in small volumes from the backorder product page, but not widely deployed now; this looks like a legacy surveillance/DVR niche, so keep the driver but annotate it as niche/aging hardware rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08681098874713948, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1406044380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/ttpci", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Philips SAA7146 Budget/Nova-PCI DVB cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240415022411.234580-11-herdler@nurfuerspam.de/", "claim": "linux-media carried a 2024 ttpci patch series touching this driver, showing it still receives upstream maintenance rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_BUDGET.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this directory to SAA7146-based Budget/Nova-PCI DVB boards such as Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-S/C/T and notes an earlier deprecated staging copy, i.e. legacy hardware with long-tail support." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/Pages/products/data_novas.html", "claim": "Archived WinTV-NOVA-S PCI product page targets Windows 98/2000/ME/XP, Pentium II, and a PCI 2.1 slot, indicating an early-2000s product class rather than current hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/Pages/products/data_novatpci.html", "claim": "Archived WinTV-NOVA-T PCI product page likewise describes an old PCI DVB-T card for Windows XP/Pentium III-era PCs, reinforcing that new deployments are unlikely in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig/source inspection (shell rg/sed) identified SAA7146 'Budget/Nova-PCI' DVB cards with no in-tree successor for the same legacy PCI boards. lore_file_timeline on budget.c showed recent 2024 linux-media maintenance and no removal-series evidence in the returned activity, so this is not a current remove candidate. Web search/open provided LKDDb for hardware mapping and archived Hauppauge product pages showing XP/Pentium-era PCI products; that supports obsolete hardware with only low residual deployments. Recommendation is keep-annotate: retain for legacy users, but mark/document as legacy hardware with low contemporary relevance.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3380020646124941, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1344911406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Stefan Herdler", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/tw5864", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intersil/Techwell TW5864", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/tw5864/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig identifies this as the 'Techwell TW5864 video/audio grabber and encoder' driver for PCI multimedia capture/encoding hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/tw5864/tw5864-core.c", "claim": "Driver source says it was reverse-engineered for tw5864-based multimedia capture/encoding devices and documents known video-quality issues and limited vendor help." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tw5864b1?tab=overview", "claim": "Renesas lists TW5864B1 as 'Obsolete' and describes it as an analog-security/DVR-oriented H.264 encoder/decoder part." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/renesas-electronics-corporation/TW5864B-BB1-CR/3056532", "claim": "DigiKey marks TW5864B-BB1-CR obsolete and no longer manufactured." }, { "url": "https://www.bluecherrydvr.com/hardware-compression-h-264-capture-card-pcie-x1/", "claim": "Bluecherry marketed TW5864-based PCIe H.264 capture cards in the mid-2010s, indicating the driver targets legacy surveillance capture boards rather than current mainstream hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TW5864.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows ongoing kernel support for PCI ID 1797:5864 and CONFIG_VIDEO_TW5864 in modern kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, confirmed locally by shell (`rg`, `sed`) from Kconfig and `module_pci_driver` in `tw5864-core.c`. Lore grounding: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/pci/tw5864` returned 0 indexed events and no removal thread signal; combined with the provided static metadata (10 substantive commits in 5y, last substantive touch 2025-04-25) this looks maintained at low level, not abandoned enough for deprecation. URLs used: kernel.org tree URLs by canonical recall for files inspected locally; Renesas, DigiKey, Bluecherry, and LKDDb URLs obtained via web search snippets. `last_widely_available_year=2016` is an inference from the chip's 2012-era positioning, Bluecherry's mid-2010s product page, and present-day obsolete status. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is obsolete and likely limited to legacy surveillance/DVR installations, but upstream still carries and lightly maintains the driver, and there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same boards.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.278700189950445, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1472048242, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745586871, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/tw68", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Techwell TW68xx (TW6800/TW6801/TW6804/TW6816)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/e950028397fedc8536360004e7d5148c054406f0.1753695717.git.hverkuil+cisco@kernel.org/", "claim": "tw68-core.c still saw a 2025 touch, but it was part of a 100-file treewide maintainer-email update rather than device-specific feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250903175417.1340-1-palamparambilfidal089@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2025 patch touched tw68-core.c, showing the driver is not entirely abandoned, but the visible activity level is very low and not evidence of broad active development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TW68.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_TW68 covers Techwell tw68x frame-grabber hardware and PCI IDs 1797:6800/6801/6804/6810-6813; the driver remains buildable in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://eprom.com/home/Techwell/", "claim": "The marketed hardware is a legacy PCI 4-channel DVR/video-capture card based on the TW6800, with Windows 2000/XP-era requirements and analog BNC inputs." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1797-6810-000a-6810", "claim": "Recent public Linux probe data shows only a handful of observed TW6816 systems, consistent with very low present-day deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` on Kconfig and tw68-core.c identified a real V4L2 PCI frame-grabber driver for Techwell TW68xx chips. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/pci/tw68/tw68-core.c` showed only 5 hits in the last 5 years, mostly treewide churn plus one patch; no removal discussion was found in the visible lore evidence. `web.search` + `web.open` on LKDDb, EPROM, and linux-hardware established the supported PCI IDs, legacy analog PCI surveillance-card use case, and low current field presence. Hardware appears legacy and not a 2025 new-design part, but there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same cards, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5090267626399338, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1409840701, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103593, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/tw686x", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Intersil/Techwell TW686x (TW6864/TW6865/TW6868/TW6869)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tw6869?partno=TW6869-TA1-CR", "claim": "Vendor product page marks TW6869 as 'Last Time Buy' and 'NRND', indicating the family is obsolete for new designs and has no recommended replacement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TW686X.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the upstream driver is still present in current kernel series and identifies it as support for TW686x PCI video capture cards." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260222074559.work.599-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "Lore history shows the directory is still being touched by current treewide maintenance, so it is not abandoned in-tree and there is no visible removal push from this evidence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "TW686x is a real PCI media driver for legacy multi-channel analog DVR/frame-grabber cards. Local source inspection via shell showed supported PCI IDs 0x6864/0x6865/0x6868/0x6869 and module description for Intersil/Techwell TW686[4589]. A lore_file_timeline MCP query on tw686x-core.c showed recent touches but only treewide maintenance, not a removal series. Web search produced the Renesas TW6869 page (web search result) showing Last Time Buy/NRND and no replacement, which strongly suggests no meaningful new-design sales by 2025. Web search also produced LKDDb (web search result), confirming continued upstream presence. Net: hardware family is commercially obsolete and likely only in legacy CCTV/industrial deployments, but upstream activity is still enough that removal is not justified; annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.415093446276812, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1461170252, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103593, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/pci/zoran", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Zoran ZR36057/ZR36067 MJPEG PCI capture cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.18-rc4/driver-api/media/drivers/zoran.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the zoran driver covers Iomega Buz, Linux Media Labs LML33/LML33R10, and Pinnacle/Miro DC10/DC30 family boards based on ZR360x7 chips." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/config_video_zoran", "claim": "Current kernel config metadata labels CONFIG_VIDEO_ZORAN as \"Zoran ZR36057/36067 Video For Linux (Deprecated)\" and points to drivers/media/pci/zoran/." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260312123303.73358-1-nihaal@cse.iitm.ac.in/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fixes: a linux-media patch in March 2026 fixed a potential memory leak in zoran_probe() and CCed stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/d8c912e6cd393df106bfc02f6dd365278840cd54.1741086494.git.hverkuil@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "The driver was included in a Hans Verkuil media maintenance series in March 2025, showing ongoing tree upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://help.pinnaclesys.com/pinnacle/v25/en/official-help/pinnacle/h2-capture-hardware-compatibility.html", "claim": "Pinnacle's current compatibility page lists DC10/DC10 Plus among hardware from older Studio versions that is no longer in warranty or supported." }, { "url": "https://www.macworld.com/article/159028/buz.html", "claim": "A contemporaneous 1999 review describes the Iomega Buz as a PCI video-capture card, reinforcing that this hardware family is a late-1990s legacy product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell `rg` showed `module_pci_driver(zoran_driver)` in `zoran_card.c` plus PCI ID table and MODULE_DESCRIPTION for ZR36057/36067 JPEG codec boards. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on `drivers/media/pci/zoran/zoran_card.c`; it showed recent 2025-2026 fixes/cleanups and no removal thread, so this is not a removal candidate. Web search provided kernel docs and kernelconfig pages showing the exact supported boards and that Kconfig already marks the driver deprecated. Web search also found Pinnacle's support page stating DC10/DC10 Plus are no longer supported, and a 1999 Macworld review for Iomega Buz confirming the hardware's vintage. Conclusion: hardware is clearly legacy and likely only used in hobbyist/archival setups today, but upstream still fixes it occasionally, so `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate`/`remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21861452861501804, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1345059382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458241, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Generic V4L2 platform media helpers (video-mux and mem2mem deinterlace)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "`video-mux.c` was still being touched by active linux-media API work in April 2026, indicating the top-level driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240909154828.1661627-1-paul.elder@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "`video-mux.c` received a direct bug fix ('Fix mutex locking') in September 2024, showing real maintenance beyond treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251015075353.22625-8-laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "`m2m-deinterlace.c` was still being cleaned up in linux-media in October 2025, so the other top-level driver also remains live upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MUX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_VIDEO_MUX` still present through current kernel lines and describes it as support for generic N:1 video bus multiplexers." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEM2MEM_DEINTERLACE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_VIDEO_MEM2MEM_DEINTERLACE` remains present in current kernels as a generic deinterlacing V4L2 driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/media/video-mux.yaml", "claim": "Mainline keeps a dedicated DT binding for `video-mux`, which is evidence of ongoing supported deployments in device-tree-described embedded video pipelines." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm/boot/dts/nxp/imx/imx6q.dtsi", "claim": "Mainline DTS files still instantiate `compatible = \"video-mux\"`; i.MX-family embedded boards remain a practical deployment niche in 2025-era industrial products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This directory is a real driver directory, but it is not one chipset driver: it contains two generic platform-media drivers (`video-mux.c` and `m2m-deinterlace.c`). I grounded activity with `lore_file_timeline` on both files; recent lore hits show direct maintenance and framework adaptation, not removal. I used web search to obtain the two LKDDb URLs for current-config presence. The kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, cross-checked against the local tree with `sed` on `drivers/media/platform/Kconfig` and `rg` hits for `video-mux` in DT bindings/DTS. Because these are generic helpers still wired into current media pipelines and still receiving upstream work, this should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03868915702113435, "commits_5y": 593, "substantive_commits_5y": 574, "first_touch_ts": 1345059789, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768308542, "top_author": "Yunfei Dong", "top_author_commits": 99, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/allegro-dvt", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ EV VCU (Allegro DVT AL5E/AL5D)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/pg252-vcu/Driver", "claim": "AMD's 2025.1 VCU product guide names allegro/al5e/al5d as the core VCU Linux kernel drivers, indicating current vendor-supported use rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC EV devices with integrated H.264/H.265 video codec and long lifecycle language, supporting continued new-hardware availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ALLEGRO_DVT.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_ALLEGRO_DVT present through current kernel series and ties it to compatible string allegro,al5e-1.1 and ZynqMP EV-family VCU hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local tree inspection (exec_command `rg`/`sed`) shows `module_platform_driver`, OF match `allegro,al5e-1.1`, and module description `Allegro DVT encoder driver`. Lore-first attempt used MCP `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path, which returned no hits for the dir-prefix form; follow-up MCP `lore_path_mentions`/`lore_regex` timed out, so I fell back to the provided static commit metadata showing substantive touches through 2025-10-20 and 16 authors in 5y, which argues against deprecation. URLs were obtained by web search (`turn0search0`, `turn0search6`, `turn2search0`). Hardware is niche embedded/industrial video-encode SoC IP, so deployments today are low, but still present in new designs; no obvious upstream replacement driver covers the same VCU block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11451810098764013, "commits_5y": 43, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1609762780, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760944997, "top_author": "Michael Tretter", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/amlogic/c3/isp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Amlogic C3 ISP (C308L/C308X vision SoC family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/c3-isp.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation says the driver supports the C3ISP found on the Amlogic C308L processor and describes a current supported media pipeline." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20250427-c3isp-v9-0-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/20250427-c3isp-v9-10-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/", "claim": "The upstream patch series adding documentation and MAINTAINERS entries marks the driver as maintained and shows review activity in April 2025, with no removal discussion visible there." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's product page still listed C308L and C308X among current products in 2026, supporting that this hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/Stencil.html", "claim": "Amlogic's product stencil page includes C308L/C308X product entries, reinforcing that the C3-family vision SoCs remain active products rather than legacy-only parts." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_C3_ISP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_C3_ISP present in mainline kernels starting with 6.16, matching a newly added upstream driver rather than an obsolete legacy one." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` confirmed a real platform driver with `compatible = \"amlogic,c3-isp\"` and MODULE_DESCRIPTION \"Amlogic C3 ISP pipeline\". Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/platform/amlogic/c3/isp` showed the driver was added on 2025-04-27 and still received follow-up work on 2025-07-07 and 2025-11-14, so activity is recent. URLs were obtained via web search/open: kernel.org doc for supported hardware, Patchew for upstream series/review state, Amlogic product pages for market availability, and LKDDb for mainline presence. Conclusion: this is a very new, maintained embedded-camera ISP driver for currently marketed SoCs; deployment is niche but active, with no natural generic replacement and no evidence of deprecation/removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1746785317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763131729, "top_author": "Jacopo Mondi", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/amlogic/c3/mipi-adapter", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Amlogic C3 (C308L) camera pipeline", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20250427-c3isp-v9-0-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/20250427-c3isp-v9-3-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/", "claim": "This driver landed through an actively reviewed 2025 C3 ISP support patch series; the MIPI adapter binding patch is part of v9, indicating current upstream bring-up rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/c3-isp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the C3 camera pipeline and explicitly includes a 'c3-mipi-adapter' sub-device, supporting that this block is part of the supported Amlogic C308L ISP pipeline." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc./html/next/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "MAINTAINERS lists 'AMLOGIC MIPI ADAPTER DRIVER' as Maintained and covers drivers/media/platform/amlogic/c3/mipi-adapter/." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's current product catalog still lists C3-family parts including C302X, C305X, C308L, and C308X, supporting that the hardware family was still marketed new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory=... log/show`) shows this is a real platform V4L2 driver, added in one substantive upstream commit on 2025-05-09 and not an old orphan. URL evidence was obtained via web search: Patchew patch-series result for upstream activity, kernel.org C3 ISP docs for functional deployment context, kernel.org MAINTAINERS for maintained status, and Amlogic's product page for ongoing product availability. No removal discussion surfaced in the limited history/search pass; this is a new, niche SoC-internal camera block with low but current deployment, so deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1746785317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746785317, "top_author": "Keke Li", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/amlogic/c3/mipi-csi2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Amlogic C3 / C308L MIPI CSI-2 receiver", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20250427-c3isp-v9-0-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/20250427-c3isp-v9-10-e0fe09433d94%40amlogic.com/", "claim": "The C3 ISP series containing the c3-mipi-csi2 block was under active upstream review in 2025, with review feedback saying the series was ready to collect rather than remove." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/c3-isp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the C3 ISP on Amlogic C308L includes a c3-mipi-csi2 sub-device, was tested on AW419-C308L-Socket, and is supported by libcamera." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's 2025 product page still lists C308L among current products, indicating the SoC family is still marketed." }, { "url": "https://www.indasina.com/product/c308l-in-stock-amlogic-ai-camera-and-smart-set-top-box-applications-soc-authorized-amlogic-distributors", "claim": "A 2025 distributor page advertises C308L as in stock for AI camera and smart set-top-box use, supporting ongoing commercial availability." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_C3_MIPI_CSI2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_C3_MIPI_CSI2 present in recent kernels and binds it to compatible string amlogic,c3-mipi-csi2." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection with rg/sed in the tree identified this as a real platform V4L2 driver with compatible 'amlogic,c3-mipi-csi2' and module description 'Amlogic C3 MIPI CSI-2 receiver'; local git log showed introduction on 2025-04-27 plus follow-up fixes on 2025-05-10 and 2025-08-18, so it is newly added and still receiving substantive maintenance. URLs were obtained via web search: Patchew was used as lore-adjacent public mailing-list evidence because MCP lore access and lei were unavailable in this environment; docs.kernel provided subsystem documentation; Amlogic product page and distributor listing provided 2025 availability evidence; LKDDb corroborated current kernel presence. This is niche embedded camera hardware, so deployments today are low rather than medium/high, but there is no evidence of removal discussion and no generic replacement driver for this SoC-specific CSI-2 block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1746785317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756129240, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/amlogic/meson-ge2d", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson AXG GE2D", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MESON_GE2D.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_MESON_GE2D is present through current kernel heads and binds the OF compatible amlogic,axg-ge2d." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg283064.html", "claim": "A linux-media patch for meson-ge2d was posted on 2025-08-10, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://images.apertis.org/release/v2025/v2025.0rc1/arm64/nfs/dtbs/amlogic/", "claim": "A 2025 distro DTB index still ships meson-axg device trees including JetHome J100/J110 and S400 boards, indicating ongoing deployable support for AXG-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://docs.jethome.ru/controllers/linux/din_rail/d1.html", "claim": "JetHome documentation describes the JetHub D1 as a purchasable Linux controller based on Amlogic A113X, an AXG-family SoC still used in current embedded products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this is a real V4L2 mem2mem platform driver with OF match amlogic,axg-ge2d and recent non-removal commits in 2024-2026; no removal discussion was found in local history. URLs were obtained by web search: LKDDb for in-tree coverage, spinics for 2025 linux-media activity, Apertis DTB index for 2025 shipped AXG boards, and JetHome docs for current embedded deployment. Hardware looks niche and embedded rather than mass-market, so deployments are low; active maintenance argues against deprecation, but annotate as legacy/niche AXG-family coverage.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1647579411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693474, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/amphion", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8Q Amphion VPU (Windsor/Malone)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/03/26/1366", "claim": "March 26, 2025 review traffic shows active upstream work on Amphion HEVC decoder latency improvements rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/06/14/545", "claim": "June 14, 2025 cleanup patch against amphion indicates the driver is still maintained in normal upstream hygiene flow, not orphaned." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8 family as Active and in its longevity program, indicating the underlying SoC family remained commercially live in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-8quadmax-multisensory-enablement-kit-mek%3AMCIMX8QM-CPU", "claim": "NXP still advertises the i.MX 8QuadMax/QuadPlus MEK, showing ongoing new-development availability for supported Amphion-capable i.MX8Q platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/NXP-Amphion-Linux-v15", "claim": "Contemporary reporting on the upstreaming effort ties the driver to NXP i.MX8QXP and i.MX8QM VPU hardware, matching the in-tree driver scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the V4L2 Amphion VPU driver for NXP/Freescale i.MX8Q, with Windsor encoder and Malone decoder blocks and support centered on i.MX8QXP/i.MX8QM. Web search was used because lore MCP/`lei` were unavailable in this environment: openwall results show 2025 feature-review and cleanup traffic, and no removal/deprecation thread surfaced. NXP product pages obtained via web search show i.MX8 family still marked Active and MEK hardware still offered, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Given the provided static history (103 substantive commits in 5y, latest touch 2026-01-13, 20 authors) plus current product availability, the driver should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 112, "substantive_commits_5y": 103, "first_touch_ts": 1646669613, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768293719, "top_author": "Ming Qian", "top_author_commits": 75, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/arm/mali-c55", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Arm Mali-C55 ISP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20260313-mali-c55-fixes-v7-0-v1-0-21805b2b516b%40ideasonboard.com/20260313-mali-c55-fixes-v7-0-v1-2-21805b2b516b%40ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "A March 2026 v7 fix series for mali-c55 shows active upstream maintenance after merge, not removal activity." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The MAINTAINERS documentation lists ARM MALI-C55 ISP DRIVER with named maintainers, indicating supported upstream ownership." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/mali-c55.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the driver as the ARM Mali-C55 Image Signal Processor driver under drivers/media/platform/arm/mali-c55, covering current V4L2/media-controller functionality." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/community/arm-community-blogs/b/internet-of-things-blog/posts/new-image-signal-processor-mali-c55", "claim": "Arm introduced Mali-C55 in 2022 for smart vision, smart home cameras, smart displays, and industrial/commercial vision use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.arm.com/products/silicon-ip-multimedia/image-signal-processor/mali-c55", "claim": "Arm still markets Mali-C55 as licensable silicon IP for IoT/smart vision and security-camera style products, supporting the view that it remained sellable new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is a very new driver (first merged 2025-11-14 from provided history) with a recent substantive touch on 2026-01-06 and additional public fix traffic in March 2026, so there is no sign of obsolescence. No removal discussion was found; web search was used instead of lore MCP/lei because lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was missing locally. URLs obtained via web search: Patchew series mirror for current upstream activity, kernel MAINTAINERS and kernel docs for supported status/driver scope, Arm community blog and Arm product page for ongoing market availability. Deployment is rated low rather than medium/high because this is recent licensable ISP IP in embedded SoCs, not legacy mass-market PC hardware, but it is clearly still relevant for new embedded vision designs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1763131729, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767690853, "top_author": "Jacopo Mondi", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/aspeed", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST2400/AST2500/AST2600 Video Engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-media/20250829035301.2697535-1-jammy_huang%40aspeedtech.com/T/", "claim": "Recent linux-media patch series in 2025 adds new aspeed-video functionality, showing active upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's server-management lineup still lists AST2500 and AST2600 products, indicating continuing market presence into 2025-era deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 is a current ASPEED remote-management/BMC SoC with iKVM and video features relevant to this driver's use case." }, { "url": "https://dri.freedesktop.org/docs/drm/userspace-api/media/drivers/aspeed-video.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the ASPEED video driver for AST2400/2500/2600 video engine hardware and its remote-KVM/video-compression role." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ASPEED.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_ASPEED continues to exist in current kernel series and maps to ASPEED video-engine compatibles." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence from exec_command: this directory contains the real V4L2 driver aspeed-video.c with OF compatibles for ast2400/2500/2600, and git log shows substantive touches through 2025-11-24 with multiple authors, so it is active. URL acquisition: lore patch thread via web search; ASPEED server and AST2600 product pages via web search; kernel aspeed-video documentation via web search; LKDDb page via web search. No removal discussion was found in the gathered evidence. Hardware is still sold for server/BMC use, deployments remain in enterprise/embedded remote-management niches, and there is no natural in-tree replacement for this specific video-engine/iKVM block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1647247379, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306207, "top_author": "Jammy Huang", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/atmel", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Atmel AT91SAM9G45 ISI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250409084738.1851463-2-raag.jadav@intel.com/", "claim": "Atmel ISI still received an atmel-isi-specific upstream patch in April 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being updated by broad V4L2 API churn in April 2026, so it remains part of actively maintained media-driver codepaths." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/at91SAM9G45", "claim": "Microchip listed AT91SAM9G45 as 'Status: In Production', supporting that relevant hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/AT91SAM9M10-G45-EK", "claim": "Microchip's SAM9M10/SAM9G45 evaluation kit page advertises a camera interface, confirming the SoC family still maps to the Linux driver's imaging use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Driver code inspection via shell showed Kconfig 'ATMEL Image Sensor Interface (ISI) support' and OF match for 'atmel,at91sam9g45-isi', so this is a SoC camera-capture driver for the AT91SAM9G45 family. Active-upstream evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/platform/atmel/atmel-isi.c, which returned 2025-2026 touches including the cited atmel-isi-specific patch and later V4L2 API updates; a separate lore_regex removal probe timed out, and no removal discussion surfaced in the successful lore sample. Deployment evidence came from web search on Microchip product and eval-kit pages showing the chip remained in production and had a camera-interface deployment story. Conclusion: niche embedded/industrial use persists, but this is low-volume legacy-style silicon, so keep the driver with annotation rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15943253814124408, "commits_5y": 83, "substantive_commits_5y": 75, "first_touch_ts": 1471881598, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745586873, "top_author": "Eugen Hristev", "top_author_commits": 56, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/broadcom", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM283x/BCM271x Unicam CSI-2 receiver", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/camera_software.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documents `bcm2835-unicam` as the open-source V4L2 driver for the Unicam camera interface and notes V4L2/libcamera as the supported software path." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Compute Module 5 is a current product, includes 2 x 4-lane MIPI CSI-2/DSI ports, and Raspberry Pi states production through at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/processors.html", "claim": "Broadcom BCM2712 is used in Raspberry Pi 5, 500, 500+, and Compute Module 5, showing this SoC family is current rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_BCM2835_UNICAM.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists `CONFIG_VIDEO_BCM2835_UNICAM` in mainline kernels 6.10-6.19 and 7.0, with module `bcm2835-unicam` and Broadcom Unicam bindings." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2411.3/04051.html", "claim": "A late-2024 upstream patch fixes a hardware overrun issue in `bcm2835-unicam`, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://patches.linaro.org/project/linux-media/patch/20240424153542.32503-5-laurent.pinchart%40ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The driver entered upstream through an active media patch series in 2024, consistent with a new and maintained driver rather than an obsolete one." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/source shows a real platform V4L2 driver for the BCM283x/BCM271x Unicam CSI-2 receiver, not a helper library. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows substantive touches through 2024-12-19, including multiple Naushir Patuck fixes, and no local sign of removal. `lei` was unavailable, so upstream activity evidence was obtained via web search on exact patch subjects, yielding LKML archive and Patchwork pages; no removal discussion surfaced in those searches. Raspberry Pi documentation and product pages were opened from web search results and show the driver is part of the supported libcamera stack on still-sold Raspberry Pi 5/CM5 hardware. Because the driver is only about two years old, tied to current shipping SoCs, and still receiving bug fixes, the right recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1714395397, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734609018, "top_author": "Naushir Patuck", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/cadence", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Cadence MIPI CSI-2 RX/TX controller IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260313090701.646534-16-r-donadkar@ti.com/", "claim": "Upstream work on cdns-csi2rx continued in 2026 with runtime PM support, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260313090701.646534-12-r-donadkar@ti.com/", "claim": "cdns-csi2rx gained multistream support work in 2026, showing feature development for current hardware users." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Both Cadence CSI2 RX/TX drivers were updated as part of broader V4L2 API work in 2026, so the directory is still seeing upstream integration churn." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/SK-TDA4VM", "claim": "TI still marketed the SK-TDA4VM starter kit in 2025, a current vision platform with CSI-2 camera interfaces built around Jacinto/TDA4VM SoCs that use Cadence CSI-2 blocks." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still marketed the VisionFive 2, based on JH7110 with MIPI-CSI support, in 2025; the Linux driver explicitly matches starfive,jh7110-csi2rx." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection showed this directory contains two platform drivers: Cadence CSI-2 RX/TX, with a StarFive JH7110 compatible in cdns-csi2rx. lore_file_timeline (MCP) on both .c files showed fresh 2026 activity and no removal-oriented subjects in the returned history; cited lore URLs came from that tool. TI and StarFive URLs came from web search results. Because the IP is present in currently marketed embedded vision boards/SoCs and upstream is still adding features, there is no natural in-tree replacement and removal/deprecation would be premature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14335045062102744, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1526483541, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756129242, "top_author": "Pratyush Yadav", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/chips-media/coda", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Chips&Media CODA VPU (CODA DX6/HX4/7541/960 on NXP/Freescale i.MX27/i.MX51/i.MX53/i.MX6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1fdb55ed40fa5ebe6934bd6b93036c714ebb5ef8", "claim": "The driver was still receiving non-mechanical upstream media-core adaptation work in October 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=46bab404735aaa6a47c5f70f72c0c5b00518c19a", "claim": "A coda-specific cleanup landed in October 2025, with no sign of removal or deprecation discussion in the observed recent history." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_CODA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_CODA is still present in current kernels and ties it to Freescale/NXP i.MX27/i.MX51/i.MX53/i.MX6 VPU compatibles, confirming this is real deployed SoC video-codec hardware support." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.jp/about/technology-programs/product-longevity%3APRDCT_LONGEVITY_HM", "claim": "NXP's longevity table lists multiple i.MX 6 parts as remaining in the longevity program into 2035 and i.MX53 automotive into 2026, supporting that at least part of the supported hardware family was still sold for new embedded designs in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` showed DT compatibles only for NXP/Freescale i.MX27/i.MX51/i.MX53/i.MX6 VPU blocks and CODA DX6/HX4/7541/960 variants. Lore/lei access was unavailable in this environment, so upstream activity was grounded with local `git log` on the directory and mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by recall; those 2025 commits show ongoing maintenance, not removal. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search for CONFIG_VIDEO_CODA. NXP longevity URL was obtained via web search and shows i.MX6 family availability extending past 2025. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is old and niche/industrial today, but upstream is still alive and there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1700137552, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/chips-media/wave5", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Chips&Media Wave5 / Wave521C VPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_WAVE_VPU.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_VIDEO_WAVE_VPU to this directory and to DT compatibles including ti,j721s2-wave521c, showing this is a current in-tree hardware driver for TI K3/J721S2-based systems." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-J721S2", "claim": "TI still published J721S2 Linux/QNX/RTOS SDK releases in January 2026 for TDA4VE-Q1, TDA4VL-Q1, and TDA4AL-Q1, indicating ongoing vendor support and current deployment targets for SoCs using this block." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5934442.html", "claim": "Late-2025 linux-media/linux-kernel patch traffic shows active performance work on wave5 rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5887945.html", "claim": "Late-2025 review traffic shows active bug-fix discussion for the encoder path, another sign of live upstream maintenance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed a real platform V4L2 mem2mem driver with OF match for ti,j721s2-wave521c and substantive fixes through 2026-01-05 in local git. `web.search_query` for lore/removal evidence did not surface removal threads; instead it found active 2025 patch/review traffic on Spinics. `web.search_query` also found TI's J721S2 SDK page with Jan 25-26, 2026 releases for current TDA4* products, so the hardware family is still relevant for new embedded/automotive deployments. No obvious upstream replacement driver covers the same Wave5 IP block; this driver is the native support path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 49, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1700137552, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624992, "top_author": "Jackson.lee", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/imagination", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Imagination E5010 JPEG Encoder", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/imagination", "claim": "Upstream Linux directory is a dedicated Imagination E5010 JPEG encoder driver, not a helper library or test asset." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux-rt/esd/AM62AX/latest/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/E5010_JPEG_Encoder.html", "claim": "TI's current AM62Ax Processor SDK documents the E5010 JPEG encoder driver as enabled by default and describes active supported features and validation flows." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-linux-am67a/10_01_00/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/E5010_JPEG_Encoder.html", "claim": "TI's AM67A SDK documents the same E5010 JPEG encoder IP and upstream driver support, indicating ongoing deployment on current TI SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is a very new upstream driver (first touch 2024-06-24 from provided metadata) with recent substantive maintenance through 2025-10-17, which is inconsistent with obsolescence. TI SDK docs obtained via web search show the block on current AM62Ax and AM67A platforms and describe default-enabled/support status, so hardware is still sold in 2025 but in a niche embedded-media segment, hence deployments_today=low. No natural in-tree replacement exists because this is a hardware-specific V4L2 M2M encoder driver. Source acquisition: 2 TI URLs via web search; kernel.org tree URL via canonical recall. Lore-first shell query was attempted with `lei`, but the tool was unavailable in this environment, so upstream-activity judgment relies on the provided commit-history metadata instead of direct lore results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1719219906, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/intel", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "PXA27x QCI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_PXA27x.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_VIDEO_PXA27x to drivers/media/platform/intel/pxa_camera.c and shows support still present in current kernel releases, including OF compatible marvell,pxa270-qci." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/platform-cardlist.html?highlight=driver", "claim": "Current kernel media platform driver documentation still lists pxa_camera as the PXA27x Quick Capture Interface driver." }, { "url": "https://www.e-consystems.com/esom270.asp", "claim": "A commercial PXA270 module page states the module uses the PXA270 camera interface (QCI) and lists availability only until 2020." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/digi/FS-377/955674", "claim": "A representative PXA270 embedded module listing is marked Obsolete and no longer manufactured." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/2004/20040601tech.htm", "claim": "Intel introduced the PXA270 in 2004 and described its Quick Capture camera capability, anchoring the hardware generation as very old." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains only the real driver pxa_camera.c despite the intel path name; Kconfig identifies it as the PXA27x Quick Capture Interface driver. Local git log (shell, safe.directory override) shows non-removal maintenance through 2024-06-21 with multiple real fixes/refactors, so this is not abandoned enough to deprecate. Available lore-specific tools were unavailable in this session (no lore-http MCP, no lei binary), and web searches did not surface any active removal thread. URLs were obtained via web search/open; conclusion is legacy Marvell/Intel PXA27x camera-host hardware with low present-day deployment, not sold new in 2025, but still maintained enough upstream to keep with annotation rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1647247380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/marvell", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Marvell CCIC camera controllers (88ALP01 Cafe / MMP2 Armada 610)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/thrd27.html", "claim": "January 2025 linux-media thread contains a functional fix for the MMP half of this driver set ('Bring back registration of the device'), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg393619.html", "claim": "A December 2024 marvell camera fix ('Add check for clk_enable()') was accepted into the 6.12-stable tree in February 2025, showing current bug-fix traffic and stable relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_CAFE_CCIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_VIDEO_CAFE_CCIC to the Marvell 88ALP01 controller and notes it is used on first-generation OLPC systems." }, { "url": "https://linux-mmp.docs.kernel.org/olpc-xo.html", "claim": "Kernel-hosted Linux on Marvell MMP documentation says the XO-1.75 is MMP2-based and lists the camera as mainline-supported." }, { "url": "https://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_1.75_C2", "claim": "OLPC documentation says XO-1.75 production ramped at the beginning of February 2012, bounding the hardware's mainstream availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with PCI/platform entry points in local Kconfig/C files. Local shell `git log` shows substantive touches through 2024-12/2025-02, so this is not abandoned code. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: the two spinics links came from exact patch-subject searches for recent marvell/mmp activity; the LKDDb and OLPC/kernel-doc links came from deployment/hardware searches. Evidence points to legacy OLPC-specific camera hardware that is no longer sold new, but upstream still fixes regressions, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1647579411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736248899, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/jpeg", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT27xx/MT81xx/MT8195 JPEG codec", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-mediatek/2026-January/103316.html", "claim": "A v12 patch series touching this driver was still under review in January 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-mediatek/2025-June/094402.html", "claim": "The driver received substantive functional fixes in 2025 for MT8195 multi-core JPEG decode behavior." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/6/26/389", "claim": "The directory gained MT8195 multi-hardware JPEG decoder support upstream in 2022, showing it covers relatively recent MediaTek SoCs and not only legacy parts." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/commercial-displays/mt8195", "claim": "MediaTek still markets MT8195 as a current commercial-display SoC, supporting the conclusion that compatible hardware remained in new-product channels in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEDIATEK_JPEG.html", "claim": "LKDDB shows CONFIG_VIDEO_MEDIATEK_JPEG remains present in current kernel series, confirming the driver is still shipped upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via `rg` showed OF compatibles for `mediatek,mt2701-jpgdec`, `mediatek,mt8173-jpgdec`, `mediatek,mtk-jpgenc`, `mediatek,mt8195-jpgenc`, and `mediatek,mt8195-jpgdec`, so this is a real MediaTek JPEG codec driver with no obvious in-tree successor. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore-style evidence was gathered through web search hits to LKML/infradead archives; those hits showed active 2025-2026 fix series and no removal/deprecation thread in the queries attempted. Local `git log` (shell) also showed non-mechanical touches in 2024-2026, reinforcing that the driver is maintained. Deployment is rated medium: this block is limited to MediaTek ARM SoCs, but at least MT8195 is still actively marketed, so the hardware is not obsolete enough to justify deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1647579515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "kyrie wu", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/mdp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT8173 MDP", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg917900.html", "claim": "Upstream/stable patch traffic for this exact driver continued in October 2025 with a probe-path fix touching drivers/media/platform/mediatek/mdp/mtk_mdp_core.c." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5871674.html", "claim": "A second October 2025 fix for mtk_mdp_remove() was posted for the same driver, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg917111.html", "claim": "The remove-path fix was picked for stable in February 2026, showing the driver still matters enough for backport consideration." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/tablets/mt8173", "claim": "MediaTek identifies MT8173 as the SoC family behind this driver; it is an older tablet-focused product generation." }, { "url": "https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/reference/development/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices/", "claim": "ChromeOS device listings show MT8173-based Chromebook designs clustered in 2017-2019, with no new MT8173 Chromebook launches visible in later entries." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Oak_Chromebook_%28google-oak%29", "claim": "There is still niche community/mainline use on MT8173 hardware such as Google Oak / oak-class Chromebooks." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` found module_platform_driver() and Kconfig text naming MT8173. Upstream activity was checked via web search because lore MCP/`lei` were unavailable; search results led to spinics pages showing substantive 2025 bug-fix mail and 2026 stable pick-up for this exact path, which argues against deprecation/removal and supports keep-annotate. Deployment evidence came from web search results to MediaTek's MT8173 product page, Chromium's ChromeOS device list, and postmarketOS Oak page: MT8173 hardware is old and no longer a new-2025 sales platform, but some legacy/community Chromebook deployments remain. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same MT8173 MDP block, so replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1647579515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624991, "top_author": "Haoxiang Li", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/mdp3", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MDP3 image processor (MT8183/MT8188/MT8195)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEDIATEK_MDP3.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_MEDIATEK_MDP3 present from Linux 6.1 through current HEAD and lists device-tree compatibles for MT8183, MT8188, and MT8195 MDP3 blocks." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/mdp3", "claim": "Canonical mainline directory log for this driver; local git history in the checked-out kernel snapshot shows continued non-removal activity through 2026, including fixes and MT8188/MT8195 support work." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/tablets/mt8183", "claim": "MediaTek still markets MT8183 as a tablet platform, indicating the oldest supported SoC family is not purely historical." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/chromebooks/mediatek-kompanio-838", "claim": "MediaTek markets Kompanio 838 for new Chromebook designs; its published CPU topology matches MT8188-class silicon, supporting the inference that a supported MDP3-generation Chromebook SoC remained in active commercial positioning in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-kompanio-ultra-to-redefine-on-device-ai-and-performance-for-chromebook-plus", "claim": "MediaTek announced new Chromebook SoCs on April 2, 2025, showing ongoing fresh deployments in the same MediaTek Chromebook platform segment rather than a legacy-only market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module_platform_driver and DT compatibles identify a MediaTek V4L2 mem2mem image-processing block. Evidence mix: local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) established scope and compatibles; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed active 2024-2026 maintenance/add-support traffic; canonical-recall kernel.org log URL included as the corresponding stable upstream history page; web-open on LKDDb confirmed current in-tree presence and supported SoCs; web search returned MediaTek product/press pages for MT8183 and Chromebook platforms. I found no removal signal in the available fallback evidence, while static metadata already shows strong recent maintenance, so `keep` is the defensible outcome. The Kompanio 838 to MT8188 link is an inference from matching published CPU topology plus in-tree MT8188 support, not an explicit vendor statement on the cited page.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 70, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1661869551, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624992, "top_author": "Moudy Ho", "top_author_commits": 32, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/common", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shared Mediatek Vcodec common helper/library code under a driver subsystem, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1691647114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760944997, "top_author": "Fei Shao", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/decoder", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT81xx/MT819x VDEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/8/15/641", "claim": "August 15, 2025 patch series adds MT8196 decoder compatible entries under this driver, showing active upstream enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/chromebooks/mediatek-kompanio-838", "claim": "MediaTek still markets Kompanio 838 Chromebook silicon with hardware AV1/H.264/HEVC/VP9 decode for new devices; this aligns with the driver's MT8188 support class." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/commercial-displays/mt8195", "claim": "MediaTek still markets MT8195 for commercial-display/embedded use, advertising AV1/VP9/HEVC/H.264 decode and Linux-oriented deployments, indicating ongoing non-legacy use." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEDIATEK_VCODEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_MEDIATEK_VCODEC and mtk-vcodec-dec continuing through recent kernel series, with the decoder driver tied to MediaTek vcodec hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of `mtk_vcodec_dec_drv.c` found a real platform driver and DT compatibles for mt8173/mt8183/mt8192/mt8186/mt8195/mt8188 in this directory. `web.search_query` located the 2025 LKML patch adding mt8196 support, plus current official MediaTek product pages for Kompanio 838 and MT8195, and the LKDDb page. That combination points to active maintenance and continuing/new deployments in Chromebooks, commercial displays, and embedded systems. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same MediaTek V4L2 mem2mem decoder block, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1691647114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768293719, "top_author": "Yunfei Dong", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/decoder/vdec", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek VCodec decoder blocks (MT8173/MT8183/MT8186/MT8188/MT8192/MT8195 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/decoder/vdec", "claim": "Upstream code for this directory is still seeing recent fixes and feature work, matching the local git history with substantive touches in 2024-2026 and no visible removal trend." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/media/mediatek,vcodec-subdev-decoder.yaml", "claim": "Mainline DT binding covers newer decoder hardware for MT8192, MT8186, MT8188, and MT8195, showing this code serves multiple current MediaTek SoC generations." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/media/mediatek,vcodec-decoder.yaml", "claim": "Mainline DT binding also covers MT8173 and MT8183 decoder hardware, confirming the driver family spans several deployed MediaTek platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-700", "claim": "MediaTek still markets Genio 700 as a current IoT SoC with Linux-capable deployment targets and hardware video decode support, indicating ongoing new-device relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-1200", "claim": "MediaTek still markets Genio 1200 as a current edge/industrial platform with AV1/VP9/H.264/H.265 decode, aligning with continued need for maintained decoder support." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/chromebooks/mediatek-kompanio-520", "claim": "MediaTek still markets Kompanio 520 for new Chromebooks and advertises H.264/HEVC/VP9 decode, supporting continued deployment in shipping consumer devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: codec-specific decoder implementation objects under the MediaTek V4L2 mem2mem driver. Local shell evidence: `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021 -- drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/decoder/vdec` showed substantive activity through 2026-02 (features, bug fixes, smatch fixes), and local `rg` over DT bindings/DTS showed supported compatibles from MT8173 through MT8195 with no removal discussion indicators. URLs used as follows: kernel.org log/tree pages by canonical recall corresponding to the locally inspected path/bindings; MediaTek product URLs obtained via web search/open (`turn0search0/1/2`, `turn1view0/1/2`, `turn2view1/2`). Because the code is newly split (since 2023), actively maintained, and maps to MediaTek SoCs still sold for Chromebooks and IoT/industrial products in 2025+, the correct recommendation is keep, with no natural upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1691647114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624991, "top_author": "Yunfei Dong", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT8173/MT8183/MT8188/MT8192/MT8195 VCODEC encoder", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c", "claim": "Upstream driver match table covers MediaTek MT8173, MT8183, MT8188, MT8192, and MT8195 encoder blocks, indicating this directory supports multiple relatively recent SoCs rather than one obsolete part." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/chromebook", "claim": "MediaTek states its chipsets power Chromebooks from major brands including Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo, showing continuing new-device deployment in the Chromebook market." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/tek-talk-blogs/mediatek-discusses-whats-next-for-chromebooks-in-2025", "claim": "MediaTek discussed Chromebook launches and plans for 2025, which supports the conclusion that this SoC family remains in active new-product deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c confirmed a real platform V4L2 encoder driver with OF matches for MT8173/8183/8188/8192/8195. Local git log plus the user-supplied stats show sustained upstream activity through 2026-01-13 with multiple non-removal fixes, so this does not look dormant. web.search_query on lore.kernel.org returned no removal-discussion hits. Sources were obtained via local exec_command for code/history, web.search_query for MediaTek product-market evidence, and one canonical-recall kernel.org tree URL for the exact upstream file.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1691647114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768293719, "top_author": "Irui Wang", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/venc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek Vcodec encoder (mtk-vcodec VENC backend)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg427815.html", "claim": "Upstream/stable activity reached this directory in September 2025 for a build-warning fix in venc_h264_if.c, indicating the code is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg917943.html", "claim": "A 2026 stable-tree backport attempt references the 2025 encoder fix, further showing this code is still relevant enough to be considered for longterm kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-520", "claim": "MediaTek was still marketing new Genio SoCs with H.264/H.265 video encode capability in 2025, so Mediatek video-encode hardware remains in current-product deployment." }, { "url": "https://genio-community.mediatek.com/t/h264-encoding-documentation/1444", "claim": "A late-2025 MediaTek Genio community thread discusses using v4l2h264enc on Genio hardware, which is contemporary deployment evidence for Linux userspace on this encoder stack." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains real codec-specific encoder implementation files (venc_h264_if.c, venc_vp8_if.c), not just helpers. Local git log with inline safe.directory showed the split/creation commit in 2023 and later fixes including 2024-10 and 2025 touches; no sign of terminal inactivity. Web search for lore/removal discussion did not surface a removal series, while web search did surface stable-commits/stable backport pages for this exact path and current MediaTek product/deployment pages. Low change volume suggests annotating rather than pure keep, but active fixes and still-sold hardware argue against deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1691647114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744096881, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vpu", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT8173 VPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEDIATEK_VPU.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this driver to the OF compatible `mediatek,mt8173-vpu` and shows it is still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MEDIATEK_VCODEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows MT8173 video codec support depends on `VIDEO_MEDIATEK_VPU`, while newer MT8183 support instead depends on `MTK_SCP`, indicating this VPU path is specific to older MediaTek designs." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/blog/acer-chromebook-r13", "claim": "MediaTek's product page shows an MT8173-based shipping device from 2017, supporting the conclusion that this driver targets an older hardware generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/help and `mtk_vpu.c` implement a platform driver for the MT8173 video co-processor. Local evidence from `sed` on the directory and `git -c safe.directory=... log/show` found touches through 2026-01-05, but recent changes are small maintenance/docs plus a 2023 NULL-deref fix, so the code is not abandoned. I checked for removal signals with local git history grep and web searches against `site:lore.kernel.org`; no active removal/deprecation thread was found, so this does not justify `remove`. URLs were obtained via web search results: LKDDb pages from web search, and the MediaTek Chromebook R13 page from web search. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because upstream still maintains it, but deployment is now low and tied to legacy MT8173-era products rather than hardware still sold new in 2025.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1647579515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624991, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/microchip", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Microchip SAMA5D2/SAMA7G5 ISC/XISC and CSI2DC camera-capture pipeline", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220503095127.48710-1-eugen.hristev@microchip.com/T/#m2c320fa8153c01379a1c35b1d90a00903949513a", "claim": "Upstream patch series for the media-controller redesign that became the Microchip ISC driver; indicates active upstream development rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=06564411dcd10277eb5e192106603114cac3fd3f", "claim": "The directory received a Microchip-specific functional fix in 2024 for microchip-isc, showing recent upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=68a1560c3b7f8bb23423b272334fc19279e82d9a", "claim": "The directory received another 2024 update touching Microchip platform endpoint handling, reinforcing that it is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microprocessors/32-bit-mpus/sama5/sama5d2-series", "claim": "Microchip still markets the SAMA5D2 series with a camera interface and current evaluation hardware, supporting ongoing new-hardware relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/SAMA7G54", "claim": "Microchip lists SAMA7G54 as 'In Production' in 2025; this SoC matches the driver's SAMA7G5 compatibles and has MIPI camera capability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local inspection via exec_command found platform-driver entry points and DT compatibles for atmel,sama5d2-isc, microchip,sama7g5-isc, and microchip,sama7g5-csi2dc. Upstream activity was checked first with local exec_command git history because lore MCP/lei were unavailable; that history showed 2024 maintenance commits and no removal-oriented commits. The lore URL was obtained directly from a commit message in local git history; the two kernel.org commit URLs were constructed from commit IDs obtained via exec_command using canonical kernel.org commit URL format. The Microchip product URLs were obtained via web search. Hardware appears current but niche to embedded/industrial imaging pipelines, so deployments are low rather than none; there is no generic replacement driver because these blocks are SoC-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1669362197, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1724679371, "top_author": "Eugen Hristev", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nuvoton", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Nuvoton NPCM7xx/NPCM8xx BMC video capture/compression engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/944939/", "claim": "Upstream patch series for this driver landed in 2023, covering NPCM VCD/ECE support and NPCM845 support; no removal framing." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_NPCM_VCD_ECE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_NPCM_VCD_ECE remains present in current kernels and matches of_device IDs for nuvoton,npcm750-vcd and nuvoton,npcm845-vcd." }, { "url": "https://qemu-project.gitlab.io/qemu/system/arm/nuvoton.html", "claim": "NPCM7xx and NPCM8xx BMC boards remain relevant enough for current QEMU documentation, indicating ongoing deployment/testing interest in this SoC family." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/news/news/products-technology/TSNuvotonNews-000560/", "claim": "Nuvoton was still publicly promoting and certifying NPCM8-series BMC silicon in 2025, supporting continued new-market availability of the family." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com.cn/opencms/products/cloud-computing/ibmc/?__locale=zh_TW", "claim": "Nuvoton markets NPCM7xxR as iBMC products with KVM/video-redirection features, aligning with the driver’s server-BMC use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this is a real V4L2 platform driver for NPCM VCD/ECE. Local git log via exec_command showed substantive fixes in 2025-02 and 2025-04, with multiple authors since merge, so upstream maintenance is active rather than abandonware. Web search/open found the LWN mirror of the original patch series; it presents the driver as newly added support for NPCM750/NPCM845 and showed no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search found LKDDb listing the driver in current kernels, and QEMU/OpenBMC-adjacent/Nuvoton product pages indicate ongoing BMC-family deployment and 2025-era product activity. Because the hardware family is still current in BMC/server niches and there is no natural in-kernel replacement for this engine, the correct hint is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1695800402, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745586873, "top_author": "Michael Chang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nvidia/tegra-vde", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra20/Tegra30/Tegra114/Tegra124 VDE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/nvidia/tegra-vde/vde.c", "claim": "The driver binds to NVIDIA Tegra20, Tegra30, Tegra114, and Tegra124 VDE compatibles, i.e. older Tegra 2/3/4/K1-era decode hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=25fe47cdc909", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream maintenance; a tegra-vde-specific fix landed in 2025." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA lists Tegra 2, Tegra 3, and Tegra K1 processors as available only through January 2024, and Jetson TK1 developer kits as end-of-life." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra", "claim": "Tegra 2/3/4/K1 are early-2010s Tegra generations, indicating this driver targets legacy hardware rather than current NVIDIA embedded platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local source showed OF matches for tegra20/30/114/124 and module description. `exec_command` git log showed nontrivial tegra-vde maintenance through 2025, so this is not abandoned and I found no removal signal in the limited search budget. URL acquisition: kernel.org tree URL and commit URL by canonical recall from local path/hash; NVIDIA lifecycle page via `web.search/open`; Wikipedia Tegra page via `web.open`. Hardware sales evidence points to processor availability ending in January 2024, so by 2025 this is legacy silicon with some installed-base use only; keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecating/removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1647579411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nxp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX camera/media pipeline", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/nxp/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig covers active NXP i.MX media IP blocks across newer SoCs, including i.MX6UL/L, i.MX7, i.MX8M, i.MX91 and i.MX93 camera/media components." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/nxp", "claim": "Upstream history for this directory shows sustained recent maintenance and feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX 8M Plus as Active and markets dual ISP and 2x MIPI CSI, indicating relevant media hardware remains sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/IMX93IEC.pdf", "claim": "The July 7, 2025 i.MX93 industrial data sheet lists camera interfaces, showing current-generation i.MX93 devices still ship with supported camera/media hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-93-evaluation-kit%3Ai.MX93EVK", "claim": "NXP still offers an active i.MX93 evaluation kit in market channels, supporting ongoing deployment of this hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real driver directory with platform-driver entry points and Kconfig entries for multiple NXP i.MX media blocks; local git log showed substantive feature/fix activity through 2026-01-21, including i.MX91/i.MX93 enablement. I attempted lore-first evidence, but `lei` was unavailable in the environment and web lore queries produced no removal hits, so I found no evidence of an upstream deprecation/removal thread. URLs were obtained via web search for NXP product pages, plus canonical recall of stable git.kernel.org tree/log pages corroborated against local shell output.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 121, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1647247379, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768980345, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 51, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nxp/dw100", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "i.MX8M Plus DW100", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/drivers/dw100.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes DW100 as the Vivante DW100 Dewarp Processor IP core found on the i.MX8MP SoC." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M Plus family as Active, indicating the underlying SoC family is still current." }, { "url": "https://variscite.com/system-on-module-som/i-mx-8/i-mx-8m-plus/var-som-mx8m-plus/", "claim": "Commercial i.MX 8M Plus SOMs were still being marketed and sold recently, supporting ongoing new deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_DW100.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_DW100 present from Linux 6.1 through current HEAD and tied to compatible string nxp,imx8mp-dw100." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/889434/", "claim": "The driver entered upstream through the linux-media review process as the i.MX8MP DW100 dewarper driver patch series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local exec_command inspection of Kconfig and dw100.c shows a V4L2 mem2mem platform driver for compatible \"nxp,imx8mp-dw100\" and Kconfig name \"NXP i.MX DW100 dewarper\". Local exec_command git log shows substantive touches continuing into 2025 and no sign of retirement in the recent history; attempted lore access via `lei` failed because `lei` is not installed, and web site:lore.kernel.org queries returned no removal-thread hits. Cited URLs were obtained by web search: kernel.org driver docs (turn2search0), NXP product page (turn0search0), Variscite i.MX8M Plus SOM page (turn1search3), LKDDb entry (turn2search3), and LWN archive of the upstream patch series (turn2search1). Because the hardware block is specific to active i.MX8M Plus SoCs still sold for embedded vision/industrial products, there is no natural upstream replacement driver; keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1661779933, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx-jpeg", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8 QXP/QM JPEG engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8X", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8X family as Active, including i.MX 8QuadXPlus, indicating the SoC family remains commercially current." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8", "claim": "NXP lists the wider i.MX 8 family as Active and under its longevity program, supporting ongoing industrial/embedded availability." }, { "url": "https://variscite.com/system-on-module-som/i-mx-8/i-mx-8-quadmax-quadplus/var-som-mx8/", "claim": "Current commercial SoM listings based on NXP i.MX 8QuadMax/8QuadPlus show the platform is still deployed in new embedded products." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx-jpeg", "claim": "Kernel history for this directory shows continued upstream work into 2025-2026 rather than abandonment or removal preparation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx-jpeg/Kconfig", "claim": "The in-tree Kconfig identifies this as the V4L2 driver for the i.MX8 QXP/QM integrated JPEG encoder/decoder." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` inspection found `module_platform_driver(mxc_jpeg_driver)` and Kconfig text naming the i.MX8 QXP/QM JPEG encoder/decoder. Local `exec_command` git log showed substantive 2025-2026 maintenance (Ming Qian, Laurent Pinchart, Marek Vasut, treewide followups) and no visible removal-oriented activity in the recent history sampled. Web search obtained NXP product pages showing i.MX8/i.MX8X still Active, plus a current Variscite SoM page showing ongoing embedded deployments. Kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall citations used to anchor the upstream driver/history pages. Given active maintenance, current sale of relevant SoC family/module products, and no natural cross-driver replacement for this SoC-specific JPEG block, the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1647247379, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624991, "top_author": "Ming Qian", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx8-isi", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8/i.MX9 Image Sensor Interface (ISI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX91", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX91 family as Active in 2026, indicating new hardware sales beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/pages/%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX93 family as Active and positions it for industrial/IoT/vision edge use, supporting ongoing deployments." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx8-isi", "claim": "The upstream directory has continued recent commit activity, consistent with an actively maintained driver rather than a deprecation candidate." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx8-isi", "claim": "The driver targets multiple current NXP SoCs in one codebase, including i.MX8MN, i.MX8MP, i.MX8ULP, i.MX91, and i.MX93." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found Kconfig/Makefile entries and module_platform_driver in imx8-isi-core.c. lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` failed because `lei` is unavailable; web search on lore.kernel.org returned no hits for removal/deprecation terms, and local git history showed recent nontrivial work through 2026 with no deletion history. NXP product pages were obtained via web search; kernel.org URLs are canonical recall used to anchor upstream activity/tree coverage. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the SoC-specific capture/processing block driver for current i.MX parts.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1681626906, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768980345, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/qcom/camss", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm CAMSS", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/qcom/camss/camss.c", "claim": "The driver's OF match table covers multiple Qualcomm camera-subsystem generations, including current families such as SC7280, SC8280XP, SM8550, SM8650, SA8775P, and X1E80100; this is an actively extended hardware matrix, not a legacy-only one." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260410-purwa_camss-v1-2-eedcf6d9d8ee@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-10, upstream was still adding new CAMSS support ('add support for X1P42100 camss'), which is strong evidence against deprecation or removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260326-b4-linux-next-25-03-13-dtsi-x1e80100-camss-v11-7-5b93415be6dd@linaro.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 CAMSS traffic includes refinement work for X1E80100 ('Drop legacy PHY descriptions from x1e'), showing ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_6_Snapdragon/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_6_Snapdragon_Spec.PDF?v=c4420203-7404-4269-b7ff-dfc8e488aad9", "claim": "Lenovo's ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (Snapdragon) product spec lists Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 and Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 systems, demonstrating new-product availability on supported Qualcomm compute families in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/snapdragon-x-series-continues-to-redefine-the-pc-category-with-a", "claim": "Qualcomm stated in January 2025 that Snapdragon X Series had over 60 designs in production or development, indicating ongoing new deployments for the broader platform family CAMSS is enabling." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local shell inspection of camss.c and Kconfig shows a real platform driver with no in-tree replacement and support extending into modern Qualcomm SoCs/laptop parts. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/platform/qcom/camss/camss.c returned heavy recent activity through 2026 plus new-enablement patches, not removal talk; cited lore URLs came from that MCP call. Lenovo and Qualcomm URLs came from web search and show supported Qualcomm compute families still shipping in current products/ecosystems. Because hardware is still entering new devices and upstream is still adding support, deprecate/remove would be unjustified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04638344272981761, "commits_5y": 207, "substantive_commits_5y": 200, "first_touch_ts": 1533204492, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768296301, "top_author": "Bryan O'Donoghue", "top_author_commits": 63, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/qcom/iris", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Iris/Venus video codec", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/qcom/iris/iris_probe.c", "claim": "Upstream driver match table covers multiple Qualcomm SoCs including qcs8300, sc7280, sm8250, sm8550, sm8650, and sm8750, showing this is current Qualcomm video-codec hardware support rather than a legacy orphan." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/qcom/iris", "claim": "The directory has ongoing upstream churn through 2025-2026, consistent with active enablement and fixes rather than deprecation or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite in October 2024 and said devices from major OEMs would launch in the following weeks, supporting the conclusion that SM8750-based hardware was sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/qualcomm-and-samsung-redefine-premium-performance-by-bringing-th", "claim": "Qualcomm stated on January 22, 2025 that Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy powers the Galaxy S25 series globally, confirming live 2025 commercial deployments for an Iris-supported SoC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`iris_probe.c` was inspected locally with `rg`, showing active DT compatibles up to `qcom,sm8750-iris`; cited kernel.org tree URL is canonical recall for the same file. Upstream activity was checked with local `git -c safe.directory ... log` and static commit metadata; cited kernel.org log URL is canonical recall for the same path. A lore-targeted web search for remove/deprecate discussion returned no results, so I found no evidence of an active removal series. Qualcomm URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Given recent substantive activity, new supported SoCs, and no natural successor driver, this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 148, "substantive_commits_5y": 144, "first_touch_ts": 1738925458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768922544, "top_author": "Dikshita Agarwal", "top_author_commits": 80, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Venus VPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the \"Qualcomm Venus V4L2 encoder/decoder driver\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/core.c", "claim": "The OF match table covers multiple Qualcomm SoCs including qcm2290, sc7180, sc7280, and sm8250, showing this is a real platform driver for Qualcomm video hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260419-wip-obbardc-qcom-venus-firmware-v1-1-08a0d3cf056f@linaro.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-19, upstream still receives Venus maintenance patches (firmware declaration work)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260416-msm8939-venus-rfc-v1-3-a09fcf2c23df@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-16, upstream discussion included adding msm8939 Venus resources, indicating ongoing enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/qcs-qcm2290-soc-product-brief_87-28731-1.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm's 2024 QCM2290 brief lists expected product longevity through November 2030, target IoT/camera deployments, and hardware video encode/decode support; qcm2290 is one of the driver's supported compatibles." } ], "reasoning_notes": "kernel.org tree URLs were added via canonical recall; lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/core.c`; Qualcomm product brief came from web search plus PDF open. The directory shows heavy recent upstream traffic, including 2026 maintenance and new-platform work, with no removal signal found in the activity timeline. Supported silicon such as QCM2290 remains in Qualcomm's longevity program through 2030 and targets current IoT/camera products, so this driver should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.043097732059590554, "commits_5y": 219, "substantive_commits_5y": 210, "first_touch_ts": 1497959619, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768911572, "top_author": "Dikshita Agarwal", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/raspberrypi/pisp_be", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Raspberry Pi PiSP Backend ISP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/raspberrypi/pisp_be", "claim": "Mainline history for this directory starts in 2024 and includes substantive fixes and cleanups in 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/raspberrypi/pisp_be/pisp_be.c", "claim": "The driver is a real platform driver for the PiSP Back End, with DT compatible string \"raspberrypi,pispbe\"." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 is sold as a current product, available now, and Raspberry Pi states it will remain in production until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/accessories/camera.html", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi camera documentation uses a PiSP libcamera pipeline on Raspberry Pi 5 or CM5, showing present-day software deployment for this hardware family." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documentation lists Compute Module 5 as a current module and recommends CM4 or CM5 for new designs, supporting ongoing new deployments of PiSP-capable platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `git log` showed fresh 2025 activity in this directory and no removal pattern; mapped to the canonical kernel.org log URL by canonical recall. Local shell `rg` confirmed this is the PiSP BE platform driver and DT compatible `raspberrypi,pispbe`; mapped to the canonical kernel.org source URL by canonical recall. Web search + page open on raspberrypi.com confirmed Raspberry Pi 5 is a current product with an explicit longevity statement through January 2036, and Raspberry Pi camera/docs pages show active PiSP pipeline usage on Pi 5/CM5 and current CM5 availability. No natural replacement exists because this is the current in-tree driver for the PiSP backend on modern Raspberry Pi platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1719486407, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755503708, "top_author": "Jacopo Mondi", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/raspberrypi/rp1-cfe", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Raspberry Pi RP1 Camera Front End (CFE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/5", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 is an actively sold product and is built using the RP1 I/O controller, with two 4-lane MIPI camera/display transceivers." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Compute Module 5 is actively sold and carries the same RP1-based platform into new embedded designs." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/io-controllers.html", "claim": "RP1 contains the CSI-2 receiver and ISP front-end hardware for cameras, i.e. the block this driver services." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/CONFIG_VIDEO_RP1_CFE?kernelversion=6.16.2", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_RP1_CFE is an upstream kernel configuration entry, present since Linux 6.13, for the rp1-cfe driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: the prompt metadata already shows recent upstream attention (11 substantive commits in 5y, latest on 2026-01-14, 8 authors, first added in 2024), which is inconsistent with deprecation. Product/deployment evidence was obtained via web search_query on raspberrypi.com and kernelconfig.io. I could not directly verify lore history because the lore MCP was unavailable in this session and `lei` was not installed; within the available evidence, I found no removal/deprecation discussion. RP1-based Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Module 5 are current products, so the hardware is still entering new consumer and embedded deployments. There is no natural replacement driver covering the same RP1 camera-front-end block; older Raspberry Pi camera drivers target different SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1729063960, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768429982, "top_author": "Tomi Valkeinen", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ media IP blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/renesas/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory contains active Renesas media drivers spanning CEU, R-Car CSI-2, VOU, FCP, FDP1, JPU, VSP1, DRIF, plus subdirectories for rcar-vin, rzg2l-cru, and rzv2h-ivc." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f0b3984d821b3a603cd8786dca6cc73d47c4521a", "claim": "A new driver, 'media: platform: Add Renesas Input Video Control block driver', landed on 2025-11-14 under this directory, indicating ongoing upstream expansion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ace92ccef0c9bee4fad192b151c1aed9eef7f7c9", "claim": "The rzg2l-cru driver received substantive maintenance in 2025 ('Use v4l2_fill_pixfmt()'), showing recent upstream attention in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity through 2037 and camera/display interfaces, supporting continued new industrial deployments using this media stack." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2H as Active and advertises 4-channel MIPI CSI-2 camera interfaces, matching the newly added media support in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git log`) showed multiple real platform drivers and substantive 2025-2026 maintenance, with no sign of a dead helper-only directory. The git.kernel.org tree/commit URLs were included by canonical recall using commit IDs obtained from local `git log`; the Renesas product URLs were obtained via web search. Overall this looks like an actively maintained SoC-media driver collection for currently marketed Renesas RZ/R-Car parts, so removal/deprecation is not justified; there is also no single upstream replacement because these are SoC-specific on-chip blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1647247380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763131729, "top_author": "Niklas Söderlund", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas/rcar-isp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car V4H ISP / channel selector", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250423163113.2961049-6-niklas.soderlund+renesas@ragnatech.se", "claim": "The driver directory was actively reworked upstream in April/May 2025, including a move into its own directory in preparation for adding more ISP-core functionality." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250423163113.2961049-7-niklas.soderlund+renesas@ragnatech.se", "claim": "A companion 2025 patch explicitly says the driver is being extended beyond the channel selector toward core ISP support, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250423163113.2961049-8-niklas.soderlund+renesas@ragnatech.se", "claim": "Another 2025 patch adds parsing for a named CS memory region while preserving backward compatibility, which is consistent with ongoing enablement work." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-v4h-best-class-deep-learning-very-low-power-system-chip-automated-driving-level-2level-3", "claim": "Renesas lists the R-Car V4H product as Active and describes an integrated ISP for machine and human vision, showing the underlying hardware family is current rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/rtp8a779g0askb0fs0sa000-r-car-v4h-system-evaluation-board-setwhite-hawk", "claim": "Renesas still offers the White Hawk R-Car V4H evaluation board, evidence of ongoing new-development availability." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-r-car-v4h-adas-soc-selected-toyota-rav4-model", "claim": "Renesas announced in February 2026 that R-Car V4H was selected for a Toyota RAV4 ADAS control unit, indicating present-day production deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real platform driver (`csisp.c`, module/Kconfig/Makefile present), not a helper-only directory. Local `git log`/`git show` established that the directory is new in 2025 and all three substantive touches are part of one upstream enablement series; those `git show` outputs exposed the three cited lore URLs. A `web.search_query` over lore for `rcar-isp` removal/deprecate terms surfaced no removal discussion. Separate `web.search_query` results provided the Renesas product, eval-board, and 2026 design-win URLs. Because the hardware is still active and seeing new deployments, and because upstream work is recent enablement rather than sunset maintenance, the right call is `keep`, with no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1746173803, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746173803, "top_author": "Niklas Söderlund", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas/rcar-vin", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car VIN (Gen2/Gen3/Gen4; RZ/G1/RZ/G2 variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg276808.html", "claim": "May 2025 patch series for rcar-vin enables media-graph on Gen2 and describes completing support across supported generations, showing active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg280984.html", "claim": "July 2025 patch updates rcar-vin PM ops, confirming continued upstream maintenance in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_RCAR_VIN.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_RCAR_VIN present in current kernels and lists bindings including renesas,rcar-gen4-vin, indicating ongoing upstream support breadth." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-leads-adas-innovation-power-efficient-4th-generation-r-car-automotive-socs", "claim": "Renesas announced expanded 4th-generation R-Car V4M/V4H SoCs in September 2024 for high-volume ADAS, evidence the broader hardware family remained in active new-market positioning into 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/rtp8a779g0askb0fs0sa000-r-car-v4h-system-evaluation-board-setwhite-hawk", "claim": "Renesas lists the R-Car V4H evaluation board as Active, with multi-camera input support, indicating new development/deployment activity for SoCs covered by this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via shell `rg` on Kconfig and `module_platform_driver()` in rcar-core.c; Kconfig says it supports R-Car Gen{2,3} and RZ/G{1,2}, and local source also contains `renesas,rcar-gen4-vin` compatibles. Upstream activity was checked first using shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` because the advertised lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` is not installed; the log shows substantive rcar-vin commits through 2025-09-17, and web search located corresponding public mailing-list threads on spinics for 2025 feature/cleanup series. No removal/deprecation discussion was found; instead the 2025 series expands/modernizes the driver. Deployment looks current but niche-to-moderate: this is an automotive/embedded camera-capture block in active Renesas R-Car programs, not commodity PC hardware. Sources were obtained via web search (`turn4search1`, `turn4search0`, `turn2search0`, `turn0search7`, `turn0search5`) plus local shell inspection for code context.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1647247380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758104044, "top_author": "Niklas Söderlund", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas/rzg2l-cru", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas RZ/G2L-family CRU/CSI-2 camera capture", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg279438.html", "claim": "June 23, 2025 linux-media patch series '[PATCH v5 0/6] Extend RAW format support for rzg2l-cru driver' shows active upstream feature work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-renesas-soc/159316563499.27998.3093973921853873921.git-patchwork-summary%40kernel.org/t/", "claim": "Patchwork summary page references multiple 2024-2025 rzg2l-cru series, including a 23-patch cleanup/feature series and 2025 fixes, indicating continued subsystem attention and no visible removal direction." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity through 2037 and explicitly advertises camera input plus a Verified Linux package." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3e", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G3E as Active and includes MIPI-CSI camera interface support, matching newer SoC enablement added to this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2H as Active and includes multiple MIPI CSI-2 camera interfaces, matching recent rzg2l-cru support work for newer vision SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rz-partner-solutions/myir-som", "claim": "Renesas partner page shows an RZ/G2L SoM still marketed with Linux support and multimedia/camera interfaces, supporting ongoing real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `git log`) confirmed a real V4L2 platform driver with fresh 2025-2026 commits including RZ/G3E/V2H support. Web search found active mailing-list traffic via spinics and patchwork-summary pages instead of removal talk. Web search also found Renesas product pages marking RZ/G2L, RZ/G3E, and RZ/V2H as Active, plus an RZ/G2L partner SoM page, so hardware is still current in industrial/embedded deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same CRU block; this driver is the in-tree support path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 69, "first_touch_ts": 1669366080, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767690853, "top_author": "Lad Prabhakar", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas/rzv2h-ivc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas RZ/V2H(P)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg282193.html", "claim": "The upstream patch series adding `rzv2h-ivc` was under active review in 2025, indicating a new driver rather than a legacy orphan." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6095998.html", "claim": "A March 13, 2026 7-patch fix series for `rzv2h-ivc` shows ongoing upstream maintenance and bug-fix activity, not removal." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2H as `Active` and markets it as a current vision-AI MPU with Mali-C55 ISP option and machine-vision/factory-automation use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/design-resources/boards-kits/rz-v2h-evk", "claim": "Renesas still offers an active RZ/V2H evaluation kit with optional ISP and video-streaming support, supporting current deployability/new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection (`exec_command`) of `rzv2h-ivc-dev.c` and `Kconfig` identified a real V4L2 platform driver for compatible `renesas,r9a09g057-ivc`, i.e. the RZ/V2H(P) Input Video Control block feeding a Mali-C55 ISP. Shell `git show` on commit `f0b3984d821b` showed the driver was added to mainline in November 2025, so the low in-tree commit count is explained by youth, not abandonment. Web search found the 2025 add-driver review thread and a March 2026 7-patch fix series on spinics; I found no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search on Renesas pages showed the SoC family and EVK are still `Active`; `deployments_today=low` is an inference from the part being a specialized industrial/machine-vision MPU that was only upstreamed recently. No natural replacement driver exists because this is a SoC-specific IVC block driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1763131729, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763131729, "top_author": "Daniel Scally", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/renesas/vsp1", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Renesas VSP1/VSP2 video processing engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1014339/", "claim": "March 17, 2025 patch series '[PATCH v3 0/7] media: renesas: vsp1: Add support for IIF' touched 15 files in this driver and prepared VSPX support, indicating active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1016966/", "claim": "April 9, 2025 patch series '[PATCH 0/6] media: renesas: vsp1: Add colorspace support' added substantial functionality and reports testing on a Renesas Salvator-X board, showing ongoing maintenance on real hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas still lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity through 2037 for industrial/HMI and video-capable deployments; the in-tree driver contains RZ/G2L-specific VSP2 support." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzg2l-sbc-rzg2l-single-board-computer", "claim": "Renesas still sells an Active RZ/G2L SBC for industrial/robotics/HMI development, supporting continued new deployments of Linux systems using this multimedia pipeline." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/r-car-V3H", "claim": "Renesas still lists the automotive R-Car V3H as Active, consistent with ongoing automotive deployments of Renesas video-processing IP covered by this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell (`sed`/`rg`) shows this is a real V4L2 platform driver, Kconfig-exposed as 'Renesas VSP1 Video Processing Engine', and MAINTAINERS marks it Supported. Lore activity was obtained indirectly through web search results opened on LWN archive pages mirroring linux-media postings: the 2025 IIF/VSPX and colorspace series show active non-trivial development, with no removal/deprecation signal surfaced in the allotted searches. Deployment evidence was obtained via web search on official Renesas product pages: RZ/G2L and its SBC are Active, and R-Car V3H is Active, so the IP family is still present in new industrial/automotive designs. No natural upstream replacement driver exists; this driver is the Linux support for that IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 70, "first_touch_ts": 1647247380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rga", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RGA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260325-spu-rga3-v4-26-e90ec1c61354@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-25 the upstream driver is still being actively extended, with a posted patch titled 'media: rockchip: rga: add rga3 support' touching this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2021/0113/1276.html", "claim": "Rockchip's official RK3568 product page lists a 'High performance dedicated 2D processor', indicating RGA-class 2D acceleration remains present in newer Rockchip SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2022/0926/1660.html", "claim": "Rockchip's official RK3588 product page lists an 'embedded high performance 2D image acceleration module', showing continued deployment of the hardware function in current higher-end SoCs." }, { "url": "https://t.rock-chips.com/en/wiki/EN/tb-rk3588sd_en/02-3Linux%20development.html", "claim": "Toybrick's RK3588 Linux documentation, last updated 2024-11-20, documents installable 'rockchip-rga' runtime/dev/sample packages on a current RK3588 platform, evidencing ongoing vendor-supported deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection showed module_platform_driver plus DT compatibles for rk3288/rk3399 and Kconfig describes a V4L2 mem2mem RGA accelerator driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rga/rga.c showed strong 2025-2026 patch traffic and a 2026-03-25 RGA3 support series (source 1 obtained via lore_file_timeline). Deployment evidence came from web search + open on Rockchip official RK3568/RK3588 product pages and Toybrick RK3588 Linux docs (sources 2-4 obtained via web search/open). That combination points to active upstream maintenance and continuing embedded/industrial deployments, so deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0687256562435468, "commits_5y": 41, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1508196235, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768293719, "top_author": "Michael Tretter", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rkcif", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Rockchip CIF (PX30 VIP / RK3568 VICAP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240220-rk3568-vicap-v14-0-b38b6da0fc80@collabora.com", "claim": "The driver was under active upstream development as a v14 18-patch series in late 2025, not under removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.19-rc6/admin-guide/media/rkcif.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes rkcif as the driver for Rockchip CIF variants including PX30 VIP and RK3568 VICAP." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/rock3/3a/", "claim": "A commercially offered RK3568 board (Radxa ROCK 3A) was still being sold, indicating new hardware availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock3/rock3a/accessories/camera", "claim": "The RK3568-based ROCK 3A has a CSI camera interface with documented supported cameras, showing present-day camera deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.geniatech.com/product/db-px30/", "claim": "PX30 development hardware remained commercially marketed for industrial/AIoT use, indicating ongoing niche deployments for the older CIF variant." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection plus `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rkcif` showed the directory is brand-new in-tree code added by a 2025 patch series, with no aging-out signal. The lore MCP server named in the prompt was unavailable in this session and `lei` was not installed, so lore evidence was obtained via web search snippets: the v14 cover-letter lore URL came from web search results (turn3search2 / turn3search4). Kernel documentation was obtained by web search then opened (turn2search1 -> turn4view1). Commercial/deployment evidence came from web search then opened/found on Radxa and Geniatech pages (turn0search1/2/7 -> turn4view2/3/4 and turn5view0/1). This is active, newly merged/merging support for still-sold Rockchip camera-capable SoCs, with no natural generic replacement driver for the same IP block, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1763206833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763206833, "top_author": "Michael Riesch", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rkisp1", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RKISP1 image signal processor", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260105-rkisp1-irqs-v1-1-922f6a94a2e2@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "Upstream work continued into 2026 with a multi-file rkisp1 power-management/IRQ patch, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250616011115.19515-6-laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "rkisp1 received feature work in 2025 ('Add support for multiple power domains'), showing ongoing enablement for newer platforms." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/media/drivers/rkisp1.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes rkisp1 variants across multiple SoCs, including V10/V12 deployments and V20 appearing in rk3568-and-beyond families, showing this IP family is not just a one-generation relic." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/media/v4l/metafmt-rkisp1.html", "claim": "Current kernel uAPI documentation includes RKISP1_V_IMX8MP, explicitly noting use in at least i.MX8MP." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX 8M Plus as Active and highlights dual image signal processors, supporting that rkisp1-class hardware remains sold for new embedded vision designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: lore_file_timeline on rkisp1-dev.c showed dense 2021-2026 activity with recent 2025-2026 fixes/features; cited lore URLs came from that MCP tool. docs.kernel.org pages were obtained by web search and show supported rkisp1 variants, including i.MX8MP and newer rk3568-era IP lineage. NXP product page was obtained by web search and shows i.MX8M Plus is Active in 2025. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the same ISP block; support remains relevant for embedded camera products, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04451198355879676, "commits_5y": 180, "substantive_commits_5y": 170, "first_touch_ts": 1605592877, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768980345, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 97, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/rockchip/rkvdec", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RKVDEC / VDEC video decoder IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-media/DBCHOEMXSOZW.JRB0UTWSPG4J%40cknow.org/T/", "claim": "Upstream patch series in mid-2025 prepared new rkvdec variants, added RK3588/RK3576 bindings and moved the driver out of staging, indicating active investment rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-rockchip/4161ab9e-3be5-4738-9bbe-0dba636b838a%40kwiboo.se/T/", "claim": "A 2025 patch series added H.264 High 10 and 4:2:2 profile support to rkvdec, showing ongoing feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6123308.html", "claim": "A March 26, 2026 thread discusses enabling the Rockchip video decoder in arm64 defconfig, which is consistent with current upstream relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ROCKCHIP_VDEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_ROCKCHIP_VDEC in current kernels and lists supported compatibles including rk3288, rk3328, rk3399, rk3588 and rk3576." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5", "claim": "Radxa's current ROCK 5 product line is based on RK3588/RK3588S-class SoCs, showing the hardware family is still sold in new products." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/rock5/5bp", "claim": "The ROCK 5B+ product page markets a currently sold RK3588 board, supporting ongoing new deployments of SoCs covered by this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real kernel driver: local source inspection via exec_command found module_platform_driver in rkvdec.c and OF compatibles for rk3288/rk3328/rk3399/rk3588/rk3576. Local git history via exec_command showed substantive rkvdec commits on 2026-03-18 and a large feature series on 2026-01-21, so the code is actively maintained. Lore evidence URLs were obtained with web search: turn1search5 (new variants and unstaging), turn1search4 (2025 codec/profile support), turn1search0 (2026 defconfig discussion); none indicated removal. Deployment URLs were obtained with web search: turn3search0 (LKDDb current kernel presence), turn2search4 and turn2search5 (current RK3588 products still sold). No natural replacement driver exists for the same Rockchip VDEC IP block, so removal or deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1752302088, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773829291, "top_author": "Detlev Casanova", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/exynos-gsc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos5/Exynos7 G-Scaler (Exynos 5250/5420/5433)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9d612344a2fc", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream fix on 2025-08-13 ('media: exynos-gsc: Access v4l2_fh from file'), so it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/samsung/exynos-gsc/gsc-core.c", "claim": "The driver matches Samsung Exynos 5250/5420/5433 G-Scaler blocks, and only the legacy fallback DT compatible 'samsung,exynos5-gsc' is marked deprecated, not the driver itself." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SAMSUNG_EXYNOS_GSC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_SAMSUNG_EXYNOS_GSC is still present in current kernels and binds samsung,exynos5250-gsc, samsung,exynos5420-gsc, samsung,exynos5433-gsc, and samsung,exynos5-gsc." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_10.1_2014_Edition", "claim": "Exynos 5420 deployments were in products launched in 2013, indicating this driver serves older mobile/tablet hardware rather than current products." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note_4", "claim": "Exynos 5433 deployments were in products launched in 2014 and later discontinued, reinforcing that present-day use is legacy." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection identified the block as Samsung EXYNOS5 SoC G-Scaler and exposed supported DT compatibles plus the in-code message that only 'exynos5-gsc' is deprecated. MCP lore tooling was unavailable here and `lei` was not installed, so upstream activity was checked via local `git log`; the cited kernel.org commit URL was constructed from that local hash using canonical kernel.org commit URL form. Web search obtained the LKDDb page and device-market pages. Conclusion: legacy hardware with low current deployment, but still seeing upstream maintenance and no concrete removal evidence, so keep the driver with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1647579411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066831, "top_author": "Jacopo Mondi", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/exynos4-is", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos4x12 FIMC-IS / Exynos4 camera subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg901330.html", "claim": "October 2025 upstream/stable patch fixes a real deadlock in exynos4-is, showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg277629.html", "claim": "June 2025 autosel patch for exynos4-is fixes a hardware-sync bug that could corrupt data or hang the system, indicating active bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_EXYNOS4_FIMC_IS.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_VIDEO_EXYNOS4_FIMC_IS in current kernel series, so the driver remains upstream and buildable." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/fimc.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation places this driver at drivers/media/platform/samsung/exynos4-is and describes it as the Samsung S5P/Exynos4 FIMC camera driver family." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Exynos_4412_Quad", "claim": "Current postmarketOS Exynos 4412 documentation still tracks camera enablement work on surviving Exynos4 devices, implying niche hobbyist/mainlining deployments remain." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III", "claim": "A flagship Exynos 4 Quad device shipped in 2012 and is discontinued, anchoring the hardware generation as legacy consumer hardware." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Camera_2_%28samsung-sf2wifi%29", "claim": "An Exynos 4412 product was still releasing in 2014, supporting 2014 as a reasonable last widely-available year for new devices using this hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `ls`) shows real V4L2/media driver code for Samsung camera/ISP blocks, not helper-only content. Upstream activity was checked first via web search because the advertised lore MCP/`lei` path was unavailable here; spinics results show substantive 2025 fixes and stable backports, while remove/deprecate searches returned no current removal series. Deployment evidence came from web-search results on kernel docs, LKDDb, postmarketOS, and Wikipedia: the hardware is legacy 2012-2014 Exynos4x12 mobile/camera silicon, not sold new in 2025, but still appears in low-volume hobbyist/mainline bring-up. No natural replacement driver exists for the same on-SoC camera subsystem, so this should be kept upstream but annotated as legacy rather than deprecated for removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1647579411, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762181922, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/s3c-camif", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung S3C24xx/S3C64xx CAMIF", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=223171b22e86", "claim": "Mainline still touched this driver in 2025 ('media: s3c-camif: Access v4l2_fh from file'), which argues against immediate removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=61334819aca0", "claim": "Mainline carried a real bug-fix style change for this driver in the 2021-2025 window ('media: s3c-camif: Avoid inappropriate kfree()'), indicating some maintenance interest." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_S3C_CAMIF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_S3C_CAMIF is still present in current kernels and buildable for ARCH_S3C64XX or COMPILE_TEST, so the driver remains upstream-supported." }, { "url": "https://www.design-reuse.com/news/202506281-samsung-electronics-unveils-the-world-s-fastest-mobile-cpu/", "claim": "Samsung announced S3C2440 in 2003; this places part of the supported hardware family firmly in the legacy era." }, { "url": "https://www.edn.com/samsungs-new-application-processor-brings-advanced-multimedia-capabilities-to-smart-phones-and-personal-navigation-devices/", "claim": "Samsung introduced S3C6410 in 2008 for smartphones/PNDs, confirming the other supported hardware generation is also very old." }, { "url": "https://www.boardcon.com/SBC6410/", "claim": "S3C6410 survives mostly as niche embedded SBC material with camera support and very old software stacks, suggesting residual legacy deployments rather than modern broad adoption." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real platform V4L2 driver for Samsung S3C24xx/S3C64xx CAMIF IP. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/platform/samsung/s3c-camif` showed multiple 2021-2025 touches, including a 2025 API update and earlier bug-fix work; the cited git.kernel.org commit URLs are canonical-recall URLs built from those hashes. Web search produced LKDDb, Samsung-era product/news pages, and a niche SBC listing; those URLs were obtained via the web tool. I found no explicit removal/deprecation discussion in the limited lore/web evidence, so despite low present-day deployment and obsolete silicon, this looks better classified as legacy-but-maintained: keep it, but annotate it as low-deployment/old-hardware code with no natural replacement for the same IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1647579412, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066832, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/s5p-g2d", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung S5P/Exynos4 G2D", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-renesas-soc/msg102484.html", "claim": "Public patch traffic still touched s5p-g2d in 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Exynos_4210", "claim": "Exynos 4210/4212/4412 are 2011-2012-era chips still seeing niche mainline/postmarketOS use on old phones/tablets and a few dev boards." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/samsung/exynos/4210", "claim": "Exynos 4210 was introduced in 2011, supporting the conclusion that the covered hardware family is long past new mainstream deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SAMSUNG_S5P_G2D.html", "claim": "CONFIG_VIDEO_SAMSUNG_S5P_G2D remains present in current kernels, so the driver is still shipped upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection shows this is a real platform driver with DT matches for samsung,s5pv210-g2d and samsung,exynos4212-g2d, i.e. old S5PV210/Exynos4-era 2D accelerators. Local git log shows substantive touches through 2025-10-17 and additional 2026 treewide churn, so it is not dormant enough for deprecate/remove. Web search for lore-style mailing-list evidence found 2025 patch traffic on spinics for s5p-g2d and no visible removal/deprecation thread; that argues against removal. Web search also found postmarketOS deployment evidence for surviving hobbyist/mainlining use on legacy Galaxy/ODROID-class devices, but those SoCs date to 2011-2012 (WikiChip), so present-day deployment is low and almost entirely legacy/community. URLs were obtained via web search; code/compatibility evidence came from local exec_command reads.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1647579495, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693475, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/s5p-jpeg", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung S5P / Exynos JPEG codec IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f47955fce44e4e43e88dddc2a0e9c6b5fe157476", "claim": "The driver still received non-mechanical upstream maintenance in October 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=52e6cd6aaa6bcac2647188518801d525e267edef", "claim": "The driver still received non-mechanical upstream maintenance in August 2025." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exynos", "claim": "Supported SoCs tied to this driver are old Samsung S5P/Exynos parts: Exynos 5420 released Q3 2013, Exynos 5433 Q4 2014, and Exynos 3250 Q2 2014, used in legacy devices such as Galaxy Note 4 and Gear-class wearables." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell inspection of Kconfig and jpeg-core.c shows a V4L2 mem2mem platform driver with DT compatibles for samsung,s5pv210-jpeg, exynos3250-jpeg, exynos4210/4212-jpeg, exynos5420-jpeg, and exynos5433-jpeg. Local shell git log showed substantive touches in 2025-2026 and no obvious removal subject lines, so this does not look abandoned upstream; cited commit URLs are canonical recall for the public git.kernel.org commit pages corresponding to those local-shell commits. Web open on Wikipedia Exynos (via web search/open) showed all supported SoCs are 2010-2014 era mobile/wearable parts, implying no meaningful new-hardware sales by 2025 and only low legacy deployments today. Because hardware is obsolete but upstream bug-fix traffic still exists, keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693475, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/samsung/s5p-mfc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos MFC / Tesla FSD MFC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/08/07/482", "claim": "August 7, 2025 patch traffic shows s5p-mfc still receiving upstream work, including SoC-specific compatible-string updates rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20231025102216.50480-1-aakarsh.jain%40samsung.com/20231025102216.50480-2-aakarsh.jain%40samsung.com/", "claim": "The MFC v12 support series explicitly adds the 'tesla,fsd-mfc' compatible, showing the driver family expanded beyond older Exynos-only parts." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SAMSUNG_S5P_MFC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_SAMSUNG_S5P_MFC is still present in current kernels and covers Exynos plus 'tesla,fsd-mfc' compatibles." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Autopilot_hardware", "claim": "Tesla vehicles continued shipping with newer FSD hardware generations after 2023, supporting the inference that the Tesla-branded branch of this MFC family remained relevant in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`/`sed`) showed this is a real V4L2 platform codec driver with OF matches from legacy Samsung MFC v5/v6/v7/v8/v10 through `tesla,fsd-mfc` (v12). Upstream activity evidence came from web search results to public list archives: the openwall URL shows August 2025 s5p-mfc patch traffic, and I did not encounter a removal/deprecation thread in the performed lore-style searches. Patchew (found via web search) shows Tesla FSD MFC v12 enablement, while LKDDb (found via web search) confirms the driver is still built in current kernels. Recommendation is `keep`: active maintenance plus a newer automotive-compatible branch outweigh the fact that most Samsung S5P/Exynos deployments are legacy; present-day deployments look niche rather than broad, so `deployments_today` is `low`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 49, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Aakarsh Jain", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/sti/bdisp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH407/STiH410 Monaco BDISP 2D blitter", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_STI_BDISP.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_VIDEO_STI_BDISP to this directory and to OF compatible st,stih407-bdisp; the driver is still present in current kernel series listings." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "STiH407/STiH410 are 2013-era ST set-top-box / connected-client SoCs, indicating legacy consumer multimedia hardware rather than a current product family." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-July/1044931.html", "claim": "2025 STi cleanup discussion removes unsupported STiH415/STiH416 entries and internal B2120 board support, showing the broader STi platform is being trimmed as legacy, but not proposing bdisp driver removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell read of Kconfig identifies a V4L2 mem2mem 'STMicroelectronics BDISP 2D blitter driver' for ST SoCs. Lore MCP/lei were unavailable here, so lore history was approximated via web search plus direct open of a 2025 linux-arm-kernel cleanup thread; I found no bdisp-specific removal series, while the provided static metadata shows substantive non-mechanical fixes in 2024-2025, so this is not dead code. LKDDb page was obtained by web search/open; ST PDF was obtained by web search/open; the 2025 mailing-list thread was obtained by web search/open. Hardware appears tied to old STiH407/STiH410 set-top-box silicon and is very unlikely to be sold new in 2025, but deployed boxes may still exist in the field. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/niche rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066833, "top_author": "Jacopo Mondi", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/sti/delta", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics DELTA video decoder IP for STiH4xx set-top-box SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/st/sti/delta/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes this as the STMicroelectronics DELTA multi-format video decoder for STiH4xx SoC series." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1b2135910747f573027b5c220f0ede98484fcf6a", "claim": "The driver still received a nontrivial upstream adjustment in 2025, indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics/stih412.html", "claim": "A close STiH4-series product page is marked Obsolete / Out of Production by ST, supporting that this hardware family is no longer sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "STiH407/STiH410 are 2013-era Monaco family multimedia/server-box SoCs, indicating the platform generation is old and tied to legacy STB deployments." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/708249/", "claim": "The driver originated as support for the DELTA video decoder on STMicroelectronics STiH4xx SoCs, confirming the hardware scope and firmware-coupled design." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` on the tree showed `module_platform_driver`, compatible `st,st-delta`, and Kconfig text naming STiH4xx. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/platform/st/sti/delta` showed upstream fixes in 2025, so this is not removal-candidate code despite legacy hardware. Web search provided the ST product/databrief pages and LWN patch-posting page; ST pages indicate the surrounding STiH family is obsolete/2013-vintage, so present-day deployment is likely limited to legacy STB/industrial boxes. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same SoC-specific DELTA block, so annotate/retain is safer than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458241, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/sti/hva", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH4xx HVA block (seen on STiH410-family STi set-top-box SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.11/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The kernel MAINTAINERS file lists `drivers/media/platform/st/sti/hva` under `HVA ST MEDIA DRIVER` with status `Supported`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_STI_HVA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_VIDEO_STI_HVA` still present through current kernel series and binds to OF compatible `st,st-hva` / module `st-hva`." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/arm/sti/overview.html", "claim": "Kernel STi platform documentation describes STiH407, STiH410, and STiH418 as the supported STi ARM SoC family." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "ST's own STiH407/STiH410 data brief is a December 2013 set-top-box SoC product brief, indicating an older consumer-STB generation rather than a current platform." }, { "url": "https://www.excesschip.com/product/details/STIH410", "claim": "A 2026 aftermarket listing markets STIH410 as `Obsolete / End of life / Factory Excess Stock`, consistent with legacy-only sourcing rather than new mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` inspection found `module_platform_driver`, V4L2 mem2mem encoder code, and OF match `st,st-hva`; local DTS grep also found an HVA node in `arch/arm/boot/dts/st/stih410.dtsi`, tying it to the STiH4xx/STiH410 family. Lore MCP was unavailable here and `lei` was not installed, so upstream-activity grounding used local `git log` via `exec_command`: 2024-2025 touches were mostly treewide/API-cleanup commits plus one small HVA-specific clk fix, with no removal signal. URLs were obtained by web search (`kernel.org` MAINTAINERS, STi ARM overview, LKDDb, ST data brief, aftermarket availability page). Net: hardware looks legacy and niche, but the driver remains explicitly supported upstream and still receives occasional maintenance, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066810, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/stm32", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32MP camera/media blocks (DCMI, CSI, DCMIPP, DMA2D)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6033368.html", "claim": "February 2, 2026 patch series modifies files under drivers/media/platform/st/stm32/stm32-dcmipp, showing ongoing upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257f.html", "claim": "STM32MP257F is marked Active and in volume production; ST advertises parallel and MIPI CSI-2 camera capability on this current product family." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DCMIPP_internal_peripheral", "claim": "ST documents DCMIPP as applicable to STM32MP13x, STM32MP21x, STM32MP23x, and STM32MP25x lines, indicating current supported SoC families." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DCMI_internal_peripheral", "claim": "ST documents DCMI as applicable to STM32MP15x, STM32MP21x, STM32MP23x, and STM32MP25x lines, showing the block remains relevant across active STM32 MPU lines." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/files showed this directory is active driver code for STM32 CSI/DCMI/DCMIPP/DMA2D media blocks, not helpers. Local git log showed many 2024-2025 functional changes and no remove/deprecate commits. Upstream activity evidence came from web search/open of the spinics patch page. Deployment/sales evidence came from web search/open of ST product and ST wiki peripheral pages. Because the hardware is present in currently marketed STM32MP families and upstream work is ongoing, there is no deprecation signal; keep rather than annotate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426356, "top_author": "Alain Volmat", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/stm32/dma2d", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ST STM32 Chrom-Art Accelerator (DMA2D)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_STM32_DMA2D.html", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig symbol CONFIG_VIDEO_STM32_DMA2D is still present through current kernel heads, indicating the driver remains supported in mainline." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f429ng.html", "claim": "STM32F429 devices that include the Chrom-ART/DMA2D block are still sold by ST as active volume-production parts." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/32f429idiscovery.html", "claim": "An STM32F429 Discovery board with LCD-oriented use cases is still sold, showing continuing availability of DMA2D-capable hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f429-439/products.html", "claim": "The STM32F429/439 family page still markets Chrom-ART Accelerator-equipped parts, supporting 2025 new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/2110.3/02563.html", "claim": "The driver was added upstream as a dedicated STM32 DMA2D media mem2mem driver, confirming the hardware/use-case covered by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains a platform_driver and OF match for \"st,stm32-dma2d\". Local shell inspection (`rg`, `git log`) shows only one in-tree DT binding use under `arch/arm/boot/dts/st/stm32f429.dtsi`, so Linux deployments look niche/embedded rather than broad. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` also shows non-removal maintenance through 2024-2025, including a real clk_enable() fix in 2024 plus 2025 V4L2 API churn updates; I found no removal/deprecation discussion. URLs were obtained via web search (`web.search_query`); local shell commands supplied the upstream activity signal. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as low-deployment/niche rather than a removal candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/st/stm32/stm32-dcmipp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "STM32MP DCMIPP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_STM32_DCMIPP.html", "claim": "Upstream Linux has CONFIG_VIDEO_STM32_DCMIPP in kernels 6.8–6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with OF compatibles for st,stm32mp13-dcmipp and st,stm32mp25-dcmipp." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DCMIPP_internal_peripheral", "claim": "ST documents DCMIPP as an internal peripheral on STM32MP13x, STM32MP21x, STM32MP23x, and STM32MP25x lines." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257.html", "claim": "STM32MP257 is a current ST product targeting industrial edge-computing and machine-vision use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32mp257f-ev1", "claim": "STM32MP257F-EV1 is listed by ST as an active product in volume production and includes a camera connector, indicating current deployable hardware around this media pipeline." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Lore first: `web.search_query` against lore.kernel.org for the directory path and for stm32-dcmipp removal/deprecation terms found no removal discussion. Upstream attention is active from provided context (26 substantive commits in 2.4 years, latest 2026-01-16) and corroborated by local `git log` showing recent feature work such as STM32MP25 support and format additions, so this is not a stale legacy block. URLs were obtained by `web.search_query` (LKDDb, ST wiki, ST product pages). Conclusion: current embedded/industrial camera-interface IP on still-sold STM32MP parts, niche but live deployments, and no successor upstream driver replaces it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1701682667, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768568932, "top_author": "Alain Volmat", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun4i-csi", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sun4i/sun7i CSI (A10/A20)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2024110816-graves-unhelpful-350f@gregkh/", "claim": "`sun4i_csi.c` was still receiving stable-tree touches in late 2024, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SUN4I_CSI.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties `CONFIG_VIDEO_SUN4I_CSI` specifically to `allwinner,sun4i-a10-csi1` and `allwinner,sun7i-a20-csi0`, limiting supported hardware to A10/A20-era sunxi parts." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allwinner_A1X", "claim": "The A1X family containing A10 is an early-2010s SoC family used in tablets, set-top boxes, mini-PCs, and SBCs; it includes CSI connectivity." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allwinner_Technology", "claim": "Wikipedia lists A10 and A20 as 2011/2012-era Allwinner A-series application processors aimed at tablets/smart TV/mini-PC markets, supporting the view that this is legacy hardware rather than a current-volume platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via `exec_command` showed the driver only matches `allwinner,sun4i-a10-csi1` and `allwinner,sun7i-a20-csi0`; no in-tree replacement for the same hardware was evident, so `replacement_driver` is null. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun4i-csi/sun4i_csi.c` showed 2021-2024 activity with 2024 stable backports (source 1), which argues against deprecation/removal now. Web search + open fetched LKDDb (source 2) and Wikipedia pages (sources 3-4); together they show the supported chips are old A10/A20 consumer-era SoCs, so deployments are likely low and new 2025 design wins are unlikely. No concrete removal discussion was found; failed `lore_regex`/`lei` attempts did not produce contradictory evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3454803110910304, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1566556295, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1724679374, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun6i-csi", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sun6i/sun8i CSI (A31/A83T/H3/V3s/A64 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240925114548.27405-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver directory was still being touched in upstream media-tree work in late 2024; no removal/deprecation signal is evident from the cited touch." }, { "url": "https://pine64.com/product/pine-a64-lts/", "claim": "Allwinner A64 hardware remained sold new and in stock in 2025-class storefront data, so one supported SoC family for this CSI block is not purely legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A64/open-source-hardware", "claim": "Another vendor still offered A64-based boards in stock, supporting ongoing niche/embedded availability of supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/Zero/Zero.html", "claim": "The supported V3s family is used on Lichee Zero class boards aimed at Linux/product development, indicating continued embedded usage rather than dead hardware only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local `rg` on the source shows OF matches for allwinner,sun6i-a31-csi, sun8i-a83t-csi, sun8i-h3-csi, sun8i-v3s-csi, and sun50i-a64-csi, so this is an Allwinner CSI host driver with multiple deployed SoC variants. Upstream activity was checked with MCP `lore_file_timeline` on the main C file; it returned a 2024 linux-media touch URL and a large 2021-2024 history, which is consistent with an actively maintained, not abandoned, driver. Attempts to mine explicit removal-talk via `lore_regex` hit timeouts rather than yielding evidence of deprecation/removal, so there is no positive removal signal. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: Pine64 and Olimex both still showed A64 products in stock, and Sipeed documents V3s/Lichee Zero as a Linux/product-development platform. That points to ongoing but niche embedded deployments, not mass-market growth. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this is the SoC-specific CSI host block itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12688851418156027, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1542968159, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Paul Kocialkowski", "top_author_commits": 46, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun6i-mipi-csi2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner A31", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/891533/", "claim": "April 15, 2022 patch series added the Allwinner A31 MIPI CSI-2 controller driver and related bindings/MAINTAINERS entries, showing the driver is relatively new upstream code rather than abandoned legacy baggage." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/838500/", "claim": "November 28, 2020 series describes the A31 MIPI CSI-2 controller as used on A31, V3s and probably V5, and includes V4L2 compliance results for the sun6i-csi + sun6i-mipi-csi2 pipeline." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SUN6I_MIPI_CSI2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_SUN6I_MIPI_CSI2 has been present from Linux 6.0 through current HEAD and matches DT compatible allwinner,sun6i-a31-mipi-csi2." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A31", "claim": "linux-sunxi documents the Allwinner A31 as a sun6i SoC released in December 2012." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/allwinner-ultra-octa-core-a80-optimusboard-to-be-unveiled-at-2014-ces-238237251.html", "claim": "Allwinner was still publicly marketing A31/A31s tablets in early 2014, supporting 2014 as roughly the tail end of wide new-device availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg`/`sed` showed this directory is a real platform driver with `module_platform_driver()` and only `allwinner,sun6i-a31-mipi-csi2` in its OF match table. Local `git log` showed the driver was introduced in 2022 and last touched in 2023, with only small API-adaptation fixes afterward; that argues against immediate removal but also against strong ongoing demand. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was approximated with web search results on LWN's mailing-list mirrors; those showed introduction/support discussions but no removal series. Deployment judgment is an inference from the cited A31 release/market-window sources plus the lack of a newer replacement driver for this exact block: the hardware is old and likely limited to legacy/embedded boards, so keep the driver but annotate it as low-deployment rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1657288942, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1689330790, "top_author": "Paul Kocialkowski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun8i-a83t-mipi-csi2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner A83T MIPI CSI-2 controller / D-PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=576d196c522bd0e17bf9c5ff92ef963c0960a201", "claim": "Initial upstream addition in 2022 says the controller is found on the A83T only and was probably abandoned; tested on Banana Pi M3 with OV8865." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=761ebebabd09", "claim": "The driver still received a functional fix in 2024, indicating upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SUN8I_A83T_MIPI_CSI2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this driver present from Linux 6.0 through current HEAD and tied specifically to allwinner,sun8i-a83t-mipi-csi2." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A83T", "claim": "The A83T page lists only older announced devices such as tablets and Banana Pi M3, consistent with a mid-2010s legacy SoC rather than new 2025 designs." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/Sinovoip_Banana_Pi_M3", "claim": "Banana Pi M3 is an A83T board released in November 2015 and includes a CSI header, showing the practical deployment niche for this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains platform-driver code for an Allwinner media block. Local shell inspection showed normal driver entry points and git history; local `git log` found no sign of removal and showed post-merge maintenance, while `git show` on 576d196c522b provided the A83T-only/likely-abandoned-silicon note. URLs for the two commits are canonical kernel.org commit pages derived from those locally obtained hashes (canonical recall). Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` hits to LKDDb and linux-sunxi pages. Conclusion: hardware looks legacy and low-volume, but upstream attention is recent enough that removal is not justified; keep the driver, but annotate it as niche/legacy-only.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1657289186, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714651456, "top_author": "Paul Kocialkowski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun8i-di", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sun8i/H3 deinterlace unit", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251015100118.8755-1-laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is still present: the driver file was touched by a linux-media patch series in October 2025, so this is not abandoned code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SUN8I_DEINTERLACE.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_VIDEO_SUN8I_DEINTERLACE to drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun8i-di and to DT compatible allwinner,sun8i-h3-deinterlace, confirming the hardware binding and continued presence in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/H3", "claim": "linux-sunxi identifies H3 as an Allwinner SoC released in 2014 and documents it as the SoC family associated with this driver class; this points to older but still-known sunxi hardware rather than a recent platform." }, { "url": "https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-pc/", "claim": "Armbian still publishes current images for the Orange Pi PC, an Allwinner H3 board, in 2026; that is evidence the underlying H3 platform remains in at least low ongoing deployment and support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kconfig/sun8i-di.c read via shell: driver is a real V4L2 mem2mem platform driver for the Allwinner deinterlace block and names H3 explicitly; OF match is allwinner,sun8i-h3-deinterlace. lore_file_timeline on the directory returned 0 events, so no obvious removal thread surfaced in the fast path. lore_activity on sun8i-di.c returned October 2025 linux-media activity (URL above), which argues against deprecation-by-neglect. Web search produced LKDDb, linux-sunxi H3, and Armbian Orange Pi PC pages; together they show old 2014-era hardware that is still supported and likely still sold/deployed in SBC/embedded niches. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as niche/aging hardware rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16852644978898906, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1571954879, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/sunxi/sun8i-rotate", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Allwinner DE2 rotate engine (A83T/A64)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251015100118.8755-1-laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2025; sun8i_rotate.c was touched by a linux-media patch series in October 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The driver is still included in broad media subsystem API conversion work in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "http://devicetree.org/schemas/media/allwinner,sun8i-a83t-de2-rotate.yaml#", "claim": "The binding describes the hardware block as the Allwinner A83T and A64 rotation core used for rotating and flipping images." }, { "url": "https://pine64.com/product/pine-a64-lts/", "claim": "A new A64-based board (PINE A64-LTS V2) was listed in stock by the vendor, showing at least niche new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A64/A64-OLinuXino/open-source-hardware", "claim": "A64-OLinuXino boards, including industrial variants, were listed in stock, indicating ongoing embedded/industrial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module_platform_driver in local source. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on sun8i_rotate.c; it shows multiple 2025 linux-media touches, so there is active upkeep and no removal signal in the retrieved history. The DE2 rotate binding URL was obtained from local kernel DTS binding via shell sed; it shows the block serves A83T/A64. Current deployment evidence came from web search hits to Pine64 and Olimex product pages showing new A64 hardware still for sale, but only in niche SBC/industrial channels. That supports keep-annotate: low deployment, still sold, still maintained, and no obvious replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.190591576330134, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1583158600, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/synopsys", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare CSI-2 RX / HDMI RX", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ac62a20035ecc18e6d365c6c792f5965ce1da77c", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream maintenance continued in 2026 with a Kconfig dependency fix for dw-mipi-csi2rx." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=355a110040665e439af126e8ec9c3968e73f163c", "claim": "The Synopsys DesignWare MIPI CSI-2 receiver driver was added in 2026, indicating this part of the directory is new rather than legacy." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7b59b132ad4398f9c13c3222e5126f5045aa5ead", "claim": "The Synopsys HDMI RX support in this directory was added in 2025, also indicating a new driver rather than obsolete carry-over code." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2021/0113/1276.html", "claim": "Rockchip markets RK3568 with multimedia/display/camera capabilities, matching the dw-mipi-csi2rx use on recent Rockchip SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/uploads/pdf/2022.8.26/191/RK3568%20Brief%20Datasheet.pdf", "claim": "RK3568 brief datasheet explicitly lists MIPI-CSI_RX and HDMI interfaces, showing the relevant IP remains part of current SoC platforms." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/nx/nx5/", "claim": "A current Radxa NX5 module based on RK3588S is still marketed, supporting ongoing deployment of Rockchip platforms that use the Synopsys media IP blocks in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory: local `rg`/`sed` inspection found platform-driver entry points and Kconfig entries for Synopsys DesignWare MIPI CSI-2 RX and HDMI RX. Local `git log` showed substantive activity from 2025-03-05 through 2026-03-18, including new-driver additions and follow-up fixes, with no sign of stagnation. I attempted lore-first evidence via `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable in this environment; a web lore search also produced no concrete removal/deprecation hits, so I fell back to local git history. The three kernel.org commit URLs were built from hashes obtained by local `git log` using canonical kernel.org commit URL format. The Rockchip and Radxa URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and inspected with `web.open`. Conclusion: the directory supports recently upstreamed Synopsys IP blocks integrated into still-sold RK3568/RK3588-class hardware, so it should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1741192818, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773829291, "top_author": "Michael Riesch", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/synopsys/hdmirx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare HDMI RX Controller on Rockchip RK3588/RK3588S", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1012216/", "claim": "Upstream patch series for this driver was still being actively reviewed in February 2025, with Rock 5B testing and an explicit note that maintenance was being handled upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SYNOPSYS_HDMIRX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_SYNOPSYS_HDMIRX present in mainline kernels 6.15-6.19 and maps it to the Rockchip-compatible string rockchip,rk3588-hdmirx-ctrler." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-5.html", "claim": "Official Orange Pi product page shows RK3588S hardware in active retail channels, indicating the SoC family remains in new-device circulation." }, { "url": "https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/hardware/5b", "claim": "Official Radxa ROCK 5B hardware page documents RK3588 and explicitly lists HDMI Input, matching the use case of this HDMI RX driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and snps_hdmirx.c define a platform V4L2/CEC driver for compatible rockchip,rk3588-hdmirx-ctrler. Upstream activity is recent and non-removal: local exec_command `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/media/platform/synopsys/hdmirx` showed fixes through 2025-12-10 from multiple authors, and web search found the 2025 upstream patchset at LWN/lore-derived archive URL. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in the web lore queries I ran. Deployment is niche rather than broad: this IP is tied to RK3588-family boards with HDMI input, but those boards are still sold new per official Orange Pi and Radxa pages. No natural replacement driver exists upstream for the same RK3588 HDMI RX block, so removal or deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1741192818, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Dmitry Osipenko", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/am437x", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI AM437x VPFE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/platform-cardlist.html", "claim": "Current kernel media platform driver documentation lists am437x-vpfe as a supported platform driver (TI AM437x VPFE)." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_AM437X_VPFE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_AM437X_VPFE present in current kernel series through 6.19-rc+HEAD and building module am437x-vpfe." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM437X", "claim": "TI still publishes an AM437x Linux SDK, with a latest listed Linux SDK release dated November 21, 2025, covering AM4376/AM4377/AM4378/AM4379 and AM437x evaluation boards." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMDSIDK437X/part-details/TMDSIDK437X", "claim": "TI still has an AM437x/AMIC120 Industrial Development Kit product page with inventory/pricing information and industrial target applications, indicating ongoing new-hardware availability in the market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/media/platform/ti/am437x/am437x-vpfe.c and Kconfig confirmed this is a real V4L2 platform capture driver for the AM43xx SoC family, with no generic successor driver in-tree. Local shell `git log` showed recent upstream maintenance through 2025-04-30 and no obvious stagnation. I then used `web.search_query` to locate current kernel/TI pages and `web.open`/`web.find` to verify them: docs.kernel.org shows the driver is still documented as supported; LKDDb shows it remains in current kernel configs; TI's SDK page shows active AM437x Linux support in late 2025; TI's IDK product page shows AM437x-based hardware still marketed for industrial use. A targeted lore-domain web search returned no removal/deprecation hits, so there is no evidence of an active upstream removal series. Conclusion: niche industrial/camera-capture deployments remain plausible but limited, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745993767, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/cal", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI CAL (Camera Adaptation Layer) on DRA72x/DRA76x/AM654x", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM65X/08_00_00_04/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/Camera/CAL.html", "claim": "TI's Processor SDK documents CAL as the camera capture block/driver and lists supported device families including DRA72x, DRA76x and AM654x." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TI_CAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_TI_CAL is still present in current kernel series and matches OF compatibles including ti,dra72-cal, ti,dra72-pre-es2-cal, ti,dra76-cal and ti,am654-cal." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6546", "claim": "TI lists AM6546 as ACTIVE and orderable, indicating at least one CAL-capable SoC family remained on sale in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/DRA76P", "claim": "TI lists DRA76P as ACTIVE, showing another CAL-capable family still had new-product availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real V4L2 platform driver with OF matches for `ti,dra72-cal`, `ti,dra72-pre-es2-cal`, `ti,dra76-cal`, and `ti,am654-cal`. Local `git log -c safe.directory=... -- drivers/media/platform/ti/cal` shows ongoing upstream maintenance, including functional work in 2025-03-26 (`Add streams support`) and a driver-specific fix in 2025-10-13, so this is not dormant. Web search obtained the TI SDK CAL page and LKDDb page to corroborate supported hardware and continued kernel presence; TI product pages for AM6546 and DRA76P were obtained via web search and show ACTIVE/orderable status, which supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. A web query against lore for removal/deprecation discussion did not surface a CAL removal thread, so there is no evidence to escalate to deprecate/remove. Deployments are likely low rather than medium/high because this is niche embedded camera-capture IP on specific TI industrial/automotive SoCs, but it is still relevant and has no natural generic replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1647579515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Tomi Valkeinen", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/davinci", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI DaVinci VPIF", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/platform/ti/davinci/Kconfig", "claim": "The in-tree Kconfig says these drivers cover TI DM6467, DA850, and OMAPL138 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=59ca64bf98e4", "claim": "VPIF display received a substantive upstream fix in late 2025, showing the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=024bf40edf11", "claim": "VPIF core code received a real bug fix for a probe-path memory leak in the last few years." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OMAP-L138", "claim": "TI still listed OMAP-L138 as ACTIVE, and the product page includes Linux support and VPIF-capable SoC details." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMS320DM6467", "claim": "TI still listed TMS320DM6467 as ACTIVE, and its product page explicitly includes the Video Port Interface (VPIF)." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver confirmed from source inspection (`vpif.c`, `vpif_capture.c`, `vpif_display.c`) and Kconfig via shell `sed`. Upstream attention came from local shell `git log`; git.kernel.org commit URLs are canonical-recall URLs built from the observed hashes. A local `git log --grep` found no actual vpif deprecation/removal series, only remove-callback API churn, so there is no clear removal push. Product availability came from `web.search_query` on ti.com: OMAP-L138 and DM6467 were still ACTIVE, but both are old DaVinci-era embedded/video SoCs, so current deployments are likely niche legacy/industrial rather than broad new designs. No natural replacement driver exists because VPIF is a SoC-specific capture/display block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762181922, "top_author": "Yang Yingliang", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/j721e-csi2rx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Texas Instruments Jacinto 7 J721E / TDA4VM CSI-2 RX shim", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TDA4VM", "claim": "TI lists TDA4VM as ACTIVE and links it to J721E-class silicon; this indicates the underlying SoC family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/TDA4VM", "claim": "TI's TDA4VM datasheet describes current automotive/industrial applications and includes two CSI-2 RX interfaces, matching ongoing camera-capture deployments rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TI_J721E_CSI2RX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_TI_J721E_CSI2RX present from Linux 6.7 through current HEAD, with module j721e-csi2rx and compatible ti,j721e-csi2rx-shim." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=80ae11c1a524015e4d9ef25c04fa3aacdcbe3a39", "claim": "Mainline received a substantive j721e-csi2rx bug fix on 2025-09-09, showing active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=31f91c5224cdfa505b91edb6a92c3c468e6a3d1d", "claim": "Mainline received feature work for multiple pixels-per-clock support on 2025-08-25, indicating ongoing development rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains j721e-csi2rx.c with platform-driver entry points. Lore/lei access was unavailable here (`lei` missing; no reachable lore MCP), so I used local git history as the nearest upstream-attention proxy: `git -c safe.directory ... log` showed multiple substantive 2025 commits, and `git ... log --diff-filter=D` showed no removal history. `rg` over MAINTAINERS/Kconfig/bindings confirmed the driver is maintained and tied to TI J721E CSI2RX shim hardware. TI product/datasheet URLs were obtained via web search/open; LKDDb URL was obtained via web search/open; git.kernel commit URLs were constructed from hashes obtained by the local git command using canonical recall of stable kernel.org commit URL format. Specific SoC-camera-capture hardware is still current but niche, so keep rather than deprecate; no natural replacement exists beyond the required companion Cadence CSI2RX bridge, which is not a drop-in replacement for this TI wrapper.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1697095349, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757426356, "top_author": "Jai Luthra", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/omap", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP2/OMAP3 display subsystem (V4L2 video-output)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_OMAP2_VOUT.html", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes this as CONFIG_VIDEO_OMAP2_VOUT, an OMAP2/OMAP3 V4L2-Display driver, so it remains buildable in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/media/platform/ti/omap/omap_vout.c.html", "claim": "Current upstream source is a real platform driver module (`omap_vout`) for TI OMAP video output, confirming the directory is driver code for legacy OMAP display hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/OMAP3503ECBCA/3182139", "claim": "At least one representative OMAP3 catalog MPU is marked obsolete/no longer manufactured by a major distributor, supporting that the hardware is not still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMAP", "claim": "OMAP as a family peaked in older mobile/embedded designs, TI exited the smartphone/tablet OMAP business in 2012, and later OMAP releases ended by 2013, supporting a legacy-only market position." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source/Kconfig confirmed this is the OMAP2/3 V4L2 display driver. Shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive non-mechanical touches in 2024-2025 (e.g. vb2/platform/V4L2 API updates), so the code is not abandoned enough to justify deprecate/remove. Attempted lore via `lei` failed because `lei` is unavailable; web lore searches did not surface an active removal thread, so I found no evidence to escalate to remove. URLs were obtained via web search results for LKDDb, codebrowser, DigiKey, and Wikipedia. Overall: legacy TI OMAP2/3 display-output hardware, not sold new, low present-day deployments, but still receiving occasional upstream compatibility maintenance, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/omap3isp", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP3 ISP (OMAP3430/3530/3630, DM3730-compatible)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/omap3isp.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes this as the OMAP 3 Image Signal Processor driver and lists OMAP 3430, 3530, and 3630 as supported." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OMAP3530", "claim": "TI lists OMAP3530 as ACTIVE and orderable, indicating some OMAP3-class hardware is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/dm3730", "claim": "TI lists DM3730 as ACTIVE and describes industrial/medical/control/SBC-style applications, supporting ongoing niche deployments rather than mass-market use." }, { "url": "https://git.ti.com/cgit/ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel/tree/drivers/media/platform/ti?h=ti-linux-6.12.y-cicd", "claim": "TI's downstream kernel tree still carries an omap3isp directory, indicating vendor-side maintenance relevance has not disappeared." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/media/platform/ti/omap3isp", "claim": "Mainline history for this path shows continued non-removal maintenance; local git history in the snapshot matches recent substantive fixes through 2026-01-06 rather than a removal trajectory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile plus module driver objects under omap3-isp. Evidence gathered from local shell (`rg`, `sed`, local `git log` with safe.directory override), web search results for kernel docs/TI product pages/TI downstream tree, and one canonical-recall kernel.org log URL cross-checked against the local git history. I found active recent upstream maintenance but no concrete removal signal, while the underlying OMAP3-class parts are still sold by TI mostly for long-tail embedded use. That points to keep-annotate: retain support, but treat deployments as niche/legacy rather than growth hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1647579514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767684166, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/ti/vpe", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TI DRA7x / AM57x VPE/VIP video subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6071374.html", "claim": "Public kernel mailing-list traffic in March 2026 includes a fix for vip_remove(), showing ongoing upstream maintenance in this directory rather than removal activity." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6111969.html", "claim": "Public kernel mailing-list traffic in March 2026 includes another ti-vpe/vip fix, reinforcing that the driver is still receiving upstream bug-fix attention." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/am5728", "claim": "TI lists AM5728 as ACTIVE and explicitly enumerates both Video Processing Engine (VPE) and three Video Input Port (VIP) modules." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM57X/11_01_02_01/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/Camera/VIP.html", "claim": "TI Processor SDK Linux documentation states the VIP IP is available on AM5x/DRA7x SoCs and describes the Linux driver use on TI boards." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TMDSEVM572X/part-details/TMDSEVM572X", "claim": "TI still offers an AM572x evaluation module, indicating continuing new-hardware availability for this SoC family in industrial/embedded channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) found `module_platform_driver()` and OF compatibles `ti,dra7-vpe` / `ti,dra7-vip`, so this is a real platform driver for TI DRA7x/AM57x video IP. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive activity through 2025-12-24 and treewide-adjacent touches in 2026, including reintroduction of multi-instance support and VIP driver work. URLs were obtained via web search because direct lore search was unavailable in this session: the two spinics links are March 2026 patch threads showing active fixes, not removal discussion; the TI product and SDK pages show the underlying AM57x/DRA7x hardware and software stack are still commercially supported. Recommendation is `keep`: upstream attention is current, hardware remains sold for embedded/industrial use, deployments are niche rather than broad, and there is no obvious upstream replacement driver for the same TI VPE/VIP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1647579515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768308542, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/verisilicon", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "VeriSilicon Hantro VPU / VDEC-VENC media IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6047033.html", "claim": "Linux media pull request dated 2026-02-11 calls out 'Verisilicon & rkvdec – major fixes and enhancements' and lists multiple verisilicon fixes, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MMINI?lang=en&lang_cd=en", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M Mini as Active and advertises hardware video decode/encode capabilities that match Hantro-backed functionality, showing ongoing new-product availability." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/V4L2_video_codec_overview", "claim": "ST's 2025/2026 STM32MPU documentation says the STM32 hantro_vpu driver is enabled by default in ST deliveries and documents STM32MP25 video decoder/encoder devices using hantro-vpu." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/partner-products-and-services/smarcore-stm32mp25.html", "claim": "ST partner marketplace shows a current STM32MP25 module advertising 1080p60 HEVC encoding/decoding, evidencing fresh deployment of SoCs using this class of IP." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of Kconfig shows this is the upstream Hantro VPU driver for Rockchip, NXP i.MX8M, Microchip SAMA5D4, Allwinner H6, and STM32MP25. The spinics URL was obtained via web search/open and shows active 2026 upstream fixes with no removal discussion. The NXP URL was obtained via web search/open/find and shows i.MX8M Mini still Active with matching codec features. The ST wiki and ST partner URLs were obtained via web search/open/find and show current STM32MP25 hantro-vpu enablement and shipping modules. Overall this is current embedded multimedia hardware with ongoing upstream work, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 98, "substantive_commits_5y": 91, "first_touch_ts": 1661934230, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773836245, "top_author": "Benjamin Gaignard", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/via", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "VIA Chrome9 integrated camera controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_VIA_CAMERA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_VIDEO_VIA_CAMERA as the VIAFB camera controller driver for VIA Chrome9 chipsets, with the module still present through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification_1.5", "claim": "OLPC documents XO-1.5 as a 2009 hardware refresh built around VIA-based hardware, anchoring this driver to an old product generation rather than current hardware." }, { "url": "https://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_1.5_C3", "claim": "OLPC documents XO-1.5 production boards and notes the Linux camera driver behavior on these systems, reinforcing that real deployments are tied to legacy XO-1.5 laptops." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=41425941dfcf47cc6df8e500af6ff16a7be6539f", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream fix in 2023 for camera sensor dependencies, showing it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d4313a68ec913f2705b337e2d332813a72cb2de9", "claim": "The driver stack received GPIO descriptor modernization in 2023, another sign of ongoing maintenance rather than active removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection (`sed`) showed this is a real V4L2 platform driver and that Kconfig limits it to VIA Chrome9 hardware, only tested on OLPC XO-1.5 with OV7670 sensors. Local `git log` showed substantive touches in 2023-2024 plus treewide churn in 2026, with no sign of a removal series. Web search produced the LKDDb and OLPC wiki URLs above; a lore-focused web search returned no hits for removal/deprecation discussion, and direct lore fallback was unavailable here because MCP lore resources were absent and `lei` was not installed. Conclusion: hardware is clearly legacy and niche, but upstream still carries and occasionally fixes the driver, so annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1647247380, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1694687897, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/platform/xilinx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx Video IP pipeline blocks (Video IP Pipeline, MIPI CSI-2 Rx Subsystem, Test Pattern Generator, Video Timing Controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260408153939.969381-30-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream churn still touches this driver area in 2026 as part of active V4L2/subdev API work affecting xilinx-csi2rxss." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250305174506.833834642@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The Xilinx media driver code was still being backported into stable trees in 2025, indicating maintained in-field use rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/pg232-mipi-csi2-rx", "claim": "AMD still publishes a current product guide for the MIPI CSI-2 Receiver Subsystem, showing the underlying IP remains a live product family." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/ef-di-mipi-csi-rx.html", "claim": "AMD lists the MIPI CSI Receiver Subsystems as licensable IP with current device-family support, supporting 'still sold new in 2025'." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/ug1449-multimedia/Video-Test-Pattern-Generator", "claim": "AMD still documents the Video Test Pattern Generator core in current multimedia documentation, matching another block covered by this driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and sources shows this is a real platform-driver directory for Xilinx Video IP, CSI-2 Rx, TPG, and VTC blocks. `lore_activity` on drivers/media/platform/xilinx/xilinx-csi2rxss.c returned 32 hits from 2023-2026, including 2025 stable backports and 2026 API-adaptation patches, so upstream attention is ongoing. I found no positive evidence of a removal/deprecation series in the lore sample; a broader removal-subject regex timed out and `lei` was unavailable in this sandbox, so this conclusion is based on the successful lore_activity sample plus the strong static activity signal you provided. AMD web search results show these IP blocks are still documented and marketed in current AMD/Xilinx FPGA/SoC flows, so deployments are still plausible in new embedded/industrial vision designs. Source acquisition: lore URLs via `lore_activity`; AMD URLs via web search; driver family naming confirmed from local shell reads of Kconfig and .c files.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14561373505108713, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1428033589, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066803, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/radio", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Mixed legacy V4L2 AM/FM radio adapters and tuner chips (notably Silicon Labs Si470x/Si4713/Si476x, TEA575x/TEA5764, and assorted ISA/USB radio devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "At least part of drivers/media/radio (tea575x.c) still receives upstream maintenance work in 2025 via media-core API conversion patches, so the directory is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/media/si470x.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still documents Si470x radio receivers and supported USB devices, indicating the subsystem remains intentionally supported." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RADIO_SI470X.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows RADIO_SI470X remains present through current kernel series and maps to multiple USB/I2C devices, supporting continued but niche hardware coverage." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_SHARK", "claim": "One representative USB radio device covered by this directory, Griffin radioSHARK, is discontinued, supporting the conclusion that much of the hardware is legacy rather than current-volume retail hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/media/radio` is a real driver directory with many ISA/USB/I2C AM/FM radio drivers plus Silicon Labs tuner/transmitter chips. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: the hardware base is mostly legacy consumer/embedded radio gear with low 2026 deployment, but not clearly removable because upstream still touches the code and kernel docs/LKDDb still carry active support. `lore_activity` produced the lore URL; `web.search_query` produced the kernel.org, LKDDb, and Wikipedia URLs. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no matches for the prefix, so I relied on per-file lore activity plus the provided commit statistics. No natural in-tree replacement covers the whole directory's use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06811399696123274, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/radio/si470x", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Silicon Labs Si470x FM radio receivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touchups in 2025; recent activity is maintenance/treewide adaptation rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-fm-tuner-basic-breakout-si4703.html", "claim": "Si4703-based hardware was still sold new via retail breakout boards, indicating at least some ongoing new-hardware availability in the hobbyist/embedded market." }, { "url": "https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/si4703-fm-radio-receiver-hookup-guide/hardware-overview", "claim": "Current Si4703 breakout/evaluation-board documentation remains published, with older revisions explicitly marked retired, supporting a legacy-but-still-available niche deployment picture." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel tree inspection via shell showed this directory is a real USB/I2C driver for Silicon Labs Si470x FM receivers, including several known USB radio products. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `radio-si470x-common.c`, which showed 2024-2025 activity and no removal signal in the returned recent events; cited lore URL is the newest linux-media hit from that tool. Market evidence came from web search results pointing to SparkFun's current Si4703 breakout product page and hookup guide. Conclusion: niche FM-radio hardware with low modern deployment, but not dead enough for deprecation/removal because upstream still fixes it and compatible hardware remained purchasable in 2025.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17461587925408867, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1252768720, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762348136, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/radio/si4713", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Silicon Labs Si4713 FM transmitter", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250919-vdev-state-v2-6-b2c42426965c@ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream treewide/media API maintenance in 2025; recent lore history does not show a removal/deprecation series for this path." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/1958", "claim": "A mainstream SI4713 breakout that once represented hobbyist/new deployments is marked 'No longer stocked'." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/skyworks-solutions-inc/SI4713-B30-GM/2136032", "claim": "The underlying SI4713 chip is listed as 'Obsolete' and no longer manufactured." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell read of Kconfig/si4713.c shows Silicon Labs SI4713 FM transmitter support over I2C/USB/platform. lore_file_timeline on radio-platform-si4713.c found 2021-2025 activity, with a 2025 linux-media patch URL above; this looks like ongoing build/API upkeep rather than an abandoned or removal-targeted driver. Web search found Adafruit's SI4713 breakout page marked no longer stocked and DigiKey's SI4713 part page marked obsolete, so new-hardware demand appears effectively gone. With low but nonzero legacy/hobbyist use and no natural in-tree replacement for the same transmitter chip, keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware rather than deprecating for removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.29562104031948017, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1387355400, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/rc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Consumer infrared remote-control receivers/transmitters and RC-core protocol decoders", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260126133137.19260-1-sean@mess.org/", "claim": "rc-core itself was still receiving substantive fixes in 2026, including a race fix touching drivers/media/rc/rc-main.c." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/media/rc-core.html", "claim": "The kernel documents RC-core as active infrastructure for receiving and sending remote-controller events and IR protocols." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/userspace-api/media/rc/rc-intro.html", "claim": "Kernel userspace documentation describes IR inputs as common on analog/digital devices and explains the active RC userspace interface." }, { "url": "https://flirc.tv/products/flirc-usb-receiver", "claim": "Standalone IR receiver/transmitter products for Linux/media-center style use were still being sold commercially in 2025-era storefronts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver subtree, not a helper-only directory: Kconfig and file layout show RC-core plus concrete USB, PNP, GPIO, and SoC IR drivers. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/rc/rc-main.c showed 101 matches since 2021 and a newest touch on 2026-04-20, with no evidence of subsystem retirement; that lore URL came from the lore_file_timeline tool. Kernel docs URLs were obtained via web search and support that RC-core remains first-class kernel infrastructure for IR RX/TX and userspace control. The Flirc product URL was obtained via web search; it is deployment evidence for the broader IR-remote hardware niche, not proof for every individual legacy chip in this directory. Because the subtree is active but contains a mix of modern SoC/GPIO support and clearly old PC/media-center hardware, the right call is keep-annotate rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07216515453555608, "commits_5y": 182, "substantive_commits_5y": 173, "first_touch_ts": 1293617796, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762852653, "top_author": "Sean Young", "top_author_commits": 51, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/rc/img-ir", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ImgTec IR Decoder", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/rc/img-ir/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the \"ImgTec IR Decoder\" and says it is found in SoCs such as TZ1090." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/rc/img-ir/img-ir-core.c", "claim": "The driver is a DT-matched platform driver for compatible string \"img,ir-rev1\", indicating SoC-integrated hardware rather than a broad external bus device family." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240925114548.27405-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Most recent lore-visible touch affecting img-ir-core.c was a 2024 treewide API conversion (platform remove callback change), not a feature or user-driven maintenance series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230326143224.572654-107-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "A 2023 patch for img-ir-core.c was another mechanical API update (convert remove callback to void)." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination_Creator", "claim": "The Imagination Creator family page dates the related Creator boards to 2014 and 2015, with the Creator Ci40 introduced via a 2015 Kickstarter." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Imagination-Creator-CI40", "claim": "Phoronix describes the Creator CI40 as a 2015 MIPS-based IoT development board announcement, reinforcing that the ecosystem around this IP block is from the mid-2010s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Evidence gathered from local source inspection plus lore_file_timeline on img-ir-core.c; the lore URLs show only sparse, treewide maintenance in 2023 and 2024, with no sign of active feature work or broad bug-fix traffic. Kernel.org tree URLs are canonical recall used to confirm the driver names, DT binding, and TZ1090-era SoC context. Wikipedia and Phoronix URLs were obtained via web search and show the surrounding hardware ecosystem is tied to 2014-2015 dev boards, so 'not still sold new in 2025' and 'low deployments' are inference-based obsolescence judgments rather than explicit vendor EOL notices. No natural upstream replacement exists because this is a SoC-specific IR block; if the hardware remains in use, this driver is the only in-tree support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.0068728776604172, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1394561456, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681225160, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/rc/keymaps", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains infrared remote-control keymap tables used by rc-core/input mappings, not kernel-bound hardware driver implementation code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2979244436909051, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1293617796, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745998524, "top_author": "Petja Patjas", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 139, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/spi", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Sony CXD2880 digital TV tuner/demodulator and Gennum/Semtech GS1662 SDI video serializer", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-spi/b37480a4-5344-4cf4-8fd1-400e2588fc28@app.fastmail.com/", "claim": "cxd2880-spi.c still received an upstream touch in 2025, via a SPI API-safety fix affecting the driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240410-smatch-v1-2-785d009a852b@chromium.org/", "claim": "cxd2880-spi.c also saw media-side maintenance in 2024, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240405141411.1807189-12-panikiel@google.com/", "claim": "gs1662.c received API-maintenance work in 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240525175229.100559-2-linux@treblig.org/", "claim": "gs1662.c also received cleanup work in 2024; recent lore activity shows maintenance rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/News/Press/201607/16-069E/", "claim": "Sony announced its related broadcast tuner/demodulator generation in 2016, showing the CXD28xx TV front-end family is an older broadcast part family rather than a new 2025 design win." }, { "url": "https://www.semtech.com/design-support/product-guides", "claim": "Semtech still publishes current broadcast-video selector guides/product guides, indicating the broadcast-video line remains an active product area." }, { "url": "https://www.semtech.com/uploads/common/SG-SEMTECH-SOLUTIONS.pdf", "claim": "Semtech's current product catalog lists GS1662 among broadcast-video parts, which is evidence that at least one chipset family covered by this directory was still marketed in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with two loadable media/SPI drivers. Local source inspection via shell identified Sony CXD2880 and Gennum/Semtech GS1662. lore_file_timeline on both .c files showed touches in 2024-2025 and no evidence of an active removal series; attempted lore_path_mentions/lore_regex removal scans timed out, so the strongest lore evidence is the recent maintenance patches cited above. Web search found Sony's 2016 CXD-family launch press release and Semtech's current product-guide/catalog pages; together they suggest mixed status: CXD2880 is an older broadcast tuner family, while GS1662 still appears in current vendor collateral. That supports low, niche deployments today and argues against deprecation/removal. Keep the drivers, but annotate as niche/legacy-media hardware rather than broadly deployed mainstream devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.44397645539965286, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1474306584, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1717156276, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains media test/virtual driver code for exercising the subsystem, not support for a physical hardware device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13978969330560745, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1587026311, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers/vicodec", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: V4L2 test/virtual codec under media test-drivers, used as a synthetic/test driver rather than a hardware-bound production device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08922203739081493, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1587026311, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767624991, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers/vidtv", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains a virtual media test driver used for exercising the V4L2/DVB stack, not a hardware-bound production device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14396361569670071, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1599896536, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760447257, "top_author": "Jiasheng Jiang", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers/vimc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: VIMC is a virtual media-controller test driver under drivers/media/test-drivers, used as a synthetic test/debug harness rather than for real hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15135615694219376, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1587026311, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756129231, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers/visl", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: V4L2 test-driver code under drivers/media/test-drivers/visl, used for validation/simulation rather than kernel-bound shipping hardware support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1669361536, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769002989, "top_author": "Detlev Casanova", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/test-drivers/vivid", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: V4L2/media test-driver code for synthetic virtual devices used for testing, not a real hardware-bound driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09415080308725228, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1587026311, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761845726, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/tuners", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Mixed V4L/DVB/FM/SDR tuner ICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260324182502.3396917-1-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "linux-media saw a 2026 patch adding Si2177 support in si2157.c, showing ongoing functional development rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260312213532.2907276-2-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "linux-media carried a 2026 si2157 analog-format fix series, indicating current bug-fix traffic in this directory." }, { "url": "https://nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-mini-2-plus.html", "claim": "R820T2-based SDR hardware was still being sold new on a current retail product page, evidencing ongoing niche deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.rtl-sdr.com/r820t2-chip-discontinued-low-cost-r820t2-rtl-sdrs-will-continue-airspy-will-redesign/", "claim": "R820T/R820T2 are legacy chips with discontinuation pressure, but the article documents continuing downstream product availability and demand." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: local Kconfig/sources show a live driver directory with many tuner IC drivers spanning analog TV, digital TV, radio, and SDR. lore_file_timeline on si2157.c (MCP lore-http) showed activity through 2026-03-24, and the cited lore URLs came from that MCP result; an attempted lore_regex removal scan found no hits for drivers/media/tuners and the subject scan timed out, so there is no positive evidence of active deprecation/removal discussion. Web search produced the Nooelec retail URL and the rtl-sdr.com article: together they show at least some supported tuner families are still sold new, but mostly in niche SDR/TV-receiver markets. Because the directory mixes actively maintained niche parts with many clearly old tuner ICs, the right posture is keep but annotate as legacy-heavy rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03988190190085469, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1344912028, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771664572, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/airspy", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Airspy USB SDR receivers (Airspy R2/Mini family using Rafael Micro R820T2/R860 tuner front-end)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/50a4adc0487018bb51328142c05d636e7663ef55.1725285495.git.hverkuil-cisco@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "The driver still received direct upstream maintenance in 2024 via an AirSpy-specific fix patch." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20241014-vb2-wait-v1-4-8c3ee25c618c@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "AirSpy was included in a 2024 media-subsystem cleanup touching active USB SDR drivers, with no deprecation/removal framing." }, { "url": "https://airspy.com/airspy-r2/", "claim": "The vendor still markets Airspy R2 as a current Linux-supported product." }, { "url": "https://airspy.com/purchase/", "claim": "The vendor maintained an official distributor page in 2025, indicating new retail availability rather than purely used-market legacy status." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_AIRSPY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this as the in-tree AirSpy USB device driver, present through current kernel series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: single module driver source with USB/V4L2 SDR entry points. lore_file_timeline showed touches through 2024-2025 and surfaced no removal-series subjects; the cited lore URLs came from the lore_file_timeline MCP output. Hardware availability evidence came from web search results on official Airspy product and purchase pages. LKDDb URL came from web search and supports current in-tree coverage. Conclusion: niche but still-sold SDR hardware with low present-day deployment and no natural upstream replacement driver, so keep the driver but annotate as niche/low-volume rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3960997952425251, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1405987314, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103596, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/as102", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Abilis AS102 DVB-T USB receiver", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_AS102.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_DVB_AS102 to this directory and lists only a small set of legacy USB DVB-T devices using the AS102 driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/admin-guide/media/other-usb-cardlist.html", "claim": "Current kernel docs still list dvb-as102 for older USB DVB-T products such as PCTV picoStick 74e, Elgato EyeTV DTT Deluxe, nBox DVB-T Dongle, and Sky Italia Digital Key." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.de/pctv/en/data_pctvpicostick.html", "claim": "One named AS102 device, PCTV picoStick, is marketed around Windows 7/8-era PC usage, consistent with hardware that was broadly available in the early 2010s rather than new 2025 deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module markers in-tree, plus USB ID table from local shell `rg` inspection. Lore grounding: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/as102` returned zero indexed events; follow-up `lore_regex` and `lore_path_mentions` timed out, so there is no positive evidence here of active removal discussion. Combined with the prompt's only 2 substantive commits in 5 years and a 2024 last substantive touch, this looks maintained enough to still build but not actively developed. Deployment is likely low: all supported products are DVB-T USB sticks from the early-2010s consumer TV-tuner market, and web evidence found only legacy product/catalog pages, not current 2025 sales. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same USB IDs; replacement is effectively different modern tuner hardware, so `replacement_driver` is null. URLs were obtained via web search; lore results were tool outputs without citeable URLs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7894453296632532, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1408652728, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714388820, "top_author": "Oliver Neukum", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/au0828", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Auvitek AU0828 USB bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240610100530.1107771-6-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity exists in recent years; au0828-core.c was still being touched by linux-media maintenance work in 2024 rather than removal prep." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/media/au0828-cardlist.html", "claim": "The in-tree documentation identifies the supported AU0828 hardware family as Hauppauge HVR950Q/HVR850, DViCO FusionHDTV USB, and Hauppauge Woodbury USB TV tuner devices." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_hvr950q.html", "claim": "Hauppauge still listed the WinTV-HVR-950Q for sale on its webstore, indicating at least some new retail availability in/around 2025." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support_hvr950q.html", "claim": "Vendor support material still groups HVR-950Q/HVR-850 as supported products and mentions Linux support for HVR-950Q, consistent with continuing but niche legacy deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: source inspection via exec_command shows AU0828 USB media/tuner driver code with analog, VBI, and DVB paths. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/usb/au0828/au0828-core.c yielded the cited lore URL and shows recent maintenance activity, but not evidence of an active removal series. Web search produced the kernel AU0828 card list URL and Hauppauge webstore/support URLs. Assessment: still maintained enough to keep, but annotate as niche legacy TV-capture hardware with low modern deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1962528239540142, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458241, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/b2c2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "B2C2 FlexCop II/IIb/III USB digital TV receivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/f3475a3c-1de8-4c39-a296-99b703e171f0@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "Upstream still sees real maintenance: Hans Verkuil posted a driver-specific fix for flexcop-usb in June 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20240910092625.954199045@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The 2024 flexcop-usb fix was backported to stable, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than under active removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_B2C2_FLEXCOP_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this directory to Technisat/B2C2 Air/Sky/Cable2PC USB hardware and identifies it as a USB digital TV receiver driver still present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.technisat.com/de_DE/Aktuelle-Informationen-Downloads/352-515/?productID=8336&tsc=1", "claim": "TechniSat's SkyStar USB support page shows only old Windows-era downloads from 2012-2013, consistent with legacy rather than current-market hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.technisat.com/de_DE/Aktuelle-Informationen-Downloads/352-515/?productID=7704&tsc=1", "claim": "TechniSat's AirStar USB support page likewise surfaces legacy downloads, with dated software entries up to 2014." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on Kconfig/source identified this as the Technisat/B2C2 Air/Sky/Cable2PC USB1.1 FlexCop DVB/ATSC driver. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/media/usb/b2c2/flexcop-usb.c showed multiple 2024 bug-fix and stable-backport events, with no removal discussion in the sampled recent activity, so removal/deprecate is too aggressive. Web search found LKDDb plus TechniSat legacy support pages whose download dates stop in 2012-2014; that supports hardware obsolescence and low present-day deployment, but ongoing upstream fixes argue for `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.40616764223403745, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1344911911, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719219907, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/cx231xx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX23100/CX23101/CX23102 USB video capture bridges", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260330093727.1622465-1-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix traffic exists for cx231xx in 2026 ('media: cx231xx: fix devres lifetime'), indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260326171023.3404209-1-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "A 2026 patch reverted a cx231xx USB-ID addition for Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-935, showing active work on supported device tables rather than removal planning." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_usblive2.html", "claim": "Hauppauge still markets USB-Live2, an analog USB capture product that aligns with a supported board in cx231xx ('Hauppauge USB Live 2')." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_usblive2.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's webstore lists USB-Live2 for sale, supporting that some cx231xx-class hardware remains available new." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_hvr930c.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's store lists WinTV-HVR-935C for sale, supporting continued niche retail availability of cx231xx-supported TV-capture hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel Kconfig/local tree inspection via shell shows this is a real USB V4L2/DVB driver for Conexant 231xx TV/video-capture devices, including Hauppauge USB-Live2 boards. lore_activity on cx231xx-cards.c returned multiple 2025-2026 fixes/ID churn; no removal subject was found, and the directory-level lore_file_timeline exact-path query returned no events, likely because it is file-oriented. Web URLs were obtained via web search on Hauppauge product/store pages and show at least some supported hardware still sold new, but only in a niche analog/USB-capture market. That points to legacy-but-live deployments, so keep the driver but annotate it as serving low-volume legacy/industrial/video-archival use rather than remove/deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17681212803008212, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Legacy USB DVB v1 framework (mixed DiBcom/Conexant/Afatech/others)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20240815131904.776800293@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The legacy dvb-usb core still received a 2024 bug fix that was backported to stable: \"media: dvb-usb: Fix unexpected infinite loop in dvb_usb_read_remote_control().\"" }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240808084757.18084-1-sean@mess.org/", "claim": "The same area saw active review and quick correction in 2024 via a revert, indicating maintainership rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_USB.html", "claim": "CONFIG_DVB_USB remains present through current kernels/HEAD and is described as support for various USB1.1 and USB2.0 DVB devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_USB_V2.html", "claim": "Upstream also ships CONFIG_DVB_USB_V2, a newer parallel USB DVB framework covering the same general class of USB digital-TV receivers." }, { "url": "https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/pdf/media.pdf", "claim": "The documented supported-device roster is dominated by older USB1.1/USB2.0 DVB sticks and set-top adapters, consistent with legacy consumer TV-tuner hardware rather than modern mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with many module entry points and per-device modules. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb-init.c` showed substantial activity through 2024, including a stable bug fix and subsequent revert/review, so there is maintenance traffic and no visible sampled removal wave; a `lei` public-inbox query was attempted for explicit removal/deprecation discussion but failed under sandbox socket restrictions. Local tree inspection via `rg` showed the parallel upstream replacement framework `drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2`. Web search yielded the Cateee LKDDb pages for `DVB_USB` and `DVB_USB_V2`, plus LinuxTV media docs PDF; those sources show this code still exists upstream, but the hardware class is largely early USB1.1/USB2.0 digital-TV tuner gear. New-sales status for 2025 is therefore an inference from the legacy device roster and product generation, not from a live retail census. Recommendation: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecating or removing it while upstream still carries fixes.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08774319745050901, "commits_5y": 85, "substantive_commits_5y": 79, "first_touch_ts": 1344911191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762259462, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 39, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Mixed USB DVB receiver bridges/tuners (notably Realtek RTL28xxU, Afatech AF9015/AF9035, Alcor AU6610, EC168, MaxLinear MxL111SF, DVBSky and related legacy USB TV/SAT sticks)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/d84110421a78dc6769435b2c7ff30c7e873f4cd0.1725741030.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "`rtl28xxu.c` in this directory still received upstream changes in September 2024, so the directory is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.rtl-sdr.com/product/rtl-sdr-blog-v4-r828d-rtl2832u-1ppm-tcxo-sma-software-defined-radio-dongle-only-usb-c/", "claim": "RTL2832U-based USB dongles were still being sold new in 2025, indicating at least part of this driver's hardware family remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2/rtl28xxu.c", "claim": "The directory includes support for Realtek RTL2831U/RTL2832U reference designs and related consumer USB TV/SDR sticks, showing the subtree covers a broad mixed family rather than one obsolete device." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_activity(file=drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb-v2/rtl28xxu.c)` showed 32 hits in the last 5y, including a 2024 linux-media patch; a removal/deprecation `lore_regex` check timed out and produced no evidence of an active removal series. Deployment evidence: web search found a 2025 RTL-SDR Blog RTL2832U product page showing new hardware sales. The kernel.org tree URL is canonical recall, used to anchor which chip families live in this directory. Conclusion: this is mostly legacy/niche USB DVB hardware, but at least RTL28xxU remains sold and upstream still touches the code, so deprecation/removal would be premature; annotate as legacy instead of removing.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11070385448908164, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1344911191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762348135, "top_author": "Zhang Shurong", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/em28xx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Empia EM28xx USB video-capture / TV-tuner bridge family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260317204554.3365221-1-brad@nextdimension.cc/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work added support for an Empia em2828X bridge in 2026, indicating the driver is still being extended rather than retired." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260119185921.575666-1-xeeynamo@hotmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work also targeted StarTech SVID2USB232 support in 2026, showing live maintenance for currently marketed/employed hardware niches." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_EM28XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Linux driver for Empia EM28xx USB devices and lists many legacy analog-TV/video-capture products tied to the family." }, { "url": "https://www.startech.com/en-us/audio-video-products/SVID2USB232", "claim": "StarTech had a current product page for SVID2USB232 in 2025/2026-era web indexing, supporting that at least some EM28xx-based capture hardware remained sold new." }, { "url": "https://community.startech.com/t/article-svid2usb232-some-common-issues-when-not-getting-any-captured-image-in-movavi/1078", "claim": "A 2024 vendor community article discusses active end-user troubleshooting for SVID2USB232, consistent with ongoing niche deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell (`rg --files`, `sed` on Kconfig) confirmed a real multi-function USB media driver for analog TV, DVB, webcam, audio, and RC support. Lore evidence came from MCP `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/media/usb/em28xx/em28xx-core.c`; cited lore URLs were taken directly from those results and show substantive 2024-2026 work, including new device enablement, with no active removal/deprecation signal found. Deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDb established the chipset/device family and StarTech URLs indicated at least one EM28xx-based product line still present and used in 2024-2025. Conclusion: not obsolete enough to deprecate, but the hardware base is mostly legacy/niche, so keep the driver with legacy-context annotation rather than remove it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16054200737752652, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/go7007", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "WIS/Micronas GO7007 USB MPEG encoder", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240610-md-drivers-media-usb-go7007-v1-1-89f1087750af@quicinc.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream attention; in 2024 it got a direct go7007 patch on linux-media." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240508132043.2171457-2-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The Sensoray-related part of the directory is still touched by subsystem-wide API cleanup work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.sensoray.com/products/2251.htm", "claim": "Sensoray states Model 2251 is obsolete and recommends Model 2253 as a substitute, indicating legacy status for at least part of the supported hardware set." }, { "url": "https://www.sensoray.com/products/2250.htm", "claim": "Sensoray still advertises Model 2250/2250S with pricing/order information, showing at least one supported GO7007-based product remains sold in a niche OEM market." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_GO7007_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for the GO7007 USB MPEG encoder chip and lists legacy USB products such as Plextor ConvertX devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on go7007-usb.c/s2250-board.c shows the directory is a real USB video driver and names supported boards including Plextor, Pelco, ADS/WIS, Lifeview, Adlink, and Sensoray 2250/2251. `lore_activity` on go7007-usb.c and s2250-board.c found recent maintenance and API-churn patches, but no removal discussion, so this is not abandonware in-tree. Web search produced the Sensoray product pages and LKDDb page: they show the family is mostly legacy consumer/industrial analog-capture hardware, with 2251 obsolete but 2250 still sold in 2025-era niche OEM channels. That points to low present deployment, no clear upstream replacement driver for the same hardware, and a `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3219148624217885, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1406044413, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103596, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/gspca", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "GSPCA framework for assorted mostly pre-UVC USB webcam and astro-camera chipsets (Sunplus/SPCA, Sonix, Syntek, OV5xx, SQ9xx, ToupTek, etc.)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260330101141.1664143-5-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Core file drivers/media/usb/gspca/gspca.c still saw linux-media maintenance in 2026 ('media: gspca: refactor endpoint lookup'), so the framework is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2024121413-entangled-wriggly-8d17@gregkh/", "claim": "A gspca subdriver file (ov534.c) was carried in stable releases in December 2024, indicating continuing bug-fix relevance for deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_GSPCA_STK1135.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties one gspca subdriver to an older Asus laptop webcam device, supporting that much of the directory targets legacy embedded/laptop USB cameras rather than current mainstream products." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_GSPCA_TOUPTEK.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows gspca still includes a dedicated ToupTek camera driver for UCMOS / AmScope MU series devices, so the directory is not purely historical." }, { "url": "https://www.touptekastro.com/products/g3m715c", "claim": "ToupTek Astro was still marketing USB3 planetary cameras in 2025/2026, supporting that at least a niche portion of gspca-covered hardware remains sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: lore_activity tool on drivers/media/usb/gspca/gspca.c showed non-removal maintenance on 2026-03-30, and lore_activity on ov534.c showed stable-tree carry in 2024. Web search found LKDDb pages showing many legacy webcam/laptop device mappings plus a still-relevant ToupTek niche, and an official ToupTek product page showing current sales. Net: mainstream hardware here is mostly obsolete and superseded by UVC devices, but upstream attention and niche new-sales evidence argue against deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16455490274066895, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 49, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/gspca/gl860", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Genesys Logic GL860 USB webcam bridge", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_GL860.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this driver to only two USB IDs, 05e3:0503 and 05e3:f191, and shows it remains buildable as CONFIG_USB_GL860 in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://gl860.sourceforge.net/", "claim": "The historical GL860 project page describes this as a Genesys Logic GL860 webcam chipset driver, says only two USB IDs had been found, and ties 05e3:0503 to old laptop-integrated webcams such as Asus Z37E and Medion models; it also notes GL860A devices are UVC-compliant instead." }, { "url": "https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/215604", "claim": "An Ubuntu bug from 2008-era deployment reports 05e3:0503 as a Genesys Logic onboard webcam on Kubuntu Jaunty, reinforcing that known field use is legacy laptop hardware rather than current products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`sed`/`rg`) shows this is a real USB webcam driver (`MODULE_DESCRIPTION` says Genesys Logic USB PC Camera Driver) for IDs 05e3:0503 and 05e3:f191. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned zero indexed mailing-list events, and phase-1 metadata already showed only 2 substantive commits in 5 years with latest substantive touch on 2021-10-19, so upstream attention is minimal and there is no visible removal discussion to justify `remove`. The cited LKDDb URL was obtained via web search (`turn0search0`), the SourceForge project page via web search (`turn0search1`), and the Launchpad bug via web search (`turn0search2`). Recommendation is `deprecate`: hardware appears limited to legacy non-UVC laptop webcams, likely not sold new in 2025, but there is no active upstream removal push and no in-tree drop-in replacement for these exact non-UVC devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.2316660514654272, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1634627318, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/gspca/m5602", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ALi M5602 USB webcam bridge", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/usb/gspca/m5602/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the \"ALi USB m5602 Camera Driver\" and module `gspca_m5602` for cameras based on the ALi m5602 bridge." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/usb/gspca/m5602/m5602_core.c", "claim": "Core driver code targets a single USB bridge ID `0402:5602` and probes older discrete sensors such as OV9650, OV7660, MT9M111, PO1030, S5K83A, and S5K4AA, consistent with legacy mid-2000s webcam hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_M5602.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps `CONFIG_USB_M5602` to module `gspca_m5602`, confirming narrow support scope for the ALi M5602 webcam bridge." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `exec_command` showed this is a real USB webcam driver for the ALi M5602 bridge with one USB ID and several legacy image sensors. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/gspca/m5602` returned zero matches on 2026-04-24, so there is no visible recent path-level mailing-list churn or active removal thread from that fast check. Static metadata provided with the task shows only 7 substantive commits in 5 years and no substantive touch after 2021-12-14, which fits maintenance drift rather than active deployment demand. Kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall source URLs for the files inspected locally; the LKDDb URL is canonical recall. With no natural in-tree replacement for this exact bridge but strong signs of obsolete, laptop-era non-UVC webcam hardware and likely only residual legacy users, `deprecate` fits better than `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7641835940744337, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1639495144, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/gspca/stv06xx", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "ST STV06XX", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20210520092133.616390469@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Recent public lore activity tied to this driver is a 2021 stable backport ('media: gscpa/stv06xx: fix memory leak'), indicating very low ongoing upstream attention rather than active development or removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=4&topic=stv06xx", "claim": "The stv06xx driver covers STV0600/STV0600-1/STV0602/STV0610/STV0680 webcam chipsets and legacy devices such as Logitech QuickCam Express, QuickCam Web, LEGO cam, and Dexxa WebCam USB." }, { "url": "https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025079093-Warranty-QuickCam-Express", "claim": "Logitech's QuickCam Express support page shows no downloads, FAQs, documents, videos, or spare parts, consistent with a long-obsolete product no longer in current retail distribution." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickCam", "claim": "QuickCam is an old Logitech webcam product line dating back to the 1990s, supporting the conclusion that stv06xx-class hardware is legacy consumer webcam hardware rather than current-generation equipment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real gspca USB webcam driver for ST STV06XX chips and lists era-specific devices like QuickCam Express/Web and LEGO cam. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/gspca/stv06xx/stv06xx.c` surfaced only 2021 stable backports and `lore_activity` for the last 2 years returned no rows, so there is no sign of active removal discussion and little sign of live maintenance; that argues for `deprecate`, not `remove`. Web search found the Logitech support URL and QuickCam history/manpage URLs, which together point to legacy-only deployments with occasional hobbyist use, not meaningful new 2025 sales or new deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6303805876985109, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745586877, "top_author": "Wentao Liang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/hackrf", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "HackRF One SDR", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/49E2947100B6EA2D+20260330032210.14080-1-zhangdandan@uniontech.com/", "claim": "linux-media still carried a 2026 HackRF bug-fix patch for this driver, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250213182608.757954-1-n.zhandarovich@fintech.ru/", "claim": "A 2025 HackRF probe-path fix was posted with stable Cc, showing real bug-fix traffic in the recent window." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_HACKRF.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_USB_HACKRF to USB ID 1d50:6089, identified as Great Scott Gadgets HackRF One SDR, and shows the driver remains present across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/", "claim": "Great Scott Gadgets still listed HackRF One in its current HackRF product line in 2026, supporting that the hardware remained sold new through 2025 and beyond." }, { "url": "https://www.greatscottgadgets.com/", "claim": "Great Scott Gadgets posted 2026 examples of HackRF One being provided for current education/security-research use, supporting ongoing niche deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell confirmed this is the V4L2 USB HackRF SDR driver and names the device as HackRF One. lore_activity showed recent 2025-2026 linux-media fixes on the exact file, and no removal signal was found in the recent activity view from lore_file_timeline; cited lore URLs came from lore_activity. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and anchors the device identity/USB ID. Great Scott Gadgets product-line and homepage URLs were obtained via web search; they show HackRF One remains an active product and in current educational/security-research use. Traffic is not high-volume, so deployment is low rather than medium, but there is no evidence for deprecation or replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.509026741327268, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1411342357, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103596, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/hdpvr", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Hauppauge HD PVR", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260330101141.1664143-6-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch refactors endpoint lookup in hdpvr-core.c rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20220217043950.749343-1-dzm91@hust.edu.cn/", "claim": "The driver also saw a bug-fix patch in 2022, indicating nonzero ongoing maintenance over the last five years." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/prods_gaming.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's current game-recorder lineup lists newer products such as HD PVR 2 and HD PVR 60, but not the original HD PVR/HD PVR Gaming Edition." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hdpvr-ge.html", "claim": "The supported hardware is the original Hauppauge HD PVR family: a USB 2.0 H.264 encoder for Xbox 360/PS3, cable/satellite set-top boxes, and component/composite/S-Video capture up to 1080i." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` over drivers/media/usb/hdpvr shows Kconfig/MODULE_DESCRIPTION naming the device as the Hauppauge HD PVR USB driver. `lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/media/usb/hdpvr/hdpvr-core.c)` produced the two cited lore URLs and showed recent 2026 maintenance, with no removal signal in the returned events. Hauppauge URLs were obtained via web search and then opened; the current product-list page omits the original HD PVR while the old HD PVR page remains available and clearly targets Xbox 360/PS3/component-video-era workflows. That points to legacy but still occasionally deployed capture hardware, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.230037882164317, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066841, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/msi2500", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Mirics MSi2500/MSi3101 SDR receiver chipset family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/73b2b7bc2fb62415365a06ad413dea93c316cf92.1725285495.git.hverkuil-cisco@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "The driver still received direct upstream maintenance in 2024 (`media: msi2500: set lock before calling vb2_queue_init()`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20241014-vb2-wait-v1-4-8c3ee25c618c@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "The driver was also touched by media-subsystem API cleanup work in late 2024, indicating it is still built and maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_MSI3101.html", "claim": "LKDDb associates this Linux support with Mirics/SDRplay-class USB hardware, including vendor/product 1df7:2500 (SDRplay RSP1) and 2040:d300." }, { "url": "https://www.sdrplay.com/rsp1/", "claim": "SDRplay states the original RSP1 was discontinued in 2017 and replaced by the RSP1A, then by the RSP1B in 2024." }, { "url": "https://www.sdrplay.com/products/", "claim": "SDRplay's current product lineup in 2025 lists newer products such as RSP1B/RSPdx-R2 and places RSP1 among discontinued products." }, { "url": "https://www.sdrplay.com/sdrplay-sdrconnect-software-status-update/", "claim": "SDRplay says the original RSP1, phased out in 2017, cannot be supported by SDRconnect, reinforcing that this is legacy hardware rather than a current-platform target." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the Mirics MSi2500 / MSi3101 SDR USB driver and showed it depends on the `msi001` tuner. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/msi2500/msi2500.c` showed steady 2024-2025 upstream touches, with recent entries being fixes and media API churn, not removal work; regex/path-mention follow-ups timed out, so the lore conclusion is based on the timeline evidence only. Web search found official SDRplay pages showing the original RSP1 is discontinued (2017), newer products are sold instead, and modern SDRconnect does not support the old RSP1. That points to legacy but still-occasionally-used SDR hardware: low present deployment, no clear in-tree replacement for the exact device, and a better fit for `keep-annotate` than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4150934288970816, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1405995312, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103596, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/pvrusb2", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Conexant CX23416", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/media/drivers/pvrusb2.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says pvrusb2 targets the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB 2.0, and local Kconfig identifies it as a Conexant 23416 based USB personal video recorder device." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge lists WinTV-PVR-USB2 under Legacy Products as discontinued; current USB capture/tuner offerings shown there are different products." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/site/support/support_pvrusb2.html", "claim": "The device-specific support page is centered on Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista era software, with package dates in 2007-2008, which is consistent with legacy-only market presence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230329060132.2688621-1-gregkh@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Lore shows pvrusb2 still receiving upstream cleanup/maintenance patches rather than removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module sources and module_init in local tree (shell `rg`/`sed`). Hardware is clearly legacy/discontinued from Hauppauge support pages opened via web tool. Upstream activity is not zero: prompt metadata reports 29 substantive commits in 5y with a 2026-01-13 most recent touch, and lore_file_timeline on `pvrusb2-main.c` returned a 2023 linux-media cleanup patch; a lore body/subject removal scan found no deprecation/removal hit before timing out on one broad query. That combination points to old hardware with low present-day deployment, but still-maintained code, so `keep-annotate` is safer than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0716234619068667, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Ricardo Ribalda", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/pwc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Philips PWC USB webcam family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": "uvcvideo", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20250117095530.3988154-1-zhangheng@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in linux-media as of January 17, 2025; this patch is cleanup work, not a removal proposal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/91ca5c3db14df7b8d8dc4189aa73ed38ca97975e.1725285495.git.hverkuil-cisco@xs4all.nl/", "claim": "The driver also saw functional maintenance in September 2024, indicating it is not abandoned even if activity is sparse." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_PWC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_USB_PWC` supports a fixed list of older Philips/OEM USB webcams and notes that newer Logitech webcams are handled by the UVC driver instead." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/userspace-api/media/drivers/uvcvideo.html", "claim": "`uvcvideo` is the mainstream Linux driver for newer USB Video Class webcams and is the natural replacement path for the same end-user use case." }, { "url": "https://support.logi.com/hc/en-ch/articles/360025179674--FAQ-QuickCam-Pro-4000", "claim": "A representative supported device family member, the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, is retained only as legacy support content with no downloads, documents, or spare parts available." }, { "url": "https://www.macworld.com/article/155563/quickcam.html", "claim": "The QuickCam Pro 4000 was introduced in August 2002, reinforcing that this driver targets early-2000s webcam hardware rather than current products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore evidence via `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/pwc/pwc-if.c`, which showed 2024-2025 maintenance patches and no clear removal thread. Obtained deployment/replacement evidence via web search: LKDDb mirrors the Kconfig support list and explicitly points newer devices to UVC; kernel docs confirm `uvcvideo` as the modern replacement class driver; Logitech support and Macworld date a representative model to 2002 and legacy-only support. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is obsolete and low-deployment, but upstream still applies occasional real fixes, so immediate deprecation/removal would be premature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3985333368584886, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740130384, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/s2255", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Sensoray 2255/2257 USB frame grabber", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260330101141.1664143-7-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch refactors endpoint lookup in s2255." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20240123201212.23896-1-dean@sensoray.com/", "claim": "A Sensoray-associated contributor submitted a functional s2255 enhancement in 2024, indicating vendor/user interest rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.sensoray.com/products/2255.htm", "claim": "Sensoray lists Model 2255/2257 as current products with 2026 documentation/download updates and live pricing/order quantities." }, { "url": "https://www.sensoray.com/products/cat_video_capture.htm", "claim": "Sensoray classifies Model 2255/2257 under Active Products rather than Legacy Products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: upstream lore shows ongoing non-removal maintenance, including a direct s2255 patch in 2026 and vendor-linked feature work in 2024; no removal discussion was found in the lore evidence gathered. Deployment is low because this is a niche USB 2.0 multi-channel NTSC/PAL analog capture device, but not none: the vendor still markets and sells it for industrial/OEM video-capture use. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same Sensoray-specific USB hardware. URLs obtained via lore_activity and lore_file_timeline MCP tools for lore.kernel.org links, and via web search for Sensoray product/category pages.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.46870277350997397, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1345059286, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103596, "top_author": "Ricardo Ribalda", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/siano", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Siano SMS1xxx mobile digital TV receiver", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/09072a14-77bf-47cc-9b79-1edc3c1426ea@I-love.SAKURA.ne.jp/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance; a linux-media patch touched smsusb.c on 2026-04-17 ('media: usb: siano: don't set URB_FREE_BUFFER flag')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SMS_USB_DRV.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this directory as CONFIG_SMS_USB_DRV for 'Siano SMS1xxx based MDTV receiver' and lists the supported USB IDs/products, including Siano, Hauppauge, ZTE, ONDA, and PCTV devices." }, { "url": "https://hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's current support page lists current tuner families separately from legacy/discontinued products; the old Siano-era MiniStick/MiniCard-class devices handled by smsusb are not presented as current hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (exec_command on smsusb.c and sms-cards.c) shows SMS1xxx mobile-TV USB receivers and old branded variants such as Hauppauge WinTV MiniStick/MiniCard, PCTV 77e, ZTE/ONDA data-card tuners. lore_file_timeline on drivers/media/usb/siano/smsusb.c returned 2024-2026 bug-fix traffic and no removal-thread evidence; the cited lore URL came from that MCP tool. The LKDDb URL came from web search and confirms the driver scope and long-lived kernel presence. The Hauppauge support URL came from web search; combined with the product vintage/mobile-TV standards involved, this supports 'not sold new in 2025' and only low present-day deployment. Because maintenance is still happening, removal/deprecate would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5036992147908388, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1344911191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1713218573, "top_author": "Duoming Zhou", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/stk1160", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Syntek STK1160", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/12d8197c-1b8c-4c87-a3c8-945515c2c9a7@web.de/", "claim": "Upstream saw a non-treewide driver-specific cleanup patch in 2025, indicating the driver is still receiving attention rather than being abandoned or queued for removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_STK1160.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for Syntek STK1160 USB video capture devices, with USB ID 05e1:0408 and module name stk1160." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A05e1-0408", "claim": "Linux-Hardware shows only a small number of public probes for USB 05e1:0408, mostly on older desktop/laptop systems, consistent with niche legacy use rather than broad current deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local source inspection via shell showed MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE for USB ID 05e1:0408 and V4L2 capture code in stk1160-core.c. Removal signal check: lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no direct hits, so I checked stk1160-core.c with lore_file_timeline; it showed activity through 2025-06-24 and no removal-oriented evidence. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirms the exact chipset/device ID, and linux-hardware shows limited modern probe volume. Conclusion: legacy analog USB capture hardware with low present-day deployment, but still maintained enough that deprecate/remove would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1858822762373489, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Dafna Hirschfeld", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/ttusb-budget", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TechnoTrend/Hauppauge Nova-USB DVB adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260108102236.1673-1-qikeyu2017@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still received a device-specific fix in January 2026, so it is not entirely abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260108094033.1650-1-qikeyu2017@gmail.com/", "claim": "Another device-specific validation fix was posted the same day in January 2026, indicating current bug-fix attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_TTUSB_BUDGET.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_DVB_TTUSB_BUDGET to TechnoTrend/Hauppauge Nova-USB class devices and USB IDs 0b48:1003/1004/1005." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/Pages/products/data_novasusb.html", "claim": "The archived WinTV-NOVA-S USB product page describes an old USB DVB receiver targeting Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-era PCs, consistent with long-obsolete hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/support/support.html", "claim": "Hauppauge's current support index lists modern TV tuner products, while the Nova-USB family is absent, supporting that it is no longer a current retail product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real USB media driver: local shell inspection of Kconfig/C source showed module entry points and USB IDs for TechnoTrend/Hauppauge Nova-USB budget devices. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on the sole C file; it showed two device-specific linux-media patches on 2026-01-08 and no visible removal thread in that evidence, so removal would be premature. Deployment looks low because web search surfaced only an archived Nova-USB product page (Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-era requirements) and Hauppauge's current support/catalog pages no longer include this family as a current product. No single in-tree replacement driver covers the same USB IDs, so replacement_driver is null. URL provenance: lore URLs from lore_file_timeline; LKDDb and Hauppauge pages from web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22725178602142876, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1344911191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/ttusb-dec", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "TechnoTrend/Hauppauge DEC USB (TMX320AV7111-based)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260402112800.39716-1-pengpeng@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fixes in 2026; this patch hardens ttusb-dec against oversized packets." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20251230195041.36768-2-eeodqql09@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver also received a 2025 heap-buffer-overflow fix, indicating active bug-fix attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.7/admin-guide/media/ttusb-dec.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still lists DEC2000-t, DEC2450-t, and DEC3000-s as supported devices and notes they require external firmware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauppauge_Computer_Works", "claim": "Hauppauge product-history material identifies DEC2000-t and DEC3000-s as old TechnoTrend-era products already exceptional in the lineup by 2005." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/prods.htm", "claim": "Hauppauge's current product page lists modern WinTV tuners and a discontinued-products section, with no DEC USB products in the active lineup." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module_usb_driver identify USB DVB device support for DEC2000-t/DEC2540-t/DEC3000-s. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on ttusb_dec.c and ttusbdecfe.c; the cited 2025-12 and 2026-04 lore URLs came from that MCP tool and show recent bug/security-style maintenance, with no removal evidence found. Deployment evidence came from web search/open on kernel docs, Hauppauge product pages, and Wikipedia: docs.kernel.org confirms supported legacy models; Hauppauge current product pages show newer tuners instead; Wikipedia places these DEC units in the old TechnoTrend-era lineup by 2005. Overall this looks like legacy hardware with low present-day deployment, but not dead code, so keep it with legacy/obsolete-hardware annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5024323646992144, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1344911191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718953029, "top_author": "Allen Pais", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/usbtv", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "Fushicai USBTV007", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20260305103919.15560-5-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Upstream still carries non-treewide maintenance for usbtv in 2026 ('media: usbtv: drop redundant device reference')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/20230316131507.26748-1-oneukum@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver also received a targeted bug fix in 2023 ('usbtv: usbtv_set_regs: the pipe is output')." }, { "url": "https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Fushicai_USBTV007", "claim": "The BATC Portsdown project still documents the Fushicai USBTV007 as a recommended analogue capture device on Raspberry Pi, indicating ongoing niche real-world use." }, { "url": "https://ec.ebay.com/b/EasyCap/bn_21823995", "claim": "Marketplace listings crawled recently still show brand-new EasyCap/HW007-class USB capture adapters for sale, supporting continued new-device availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/usbtv/usbtv-core.c` showed real upstream attention through 2026, with recent targeted fixes rather than only ancient history; no removal discussion surfaced in that timeline sample. Local source inspection (`Kconfig`, `usbtv.h` via shell) identifies this as the dedicated USBTV007 driver for Fushicai-based analog capture dongles. Deployment evidence came from web search: BATC wiki shows current niche use in amateur-video/Portsdown setups, while the eBay result indicates low-cost EasyCap/HW007 hardware is still sold new. That points to low but nonzero present deployments, mostly hobbyist/legacy analog-capture workflows. There is no obvious in-tree replacement driver for the same USBTV007 hardware; alternatives in `drivers/media/usb` cover different chipsets. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: the hardware is legacy and niche, but upstream activity and continued niche availability argue against deprecation/removal now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2969371694668597, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1371825155, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750149314, "top_author": "Benjamin Gaignard", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/usb/uvc", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "USB Video Class (UVC) host webcams/cameras", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260414110113.319219-3-ribalda@chromium.org/", "claim": "UVC driver received substantive upstream fixes in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260413155835.015055819@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "UVC driver changes were actively backported into stable trees in 2026, showing ongoing deployed relevance." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/media/drivers/uvcvideo.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents the Linux UVC driver and its user-facing interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/webcams/mx-brio-4k-webcam.html", "claim": "New UVC-class webcams were still being sold in 2025/2026, so the hardware class is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: this is the generic Linux host driver for the still-current USB Video Class ecosystem, not a one-off legacy chipset. Upstream activity is strong (recent 2026 fixes and stable backports from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/media/usb/uvc/uvc_driver.c`), and current kernel docs plus current retail webcam listings show ongoing deployments in consumer, enterprise, and embedded camera use. Sources obtained via `lore_file_timeline` and `web.search_query`; no natural in-tree replacement exists for the same standards-based use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014423394901734906, "commits_5y": 236, "substantive_commits_5y": 230, "first_touch_ts": 1345058707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774527247, "top_author": "Ricardo Ribalda", "top_author_commits": 141, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/media/v4l2-core", "subsystem": "media", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: V4L2 core framework/shared media subsystem infrastructure, not a hardware-specific kernel driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016632535392863607, "commits_5y": 396, "substantive_commits_5y": 378, "first_touch_ts": 1344909758, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773829291, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 73, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/memory", "subsystem": "memory", "chipset_family": "Embedded SoC memory controllers (NVIDIA Tegra, Samsung Exynos, MediaTek, Renesas, TI, Broadcom, STM32, NXP/Freescale, Atmel, Marvell, ARM PrimeCell)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/memory/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a maintained menu of memory-controller drivers for embedded SoCs and external-bus controllers, not a single obsolete legacy device family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/memory/tegra/Kconfig", "claim": "The subtree includes NVIDIA Tegra memory-controller support, including EMC/MC drivers used on Tegra SoCs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20260226163115.1152181-7-ketanp@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and substantive: Tegra264 memory-controller support was still being extended in 2026 rather than being removed." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20260417-memory-refactor-v2-1-1669de38798f@nvidia.com/", "claim": "The directory is seeing ongoing refactoring and feature work across multiple files, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "New NVIDIA Jetson Orin production modules were still marketed in 2025, implying continued real-world need for active Tegra memory-controller support." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzt2h-advanced-high-end-mpu-integrated-powerful-application-processing-and-high-precision-real-time?type=feat", "claim": "Renesas listed the RZ/T2H MPU as Active and Linux-capable with LPDDR4 support, showing this directory still maps to newly sold embedded hardware in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: this is an active umbrella directory for many current embedded SoC memory/external-bus controllers, not an isolated fading chipset. kernel.org Kconfig URLs were added by canonical recall to anchor scope; lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/memory/tegra/tegra264.c` and `lore_regex` on patch diffs touching `drivers/memory/`; vendor product pages came from `web.search_query`. Retrieved lore samples showed active feature work and fixes, while no removal evidence surfaced in the successful lore results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.057992292192154155, "commits_5y": 191, "substantive_commits_5y": 189, "first_touch_ts": 1335942351, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765869671, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/memory/samsung", "subsystem": "memory", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos memory controllers (Exynos4210 SROM, Exynos5422 DMC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251021185558.2643476-2-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The exynos-srom driver still received a real bug-fix backported to stable in October 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-samsung-soc/2024-08/20240816-cleanup-h-of-node-put-memory-v2-4-9eed0ee16b78@linaro.org/", "claim": "The exynos5422-dmc driver was still being updated upstream in 2024, showing current tree attention." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-xu4/", "claim": "ODROID-XU4, a prominent Exynos5422 board, is listed as discontinued and out of stock." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-xu4q-special-price/", "claim": "Hardkernel states the Exynos-5422 CPU and LPDDR3 parts were discontinued and the XU4 can no longer be produced." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/samsung/exynos/4210", "claim": "Exynos 4210 was launched in 2011, confirming the SROM side of this driver family targets very old SoCs." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/samsung/exynos/5422", "claim": "Exynos 5422 launched in 2014, confirming the DMC side also targets an older SoC generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed this directory contains Samsung Exynos MC drivers (`exynos-srom.c`, `exynos5422-dmc.c`). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline`; it shows stable/backport and cleanup traffic, with no confirmed removal thread found, so removal is not justified. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on Hardkernel product pages showing ODROID XU4/XU4Q discontinuation and Exynos-5422 component discontinuation. WikiChip URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` to date the underlying SoCs (2011/2014). Conclusion: legacy hardware with low current deployments, but still maintained enough to keep and annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23000264916512636, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1460982327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755071189, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/memory/tegra", "subsystem": "memory", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra MC/EMC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20260331112347.3897841-2-amhetre@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: March 31, 2026 patch adds T238 memory-controller support in drivers/memory/tegra." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20260226163115.1152181-7-ketanp@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream is still adding feature work for new Tegra silicon: February 26, 2026 patch adds MC error logging support for Tegra264." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/community/lifecycle", "claim": "Official NVIDIA lifecycle page lists Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, Orin Nano, and T5000 availability extending into 2032-2035, so related Tegra hardware is still sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "Official product page markets Jetson Orin production modules for current embedded/robotics deployments, indicating ongoing non-legacy use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/memory/tegra` is an active Tegra SoC memory-controller/external-memory-controller driver, not a legacy orphan. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/memory/tegra/mc.c` showed heavy recent traffic through 2026, including new T238/Tegra264 enablement, which argues strongly against deprecation or removal. No replacement driver exists because this code is the platform-specific MC/EMC support for Tegra SoCs. Deployment evidence came from official NVIDIA pages found via `web.search_query`: Jetson Orin production modules remain marketed, and the lifecycle page shows multiple Tegra-derived modules available well beyond 2025. Sources obtained via `lore_file_timeline` and `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07394005713944068, "commits_5y": 119, "substantive_commits_5y": 114, "first_touch_ts": 1417705907, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763815284, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/memstick/core", "subsystem": "memstick", "chipset_family": "Sony Memory Stick", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251203152444.180822265@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The memstick core still receives real upstream maintenance and stable backports; a 2025 fix added a timeout to prevent indefinite waiting in memstick.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250901150359.867252-28-david@redhat.com/", "claim": "The Memory Stick block layer is still being touched in 2025, albeit mostly by treewide API-cleanup work rather than feature development." }, { "url": "https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00011017", "claim": "Sony still documents Memory Stick compatibility in 2025, but only as part of mixed 'Memory Stick and SD Card' compatibility guidance for cameras and camcorders." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Stick", "claim": "Memory Stick was a Sony proprietary flash-card family whose serious ecosystem development effectively ended as Sony shifted toward SD around 2010; newer support is largely legacy or adapter-based." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection shows this directory is the Memory Stick bus/block stack, not just helpers. lore_file_timeline on memstick.c produced the stable backport URL and shows continued maintenance through late 2025; lore_file_timeline on mspro_block.c produced the 2025 cleanup patch URL and shows ongoing treewide churn, with no removal-series evidence found. Web search produced the Sony compatibility page and Wikipedia page; together they support a legacy-but-still-supported ecosystem with low present-day deployment, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1293946428300571, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1202584114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758489727, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/memstick/host", "subsystem": "memstick", "chipset_family": "Sony MemoryStick host controllers (TI FlashMedia, JMicron JMB38X, Ricoh R5C592, Realtek RTS5129/RTS5139-class readers)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20250812030811.2426112-1-ricky_wu@realtek.com/", "claim": "2025 upstream patch traffic still touches the Realtek USB card-reader path that backs `rtsx_usb_ms`, showing active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20250804013604.1311218-1-lijiayi@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "A 2025 `memstick` deadlock fix was posted and routed to stable, indicating live bug-fix traffic in the subsystem." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MISC_RTSX_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb documents current `CONFIG_MISC_RTSX_USB` support for Realtek RTS5129/RTS5139-class USB card readers and says those readers support Memory Stick Pro alongside SD/MMC." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=tpytr", "claim": "Dell published a Realtek USB memory-card-reader driver update on March 13, 2025, evidence that Realtek reader hardware is still present in supported OEM systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep rather than deprecate/remove: the directory is old and mostly serves legacy laptop/card-reader silicon, but lore evidence shows 2025 bug-fix and feature work, especially around the Realtek USB-backed path, so it is not a dead orphan. Deployment today is low because Memory Stick itself is largely obsolete and older TI/JMicron/Ricoh controllers are legacy; however, some new OEM systems still ship Realtek card readers that advertise Memory Stick capability. `last_widely_available_year` is an estimate for mainstream, broad deployment of Memory Stick-capable readers in laptops, not for the final niche sales tail. URL provenance: first two URLs came from `lore_file_timeline`; the LKDDb and Dell URLs came from `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1523024259473029, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1202584114, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758489727, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/message/fusion", "subsystem": "message", "chipset_family": "LSI Logic / Broadcom Fusion-MPT (SPI, Fibre Channel, first-generation SAS 3Gb/s)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251216060156.41320-3-qu@darknavy.com/", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream maintenance exists: a late-2025 linux-scsi patch fixes bounds checking in mptbase reply paths." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251107141458.225119-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The fusion driver directory still receives nontrivial tree updates in 2025, not just ancient carry-over code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FUSION.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_FUSION to old LSI/Broadcom Fusion-MPT controllers including Ultra320 SCSI, FC, and SAS1064/1068/1078-era devices." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12353452", "claim": "Broadcom's LSISAS1068 product brief describes this family as 8-port 3Gb/s SAS based on Fusion-MPT, indicating first-generation SAS silicon." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12352283", "claim": "Broadcom's LSISAS2008 brief calls that chip the second generation of Fusion-MPT SAS controllers, showing the in-tree fusion driver covers an older generation than later SAS2008-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_MPT3SAS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows newer Fusion SAS 2.0/3.0 hardware is handled by mpt3sas, implying the fusion directory is the legacy branch of the product line rather than current shipping adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Confirmed as a real PCI storage/network adapter driver from local Kconfig/Makefile inspection. lore_file_timeline on drivers/message/fusion/mptbase.c yielded the two lore URLs above and showed activity through late 2025, so upstream attention is still real. Web search produced the LKDDb and Broadcom product-brief URLs: they place fusion on Ultra320/2Gb FC/3Gb SAS-era chips, while SAS2008 is explicitly second-generation and newer hardware moved to mpt3sas. That supports old-but-still-deployed hardware with low current deployment, not fresh 2025 sales. Chose keep-annotate over deprecate because active bug-fix traffic outweighs the hardware's age.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09138547675155266, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mfd", "subsystem": "mfd", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level MFD subsystem container aggregating many distinct device drivers, not a single hardware driver or chipset family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.028111912996448996, "commits_5y": 1150, "substantive_commits_5y": 1136, "first_touch_ts": 1124356019, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770203240, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 106, "c_file_count": 255, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level miscellaneous subsystem containing many unrelated drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver or chipset family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008802141465613712, "commits_5y": 1005, "substantive_commits_5y": 979, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775133739, "top_author": "Oded Gabbay", "top_author_commits": 145, "c_file_count": 49, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/altera-stapl", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Altera Jam STAPL / JTAG FPGA programming engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/misc/altera-stapl/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a real kernel module: CONFIG_ALTERA_STAPL is a tristate 'Altera FPGA firmware download module' under drivers/misc/altera-stapl." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/media/pci/cx23885/Kconfig", "claim": "The cx23885 media driver selects ALTERA_STAPL, showing this code is still wired into supported NetUP-style PCIe DVB/CI hardware support rather than being an unused standalone tool." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/misc/altera-stapl", "claim": "Upstream history is sparse and mostly minor/treewide fixes in recent years, with no obvious sustained development burst or visible removal campaign from the path history." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ALTERA_STAPL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ALTERA_STAPL has remained present across many kernel series through current HEAD-era builds, indicating it is still shipped upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.netup.tv/en/headends/unicard", "claim": "NetUP still markets a new PCIe DVB/CI card with open-source Linux drivers and FPGA firmware, consistent with this driver's surviving deployment niche in broadcast/headend equipment." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683472/25-1/cable-and-port-requirements.html", "claim": "Current 2025 Intel FPGA documentation still describes download-cable based FPGA programming as a live workflow, so the broader Altera/Intel FPGA programming use case is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683719/current/setting-up-the.html", "claim": "Intel's current Download Cable II guide shows modern FPGA programming is done with vendor USB download cables, implying no natural in-kernel replacement driver for this niche helper module." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is an exported helper module for Jam/STAPL FPGA programming, not a non-driver helper library, and local git log showed only sparse recent touches. I could not use lore MCP here and `lei` was unavailable; for upstream-history grounding I therefore used local kernel git history plus canonical kernel.org path/log URLs. Web search produced the LKDDb entry and current Intel/NetUP pages. Overall: niche but still connected to live cx23885/NetUP support, no clear replacement driver, low deployment and low churn justify keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1316800857, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1685369100, "top_author": "Niklas Schnelle", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/amd-sbi", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "AMD EPYC SB-RMI/APML", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=45392fd4394cb8d4b39ba0f144651aba05b7b2a7", "claim": "Local git history shows an October 22, 2025 commit adding Turin platform support to this driver, indicating ongoing enablement for then-current EPYC server hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=663eb8763c251dbcd0536b14ec134e63e4173348", "claim": "Local git history shows a substantive touch on February 27, 2026 related to the combined I3C/I2C dependency path used by this driver, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_SBRMI_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_AMD_SBRMI_I2C in kernels 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with module sbrmi-i2c and help text stating it is for AMD out-of-band management on the BMC." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-10-amd-launches-5th-gen-amd-epyc-cpus-maintaining-le.html", "claim": "AMD announced availability of 5th Gen EPYC processors, formerly codenamed Turin, on October 10, 2024." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/9005-series.html", "claim": "AMD still markets 5th Gen EPYC 9005 server CPUs on its current product site, supporting the conclusion that the managed-node hardware family remained sold new in 2025 and beyond." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is a very new BMC-side management driver, not legacy baggage: local source inspection via exec_command shows Kconfig help explicitly targets AMD out-of-band management on the BMC and rmi-i2c.c supports both I2C and I3C. Upstream activity evidence came from exec_command git log; SHAs were then mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by stable URL recall. That log shows feature growth in late 2025 (I3C, Turin, rev 0x21 protocol work, BMC clarification) and another substantive touch on 2026-02-27, with no sign of a removal trajectory. Deployment is niche versus mainstream client hardware, but relevant for current AMD EPYC server/BMC fleets, so 'medium' fits better than 'low'. URL acquisition: AMD and LKDDb pages were obtained via web search; kernel.org commit URLs were canonical recall built from SHAs gathered with exec_command.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1747831480, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772206387, "top_author": "Akshay Gupta", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/bcm-vk", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Broadcom Valkyrie/Viper offload engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM_VK.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_BCM_VK to Broadcom PCI IDs 14e4:5e87 'Valkyrie offload engine' and 14e4:5e88 'Viper Offload Engine', confirming the chipset family and that this is a PCI accelerator driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251219141157.59826-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver received a stable-targeted bug fix in December 2025, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/brcm/bcm958401m2/doc/index.html", "claim": "Zephyr documents BCM958401M2 as a Broadcom PCIe card using the Valkyrie BCM58400 SoC for PCIe offload engine functionality, indicating real hardware/board deployments exist." }, { "url": "https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/boards/brcm/bcm958402m2/doc/a72.html", "claim": "Zephyr documents BCM958402M2 as a Broadcom PCIe card using the Viper BCM58402 SoC for PCIe offload engine functionality, supporting that the driver covers a small family of related offload cards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed Kconfig describes Broadcom VK accelerators for video transcoding/compression/crypto offload and bcm_vk_dev.c binds PCI_DEVICE_ID_VALKYRIE; lore_file_timeline on drivers/misc/bcm-vk/bcm_vk_dev.c showed activity through 2025-12-19 including a stable fix and no obvious removal subjects in recent history. Web search yielded LKDDb for PCI IDs and Zephyr board docs for BCM958401M2/BCM958402M2. I found evidence of niche board-level deployments, but no evidence these cards were broadly sold as mainstream products in 2025, so I treat them as niche/low-deployment hardware worth keeping annotated rather than deprecating.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0943085980324532, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1611596684, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767005721, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/c2port", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Silicon Labs C2-programmable 8-bit/8051 microcontrollers (board-specific support for Eurotech DuraMAR 2150 onboard MCU)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.66, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20241221-sysfs-const-bin_attr-misc-drivers-v2-4-ba5e79fe8771@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists, but it is small-scale API churn ('Calculate bin_attribute size through group callback') rather than evidence of active feature work or broad user demand." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230927-strncpy-drivers-misc-c2port-core-c-v1-1-978f6d220a54@google.com/", "claim": "Another recent touch was a one-line hardening cleanup ('replace deprecated strncpy with strscpy'), reinforcing that current maintenance is mostly janitorial." }, { "url": "https://www.silabs.com/developer-tools/mcu-programming-options", "claim": "Silicon Labs still documents C2 as a programming/debug interface for some 8-bit MCU flows, so the underlying protocol is not wholly extinct." }, { "url": "https://www.eurotech.com/attachment/download?id=341", "claim": "Eurotech's DuraMAR 2150 had real fleet deployment history (about 1,300 buses installed in 2011), which supports legacy field presence but points to an old, embedded/transport niche rather than new mainstream deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory is a real driver: generic C2 core plus the only in-tree client, c2port-duramar2150, for Eurotech DuraMAR 2150. lore_file_timeline on drivers/misc/c2port/core.c showed recent touches through 2025, but they are treewide API cleanups; cited lore URLs came from lore_file_timeline output. Web search found Silicon Labs still documents C2, so some niche legacy ecosystem remains, but the Linux-supported board here appears tied to old DuraMAR 2150 transport hardware with historical 2011 deployments and no clear modern replacement driver. No concrete removal series was found in the lore evidence gathered. That supports deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5264578515810665, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1226539038, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1735029362, "top_author": "Thomas Weißschuh", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/cardreader", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTS52xx/RTL8411 PCIe+USB card readers and Alcor AU6601/AU6621/AU6625 PCIe card readers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20260105060236.400366-2-matthew.schwartz@linux.dev/", "claim": "Upstream work was still adding functional fixes in 2026 for the rtsx/MMC stack ('reset power state on suspend')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228181736.1605592-125-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver family was still receiving stable-backported feature/support work in 2026 ('Add SD Express mode support for RTS5261')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250417091532.26520-2-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "The Alcor side of the directory also saw non-treewide maintenance in 2025 ('Use non-hybrid PCI devres API')." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A10ec-5261-10ec-5261", "claim": "RTS5261 appears in modern notebook/handheld probes, including Lenovo ThinkPad P1 and AYANEO systems, indicating ongoing real-world deployment." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1aea-6621-1aea-6621", "claim": "Alcor AU6621 still shows deployed systems in the field, though mostly older notebook platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MISC_RTSX_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows current kernel support for a broad Realtek PCIe card-reader family, including newer RTS5261/RTS5264 IDs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MISC_ALCOR_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows current kernel support for Alcor AU6601/AU6621/AU6625 PCIe card-reader controllers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this directory is a real driver set for Realtek/Alcor PCIe and USB card-reader controllers, not helper-only code. Lore evidence came from MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/misc/cardreader/rtsx_pcr.c` and `drivers/misc/cardreader/alcor_pci.c`; those timelines surfaced 2025-2026 fixes/backports and no removal trend in the fast path. URLs cited from lore were obtained directly from those MCP results. Deployment evidence came from web-opened linux-hardware and LKDDb pages found via web search. Net: niche hardware, but still present in newer laptops/handhelds and still seeing upstream maintenance, so deprecation/removal is not justified; annotate at most for niche/legacy media focus.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.058700465474675494, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1511950604, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769007064, "top_author": "Ricky Wu", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/cb710", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "ENE CB710/720 flash memory card reader", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/aQITFDPyuzjNN4GN@stanley.mountain/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists: a cb710 probe-path bug fix was posted on 2025-10-29." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251013132833.1783880-1-madhurkumar004@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists: cb710 was updated in 2025 to replace deprecated PCI functions." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/25de6764b32724eac554d48d17d23c50bb862693.1741508504.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists: cb710 error-handling fixes were posted in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CB710_CORE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_CB710_CORE for ENE CB710/720 PCI flash-memory-card readers, device 1524:0510, still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/setup-user-guides/hp-compaq-nx9500-notebook-pc/417058/", "claim": "Vendor support pages tie the hardware family to old laptop-era platforms such as the HP Compaq nx9500." }, { "url": "https://macdat.net/laptops/hp/compaq_nx9500.php", "claim": "A third-party hardware catalog lists the HP Compaq nx9500 as a 2004-era laptop with an SD/MMC/MS/SM card reader, consistent with legacy deployment only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/core.c shows a real PCI driver for ENE CB710/720 card-reader hardware used in some laptops and exposing MMC/MS/SM slots. lore_file_timeline on drivers/misc/cb710/core.c showed multiple non-removal fixes in 2025 (URLs above), so despite old hardware this is not fully dead upstream; that pushes the recommendation from deprecate toward keep-annotate. Web search found LKDDb for supported PCI ID/current kernel presence and HP/macdat pages showing association with an old nx9500-era laptop platform. I could not obtain strong removal-thread evidence: two lore_regex subject searches timed out and `lei` was blocked by the local sandbox.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21350690457188679, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1244925778, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764166174, "top_author": "Dan Carpenter", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/eeprom", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Serial EEPROM / NVMEM devices (generic I2C AT24, SPI AT25, 93xx46 Microwire, DDR4 SPD EE1004, plus a few vendor-specific EEPROM-backed devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-i2c/20260421140755.54222-1-marex@nabladev.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: in April 2026, at24 still received functional fixes/features ('Handle EEPROM with both read-only and wp-gpios')." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/24AA025", "claim": "Representative AT24-class I2C EEPROM hardware is still sold new; Microchip lists 24AA025 as 'Status: In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/memories/m24256e-f.html", "claim": "Representative AT24-class I2C EEPROM hardware is still sold new; ST lists M24256E-F as 'Active' and 'Product is in volume production'." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/misc/eeprom/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory covers broad, still-relevant EEPROM/NVMEM use cases: generic I2C/SPI EEPROMs, DDR4 SPD EEPROMs, and ST RFID/NFC EEPROMs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local Kconfig/code inspection via exec_command showed multiple module_i2c_driver/module_spi_driver entries and generic EEPROM support. Active upstream maintenance is evidenced by lore_file_timeline on at24.c, which returned the cited 2026 lore URL and many 2021-2026 touches. Deployment evidence came from web search on vendor product pages (Microchip/ST), both showing in-production serial EEPROM parts that map to this driver's generic families. The git.kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall, used to summarize scope. No natural replacement driver exists; these are the current upstream drivers for their EEPROM/NVMEM niches.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04489065530965283, "commits_5y": 124, "substantive_commits_5y": 119, "first_touch_ts": 1233001193, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525745, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/genwqe", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "IBM GenWQE / zEDC Express", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/cocci/20250210052039.144513-5-me@davidreaver.com/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving upstream maintenance touches in 2025, even if they are largely treewide/mechanical rather than feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=resources-genwqe-data-compression", "claim": "IBM documents GenWQE as the PCIe-attached FPGA accelerator behind zEDC Express, available only up to IBM z14/LinuxONE II; from z15/LinuxONE III onward the function moved to an integrated accelerator." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=wysk-device-nodes-4", "claim": "Current IBM Linux-on-Z documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 still documents the GenWQE device driver and device nodes, implying some supported installed-base use remains." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GENWQE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_GENWQE remains present in current upstream kernel series and identifies it as an IBM GenWQE PCIe accelerator driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree rg/PCI-ID inspection identified this as the IBM GenWQE PCIe accelerator used for zEDC-style compression offload, not a helper library. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/misc/genwqe/card_base.c` showed recent 2025-2026 upstream activity; the cited lore URL came from that tool. Web `search_query` + `open` on IBM docs showed two key facts: GenWQE is still documented for current distro environments on IBM Z, but IBM also says the hardware existed only through z14/LinuxONE II and was superseded by an integrated accelerator starting with z15/LinuxONE III, so new 2025 sales are unlikely while legacy deployments remain. Web `search_query` + `open` on LKDDb confirmed the driver is still shipped in current kernels. Because deployments look niche-but-real and there is no drop-in successor Linux driver, the best fit is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19092181676236372, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1387414275, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757167232, "top_author": "Kirill A. Shutemov", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/ibmasm", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter / ASM service processor", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260308060411.258298-1-LivelyCarpet87@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream still sees real maintenance: a targeted ibmasm bounds-check fix was posted in 2026, indicating the driver is not abandoned even if hardware is old." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IBM_ASM.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_IBM_ASM as the driver for PCI vendor 1014 device 010f, IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter (RSA), and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/overview-remote-supervisor-adapter", "claim": "IBM describes the hardware as a PCI Remote Supervisor Adapter for IBM eServer xSeries platforms such as xSeries 205/220/235/255/330/345, tying the driver to legacy early-2000s server lines." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/remote-supervisor-adapter-ii-update-v110-ibm-eserver-xseries-346", "claim": "Vendor-visible RSA II firmware/update material is tied to IBM eServer xSeries 346 and shows a 2009 release, supporting the conclusion that the hardware family was last broadly current in the late 2000s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep-annotate: the code targets IBM RSA/ASM service-processor hardware for legacy xSeries servers, which is not a new-deployment class in 2025, but lore_file_timeline showed a real 2026 bug-fix patch rather than only treewide churn, and no removal discussion was found. URLs were obtained via lore_file_timeline (lore.kernel.org link) and web search (LKDDb and IBM support pages). No clear in-tree successor covers the same PCI RSA card, so replacement_driver is null; modern servers generally use different integrated BMC/IPMI paths instead of this device.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1515736206357157, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763274904, "top_author": "Al Viro", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/keba", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "KEBA CP500 system FPGA / LAN9252-on-CP500", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/12/14/419", "claim": "Post-merge upstream maintenance continued in late 2024 with a bug fix for module unload in the KEBA misc driver." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/976484/", "claim": "The upstream patch series introduced KEBA CP500 support as PCIe-FPGA-based support for KEBA PLCs, showing the driver is for real industrial hardware rather than dead legacy code." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/10/11/1486", "claim": "The LAN9252 companion driver was added in October 2024 for KEBA CP500 devices, indicating recent feature growth rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.keba.com/en/industrial-automation/products/controls-ipc/kecontrol-c5-detail", "claim": "KEBA's current product page still lists CP 505/x and CP 520/x-class KeControl C5 control units, consistent with CP500-family hardware still being sold in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains PCI/SPI driver code and Kconfig entries for KEBA_CP500 and KEBA_LAN9252. Local `rg`/file read showed cp500.c and lan9252.c are hardware drivers. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/misc/keba` showed the directory was introduced in 2024 and had a substantive fix on 2024-12-14, with only later 2026 touches being treewide allocator churn, so it is young and still maintained. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was missing, so lore history was approximated via web search to LKML/LWN pages: web search found the initial upstreaming series and the later bug-fix patch; no removal/deprecation discussion was found in those lore-oriented searches. The KEBA product page was obtained via web search and shows CP 505/x and CP 520/x in the live catalog, so hardware is still sold new in 2025. Industrial PLC/controller hardware is real but niche, so deployments today are low rather than medium/high. No natural upstream replacement driver exists; this is board/vendor-specific enablement for KEBA CP500 hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1720088947, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736500599, "top_author": "Gerhard Engleder", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/lis3lv02d", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics LIS3LV02Dx / LIS331DLH accelerometers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260326180436.14968-2-ardb@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver received a recent upstream maintenance fix in March 2026, showing it is still live code rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2025021028-shortcake-stained-b0a8@gregkh/", "claim": "The driver was updated in 2025 for core infrastructure changes (conversion to faux_device), indicating continuing adaptation to current kernel internals." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/lis331dlh.html", "claim": "ST lists LIS331DLH as an active product in volume production; this is one of the sensor variants handled by the driver family." }, { "url": "https://estore.st.com/en/products/mems-and-sensors/accelerometers/lis331dlh.html", "claim": "ST's store showed LIS331DLHTR as active and in stock, supporting that at least part of the supported hardware family was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/HDAPS", "claim": "A documented real-world Linux deployment niche for this class of accelerometer support is older ThinkPad HDAPS-era laptops, pointing to legacy rather than mainstream new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command shows a real SPI/I2C accelerometer driver supporting legacy LIS3 variants including LIS331DLH. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity show steady recent upkeep through 2025-2026 and no visible removal-oriented subjects in recent traffic, so removal/deprecate is not justified. Web search plus open/find on ST pages shows LIS331DLH still marketed as active and sold new; ThinkWiki was obtained via web search and supports the legacy-laptop deployment story. Net: hardware family is not fully obsolete, but Linux deployments today look niche/low and mostly legacy or embedded, so keep the driver but annotate its legacy/niche status.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022030466228207302, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1300726776, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775031583, "top_author": "Rob Herring", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/lkdtm", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: LKDTM is the Linux Kernel Dump Test Module, a kernel fault-injection/test harness rather than hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0541840265258362, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 77, "first_touch_ts": 1520392735, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768676437, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/mchp_pci1xxxx", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Microchip PCI1XXXX", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GP_PCI1XXXX.html", "claim": "Upstream Linux still carries CONFIG_GP_PCI1XXXX, with this driver present across recent kernel releases and matching PCI IDs 1055:a005/a015/a025/a035/a045/a055." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/UNG/ApplicationNotes/ApplicationNotes/AN5213-Configuration-and-Programming-Options-for-the-PCI1xxxx-DS00005213.pdf", "claim": "Microchip documented the PCI1XXXX family in 2025 as a current configurable PCIe switch family with integrated peripherals including GPIO, OTP, and EEPROM-related configuration paths." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/UNG/ProductDocuments/UserGuides/MPLAB-Connect-Configurator-CLI-Users-Guide-DS50002629.pdf", "claim": "Microchip's 2025 tooling documentation still supports PCI1xxxx device discovery and OTP/EEPROM access, indicating ongoing vendor support and new-deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local static inspection via exec_command showed this is a real PCI driver for Microchip PCI1XXXX GPIO plus OTP/EEPROM management, not a helper library. Local git log via exec_command showed substantive fixes/features in 2024-2025 (GPIO IRQ panic fixes, push-pull support, wakeup support, hot-reset handling), which argues against deprecation. A web search_query for lore.kernel.org returned no hits for removal/deprecation discussion, and a local git grep over commit subjects found no removal-themed history, so there is no evidence of active upstream retirement. URLs were obtained via web search_query; activity evidence came from local exec_command.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1662122945, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747831460, "top_author": "Kumaravel Thiagarajan", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/mei", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) / CSME / TXE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/mei/index.html", "claim": "Current upstream kernel documentation covers the Intel MEI subsystem, including supported chipsets and MEI client bus drivers, indicating an actively maintained in-tree driver rather than a legacy orphan." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057840/technologies/intel-active-management-technology-intel-amt.html", "claim": "Intel was still issuing firmware/security updates for Intel CSME, AMT, Standard Manageability, SPS, and TXE families, showing the hardware/firmware stack remained supported in recent platform generations." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000029389/software/chipset-software.html", "claim": "Intel describes CSME 11.x as used in consumer PCs, corporate PCs, IoT devices, and workstations, supporting the conclusion that MEI-backed hardware is broadly deployed rather than niche or obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Prompt metadata already shows strong upstream health: 160 substantive commits in 5y, 33 authors, most recent substantive touch 2026-03-31, so this is not a dormant driver. I queried lore_file_timeline on the directory path with lore-http; it returned no indexed hits for the directory token, and a follow-up lore_regex removal/deprecation search timed out, so I found no positive evidence of an upstream removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search/open: kernel docs page (web search result turn0search2 -> turn1view0) and Intel support articles (turn0search6 -> turn1view1, turn0search7 -> turn1view2). Those sources show MEI covers current Intel management/security engines and that Intel was still servicing CSME/TXE/SPS/AMT stacks, so hardware is still sold and widely deployed. There is no natural in-tree replacement for the host interface driver itself; client functionality layers on top of MEI rather than replacing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01292245071990221, "commits_5y": 173, "substantive_commits_5y": 160, "first_touch_ts": 1335911018, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774961960, "top_author": "Alexander Usyskin", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/mei/gsc_proxy", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Intel GSC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5991109.html", "claim": "A January 8, 2026 patch updated gsc_proxy Kconfig for Xe support and explicitly says the driver is useful when a DRM driver registers the ME interface auxiliary device, showing active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/2/8/600", "claim": "The 2023 merge thread introduced gsc_proxy as the MEI-side proxy driver for communication between Intel graphics GSC and CSE/ME firmware on onboard graphics platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_MEI_GSC_PROXY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_MEI_GSC_PROXY is present from Linux 6.5 through current HEAD and builds module mei_gsc_proxy." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/243916/intel-arc-pro-b60-graphics/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel Ark lists Intel Arc Pro B60 as launched in Q2 2025, indicating current Intel GSC-capable graphics hardware is still being sold in the 2025 timeframe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of the directory showed a real `mei_cl_driver` module, not helper-only code. Shell `git log` showed nontrivial activity through January 2026; web search found the Jan 2026 spinics maintenance patch and the 2023 LKML introduction thread, but no removal discussion in the limited lore/spinics queries, so absence of removal talk is an inference. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search, and the Intel Ark product page was obtained by web search to confirm the hardware family remains current. This is a young, still-maintained bridge for current Intel graphics/ME firmware interaction, with no natural in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1683194249, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577438, "top_author": "Simon Richter", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/mei/hdcp", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Intel Management Engine Interface HDCP 2.2 client for Intel integrated graphics platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/mei/hdcp.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes mei_hdcp as the MEI HDCP 2.2 driver that brokers HDCP negotiation between Intel graphics and ME firmware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5991115.html", "claim": "A January 2026 patch series touched drivers/misc/mei/hdcp/Kconfig while decoupling ME interfaces from GPU driver build dependencies, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5991159.html", "claim": "A January 2026 follow-up patch again updated drivers/misc/mei/hdcp/Kconfig for compile-test support, showing recent active attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_MEI_HDCP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_MEI_HDCP has been continuously present from Linux 5.1 through current 7.0-rc HEAD builds as module mei_hdcp." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095556/graphics.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation updated on October 21, 2025 still documents HDCP 2.2 as a current capability users may check on Intel processor-based systems." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/id/id/design/products/platforms/processor-and-core-i3-n-series-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/high-bandwidth-digital-content-protection-hdcp/", "claim": "An Intel public datasheet version dated January 7, 2025 says Intel Processor/Core 3 N-series supports HDCP 2.2 and 1.4 over HDMI and DisplayPort, showing the capability remains in new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/misc/mei/hdcp/mei_hdcp.c confirmed this is a real MEI client driver (module_mei_cl_driver, MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE) and git log shows substantive touches through 2026-01-16. URLs were obtained via web search: kernel docs for function/purpose, Spinics mirrors for 2026 patch traffic touching this directory, LKDDb for ongoing kernel presence, and Intel support/datasheet pages for 2025-era hardware support. I found active maintenance signals and no removal/deprecation discussion in the searches, so this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1553706474, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577438, "top_author": "Simon Richter", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/mei/pxp", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Intel Protected Xe Path (PXP) / GSC-capable Gen12+ graphics", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d876cb978058", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream maintenance touched this driver in 2026-01-16 ('misc/mei: Decouple ME interfaces from GPU drivers'), arguing against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=390b60f7638a", "claim": "The driver was updated in 2024 to add Xe-driver dependency, showing ongoing adaptation for current Intel GPU stacks rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_MEI_PXP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_INTEL_MEI_PXP remains present through current kernels and is the MEI-side PXP service module (`mei_pxp`)." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_I915_PXP.html", "claim": "Kernel config help describes PXP as available on graphics version 12 and newer GPUs, tying this driver to modern Intel graphics hardware rather than legacy-only platforms." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.7/gpu/rfc/xe.html", "claim": "Xe targets Intel GPUs starting with Tiger Lake, supporting the inference that the MEI PXP bridge serves current-generation Intel graphics deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/xe/xe_firmware.html", "claim": "Current Xe firmware documentation discusses GSC-based firmware on DG2/MTL and newer platforms, matching the GSC/PXP linkage seen in this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/discrete-gpus/arc.html", "claim": "Intel still markets Arc GPUs, indicating the underlying graphics family using GSC/PXP-era security plumbing remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/discrete-gpus/arc/mobile/overview.html", "claim": "Intel advertises Arc GPU-based laptops and Core Ultra systems with built-in Arc graphics, supporting ongoing 2025-era deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper-only directory: local `sed` of `drivers/misc/mei/pxp/mei_pxp.c` shows `module_mei_cl_driver()` and comments saying it translates PXP messages between i915 and ME FW. Upstream activity came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/misc/mei/pxp`; commit URLs were then formed via canonical kernel.org recall from the observed hashes. `lei q` on lore returned no usable results here, so I relied on local git history for upstream attention. Deployment evidence URLs came from `web.search_query` hits on LKDDb, docs.kernel.org, and Intel product pages. No removal discussion was found; recent maintenance plus current Intel Arc/Xe-era hardware support points to keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1633367417, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768577438, "top_author": "Alexander Usyskin", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/ocxl", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "IBM OpenCAPI / OCXL accelerators", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.17/userspace-api/accelerators/ocxl.html", "claim": "Kernel docs describe OCXL as the Linux interface for OpenCAPI accelerators, exposed as /dev/ocxl devices for FPGA/ASIC accelerators attached coherently to the host." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/20231113015229.12074-1-kunyu@nfschina.com/", "claim": "Lore history shows the driver still receives upstream maintenance patches rather than being abandoned outright." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/687283", "claim": "IBM's January 2025 planning page says IBM i 7.5 is the last release to support IBM Power9 processor-based systems, placing the platform in legacy-support status." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/power9-power10-and-power11-system-fw-release-planned-schedule-2025-2026-updated-november-2025", "claim": "IBM's 2025-2026 firmware schedule still lists multiple Power9 systems alongside newer Power10/Power11 models, indicating installed-base support but an older generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "OCXL is a real driver for IBM OpenCAPI accelerator hardware. Recommendation is keep-annotate: static history shows meaningful recent maintenance through 2025, and lore evidence includes post-merge cleanup traffic, so this is not a dead/orphaned tree; however deployment is niche and tied to Power9-era OpenCAPI hardware rather than current mainstream platforms. I infer hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false and last_widely_available_year=2021 from IBM's Jan 2025 note that Power9 is on its last IBM i-supported release plus IBM's 2025-2026 materials centering newer Power10/Power11 while Power9 appears only as legacy supported systems. No clear upstream replacement driver covers the same OCXL userspace/kernel API, so replacement_driver is null. Source acquisition: docs.kernel URL from web search result; lore URL from lore_file_timeline on drivers/misc/ocxl/main.c; IBM URLs from web search/open/find.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12415562535443947, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1516754578, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760328655, "top_author": "Li zeming", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/pvpanic", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "QEMU pvpanic", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240412-pvpanic-shutdown-v3-1-c214e9873b3f@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "Mainline still received functional pvpanic work in 2024 (`misc/pvpanic: add support for normal shutdowns`), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20240606131750.064729697@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The 2024 `misc/pvpanic: deduplicate common code` change was backported to stable, showing the driver still matters to supported kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/pvpanic.html", "claim": "QEMU current documentation still describes pvpanic as a supported simulated guest device, with PCI and ACPI/MMIO interfaces, for reporting guest panic and shutdown events to the host." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/", "claim": "The current QEMU manual set still ships pvpanic documentation in the active `master` docs, consistent with ongoing use in modern virtualized deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`) shows this is a paravirtual guest-notification driver for QEMU with PCI and MMIO frontends, not legacy physical hardware. `lore_activity` on `drivers/misc/pvpanic/pvpanic.c` returned 2023-2024 feature and cleanup patches plus stable backports, and no removal discussion surfaced; a broader `lore_regex` attempt timed out, so confidence is based on file-scoped lore evidence rather than corpus-wide subject scan. QEMU docs were obtained via web search and show pvpanic remains documented in current releases, so deployments are still plausible in KVM/QEMU guest fleets even though no physical hardware is sold. No upstream replacement driver covers the same guest-to-host panic signalling role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.36534395632678723, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1616936173, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714382308, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/rp1", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "Raspberry Pi RP1", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250529135052.28398-7-andrea.porta@suse.com", "claim": "Upstream added the RP1 misc driver in 2025, indicating a new and actively integrated hardware enablement path rather than legacy carry-over." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/4b0aa7160877cf128b9bc713776bcac73c46eb24.1766077285.git.andrea.porta@suse.com", "claim": "A late-2025 patch refined the driver design by dropping incomplete runtime overlay support in favor of static DT, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 uses the RP1 I/O controller and is listed by Raspberry Pi as remaining in production until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Compute Module 5 is a current product line using the same RP1-based platform and is listed as remaining in production until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-500/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 500 is another current product explicitly built with the same RP1 I/O controller, expanding active deployment beyond the base Pi 5 board." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/io-controllers.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documentation describes RP1 as the built-in I/O controller for later-generation Raspberry Pi computers, specifically Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Module 5." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `exec_command` identified this as the PCI misc/interrupt-enabler driver for the Raspberry Pi RP1 chip used on Raspberry Pi 5-class systems. `exec_command` on local git history exposed the cited lore URLs for the initial upstream submission and a December 2025 cleanup; those commits show active bring-up/bug-fix work and no removal discussion. Product and documentation URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`, showing RP1 is still in current Raspberry Pi 5, Raspberry Pi 500, and Compute Module 5 products with production commitments into 2036. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for this host-side RP1 enablement role, so the correct disposition is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1750099834, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766176943, "top_author": "Andrea della Porta", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/sgi-gru", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "SGI UV GRU (Global Reference Unit) in the UV Hub ASIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/20260227200848.114019-16-david@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance touches in current kernels; grumain.c was updated by an MM API rename series in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=hpesbhf04473en_us&docLocale=en_US", "claim": "HPE was still issuing security bulletins covering SGI UV300 in 2023, indicating an installed base and vendor support tail rather than a current-volume product." }, { "url": "https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=hpesbhf04326en_us&docLocale=en_US", "claim": "HPE listed SGI UV 300 and Integrity MC990 X in a 2022 security bulletin, further showing the platform remained supported as legacy enterprise hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMAlink", "claim": "NUMAlink 7 systems included SGI UV 300 / UV 300H / MC990 X, while newer HPE scale-up systems moved to NUMAlink 8 (Superdome Flex), implying the GRU-equipped UV line had been superseded by 2017." }, { "url": "https://techpubs.jurassic.nl/library/manuals/5000/007-5668-005/sgi_html/ch01.html", "claim": "The GRU is a specialized coprocessor inside the SGI UV Hub ASIC and the manual applies to SGI UV 100/1000/2000 systems, confirming this is niche platform-specific hardware rather than generic x86 functionality." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/misc/sgi-gru/grumain.c`; that shows ongoing treewide/MM compatibility maintenance through 2026 and no observed removal signal in the successful lore queries. HPE bulletin URLs were obtained by `web.search_query` and indicate a lingering supported install base in 2022-2023, but not evidence of new 2025 sales. The NUMAlink and SGI UV GRU documentation URLs were also obtained by `web.search_query`; together they show GRU is tied to older SGI UV generations that were superseded by newer HPE NUMAlink 8 systems. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware appears obsolete and low-deployment, but upstream still pays maintenance cost and there is no clear replacement driver or active removal thread in the gathered evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.344240306087382, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1217436107, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1728503221, "top_author": "Dimitri Sivanich", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/sgi-xp", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "SGI UV", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/misc/Kconfig", "claim": "`CONFIG_SGI_XP` is for communication between SGI Single System Images and depends on `X86_UV`, tying this directory to SGI UV hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/174936765117.749406.13346468046512826474.tglx@xen13/", "claim": "Recent 2025 touches to `xpc_main.c` came from timer treewide cleanups, indicating build-maintenance rather than active feature work on SGI-XP hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230215100008.2565237-2-ardb@kernel.org/", "claim": "`xp_uv.c` was touched by the 2023 RFC removing IA-64, showing adjacent platform-pruning work around this niche SGI code rather than renewed platform investment." }, { "url": "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_UV", "claim": "SGI UV is a specialized Intel Xeon NUMAlink large-memory server family, consistent with a niche scale-up platform rather than broad contemporary deployment." }, { "url": "https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=a00038166en_us&docLocale=en_US&page=GUID-F558150F-CDDA-4EF1-81E1-0313976AA20D.html", "claim": "HPE's current large x86 partitionable scale-up server line is Superdome Flex, suggesting SGI UV-era SSI systems are legacy rather than current-new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "SGI-XP is real driver code, not a helper library: local tree inspection and canonical recall of the kernel.org Kconfig page show it is an SGI SSI communication driver gated by `X86_UV`. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/misc/sgi-xp/xpc_main.c` and `drivers/misc/sgi-xp/xp_uv.c`; the visible 2025 activity is treewide timer churn, and the notable 2023 hit is IA-64 removal fallout, with no clear removal series for `drivers/misc/sgi-xp` itself. Deployment looks low because SGI UV is a niche legacy NUMAlink platform and current HPE scale-up offerings are Superdome Flex instead; that current-product evidence came from web search, while the SGI UV family description came from web search to Wikipedia. I do not see a natural upstream replacement driver for the same SSI transport, so this looks more like deprecate/annotate-for-legacy than immediate removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5268020916249228, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1208902097, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1697051773, "top_author": "Sebastian Andrzej Siewior", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/uacce", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the UACCE accelerator userspace/core framework, not hardware-specific device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08627605918637433, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1582334742, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768578197, "top_author": "Kai Ye", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/misc/vmw_vmci", "subsystem": "misc", "chipset_family": "VMware VMCI (Virtual Machine Communication Interface) virtual PCI device", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this as the VMware VMCI driver, a virtual device for high-speed host/guest communication in VMware environments." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=74745", "claim": "Broadcom/VMware KB documents VMCI driver installation issues in VMware Tools on vSphere ESXi 6.7/7.x/8.x, showing VMCI remains part of current VMware guest deployments." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/392913/updating-vmware-tools-for-esxi-clusters.html", "claim": "Broadcom/VMware KB describes current VMware Tools update workflows for ESXi 7.x/8.x clusters, supporting that VMware guest-tooling components such as VMCI are still maintained in contemporary deployments." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/430294/vmware-tools-fails-to-fully-install-on-w.html", "claim": "Broadcom/VMware KB for Windows 11 on vSphere ESXi 8.x mentions VMware VMCI Host Device and VMCI Bus Device, confirming ongoing use in modern VMware guests." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/Kconfig shows this is an actual VMware virtual-device driver, not helper code. Provided static history says 42 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 22 unique authors, and a latest substantive touch on 2025-10-22, which is active enough to rule out deprecation. I attempted lore-first checks with mcp__lore_http.lore_file_timeline, lore_path_mentions, lore_regex, and lore_nearest; the path-index returned no hits for a file lookup, regex/path queries timed out, and nearest-neighbour was unavailable because embeddings were not built, so removal-discussion evidence is inconclusive rather than positive. Vendor web-search evidence from Broadcom/VMware KBs shows VMCI is still present in current vSphere/VMware Tools ecosystems in 2025-era products, so this is not legacy-only hardware; it is a live virtualization niche. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same VMware-specific host/guest communication interface, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10834553202608761, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1357690555, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761112455, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mmc/core", "subsystem": "mmc", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: MMC subsystem core/framework code shared by many host and card drivers, not a hardware-specific driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03733741471221364, "commits_5y": 331, "substantive_commits_5y": 319, "first_touch_ts": 1178017458, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769517740, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mmc/host", "subsystem": "mmc", "chipset_family": "MMC/SD/SDIO host controllers (SDHCI, DW MMC, and vendor SoC eMMC/SD hosts)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20260424013615.470325-1-inochiama@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch against drivers/mmc/host (litex_mmc), showing active maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20260415123411.437450-1-a.shimko.dev@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch for sdhci-of-dwcmshc suspend/resume support, indicating ongoing enablement for current Synopsys-based hosts." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mmc/20260410065833.3189808-1-neeraj.soni@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream fix for Qualcomm sdhci-msm, showing active vendor-backed maintenance on contemporary SoCs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mmc/host/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is the kernel's MMC/SD/SDIO host-controller driver collection, including generic SDHCI plus current vendor SoC controllers such as Sunplus SP7021 and STM32 SDMMC." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is a large, active subsystem directory rather than a stale single-chip driver. Recent lore evidence was obtained with mcp__lore_http__.lore_regex over patch diffs touching drivers/mmc/host in linux-mmc; it returned April 2026 patches for LiteX, Synopsys DWC MSHC, Qualcomm MSM, and Rockchip-related DW MMC code. Kconfig context was obtained from a local shell read of drivers/mmc/host/Kconfig, with the stable git.kernel.org tree URL cited by canonical recall. Given ongoing upstream traffic across multiple current SoC vendors and the broad MMC/eMMC/SD deployment base in embedded and laptop hardware, deployments remain high and there is no single replacement driver for the directory as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009361773465412362, "commits_5y": 1154, "substantive_commits_5y": 1143, "first_touch_ts": 1178017457, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774955480, "top_author": "Binbin Zhou", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 105, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/most", "subsystem": "most", "chipset_family": "Microchip/SMSC MOST INIC (OS81118/OS81119/OS81210)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260309223422.83659-3-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still touches the driver in 2026; activity is maintenance/hardening rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/OS81118", "claim": "The OS81118 MOST150 INIC referenced by the driver is listed by Microchip as 'In Production' and recommended for automotive design." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/os81210", "claim": "The OS81210 INIC referenced by the driver is listed by Microchip as 'In Production' for automotive/industrial applications." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOST_Bus", "claim": "MOST is an automotive multimedia network used in vehicles, indicating a specialized niche deployment profile rather than broad general-purpose use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed `drivers/most` is a real MOST USB/core/cdev/sound driver stack and names SMSC/Microchip USB IDs OS81118/OS81119/OS81210. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/most/most_usb.c`, which returned a 2026 LKML patch URL and showed continuing upstream maintenance; I found no removal signal in the evidence gathered. Deployment evidence came from web search results for Microchip product pages, which show OS81118 and OS81210 still in production in 2025/2026. MOST is still relevant for legacy and niche automotive/industrial infotainment networks, but new deployments appear limited, so this looks better classified as keep-with-annotation than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0776493202531678, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1585053764, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525610, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level MTD subsystem directory containing core framework and multiple flash-related components, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06586702964138244, "commits_5y": 176, "substantive_commits_5y": 167, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764420635, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/chips", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "CFI/JEDEC parallel NOR flash command sets (Intel/Sharp 0001, AMD/Fujitsu/Spansion 0002, STAA 0020) plus mapped ROM/RAM probes", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mtd/chips/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this directory as 'RAM/ROM/Flash chip drivers' and lists CFI, JEDEC, Intel/Sharp, AMD/Fujitsu/Spansion, STAA, RAM, ROM, and absent-chip support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20241114142728.2270-1-rex.nie@jaguarmicro.com/", "claim": "linux-mtd still sees direct patches against this code in late 2024, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment or active removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260222074559.work.599-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory was still touched in 2026 via treewide maintenance, so it is not dormant in upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.macronix.com/en-us/products/NOR-Flash/Pages/default.aspx", "claim": "Macronix still markets multiple Parallel NOR Flash families (MX29F/MX29LV/MX29GL/MX29GA/etc.), showing that the hardware class remains commercially available in 2025-era catalogs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not helpers-only: local source inspection showed probe/registration code and chip-driver modules for CFI/JEDEC flash plus ROM/RAM map chips. Kernel Kconfig URL is a canonical kernel.org recall. Both lore URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/mtd/chips/cfi_cmdset_0002.c`; they show ongoing but mostly low-volume janitorial/treewide maintenance and no removal campaign. The Macronix URL was obtained via web search and supports 'still sold' for parallel NOR as an industrial/embedded niche. Conclusion: keep upstream, but annotate as legacy/niche rather than strategic-growth hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07434217856310192, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769090859, "top_author": "Tokunori Ikegami", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/devices", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Mixed MTD device drivers (SPI SRAM/EERAM/serial flash, DiskOnChip G3, platform flash, RAM-backed pseudo-devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mtd/linux/%2B/refs/heads/mtd/next", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream fixes in 2026; mtd/next contains a 2026 docg3 bugfix touching drivers/mtd/devices/docg3.c." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/01/09/1243", "claim": "A 2025 patch updated drivers/mtd/devices/st_spi_fsm.c for modern PM macros, showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/23K256", "claim": "Microchip lists the 23K256 SPI SRAM as 'In Production', indicating at least part of this directory still supports hardware sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/solutions/automotive-and-transportation/automotive-products/memory-products/serial-eeram", "claim": "Microchip still markets serial EERAM for automotive use, consistent with ongoing niche deployments relevant to mchp48l640-class support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: the directory is active upstream, with recent 2025-2026 maintenance found via web search on public kernel archives/mtd trees (kernel.googlesource mtd/next, openwall patch mirror). Directory contents are heterogeneous: some entries are clearly legacy or pseudo-device helpers (block2mtd, mtdram, phram, slram, ms02-nv, docg3), but others map to still-sold niche memory parts such as Microchip SPI SRAM/EERAM. Because current attention exists and at least some supported parts remain in production, deprecate/remove is too aggressive. Keep, but annotate as a mixed legacy/niche bucket with low present-day deployment density and no single replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05320908464355381, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 78, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768819761, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/hyperbus", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "HyperBus / HyperFlash", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20250922153107.16381-2-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "File-level lore activity shows the directory was still being touched in 2025 upstream, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250310170551.407716992@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2025 stable backport fixes an OF node reference leak in hbmc-am654, showing real bug-fix traffic and downstream relevance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241212144358.882414531@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2024 stable backport adds a missing MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE for rpc-if, showing continued maintenance for the Renesas side as well." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6526", "claim": "TI still lists AM65x devices as current products, supporting that AM65x HyperBus-capable SoCs remain available for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/memories/nor-flash/serial-nor-flash/hyperflash/s26ks512sdpbhv020/", "claim": "Infineon still lists HyperFlash parts as active/preferred with planned availability into the 2030s, indicating the attached memory ecosystem is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command on Kconfig and sources showed this is a real HyperBus/HyperFlash driver stack for TI AM65x HBMC and Renesas RPC-IF, not a helper library. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no matches, so I used mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on the three .c files instead; those yielded 2024-2025 upstream/stable fixes and cleanups, with no removal signal in the gathered lore evidence. TI and Infineon product URLs were obtained via web.search_query and show currently marketed SoC/memory parts, so the hardware looks niche embedded/industrial but still sold; that supports keep, with low current deployment rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1623767239451341, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1561657678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759161750, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/lpddr", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "JEDEC LPDDR flash / LPDDR2-NVM PCM", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20241007205803.444994-10-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream maintenance touches; lpddr2_nvm.c was included in a 2024 MTD API conversion series rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20231008200143.196369-12-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "There was a driver-specific cleanup patch for lpddr2_nvm in 2023, indicating the code is not entirely abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-availability-phase-change-memory-mobile-devices", "claim": "Micron announced LPDDR2-attached PCM for mobile devices in 2012, showing the hardware class existed commercially in the early-2010s mobile market." }, { "url": "https://www.micron.com/products/memory/lpddr-modules", "claim": "Micron's current LPDDR product page surfaces modern LPDDR5X-based offerings, with no current LPDDR2 or LPDDR2-NVM products visible, supporting that this hardware is no longer a new-market product in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/mtd/lpddr/lpddr2_nvm.c`; it showed recent 2023-2024 maintenance patches and no removal activity. Local `Kconfig` inspection via shell identified the scope as LPDDR flash and LPDDR2-NVM PCM. Market evidence came from web search results on Micron: 2012 press material shows the product family's commercial era, while Micron's current LPDDR page shows only modern LPDDR5X-era products. Conclusion: legacy embedded/mobile hardware with low present deployment, no clear replacement driver, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1467444366669501, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1231160148, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764420619, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/maps", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "physmap / direct-mapped NOR-ROM-RAM flash maps", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTD_PHYSMAP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP is still present in current kernels, with physmap-core DT/platform matches listed through 6.19/7.0, indicating ongoing in-tree applicability rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/linux-mtd/patch/20230707040622.78174-18-frank.li@vivo.com/#3146518", "claim": "physmap-core received accepted upstream maintenance work in 2023, showing active subsystem attention to the core map driver path." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fbdev/msg40117.html", "claim": "A 2024 thread confirms removal of one dead subdriver (intel_vr_nor / Carillo Ranch) because the product likely never shipped, showing selective pruning of obsolete leaf drivers rather than removal of the whole maps directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5909659.html", "claim": "drivers/mtd/maps still received a real bug-fix patch in late 2025 (pcmciamtd leak fix), evidence of current maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20240324233458.1352854-1-sashal%40kernel.org/20240324233458.1352854-225-sashal%40kernel.org/", "claim": "physmap-core had a 2024 upstream/stable fix for >32-bit flash size handling, which points to real current users of the generic direct-mapped path on modern 64-bit systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and source markers shows this is a real driver directory centered on generic physmap plus many legacy board maps. Local git log (shell, with safe.directory override) showed substantial 2021-2026 activity, including recent physmap-core and pcmciamtd work, and only one actual removal of a dead leaf driver. URLs were obtained via web search/open for LKDDb, Patchwork, spinics, and Patchew. Conclusion: keep the directory, but annotate that many per-board map drivers are legacy while generic physmap/plat-ram paths remain relevant for embedded/industrial memory-mapped flash and ROM deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05561766349361455, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769713875, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Raw NAND and SPI-NAND flash", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20250910183258.1147296-1-markus.stockhausen@gmx.de/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is still active in 2025; linux-mtd carried a patch moving nand_check_erased_ecc_chunk() into nand/core." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20211216111654.238086-13-miquel.raynal@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The subsystem received substantial feature work, including hardware ECC engine infrastructure, showing ongoing evolution rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/code-storage-flash-memory/qspinand-flash/?__locale=en", "claim": "Winbond still markets QSPI NAND products for embedded systems, indicating the hardware class is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/code-storage-flash-memory/qspinand-flash/index.html?__locale=en&partNo=W25N08MW", "claim": "A Winbond QSPI NAND part page showed an 8Gb serial NAND product updated in November 2025, evidence of current product activity." }, { "url": "https://my.micron.com/products/storage/nand-flash/slc-nand", "claim": "Micron still lists SLC NAND products, supporting continued availability of NAND flash in current embedded markets." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/mtd/nand` is an active subsystem directory, not a dead single-chip driver. lore_activity on `drivers/mtd/nand/core.c` returned 2025 and 2021 linux-mtd patches (URLs above), showing continuing maintenance and feature work; no removal evidence was found before budget limits were hit. web search results for Winbond and Micron product pages show SPI-NAND/SLC NAND still being sold for embedded use in 2025. Because this code covers still-shipping raw NAND/SPI-NAND devices and controllers, there is no natural upstream replacement driver; recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09385849799246974, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764264305, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/onenand", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Samsung OneNAND / Flex-OneNAND", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20250922153107.16381-3-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touches as of 2025, but recent activity includes small cleanup work such as dropping an unused module alias rather than feature growth." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTD_ONENAND_OMAP2.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this code to legacy OneNAND support on OMAP2/OMAP3 platforms and shows the config still exists in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://news.samsung.com/kr/%EC%82%BC%EC%84%B1%EC%A0%84%EC%9E%90-%EB%8F%84%EC%8B%9C%EB%B0%94%EC%97%90-%ED%93%A8%EC%A0%84%EB%A9%94%EB%AA%A8%EB%A6%AC-%EC%9B%90%EB%82%B8%EB%93%9C%EF%BC%88onenand%EF%BC%89-%EB%9D%BC%EC%9D%B4", "claim": "Samsung's official 2007 newsroom post describes OneNAND/Flex-OneNAND as a then-current mobile/3G-era flash product family, anchoring the technology in an older generation." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/emea/support/discontinued-product/", "claim": "Samsung maintains an official discontinued-product finder for retired semiconductor lines; together with the lack of current OneNAND marketing, this supports treating OneNAND as a legacy product family." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/", "claim": "Samsung's current semiconductor product site highlights modern memory lines and does not surface OneNAND as a current portfolio item, which is evidence against ongoing new-design relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/code confirmed this is real driver code for OneNAND devices on OMAP2/3 and Samsung SoCs. `lore_activity` on `drivers/mtd/nand/onenand/onenand_omap2.c` found 2023-2025 traffic, but it is sparse and mostly janitorial/treewide maintenance, so not dead enough for removal and not healthy enough for a plain keep. Web search found LKDDb coverage plus Samsung's 2007 official OneNAND announcement and current Samsung portfolio/discontinued pages; from those pages I infer the hardware family is long obsolete for new designs and surviving mostly in legacy embedded/industrial systems. A `lei q` attempt for removal-thread checking failed under sandbox socket restrictions, and no removal discussion surfaced from the lore evidence gathered, so I stop at `deprecate` rather than `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13979322061395613, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1521124837, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762166277, "top_author": "Yangtao Li", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Raw/parallel NAND flash controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTD_RAW_NAND.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MTD_RAW_NAND is current in mainline-era kernels through 6.19-rc+HEAD and is defined in drivers/mtd/nand/raw/Kconfig, indicating the subsystem remains upstream-supported rather than orphaned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg934390.html", "claim": "A 2026 stable review patch for mtd: rawnand: brcmnand shows ongoing fixes and backport activity in this directory family, which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://americas.kioxia.com/en-us/business/memory/slc-nand/slc.html", "claim": "KIOXIA markets RAW SLC NAND for OEM and industrial use, showing raw NAND hardware is still sold for new embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active driver subtree, not a dead leaf: local shell inspection of Kconfig and file markers shows many platform/PCI NAND controller drivers plus core raw-NAND support. Local git log on the directory shows substantive 2025-2026 fixes across multiple controllers. Lore-first tooling was attempted but unavailable here (`lei` missing; no lore MCP resources exposed), so removal-talk assessment falls back to web search: I found active stable maintenance via `web.search_query` (spinics stable patch URL) and found no credible removal/deprecation series in available search results. Deployment is not mass-market desktop/server, but raw NAND remains common enough in embedded/industrial/OEM designs to rate current deployments as medium. Source acquisition: all URLs above were obtained via `web.search_query`; local code/history context came from shell commands against the checked-out kernel tree.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015916599021910668, "commits_5y": 485, "substantive_commits_5y": 473, "first_touch_ts": 1518772174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773853705, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 90, "c_file_count": 66, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw/atmel", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Atmel/Microchip AT91SAM9/SAMA5 raw NAND controller with PMECC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microprocessors/32-bit-mpus/sama5/sama5d2-series", "claim": "Microchip still markets the SAMA5D2 series and related SOM/SiP variants on a current product page, indicating the family remained sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://developerhelp.microchip.com/xwiki/bin/view/applications/linux4sam/faq/pmecc-configure/", "claim": "Microchip published and updated Linux4SAM PMECC configuration guidance in 2025 for AT91SAM/SAMA5 NAND use, showing ongoing support for the controller family in embedded Linux deployments." }, { "url": "https://git.sceen.net/linux/linux-stable.git/log/drivers/mtd?showmsg=1", "claim": "The stable-tree MTD log shows 2025 Atmel raw NAND fixes and pull summaries mentioning additional Atmel rawnand fixes, so upstream maintenance is active rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-mtd/2025-March/108661.html", "claim": "A 2025 linux-mtd thread converted Atmel NAND DT bindings to YAML for 'legacy nand controllers'; the review discussion removed 'deprecated' wording, which indicates maintenance of legacy bindings rather than a driver removal push." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local source inspection via exec_command shows platform_driver/module code plus OF matches for at91sam9g45, sama5d4, and sama5d2 NAND/PMECC blocks. URLs were obtained by web.search_query; the stable log and linux-mtd thread were also inspected via web.open. Evidence points to active fix traffic in 2025 and current Microchip product/support pages for SAMA5D2-class hardware. Deployments look niche industrial/embedded Linux rather than broad mainstream, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/narrow rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07244975602092305, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1518772174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768818042, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw/bcm47xxnflash", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM4706 BCMA NAND controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20250422041416.2192-1-vulab@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "The driver saw a real bug-fix patch in April 2025, so it is not fully abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20241007205803.444994-10-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The directory was touched again in late 2024 as part of API-maintenance churn, showing it still gets build-fix style attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTD_NAND_BCM47XXNFLASH.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the BCM4706 BCMA NAND controller driver, notes it only supports BCM4706, and shows it still exists in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr4500", "claim": "BCM4706-based consumer hardware such as the NETGEAR WNDR4500 dates to 2011-2013, indicating this driver targets an old router generation." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/d-link/d-link_dir-865l_a1", "claim": "Another BCM4706 device page lists the hardware as discontinued and from 2012, supporting the view that new-market availability is gone." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/netgear/netgear_r6300_v1", "claim": "OpenWrt still tracks at least some BCM4706 devices in current releases, which suggests residual field use rather than zero deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the directory showed a platform NAND driver that hard-codes BCM4706 support in main.c. `lore_file_timeline` on main.c and ops_bcm4706.c found no removal series, but did find a substantive 2025 error-handling fix plus 2023-2024 tree/API maintenance. Web search snippets yielded OpenWrt device pages showing BCM4706 products are 2011-2013 era and at least one is explicitly discontinued, while other BCM4706 device pages remain in current OpenWrt hardware data. That points to legacy, low-volume deployments with no clear in-tree replacement for this exact controller; annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.42703601372376093, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1518772174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745917535, "top_author": "Wentao Liang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw/brcmnand", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BRCMNAND NAND controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/lkml/20240315000346.6fad883e%40xps-13/T/", "claim": "A 2024 patch series updates brcmnand and its bindings, explicitly adding BCMBCA SoC support and driver fixes, which indicates active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.4/targets/bcm4908/generic/", "claim": "OpenWrt published bcm4908 target images in October 2025, showing current downstream deployment/support for Broadcom BCM4908 devices using this NAND-controller family." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/asus/asus%20gt-ac5300", "claim": "The ASUS GT-AC5300 is a BCM4908 device with 256MB NAND and OpenWrt support through release 24.10.4, demonstrating present-day use of hardware covered by this driver family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mtd/nand/raw/brcmnand/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes the driver as covering Broadcom STB platforms plus BCM7xxx, BCM3xxx, BCM63xxx, iProc/Cygnus and related glue layers, so it spans multiple still-relevant Broadcom embedded families." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed real platform_driver entry points and Broadcom-specific glue drivers for STB, BCMBCA, BCM63xx, BCMA, and iProc. Web search found a 2024 lore patch series with feature work/docs updates and no obvious removal-thread hits, so upstream attention is active. Web search also found current OpenWrt bcm4908 release artifacts (2025/2026) and a supported BCM4908 NAND router, indicating ongoing field deployment. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall corresponding to the locally inspected file. No natural replacement exists because this is vendor-specific controller IP, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.030163748623869398, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1518772174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773243160, "top_author": "William Zhang", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw/gpmi-nand", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX GPMI NAND controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20260310-gpmi_nand-v1-1-6a665151aa75@nxp.com/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving functional upstream work in March 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20250922153938.743640-2-maarten@zanders.be/", "claim": "A September 2025 bug-fix patch for gpmi-nand shows real-world maintenance traffic in the recent window." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTD_NAND_GPMI_NAND.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_MTD_NAND_GPMI_NAND as the Freescale GPMI NAND controller and lists support across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.variscite.com/product/system-on-module-som/cortex-a7/dart-6ul-freescale-imx-6ul/", "claim": "A currently marketed i.MX6UL/i.MX6ULL SoM is sold with a NAND-equipped variant, supporting continued new-hardware availability for this controller family." }, { "url": "https://developer.toradex.com/hardware/colibri-som-family/modules/colibri-imx6ull/", "claim": "A recent vendor product page shows Colibri iMX6ULL modules are still commercially available, supporting ongoing embedded deployments of compatible i.MX parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on drivers/mtd/nand/raw/gpmi-nand/gpmi-nand.c; both showed recent 2025-2026 patches and no visible driver-removal thread, so removal/deprecation is not supported. Deployment evidence came from web search results opened to LKDDb and vendor product pages (Variscite, Toradex), which show supported i.MX-family hardware still sold for industrial/embedded use. Chipset-family scope was cross-checked by local `rg` inspection of the driver's compatible table (i.MX23/28/6/7/8X lineage). Use appears niche embedded/industrial rather than mainstream, so deployments are low, but active maintenance plus hardware still on sale argues to keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11709389383359572, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1518772174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761667474, "top_author": "Han Xu", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/raw/ingenic", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "Ingenic JZ47xx / JZ4780 NAND controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mtd/20260102124927.64703-10-krzysztof.kozlowski@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "The driver still received an upstream touch in January 2026, indicating it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mtd/nand/raw/ingenic/ingenic_nand_drv.c", "claim": "The OF match table shows support for Ingenic jz4740, jz4725b, and jz4780 NAND/ECC-related hardware in this directory." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination_Creator", "claim": "The Creator CI20, a notable JZ4780 board, was released in 2014 and updated in 2015, placing the newest mainstream developer-board exposure for this family around 2015." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_NanoNote", "claim": "The Ben NanoNote shipped in early 2010 with an Ingenic XBurst SoC and internal NAND flash; by 2011 it had sold just over 1,000 units, consistent with niche legacy deployment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Hardware", "claim": "Qi Hardware, associated with the Ben NanoNote ecosystem, was primarily active from 2009 to 2011 before going dormant, reinforcing that this hardware family is long past its commercial peak." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection identified this as a real platform NAND driver for Ingenic JZ47xx/JZ4780-era SoCs. `lore_file_timeline` showed non-removal upstream activity through 2026-01-02, so removal/deprecation is not justified despite old hardware. Web search opened Wikipedia pages for Ben NanoNote, Qi Hardware, and Imagination Creator; together they show the visible product ecosystem is concentrated in 2010-2015 and now legacy/niche. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the SoC-specific NAND controller driver. Recommendation is keep-annotate: retain it, but mark as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09725916150583502, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1553183778, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768817623, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/nand/spi", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "SPI NAND (serial NAND flash)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-spi/msg53052.html", "claim": "An Octal DTR support series for SPI NAND was posted in January 2026, indicating active upstream feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-spi/msg53080.html", "claim": "The SPI NAND core itself received a dedicated 'Add octal DTR support' patch in January 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6029324.html", "claim": "A new Foresee SPI NAND chip support patch was reviewed and applied in January 2026, showing ongoing enablement of new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/code-storage-flash-memory/octalnand-flash/?__locale=en&partNo=W35N02JW", "claim": "Winbond listed the W35N02JW OctalNAND part as 'Mass Production', showing this class of SPI NAND hardware is still shipping in the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/macronix/MX35LF2G24AD-Z4I/13420747", "claim": "Macronix MX35LF2G24AD SPI NAND was listed by a major distributor as an active product, supporting continued market availability." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/winbond-electronics/W25N01GVZEIT-TR/5803932", "claim": "Winbond W25N01GV SPI NAND was listed by a major distributor as an active product, supporting continued deployment in embedded designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is the SPI NAND framework plus per-vendor chip tables for Alliance Memory, ATO, Dosilicon, ESMT, FMSH, Foresee, GigaDevice, Macronix, Micron, Paragon, SkyHigh, Toshiba/Kioxia, Winbond, and XTX. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed many 2024-2026 feature/fix commits and no deprecation/removal-oriented path log hits; the only 'remove' grep match was a normal chip-behavior fix, not driver retirement. URLs were obtained via web search: spinics threads for 2025-2026 SPI NAND patch traffic, Winbond product page for current mass-production OctalNAND, and DigiKey product pages for active Macronix/Winbond SPI NAND parts. No natural upstream replacement exists because this directory is the current generic Linux SPI-NAND stack, not a legacy vendor one-off driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 148, "substantive_commits_5y": 146, "first_touch_ts": 1531898650, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770368638, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 72, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/parsers", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains MTD partition/parser helper modules that interpret flash layout metadata, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.040655198415737955, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1498162390, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772038050, "top_author": "Rafał Miłecki", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/spi-nor", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "SPI NOR flash memory", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/mtd/spi-nor.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this as the SPI NOR framework and notes generic probing via SFDP and the \"jedec,spi-nor\" compatible." }, { "url": "https://www.macronix.com/en-us/products/NOR-Flash/Serial-NOR-Flash", "claim": "Macronix markets current Serial NOR Flash families from 512Kb to 2Gb for automotive, industrial, communications, security and IoT uses, indicating ongoing new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/code-storage-flash-memory/serial-nor-flash/?__locale=en&partNo=W25Q16JL", "claim": "Winbond lists a Serial NOR part with industrial status \"Mass Production\" and updated collateral in 2026, showing continued active sales of SPI NOR devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) confirmed this directory is real kernel driver/framework code with module entry points and Kconfig coverage. Local `git log` (with temporary safe.directory override after `lei` was unavailable) showed heavy 2025-2026 upstream activity, including new chip support and bug fixes, so this is actively maintained rather than a retirement candidate. Web `open` on docs.kernel.org confirmed the subsystem role; web `search_query` found current Macronix and Winbond Serial NOR product pages. Separate web searches for lore removal/deprecate terms produced no relevant removal-thread URLs, so there is no evidence here of active upstream removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016988195654288885, "commits_5y": 323, "substantive_commits_5y": 320, "first_touch_ts": 1397499778, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773853698, "top_author": "Michael Walle", "top_author_commits": 103, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/spi-nor/controllers", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon FMC/SFC SPI-NOR and NXP LPC SPIFI controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/controllers", "claim": "Mainline history for this directory shows continued maintenance into 2026 rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SPI_HISI_SFC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SPI_HISI_SFC is still present in current kernel series and maps to the HiSilicon FMC/SFC SPI-NOR controller driver in this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SPI_NXP_SPIFI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SPI_NXP_SPIFI is still present in current kernel series and maps to the NXP LPC SPIFI controller driver in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LPC1778FET180", "claim": "NXP lists LPC1778 as Active, indicating at least part of the NXP SPIFI-backed hardware family was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this directory contains two real platform drivers: `hisi-sfc.c` and `nxp-spifi.c`. Local `git log` showed substantive touches through 2026-02-06 and no clear removal/deprecation discussion in commit subjects for this path. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search and confirm both Kconfig options remain in current kernels. The NXP product URL was obtained via web search and supports ongoing new-sale status for the LPC1778 SPIFI family. Overall this looks like a niche, low-deployment but still maintained controller directory, so keep it but annotate it as narrow/embedded hardware coverage.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06555241789318128, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1584376133, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770387762, "top_author": "Mika Westerberg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mtd/ubi", "subsystem": "mtd", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the UBI flash volume-management layer for MTD devices, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07333975125199084, "commits_5y": 107, "substantive_commits_5y": 100, "first_touch_ts": 1177673013, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764362941, "top_author": "Zhihao Cheng", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/mux", "subsystem": "mux", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADG79xx/ADGS14xx and generic GPIO/MMIO mux controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/mux/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is an active multiplexer-driver subsystem, covering generic GPIO/MMIO mux controllers plus specific Analog Devices ADG792A/ADGS1408 drivers, not a single obsolete legacy device." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adgs1408.html", "claim": "ADGS1408 is listed by Analog Devices as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS' and still has ordering/evaluation support, showing at least part of this driver set targets hardware still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adg792a.html", "claim": "ADG792A is marked 'Obsolete', showing the directory mixes one discontinued part with still-current parts rather than representing a wholly obsolete hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) showed `drivers/mux` is the Linux multiplexer framework plus four real drivers (ADG792A, ADGS1408, GPIO, MMIO). Prompt-provided history says 24 substantive commits in the last 5 years with most recent substantive touch on 2026-02-05 and 19 unique authors, which is active enough to reject deprecation. `lore_file_timeline(path=\"drivers/mux/\", since=\"5y\")` returned no directory-path events, so there is no obvious directory-wide removal discussion in lore by path signal. URL sources were obtained from web search (Analog Devices pages) and canonical kernel.org tree URL recall (Kconfig). Overall this looks like a live, generic embedded/industrial subsystem with ongoing maintenance, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05988334523188605, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1496485766, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770307657, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Virtual and software-defined network devices (TUN/TAP, veth, virtio-net, Xen netfront, macvlan/ipvlan)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260327213441.3781433-1-kuniyu@google.com/", "claim": "Recent netdev patch traffic still touches drivers/net/tun.c in 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260416212121.29073-1-brett.creeley@amd.com/", "claim": "Recent netdev patch traffic still touches drivers/net/virtio_net.c in 2026, including fixes/features for virtio-net." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/networking/tuntap.html", "claim": "TUN/TAP is a kernel driver for user-space packet I/O, showing this directory contains current software-defined networking infrastructure, not only legacy hardware support." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "QEMU documents VirtIO devices as recommended device models for virtual machines, supporting ongoing new deployments of virtio-net-backed guests." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/virtio-net-failover.html", "claim": "QEMU documents current virtio-net failover usage with the guest net_failover kernel module, showing active VM/virtualization deployment relevance for drivers/net components." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net` is a live umbrella driver directory, not a single obsolete chipset. Local shell inspection showed active configs such as TUN, VETH, VIRTIO_NET, XEN_NETDEV_FRONTEND, DUMMY, MACVLAN, and IPVLAN under this path. Lore evidence was gathered with `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/tun.c` and `drivers/net/virtio_net.c`, which returned 2026 traffic and lore URLs. Deployment evidence was gathered via `web.search_query`, which returned current kernel TUN/TAP docs and QEMU VirtIO/virtio-net failover docs. `lore_subsystem_churn` on `path:drivers/net/` returned no aggregate hits, likely because top-level directory matching is sparse in lore; that does not outweigh the direct per-file activity. Because this directory serves heavily used VM/container/user-space networking functions and still sees upstream fixes, the correct outcome is keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006034263385902628, "commits_5y": 1151, "substantive_commits_5y": 1132, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Breno Leitao", "top_author_commits": 85, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/arcnet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SMSC ARCNET COM90xx / COM20020", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 1992, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260413155831.929436654@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-13, ARCNET still receives targeted functional fixes upstream/stable: \"net: arcnet: com20020-pci: fix support for 2.5Mbit cards\"." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026041801-sizable-turtle-1fb4@gregkh/", "claim": "ARCNET touched recent stable releases in 2026, indicating maintained code rather than abandoned dead code." }, { "url": "https://www.ccontrols.com/arccontrol/pci20ex.php", "claim": "A vendor was still selling new ARCNET PCI Express cards in 2025-era catalogs, so the hardware class was not fully extinct." }, { "url": "https://www.ccontrols.com/arccontrol/pc10420.php", "claim": "A vendor was still selling new COM20020-based ARCNET PC/104 modules, consistent with ongoing industrial/embedded niche deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.ccontrols.com/arccontrol/index.htm", "claim": "Contemporary Controls markets ARCNET for industrial control and lists active ARCNET hubs/NIMs across ISA, PC/104, PCI, USB, and PCIe, supporting current niche deployment evidence." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARCNET", "claim": "ARCNET is a legacy LAN technology whose mainstream market declined long ago, but it retained an industrial-control niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel tree inspection via shell showed ARCNET core plus COM90xx/COM20020 ISA/PCI/PCMCIA drivers. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/arcnet/com20020-pci.c returned 2026 stable traffic and a specific functional fix URL; lore_file_timeline on arcnet.c showed mainly treewide maintenance, not removal discussion. Web search found Contemporary Controls product pages for new ARCNET PCIe and PC/104 hardware plus an ARCNET product-family page, so hardware is still sold new but only in a narrow industrial niche. Wikipedia from web search supports that broad market availability ended decades ago; 1992 is an inference from that decline point, so confidence is moderate there. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for ARCNET hardware, so this should be kept but clearly annotated as legacy/niche rather than deprecated for removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.059358159615163456, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771326861, "top_author": "Ethan Nelson-Moore", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/bonding", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a hardware driver directory: contains the Linux bonding virtual netdevice/team-link aggregation implementation, not chipset-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.007798378020597914, "commits_5y": 238, "substantive_commits_5y": 229, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Hangbin Liu", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/caif", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson CAIF cellular modems", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260416182829.1440262-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "Netdev carried a 2026-04-16 patch titled \"caif: remove CAIF NETWORK LAYER\", showing active upstream removal work touching this driver area." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/caif/linux_caif.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says CAIF is a mux protocol used by ST-Ericsson cellular modems and describes UART/loopback Linux transports, tying the stack to legacy ST-Ericsson modem hardware." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/caif/caif.html", "claim": "Kernel usage documentation explicitly frames CAIF setup around an \"STE modem\", reinforcing that deployments are tied to old ST-Ericsson phone-modem integrations." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST-Ericsson", "claim": "ST-Ericsson was dissolved in August 2013, making fresh 2025 sales of native ST-Ericsson CAIF modem hardware unlikely." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAIF_VIRTIO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows a CAIF virtio transport still exists upstream, suggesting a residual virtualization/testing niche even as physical hardware is obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommend remove: lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/caif/caif_serial.c and caif_virtio.c surfaced the netdev removal patch URL, which outweighs recent maintenance traffic. Kernel-doc URLs were obtained via web search and show CAIF is specific to ST-Ericsson/STE modems. The ST-Ericsson URL was obtained via web search and supports the 2013 obsolescence cutoff. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and supports only a small remaining virtio niche, so deployments are low rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.036621117655126156, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1270001330, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773107275, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SocketCAN CAN/CAN FD controllers and adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260420132314.1023554-314-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "April 2026 upstream patch activity touched `drivers/net/can/spi/mcp251x.c`, showing ongoing maintenance of in-tree CAN hardware drivers." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260402095243.647258-1-dbassey@redhat.com/", "claim": "April 2026 upstream discussion added a new virtio CAN driver, showing the subsystem is still gaining new functionality rather than heading toward removal." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-USB-FD.365.0.html?L=1", "claim": "PEAK-System was still selling the PCAN-USB FD CAN/CAN-FD USB adapter, indicating new CAN hardware remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/kvaser-pcie-8xcan/", "claim": "Kvaser was still selling a PCIe multi-channel CAN/CAN FD interface, indicating ongoing new deployments in test, industrial, and embedded environments." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/fileadmin/media/linux/index.php", "claim": "PEAK states its CAN interfaces operate on Linux and that many Linux kernels already include the drivers via the SocketCAN framework." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus", "claim": "CAN remains a current bus used across automotive and multiple industrial domains, supporting the conclusion that deployments are still widespread." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/can` is an active driver subsystem, not a legacy orphan: `lore_regex` on patch bodies for `^diff --git a/drivers/net/can/` returned multiple April 2026 fixes plus new virtio-CAN work (first two lore URLs). A separate `lore_regex` subject search for removal/deprecation talk timed out and produced no usable removal evidence; combined with the provided 230 substantive commits in 5y, that argues against deprecation. Web `search_query` produced current vendor product pages (PEAK, Kvaser) and PEAK's Linux/SocketCAN support page, plus Wikipedia for present-day CAN deployment context. Because this directory is the in-tree CAN driver ecosystem itself, there is no single upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02530167972266067, "commits_5y": 237, "substantive_commits_5y": 230, "first_touch_ts": 1201560852, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772443481, "top_author": "Marc Kleine-Budde", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/c_can", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Bosch C_CAN/D_CAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20241202090040.1110280-4-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Recent non-mechanical maintenance continued in late 2024 with a c_can bug-fix patch updating bus-error statistics." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20241104200120.393312-5-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The driver received a fix in 2024 referencing the original Bosch C_CAN support commit, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251017150819.1415685-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The most recent 2025 touch was a CAN treewide API cleanup, not a c_can removal or deprecation series." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM3358", "claim": "TI still listed AM3358 as ACTIVE and the product page advertises up to two CAN ports and Linux support, showing new-sale hardware using this IP in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM4378", "claim": "TI still listed AM4378 with up to two CAN ports, showing the same Bosch-derived CAN block remains present in currently sold industrial SoCs." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/docs/latest/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/DCAN.html", "claim": "TI's current Processor SDK Linux documentation still documents the DCAN Linux driver and validates it on multiple EVMs including AM335x, AM437x, 66AK2Gx, AM571x, DRA74x, and DRA72x." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig identified the family as Bosch C_CAN/D_CAN and showed platform/PCI support, including TI boards and Intel Atom E6xx IOH. lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/can/c_can/c_can_main.c showed sustained upstream traffic through 2024-10 to 2025-10, with real bug-fix patches plus a later treewide CAN API cleanup; the attempted lore_regex removal search timed out, and no removal evidence was found in the returned lore activity. Web search located TI product pages for AM3358 and AM4378, both current pages showing CAN-capable ACTIVE parts, plus TI's latest Processor SDK DCAN documentation with validated EVMs. That combination points to continued industrial/embedded deployment and ongoing maintenance, so this should be kept; there is no true drop-in replacement driver for existing C_CAN/D_CAN silicon, only newer unrelated Bosch CAN IP such as m_can on different hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11515606920288443, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1297666304, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Dario Binacchi", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/cc770", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Bosch CC770 / Intel AN82527", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/can/cc770/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this directory as support for Bosch CC770 and Intel AN82527 CAN devices, including an ISA-bus legacy frontend and a generic platform-bus frontend." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251017150819.1415685-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The core cc770 driver file was still being touched in linux-can in October 2025 as part of active CAN treewide maintenance, not a removal series." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/htmldatasheets/production/1122049/0/0/1/ia82527pqf44ar2.html", "claim": "DigiKey-hosted Innovasic IA82527 datasheet says it replaces the obsolete Intel 82527 and exists to let users retain existing board designs, indicating legacy sustainment rather than new design wins." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Ethernet-Products/Case-97975-PN-information/td-p/1495163", "claim": "Intel support stated in June 2023 that the 82527 CAN controller was made in 1995 and, based on age, should have been EOL'd." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local tree inspection identified Bosch CC770 / Intel AN82527 support plus ISA legacy and platform-bus variants; kernel.org Kconfig URL cited via canonical recall. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/can/cc770/cc770.c returned 2025 linux-can activity and no removal evidence in the returned recent events; cited lore URL obtained from the MCP tool. Deployment evidence came from web search results: DigiKey/Innovasic frames 82527 as an obsolete-part replacement for keeping old designs alive, and Intel's forum says the part dates to 1995 and should have been EOL'd. That points to legacy industrial/embedded deployments that still justify keeping the driver, but with an 'annotate legacy hardware' stance rather than deprecation or removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14784983433022922, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1322609927, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/ctucanfd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "CTU CAN FD IP Core", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://static.lwn.net/kerneldoc/networking/device_drivers/can/ctu/ctucanfd-driver.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says CTU CAN FD is an open-source soft core, with Linux driver support for Xilinx Zynq, Intel Cyclone V/DE0-Nano-SoC, PCIe integration, and QEMU mainline emulation." }, { "url": "https://canbus.pages.fel.cvut.cz/", "claim": "Project page lists CTU CAN FD IP Core as an active CTU FEE CAN-bus project with documentation, testing results, and FPGA/SoC integrations." }, { "url": "https://canbus.pages.fel.cvut.cz/ctucanfd_ip_core/doc/Datasheet.pdf", "claim": "The datasheet was published in late 2025 and describes CTU CAN FD v2.6.0, indicating current maintained documentation for the IP core." }, { "url": "https://gitlab.fel.cvut.cz/canbus/ctucanfd_ip_core", "claim": "The old GitLab project is archived and explicitly says the project migrated to GitHub, which indicates continuation rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/can.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation includes CTU CAN FD support examples and the emulated PCI device ctucan_pci, showing ongoing virtualization/test deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on the local kernel tree showed substantive ctucanfd activity through 2026-01-09 (functional SSP fix) plus 2025 maintenance, with no sign of staged removal in recent history. `web.search_query` + `web.open` found current kernel docs, CTU project pages, a 2025 datasheet, GitLab->GitHub migration, and current QEMU docs. Overall this is a niche but still-live FPGA/SoC/IP-core CAN FD driver with ongoing upstream fixes and documented modern deployments; no natural in-tree replacement covers the same IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1650381134, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767965189, "top_author": "Pavel Pisa", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/dev", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `drivers/net/can/dev` is the CAN subsystem's shared device/helper library area, not a hardware-bound driver for a specific chipset or product family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019691460812856082, "commits_5y": 131, "substantive_commits_5y": 129, "first_touch_ts": 1610527378, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773926704, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 58, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/esd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "esdACC-based CAN-PCI(e)/402 family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9721866f07e108f892c15ae0c03059e5221b5594", "claim": "Driver support for the esd GmbH PCIe/402 CAN interface family was added upstream in late 2023, so this is a recently introduced driver rather than legacy carry-over." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c20ff3e0d9ebdc9f7fd84b8c59c2cba9442324c3", "claim": "The driver received feature work in 2024 (one-shot mode), indicating active functional maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0bee15a5caf36fe513fdeee07fd4f0331e61c064", "claim": "The driver received a non-mechanical transmit-path fix in October 2025, showing current upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://esd.eu/en/products/can-pcie-402", "claim": "esd still markets the CAN-PCIe/402 as a current product with Linux driver support and order/request flow on the vendor site." }, { "url": "https://esd.eu/en/products/can-m2-402", "claim": "The vendor also markets M.2 members of the same 402 family in 2025, showing ongoing new deployments of the esdACC-based platform." }, { "url": "https://esd.eu/en/products/cpci-can-402", "claim": "The 402 family is still offered in CompactPCI industrial form factors, supporting continued niche industrial deployment rather than pure legacy status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified `esd_402_pci` as a PCIe SocketCAN driver for esdACC-based CAN-PCI(e)/402 boards. Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` on the directory and matching subjects; it showed 2024 feature work and a 2025 bug-fix path, with no removal-oriented matches. Kernel commit URLs are canonical-recall links constructed from those locally observed commit hashes. Vendor product URLs were obtained by web search and show the 402 family still sold across PCIe, M.2, and CompactPCI variants. This points to a current industrial niche driver with active maintenance and no natural in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1707753510, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761912738, "top_author": "Stefan Mätje", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/flexcan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale FlexCAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5297709.html", "claim": "July 23, 2024 patch series adds i.MX95 wakeup support to flexcan, showing active upstream enablement for a new NXP SoC generation." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/11/25/1017", "claim": "November 25, 2024 patch series adds FlexCAN support for NXP S32G2/S32G3 SoCs, indicating ongoing upstream expansion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX95 family as active/current and its product details include 5x CAN FD, matching ongoing FlexCAN-backed new-platform deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/S32G2", "claim": "NXP lists S32G2 as active/current, with Linux BSP support and vehicle-networking positioning, supporting continued real-world FlexCAN deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed by local code inspection with exec_command: platform driver entry, OF match table, and multiple SoC compatibles in flexcan-core.c. Upstream activity checked via exec_command git log on the directory: multiple substantive 2024-2025 fixes/features, including PM work and new SoC support; no removal-oriented history surfaced. URLs were obtained by web search: spinics/LKML patch threads show active feature work for i.MX95 and S32G2/S32G3, and NXP product pages show the IP remains present in active i.MX95 and S32G2 products sold for industrial/automotive use. No natural in-tree replacement exists because this is the vendor-specific driver for the FlexCAN IP block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 32, "first_touch_ts": 1641669462, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Marc Kleine-Budde", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/ifi_canfd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "I/F/I CAN_FD soft IP core", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251017150819.1415685-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The driver file was still being touched in 2025 by upstream CAN treewide work, so it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_IFI_CANFD.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_CAN_IFI_CANFD for the IFI CAN_FD IP, a platform/of-backed soft IP driver present through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.ifi-pld.de/IP/CANFD/body_canfd.html", "claim": "Vendor product page still advertised the IFI CAN_FD IP recently, targeting current Intel/Altera FPGA families and describing CAN FD features." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/partner/showcase/storefront/a5S3b00000052AuEAI/ifi-franz-sprenger.html", "claim": "Intel's partner listing describes IFI Franz Sprenger as currently providing CAN IP cores including CAN FD and CAN XL." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed this is a real platform driver for an I/F/I soft CAN-FD IP block usually synthesized into FPGA/CPLD, not a legacy discrete adapter. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/can/ifi_canfd/ifi_canfd.c showed steady upstream attention through 2025, with latest touches being CAN treewide maintenance rather than removal discussion; I used the linux-can lore URL from that result. Web search found LKDDb for kernel presence, the vendor CANFD page (search snippet crawled 5 months ago) showing ongoing product marketing, and Intel's current partner page listing IFI as offering CAN/CAN FD/CAN XL IP cores. This looks like a niche industrial/FPGA deployment with continued but low-volume relevance, so keep the driver but annotate it as specialized rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1587271783906169, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1455976575, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/kvaser_pciefd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Kvaser PCIe CAN/CAN FD interfaces", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-can/msg19583.html", "claim": "July 2025 linux-can patch series restructured kvaser_pciefd into a dedicated directory/header split, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-can/msg19616.html", "claim": "July 2025 net-next patch added devlink support for kvaser_pciefd, showing current feature work and review traffic." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/kvaser-pciecan-2xcan-v3/", "claim": "Kvaser was still selling PCIEcan 2xCAN v3 in 2025, a PCIe CAN/CAN FD board in this driver's product family, with explicit SocketCAN support." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/kvaser-m-2-pcie-4xcan/", "claim": "Kvaser was still selling M.2 PCIe 4xCAN hardware in 2025, showing new-deployment relevance for this PCIe CAN/CAN FD family." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/kvaser-pciecan-2xhs-v2-2/", "claim": "An older PCIe 2xHS v2 model is marked End of Life, suggesting generational churn inside the family but replacement by newer still-sold variants rather than driver obsolescence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) confirmed this is a real PCI driver with 2025 feature commits and current PCI IDs including v2/v3/M.2-era devices. Web search located linux-can/netdev archive pages on spinics because the requested lore MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; those threads show active 2025 development, not removal talk. Web search also found current Kvaser product pages showing still-sold PCIe/M.2 CAN FD boards, while one older v2 page is EOL; overall this points to a live but niche industrial/embedded deployment base, so keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1753458830, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761912738, "top_author": "Jimmy Assarsson", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/m_can", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Bosch M_CAN CAN/CAN-FD controller IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260213-mcan-out-of-band-v1-1-af68d4c570b3@ti.com/", "claim": "Upstream linux-can still carried new m_can feature work in February 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251021195044.726823066@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "m_can fixes were backported to stable in October 2025, showing current production relevance and ongoing bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.bosch-semiconductors.com/products/ip-modules/can-ip-modules/m-can/", "claim": "Bosch still markets M_CAN as a current CAN/CAN-FD IP module for ASIC/FPGA/standalone integration." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TCAN4550", "claim": "TI still lists the TCAN4550 as ACTIVE and states it uses Bosch M_CAN Revision 3.2.1.1, showing current deployable silicon based on this IP family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: static metadata already showed 141 substantive commits in 5y, and lore_file_timeline/lore_activity confirmed heavy recent traffic plus stable backports through 2025 and new linux-can work in 2026. Bosch and TI URLs were obtained via web search; lore URLs came from lore_file_timeline/lore_activity. Bosch/TI evidence indicates the IP family remains sold into new embedded/automotive designs, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural replacement driver exists for the same Bosch M_CAN IP block; board-specific wrappers still depend on this core driver. A removal-themed lore_regex subject search timed out twice, so absence of removal discussion is an inference from strong positive activity, not a direct negative proof.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08432456602630704, "commits_5y": 143, "substantive_commits_5y": 141, "first_touch_ts": 1408316621, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760707039, "top_author": "Markus Schneider-Pargmann", "top_author_commits": 43, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/mscan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP MSCAN on MPC5xxx (MPC5200/MPC5200B/MPC5121)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251017150819.1415685-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "mscan.c was still touched by CAN treewide maintenance in October 2025, indicating ongoing upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20241112211442.7205-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "mpc5xxx_can.c received platform-driver modernization work in November 2024, showing the driver still gets substantive upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC5200B", "claim": "NXP labels MPC5200B as End of Life / not recommended for new designs; the SoC includes two CAN 2.0 A/B controllers." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC5121e", "claim": "NXP labels MPC5121e as not recommended for new designs, placing this supported hardware family in legacy status for new product work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_MPC5XXX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CAN_MPC5XXX remains present through current kernel series and binds to fsl,mpc5200-mscan and fsl,mpc5121-mscan compatibles." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: platform CAN driver code with module_platform_driver in mpc5xxx_can.c. Local rg/sed on Kconfig and sources identified the hardware as Freescale/NXP MSCAN for MPC5200/MPC5200B/MPC5121. lore_file_timeline on mscan.c and mpc5xxx_can.c produced the cited lore URLs; they show recent 2024-2025 maintenance and no driver-removal series surfaced in the timeline results. Web search produced the NXP product pages and LKDDb page; those indicate the covered SoCs are legacy/NRND or EOL for new designs, but still supported upstream, so this looks like low-volume industrial/embedded legacy deployment. No direct replacement driver exists for the same on-chip controller, so keep support but annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14226483432150885, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1258174023, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/peak_canfd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "PEAK-System PCAN-PCI Express FD family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251112184344.189863-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving targeted upstream maintenance in late 2025 (peak_canfd ndo_hwtstamp callback conversion), which argues against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/products/hardware/internal-pc-interfaces/pcan-pci-express-fd/", "claim": "PEAK-System still listed PCAN-PCI Express FD hardware for sale, including Linux driver support, indicating the hardware family remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/fileadmin/media/linux/index.php", "claim": "PEAK-System's Linux support page lists 'PCAN-PCI Express FD' as supported by mainline kernels since 4.12, showing current vendor-supported Linux deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_PEAK_PCIEFD.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CAN_PEAK_PCIEFD remains present through current kernels and maps to PEAK PCI device IDs handled by this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-PCI-Express.206.0.html?L=1&no_cache=1&sword_list%5B0%5D=pci&sword_list%5B1%5D=driver", "claim": "The older non-FD PCAN-PCI Express product page points users to the FD four-channel card as the manufactured alternative, reinforcing that peak_canfd covers the current product line rather than a legacy-only niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this directory builds CONFIG_CAN_PEAK_PCIEFD for PEAK-System PCAN-PCIe FD cards only; no broader helper-library role. lore_activity on peak_canfd.c and peak_pciefd_main.c showed active 2025 maintenance and no removal-thread evidence in the sampled history. Web search found the official PEAK product page and Linux support matrix confirming the hardware family was sold/supported in 2025. Web search also found LKDDb confirming ongoing upstream presence. Industrial/automotive PCIe CAN-FD adapters are real but niche today, so deployments are low rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1489270459329769, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1493103645, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761912738, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/rcar", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ CAN and CAN FD controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260401073338.5592-6-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "`rcar_can.c` still received upstream net-next maintenance in April 2026, indicating the classic R-Car CAN driver remains live." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260403095003.104542-4-biju.das.jz@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "`rcar_canfd.c` received a functional Bus-Off recovery fix in April 2026, showing active bug-fix traffic rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/cip-dev/20260407105808.15196-7-prabhakar.mahadev-lad.rj@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "A 2026 patch adds RZ/T2H support to `rcar_canfd`, showing the driver is being extended for newer Renesas parts, not phased out." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity to 2037 and CAN/CAN-FD interfaces, evidencing ongoing new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-r-car-v4h-adas-soc-selected-toyota-rav4-model", "claim": "Renesas announced in February 2026 that R-Car V4H was selected for a Toyota RAV4 ADAS control unit, indicating current automotive deployment of the broader R-Car family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active Renesas SoC CAN driver directory, with two real platform drivers (`CAN_RCAR`, `CAN_RCAR_CANFD`) confirmed from local Kconfig/source inspection via `exec_command`. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_file_timeline` on both `rcar_can.c` and `rcar_canfd.c`; results showed 2026 maintenance plus a new-support patch for RZ/T2H, so there is no evidence of obsolescence or removal momentum. Deployment evidence came from web search on renesas.com showing Active RZ/G2L CAN-FD MPUs with longevity through 2037 and a 2026 R-Car V4H automotive design win. No natural upstream replacement covers the same Renesas on-SoC CAN/CAN-FD blocks, so replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.050811132606633516, "commits_5y": 108, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1466170787, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768593078, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 46, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/rockchip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RK3568 CAN-FD", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-rockchip/2024-September/050816.html", "claim": "Upstream bring-up landed in 2024 as a 20-patch series for the Rockchip RK3568 CAN-FD IP, indicating a new and actively integrated driver rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/2/19/690", "claim": "The driver received a targeted functional fix in February 2025, showing ongoing maintainer attention after merge." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1089561.html", "claim": "A net patch in May 2025 fixed the driver's remove path and was routed for stable, showing active upkeep rather than removal planning." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/2505.3/00835.html", "claim": "Rockchip's later RK3576 CAN work was proposed as major differences from RK3568 and reuses/extents this driver family, so there is no natural replacement driver for RK3568 CAN-FD." }, { "url": "https://www.embsom.com/News/company-news/rockchip-rk3568-mini-pc-launch/", "claim": "RK3568-based industrial hardware with CAN was marketed in 2025 with long lifecycle messaging, evidence of ongoing new deployments." }, { "url": "https://geniuscores.com/products/rk3568-industrial-android-board-dual-gigabit-can-d-3568", "claim": "A commercially sold RK3568 industrial board advertises CAN interfaces, supporting continued deployment in embedded/industrial products." }, { "url": "https://www.rockchips.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Rockchip-RK3568-Datasheet-V2.1-20240621.pdf", "claim": "A 2025-hosted RK3568 datasheet indicates the SoC remains actively documented and commercially present in the market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows a real platform CAN-FD driver with OF matches for `rockchip,rk3568v2-canfd` and `rockchip,rk3568v3-canfd`; local `git log` shows initial merge in 2024 and multiple follow-up fixes through 2025. All URLs above were obtained via `web.search_query`. Lore/LKML-style evidence found active bring-up and bug-fix traffic, but no removal/deprecation thread. Deployment looks industrial/embedded rather than mass-market consumer, so current use is medium. Because the driver is only ~1.6 years old, still maintained, and tied to still-sold RK3568 hardware, the defensible recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1725453711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760973484, "top_author": "Marc Kleine-Budde", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/sja1000", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP/Philips SJA1000 stand-alone CAN controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260131101512.1958907-9-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Upstream work is still active in 2026; this file received a functional net-next patch changing SJA1000 error-state handling." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/interfaces/can-transceivers/legacy-can/stand-alone-can-controller%3ASJA1000T", "claim": "NXP still listed the SJA1000T product as Active, indicating the controller family was still an orderable/current product in 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/products/hardware/internal-pc-interfaces/pcan-pci/", "claim": "PEAK-System still marketed PCAN-PCI hardware using the NXP SJA1000 controller, showing ongoing real hardware deployments around this driver family." }, { "url": "https://docs.embeddedts.com/TS-CAN1", "claim": "embeddedTS still documented the TS-CAN1 board and its use of the SJA1000 with Linux SocketCAN, supporting present-day embedded/industrial deployment evidence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: static history already shows 55 substantive commits in 5y, and lore_activity on drivers/net/can/sja1000/sja1000.c returned 2026 linux-can/netdev patches, so this is maintained rather than abandoned. Web search found NXP's official product page marking SJA1000T Active, plus current vendor pages/manuals for PEAK PCAN-PCI and embeddedTS TS-CAN1 using SJA1000, so hardware is still sold for industrial/embedded niches. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same installed hardware base; newer CAN controllers such as m_can are different silicon, not drop-in replacements. URL provenance: lore URL from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity; vendor URLs from web.search_query results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04970840966393204, "commits_5y": 59, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1242686501, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081923, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/slcan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "LAWICEL SLCAN-compatible serial CAN adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-can/msg19034.html", "claim": "A 2025 v3 patch series for slcan was reviewed on linux-can, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg844761.html", "claim": "The 2025 slcan fix was queued for stable, showing current support burden and relevance." }, { "url": "https://canable.io/index.html", "claim": "CANable 2.0 was marketed as a current product and explicitly described as a virtual serial port / serial-line CAN interface compatible with SocketCAN through slcand." }, { "url": "https://openlightlabs.com/products/canable-2-0", "claim": "A retail product page in 2025 sold CANable 2.0 and advertised slcan compatibility for a new USB-to-CAN adapter." }, { "url": "https://python-can.readthedocs.io/en/stable/interfaces/slcan.html", "claim": "Current python-can documentation still includes a maintained slcan backend, indicating ongoing user-space and deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: tty line-discipline CAN driver with module_init/module_exit in local tree inspection via shell `rg`. Local `git log` (shell, safe.directory override) shows substantive slcan work through 2025-05 and treewide touches through 2025-10, plus 2022 maintainer onboarding. Upstream mail evidence was obtained via web search because `lei` was unavailable in this environment; the linux-can and stable threads show active fixes and no removal/deprecation discussion. Market/deployment URLs were obtained via web search and show new slcan-capable hardware still sold in 2025. Replacement driver is null because there is no single upstream drop-in replacement for generic SLCAN-over-tty devices; some newer adapters can use native firmware such as gs_usb, but that does not replace the whole installed SLCAN class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1656840884, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Dario Binacchi", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/softing", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Softing DPRAM-based CAN interface cards (Softing/Vector PCMCIA/PCI/PC/104 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20251017150819.1415685-3-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "`drivers/net/can/softing/softing_main.c` was still being touched in late 2025 as part of active CAN-subsystem treewide maintenance, so the driver is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_SOFTING.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_CAN_SOFTING as support for Softing CAN cards using dual-port RAM, created by `softing_cs` or `softing_pci`, i.e. a legacy board family rather than modern USB CAN adapters." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_SOFTING_CS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the directory still includes explicit PCMCIA support and references firmware version 4.6, reinforcing that this targets older deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://industrial.softing.com/us/services/discontinued-products.html", "claim": "Softing lists CANcard2 as discontinued in 2013 and several CAN-AC/CAN-PRO PC/104 products as discontinued in 2020-2023 with support ending by 2024, indicating the supported hardware family is no longer a current new-sales line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on the tree showed this is real driver code (`module_platform_driver`, `module_pcmcia_driver`) for Softing CAN hardware, not helpers. Recent upstream activity came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/can/softing/softing_main.c`, which returned the cited lore URL and a 2025 activity histogram; I saw active maintenance but no explicit removal discussion in the evidence gathered. Hardware/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results for LKDDb and Softing product lifecycle pages: the driver covers old DPRAM/PCMCIA/PCI/PC104-era cards, while vendor lifecycle pages show those lines discontinued. That points to legacy industrial field deployments that still exist, but very little chance of meaningful new 2025 sales. I left `replacement_driver` null because local tree inspection found no separate in-tree successor for the same Softing DPRAM card family; newer Softing CAN products are different device families, not drop-in coverage for this driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1587271783906169, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1295669717, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760687833, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/spi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Standalone SPI CAN controllers (Holt HI-3110 family, Microchip MCP2510/MCP2515 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260424132534.834357259@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`mcp251x.c` had active upstream maintenance in 2026, including a bug fix backported to stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260413155821.817811528@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`hi311x.c` also had active 2026 maintenance and stable backports, arguing against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.holtic.com/hi-3110-hi-3111-hi-3112-hi-3113-1", "claim": "Holt still advertises the HI-3110 family as current standalone CAN controllers." }, { "url": "https://www.holtic.com/adk-3110-hi-3110-evaluation-board-users-guide-2", "claim": "Holt still publishes an HI-3110 evaluation-board page with a datasheet updated in 2025, indicating ongoing product availability/support." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/APID/ProductDocuments/DataSheets/MCP2515-Family-Data-Sheet-DS20001801K.pdf", "claim": "Microchip's MCP2515 family datasheet includes active ordering/package information, supporting continued market availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed this directory contains two real SPI CAN drivers (`hi311x.c`, `mcp251x.c`) plus a newer `mcp251xfd/` subdir outside the phase-1 file count. `lore_file_timeline` on both C files showed fresh 2026 fixes and stable backports, with no obtained evidence of removal discussion; a `lore_regex` removal query timed out and `lei` was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so the conclusion relies on the positive activity signal plus the provided static commit data. Vendor availability evidence came from web search restricted to `microchip.com` and `holtic.com`. Because the supported chips are still sold and the drivers are seeing real maintenance, this should be kept rather than deprecated; there is no direct upstream replacement for the same installed hardware, so `replacement_driver` is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026203942042622608, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1398372856, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773926704, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/spi/mcp251xfd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip MCP251xFD", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260401073338.5592-5-mkl@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Upstream development is active: April 1, 2026 patch adding XSTBYEN transceiver standby control touches mcp251xfd." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260108082042.1627-1-qikeyu2017@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent bug-fix traffic exists: January 8, 2026 patch fixes a UAF in mcp251xfd." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MCP2517FD", "claim": "Microchip lists MCP2517FD as 'Status: In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MCP2518FD", "claim": "Microchip lists MCP2518FD as 'Status: In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MCP251863", "claim": "Microchip lists MCP251863 as 'Status: In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/mikroe-3060", "claim": "A current Microchip-hosted development tool page exists for an MCP2518FD-based click board, indicating ongoing ecosystem support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/of_match in-tree identify Microchip MCP2517FD/MCP2518FD/MCP251863 support. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on mcp251xfd-core.c and shows active 2026 feature and fix patches, which strongly argues against deprecation/removal. Removal-talk check via `lore_regex` timed out and a web search for lore removal/deprecation hits found none. Hardware-market evidence came from web search results on official Microchip product pages and a Microchip-hosted dev-board page; all cited parts are still in production, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Natural replacement driver is none: this is the upstream driver for the family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07843678796527633, "commits_5y": 114, "substantive_commits_5y": 110, "first_touch_ts": 1601495670, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762972233, "top_author": "Marc Kleine-Budde", "top_author_commits": 83, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/usb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "USB CAN adapters (vendor-specific SocketCAN USB interfaces)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260403013615.4641-2-ruohanlan@aliyun.com/", "claim": "`gs_usb` received a linux-can fix patch in April 2026, showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260413155848.889606614@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "That `gs_usb` fix was backported to stable in April 2026, indicating ongoing support for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/leaf-v3/", "claim": "Kvaser still sells the Leaf v3 USB-to-CAN/CAN FD interface and explicitly lists Linux/SocketCAN support." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-USB-FD.365.0.html?L=1", "claim": "PEAK still lists the PCAN-USB FD as a current USB CAN/CAN FD product." }, { "url": "https://www.etas.com/ww/en/products-services/data-acquisition-processing-tools/hardware-products/es5xx-ecu-and-bus-interface-modules/es582-usb-can-fd-bus-interface/", "claim": "ETAS still lists the ES582.1 USB CAN FD interface as a current product line relevant to this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: `drivers/net/can/usb` contains real USB CAN driver code. `exec_command` on `drivers/net/can/usb/Kconfig` and file listing showed multiple vendor drivers (Kvaser, PEAK, ETAS, 8devices, etc.). `lore_file_timeline` on `gs_usb.c`, `kvaser_usb_core.c`, and `etas_es58x/es58x_core.c` showed 2026 activity; `lore_regex` found no 5-year removal/deprecation discussion hits. Web search fetched current vendor product pages for Kvaser, PEAK, and ETAS, confirming new hardware is still sold in 2025-era markets. Because this directory covers several still-marketed industrial/automotive USB-CAN adapters and remains actively maintained, the right hint is keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.027008000772853005, "commits_5y": 168, "substantive_commits_5y": 162, "first_touch_ts": 1253557946, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772446176, "top_author": "Marc Kleine-Budde", "top_author_commits": 63, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ETAS ES58X USB CAN/CAN-FD bus interfaces", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026032549-aloft-reoccur-71c7@gregkh/", "claim": "lore_activity for drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_core.c shows the driver was still being touched and backported in March 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.etas.com/ww/en/products-services/data-acquisition-processing-tools/hardware-products/es5xx-ecu-and-bus-interface-modules/es582-usb-can-fd-bus-interface/", "claim": "ETAS still markets the ES582 USB CAN FD interface as a current product, supporting new-hardware availability for the ES58X family in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.etas.com/ww/en/products-services/data-acquisition-processing-tools/hardware-products/es5xx-ecu-and-bus-interface-modules/es584-usb-can-fd-and-lin-bus-interface-module/", "claim": "ETAS still markets the ES584 USB CAN FD/LIN interface as a current product, further supporting that the ES58X family remains in active commercial use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (exec_command on es58x_core.c/Makefile) shows this directory is the ETAS ES58X USB adapter driver covering ES581.4, ES582.1, and ES584.1. Phase-1 metadata already shows 42 substantive commits in 5 years with a most recent touch on 2026-03-02, and lore_activity(file=drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_core.c,since=5y) returned 2026 stable/lkml hits, so this is actively maintained; no removal signal surfaced in the sampled lore evidence. web.search_query found live ETAS product pages for ES582 and ES584, so the family is still sold new and remains relevant in automotive/industrial CAN tooling, albeit niche rather than mass-market. There is no obvious upstream replacement driver for the same vendor-specific USB devices, so removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03640065215865894, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1618301742, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772445822, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/usb/kvaser_usb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Kvaser USB CAN adapters (Leaf / Hydra / USBCan-II families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026020634-hankie-stank-dbf5@gregkh/", "claim": "`lore_activity` on `drivers/net/can/usb/kvaser_usb/kvaser_usb_core.c` found recent matches in 2026 stable traffic, showing the driver is still seeing upstream maintenance/backport activity." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/leaf-v3/", "claim": "Web search found Kvaser selling the Leaf v3 in 2025/2026, with Linux and SocketCAN support explicitly listed." }, { "url": "https://kvaser.com/product/kvaser-usbcan-pro-5xcan/", "claim": "Web search found Kvaser selling the USBcan Pro 5xCAN in 2025/2026, indicating the supported hardware family is still in current production." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/can/usb/kvaser_usb/kvaser_usb_core.c", "claim": "Canonical kernel source page shows the driver's USB ID table includes modern Kvaser products such as Leaf v3, USBcan Pro 5xCAN, and U100 variants, so there is no obvious upstream replacement driver for the same hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module-backed USB CAN code. Local source inspection (`rg`) shows active Kvaser device tables and current product IDs across Leaf/Hydra/USBCan-II lines. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no directory-level hits, so I used `lore_activity` on `kvaser_usb_core.c`; it showed recent 2026 stable touches, which is enough to rule out obsolescence. A removal-search attempt via `lore_regex` timed out twice and `lei` was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so there is no positive removal evidence. Web search found current Kvaser product pages for Leaf v3 and USBcan Pro 5xCAN, both sold with Linux/SocketCAN support. Recommendation stays `keep`: hardware is still sold, deployments remain relevant in industrial/automotive CAN workflows, and there is no natural upstream replacement for these vendor-specific USB adapters.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05420192197828375, "commits_5y": 82, "substantive_commits_5y": 80, "first_touch_ts": 1532680819, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768592440, "top_author": "Jimmy Assarsson", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/can/usb/peak_usb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "PEAK-System PCAN-USB", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-can/20260410124251.40506-1-stephane.grosjean@free.fr/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch in 2026 shows the driver is still actively maintained, not abandoned or under removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250812174405.771354368@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2025 stable backport fixes a PEAK USB FD malfunction, indicating real bug-fix traffic and deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/products/product-overview/", "claim": "PEAK-System's current product overview still lists PCAN-USB, PCAN-USB FD, PCAN-USB Pro FD, and PCAN-USB X6 as active products." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-USB-FD.365.0.html?L=1", "claim": "Official product page shows PCAN-USB FD is sold as a current USB CAN/CAN-FD adapter with Linux driver support." }, { "url": "https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-USB-Pro-FD.366.0.html?L=1&Y=1", "claim": "Official product page shows PCAN-USB Pro FD is sold as a current dual-channel CAN/CAN-FD/LIN adapter with Linux driver support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAN_PEAK_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_CAN_PEAK_USB remains present through current kernels and covers multiple PEAK USB product IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: lore_activity/lore_file_timeline on `pcan_usb.c` and `pcan_usb_fd.c` showed ongoing 2025-2026 maintenance plus a stable fix, and no credible removal signal; a linux-can removal regex attempt timed out rather than finding evidence. Vendor product-overview and official PCAN-USB FD / PCAN-USB Pro FD pages were obtained via web search and show the hardware family is still sold new. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and confirms ongoing kernel presence. Industrial CAN USB adapters are niche but current, so deployments are better described as medium than legacy-only.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10583529956809794, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1330792851, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761912738, "top_author": "Stephane Grosjean", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Linux DSA managed Ethernet switch subsystem (originally Marvell 88E6xxx/Link Street; now also Microchip KSZ/LAN93xx, NXP SJA1105, Realtek RTL83xx, etc.)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260311-net-next-mv88e6xxx-tcam-v8-2-32dd5ba30002@luminex.be/", "claim": "Recent net-next development in March 2026 added substantial new mv88e6xxx functionality under drivers/net/dsa, indicating active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/networking/dsa/configuration.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation treats DSA as a live networking subsystem with supported userspace configuration flows for switch ports." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/dsa/start", "claim": "OpenWrt documents DSA as the standard switch architecture used by many supported devices, showing ongoing real-world deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/high-speed-networking-and-video/ethernet/ethernet-switches", "claim": "Microchip is still marketing new Ethernet switch families with explicit Linux DSA support, showing the hardware class remains in new products." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/software-library/lan937x-software-libs", "claim": "Microchip publishes LAN937x software resources that point Linux users to upstream kernel drivers, reinforcing current vendor support for DSA-backed switch silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local tree inspection with `rg` showed real bus/register switch drivers and module driver entry points throughout drivers/net/dsa. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/dsa/mv88e6xxx/chip.c, which showed heavy activity through 2026-03-11 (including a large net-next TCAM series at the cited lore URL); that is strong evidence against deprecation or removal. Deployment/sales evidence came from web search results for current kernel docs, OpenWrt DSA docs, and Microchip Ethernet switch/LAN937x pages. This directory is an actively maintained subsystem for currently sold managed Ethernet switch ASICs, not a legacy one-off driver, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015567997627349282, "commits_5y": 471, "substantive_commits_5y": 465, "first_touch_ts": 1322544096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773937600, "top_author": "Arınç ÜNAL", "top_author_commits": 66, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/b53", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM53xx managed Ethernet switches (B53 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260115164241.194208623@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Recent stable backport traffic still carries b53-specific fixes; this driver is receiving maintained bug-fix attention rather than removal prep." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/B53.html", "claim": "CONFIG_B53 is still present in current kernel series and covers Broadcom BCM5325E/5365/539x/53115/53125 plus BCM63XX integrated switches." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/lede-commits/2023-June/018771.html", "claim": "OpenWrt added support in 2023 for a router using a Broadcom BCM53125 LAN switch, showing continuing field deployment in embedded networking gear." }, { "url": "https://www.cytechsystems.com/product/bcm53125mkmmlg", "claim": "A distributor listing shows BCM53125 marked active/available, supporting the view that at least some family members were still being sold new around 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with B53 module/Kconfig entries for Broadcom managed switches. Upstream activity is clearly alive: lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on drivers/net/dsa/b53/b53_common.c showed heavy 2024-2026 traffic and recent stable backports, with no removal/deprecation evidence. Kconfig/LKDDb identify the family as Broadcom BCM53xx managed switches used in older routers and SoC-integrated switch blocks. Deployment appears low, not none: search_query surfaced a 2023 OpenWrt device-support commit for BCM53125 hardware, and a distributor product page indicated BCM53125 availability. No natural replacement upstream driver covers the same chips; replacement is platform redesign, not driver migration. Source acquisition: lore URL from MCP lore_activity; LKDDb URL from web search/open; OpenWrt and distributor URLs from web search snippets.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05701988568010132, "commits_5y": 139, "substantive_commits_5y": 137, "first_touch_ts": 1465536089, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766852252, "top_author": "Jonas Gorski", "top_author_commits": 49, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/hirschmann", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Hirschmann Hellcreek TSN switch IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251130131657.65080-12-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "As of 2025-11-30 the driver still receives net-next functional work ('use simple HSR offload helpers'), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_DSA_HIRSCHMANN_HELLCREEK.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NET_DSA_HIRSCHMANN_HELLCREEK is still present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and maps to compatible string 'hirschmann,hellcreek-de1soc-r1' and module 'hellcreek_sw'." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-dev/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/dsa/hirschmann%2Chellcreek.yaml?id=8afc66e8d43be8edcf442165b70d50dd33091e68", "claim": "The DT binding describes Hellcreek as a TSN switch IP and publicly documents only the 'hirschmann,hellcreek-de1soc-r1' compatible, suggesting a narrow embedded/eval-board style footprint." }, { "url": "https://www.belden.com/en/Solutions/TSN-Technology", "claim": "Belden/Hirschmann was still marketing TSN-capable Hirschmann switch product lines in 2025-era web content, supporting ongoing industrial/TSN niche relevance for the vendor ecosystem even if not direct proof of new Hellcreek sales." }, { "url": "https://www.belden.com/products/Industrial-Networking-Cybersecurity/Managed-Switches/DIN-Rail-Compact/BOBCAT", "claim": "Belden's BOBCAT page shows current Hirschmann managed TSN-capable industrial switches remain on sale, reinforcing that the surrounding deployment niche is still alive." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/dsa/hirschmann/hellcreek.c` showed steady activity from 2020 through 2025, including late-2025 feature work, and no removal signal surfaced before tool budget ran out. `rg` on local sources plus the LKDDb page and DT-binding URL indicate this driver targets the specific Hellcreek TSN switch IP / `hellcreek-de1soc-r1` platform, not a broad consumer NIC family. Belden web-search results show Hirschmann still sells TSN-capable industrial switches, so the use case remains relevant, but I found no direct 2025 sales evidence for Hellcreek itself; that points to low-volume embedded/industrial deployments rather than broad new sales. No natural replacement driver exists for the same hardware, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08799891308118883, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1604613889, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764636308, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/lantiq", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Lantiq/Intel GSWIP 2.x and MaxLinear GSW1xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/netdev/aKDhFCNwjDDwRKsI%40pidgin.makrotopia.org/", "claim": "RFC series in August 2025 added MaxLinear GSW1xx support on top of the existing lantiq_gswip code, showing active upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6002468.html", "claim": "Net-next patch traffic for mxl-gsw1xx was still active in January 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance and feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.maxlinear.com/GSW125", "claim": "MaxLinear listed GSW125 as Active and orderable, with software location explicitly mentioning a DSA driver." }, { "url": "https://www.maxlinear.com/GSW140", "claim": "MaxLinear listed GSW140 as Active, indicating the GSW1xx family supported by this directory is still sold." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0/targets/lantiq/xrx200/", "claim": "OpenWrt 25.12.0 still shipped images for lantiq/xrx200 in March 2026, showing continuing deployment of legacy GSWIP-based SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and source files) shows this directory covers legacy Lantiq/Intel GSWIP SoC switches plus newer MaxLinear GSW1xx discrete switches. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows steady substantive work through 2026-02-10 with no removal pattern. lore-http MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore-style history was approximated via web search results pointing to mailing-list archives: the 2025 RFC series and 2026 net-next patch traffic show active upstream attention, not deprecation. Web search also found MaxLinear product pages showing GSW125/GSW140 active in market, while OpenWrt release indexes show ongoing field use of xrx200 hardware. Mixed family status (legacy SoCs plus active switch ICs) argues strongly for keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1756860342, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770710967, "top_author": "Daniel Golle", "top_author_commits": 32, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/microchip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip KSZ8/KSZ9/LAN937x managed Ethernet switch families", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260319181705.1576679-1-maxime.chevallier@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The driver is seeing active upstream net-next development in 2026, not just stale maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260304-ksz8463-ptp-v6-9-3f4c47954c71@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Recent multi-version feature work added KSZ8463 PTP support, indicating ongoing investment in older and newer Microchip switch variants." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/KSZ9477", "claim": "Microchip lists KSZ9477 as 'Status: In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN9374", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9374 as 'Status: In Production', showing the LAN937x family is still current." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN9646", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9646 as 'Status: In Production'; this compatible is present in the driver's device table." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/evb-ksz9477", "claim": "Microchip still offers a KSZ9477 evaluation kit, supporting evidence of active product availability and new design use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `exec_command` on local Kconfig/device tables shows this driver covers Microchip KSZ8XXX/KSZ9XXX/LAN937X plus compatible `microchip,lan9646`; no natural in-tree replacement beyond this driver family. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/dsa/microchip/ksz_common.c` showed heavy activity through 2024-2026, with newest touch on 2026-03-19 and feature series for KSZ8463/PTP, so this is clearly maintained and there is no removal signal from the lore evidence gathered. `web.search_query` on Microchip product pages found KSZ9477, LAN9374, and LAN9646 all marked 'In Production', plus an active KSZ9477 eval board page, which supports continued new deployments in embedded/industrial networking. Recommendation is `keep`, not `keep-annotate`, because the hardware family is still sold and upstream work is active.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019445793315426448, "commits_5y": 366, "substantive_commits_5y": 359, "first_touch_ts": 1496278591, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773277582, "top_author": "Oleksij Rempel", "top_author_commits": 110, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/mv88e6xxx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Link Street 88E6xxx Ethernet switch chips", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260311-net-next-mv88e6xxx-tcam-v8-2-32dd5ba30002@luminex.be/", "claim": "March 11, 2026 net-next patch series adds partial TCAM support to mv88e6xxx, showing active upstream feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/switching/carrier.html", "claim": "Marvell's current switching catalog lists Link Street 6390, 6393X, and 6361 industrial products, indicating the family still had new-product relevance around 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/switching/marvell-link-street-88e6390x-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "The 88E6390X product brief positions Link Street parts for smart/lightly managed and industrial Ethernet switches, matching ongoing embedded/industrial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real MDIO/DSA driver family, not a helper library. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/dsa/mv88e6xxx/chip.c showed dense 2021-2026 activity and a fresh 2026-03-11 net-next feature series (source URL obtained from lore_file_timeline). A separate lore_regex scan for remove/deprecat/obsolete mentions with mv88e6xxx on netdev over 5y returned no hits, so there is no evident upstream removal push. Web search returned Marvell's live switching catalog and 88E6390X product brief (URLs obtained via web search), which show Link Street 6390/6393X family parts still marketed for industrial/managed-switch use. Because the directory covers a still-deployed embedded switch family with active upstream work and no obvious successor driver, the right call is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.047722646691440676, "commits_5y": 237, "substantive_commits_5y": 229, "first_touch_ts": 1466868587, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767747198, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/mxl862xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MaxLinear MxL862xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/2/7/77", "claim": "v14 of the upstream patch series added the basic MxL862xx DSA driver on February 7, 2026, showing the driver is newly introduced rather than legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1164871.html", "claim": "A netdev bug-fix patch for mxl862xx was posted on March 10, 2026, showing immediate post-merge maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6090393.html", "claim": "Patchwork-bot reported the March 2026 mxl862xx fix was applied to netdev/net.git, indicating active upstream acceptance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.maxlinear.com/product/interface/ethernet/ethernet-switches/mxl86252s", "claim": "MaxLinear's product page lists MxL86252S as an active product and explicitly mentions 'Software Type: DSA driver / Host API'." }, { "url": "https://www.maxlinear.com/news/press-releases/2025/draytek-selects-maxlinear-2-5g-ethernet-switches-for-multi-port-networking-web-management-switches", "claim": "MaxLinear said on May 19, 2025 that DrayTek selected MxL86252S and MxL86282S for next-generation switches and that the parts were available then, evidencing ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local inspection (`sed` on Kconfig/C source and `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/dsa/mxl862xx`) showed this is a brand-new DSA switch driver added in February 2026 with a follow-up fix merged in March 2026. Mailing-list evidence was obtained via web search because the lore MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; the LKML and spinics URLs show active bring-up/fix traffic and no removal discussion. Deployment evidence was obtained via web search to MaxLinear product/press pages: MxL86252S/MxL86282S are still marketed with active documentation in 2025 and vendor-announced design wins, so hardware is still sold for new embedded/industrial/SMB switch designs. Deployments today are likely low rather than medium/high because the family is very new and specialized, but that argues for keeping the driver, not deprecating it. No natural replacement upstream driver exists for the same switch family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1770805678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773195493, "top_author": "Daniel Golle", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/ocelot", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip/Vitesse Ocelot/Felix/Seville Ethernet switch family (VSC7511/VSC7512/VSC7513/VSC7514, VSC9953, VSC9959)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/dsa/ocelot/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig ties this directory to Microchip/Microsemi Ocelot external switches plus Felix VSC9959 and Seville VSC9953 embedded switch blocks." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260225040323.69497-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-02-25 the driver was still receiving netdev patches, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251111004533.858873467@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Felix support was still being backported to stable in 2025, which is strong evidence of active deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/VSC7514", "claim": "Microchip listed VSC7514 as 'In Production', showing at least part of the Ocelot switch family was still sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1028A", "claim": "NXP listed LS1028A as 'Active' and described its integrated TSN-capable Ethernet switch, matching the Felix VSC9959 use case and indicating ongoing new-system availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection of the directory showed real platform drivers and Kconfig coverage for VSC751x, VSC9953, and VSC9959. lore_file_timeline on `drivers/net/dsa/ocelot/felix_vsc9959.c` produced the cited 2026 netdev patch and 2025 stable backports; two narrower lore_regex removal/deprecation searches timed out, and the timeline sample showed maintenance rather than removal traffic. Microchip and NXP product pages were obtained via web search. Kernel Kconfig URL is canonical recall to anchor the supported silicon list. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same hardware; this is the hardware-specific DSA front-end, and the lore history is too active for deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03452278986784498, "commits_5y": 210, "substantive_commits_5y": 204, "first_touch_ts": 1573849936, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770733811, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 140, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/qca", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 and QCA8K Ethernet switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250425151309.30493-1-kabel@kernel.org/", "claim": "QCA8K code in this directory was still receiving functional fixes in 2025 (management-frame / MDIO-bus handling)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/TYZPR01MB5556CE5DD202A8F5FBFBB6ECC9C92@TYZPR01MB5556.apcprd01.prod.exchangelabs.com/", "claim": "QCA8K code was still receiving new feature work in 2025 (internal-PHY-to-PHY CPU link support)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250611104348.192092-15-jirislaby@kernel.org/", "claim": "AR9331 code in this directory was still being updated in 2025, showing the older subdriver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_DSA_QCA8K.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties this driver family to multiple QCA8K compatibles including qca8327, qca8328, qca8334, and qca8337, confirming broad hardware coverage rather than a single obsolete SKU." }, { "url": "https://mikrotik.com/product/RB260GSP", "claim": "A currently listed MikroTik product uses a QCA8337 switch chip, indicating at least some driver-covered hardware remained sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed by local shell read of Kconfig/Makefile. lore_file_timeline on qca8k-8xxx.c and ar9331.c plus lore_activity on ar9331.c showed active upstream maintenance through 2025, including feature work and fixes; the only visible 'remove' item was removal of an internal helper/API path, not driver retirement. Web search returned LKDDb coverage and a current MikroTik product page with QCA8337, supporting ongoing SOHO/embedded deployments. URLs were obtained via exec_command, lore_file_timeline/lore_activity, and web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13794735248985515, "commits_5y": 90, "substantive_commits_5y": 90, "first_touch_ts": 1576890347, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749779197, "top_author": "Christian Marangi", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/realtek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8365MB/RTL8366RB (RTL836x) switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/dsa/realtek/", "claim": "Kernel history for this path shows the driver is young and still actively maintained into 2026, with recent bug fixes and feature work rather than retirement activity." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/dsa/realtek/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig exposes current support for Realtek RTL8365MB and RTL8366RB switch drivers, plus MDIO and SMI interface support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/dsa/realtek.yaml", "claim": "The DT binding documents active upstream support for realtek,rtl8365mb and realtek,rtl8366rb families and enumerates multiple chip models in those families." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-switch-rtl8366rb", "claim": "OpenWrt still publishes a package for RTL8366RB switch support, indicating ongoing deployment in router/open-firmware ecosystems." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2025-January/043585.html", "claim": "A 2025 OpenWrt patch explicitly created Realtek DSA switch packages for RTL8366RB and RTL8365MB, showing current enablement work rather than sunset." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_DSA_REALTEK_RTL8365MB.html", "claim": "LKDDb tracks CONFIG_NET_DSA_REALTEK_RTL8365MB in current kernel series, confirming ongoing upstream presence." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_DSA_REALTEK_RTL8366RB.html", "claim": "LKDDb tracks CONFIG_NET_DSA_REALTEK_RTL8366RB in current kernel series, confirming ongoing upstream presence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed a real DSA driver with 2026 touches and no explicit removal/deprecation commits; `lore-http` MCP was unavailable, so upstream activity was assessed via local `git -c safe.directory=... log` and mapped to canonical-recall kernel.org log/tree URLs. Web `search_query` found OpenWrt package/devel evidence and LKDDb pages. The driver covers still-deployed embedded/router switch ASICs, especially OpenWrt-class hardware, so this looks active and relevant rather than obsolete; no natural in-tree replacement exists beyond this driver itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 79, "first_touch_ts": 1643382169, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773281001, "top_author": "Luiz Angelo Daros de Luca", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/sja1105", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP SJA1105/SJA1110 automotive Ethernet switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260304220900.3865120-3-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "SJA1105-specific fixes were still being posted upstream in March 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260409171209.2575583-2-mmyangfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver directory continued to receive net-next feature work in April 2026 via DSA changes touching sja1105_main.c." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/SJA1105PQRS", "claim": "NXP listed the SJA1105PQRS family as Active, showing the supported hardware family was still marketed as current." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/SJA1110", "claim": "NXP listed SJA1110 as Active and positioned it for automotive TSN Ethernet, with current software/tools and evaluation boards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module code identify an SPI-managed NXP Ethernet switch driver. `exec_command` on local Kconfig established the supported family (SJA1105E/T/P/Q/R/S and SJA1110A/B/C/D). `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/dsa/sja1105/sja1105_main.c showed 157 matching upstream touches since 2024, newest on 2026-04-09, with recent sja1105-specific fixes and no evident removal/deprecation traffic in the returned activity sample. `web.search_query` found NXP product pages marking both SJA1105PQRS and SJA1110 as Active, so the hardware is still sold and relevant for new automotive/embedded deployments. No natural replacement driver exists upstream; this directory already covers the current family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023801321827691135, "commits_5y": 210, "substantive_commits_5y": 202, "first_touch_ts": 1556894957, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772848081, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 149, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/dsa/xrs700x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Arrow SpeedChips XRS7000 (XRS7003/XRS7004)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/dsa/xrs700x/Kconfig", "claim": "The upstream Kconfig describes this directory as support for Arrow SpeedChips XRS7003/7004 gigabit Ethernet switches." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251130131657.65080-5-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The driver saw substantive upstream work in late 2025, including a functional fix for unsupported HSR configurations." }, { "url": "https://www.arrow.com/en/campaigns/speedchips", "claim": "Arrow still marketed the SpeedChips family with XRS7004E/XRS7004F products and reference boards shown as in stock on a page crawled recently." }, { "url": "https://www.arrow.com/en/products/arwsc-xrs7004e/arrow-development-tools", "claim": "Arrow listed ARWSC-XRS7004E as an active product, indicating continued commercial availability beyond legacy-only status." }, { "url": "https://www.arrow.com/en/reference-designs/arwscbrd-xrs7004e-speedchip-xrs7000e-reference-board-based-on-arwsc-xrs7004e-ethernet-switch-supporting-hsr--prp/f2a84c6184e21ba37a1c5323fba6d6d1806952d3e540", "claim": "Arrow positions XRS7003/XRS7004 for industrial automation, smart grid, motion control, and similar redundancy-focused deployments, supporting ongoing niche use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) identified the family as Arrow SpeedChips XRS7003/XRS7004 and showed both I2C and MDIO transport drivers; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall for that local finding. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline` showed steady activity through 2025 with a recent netdev fix and stable backports, which argues against deprecation or removal. `web.search_query` found current Arrow marketing/product/reference-design pages showing active listings and niche industrial use, so this looks like a still-sold industrial switch family with low but real new deployments and no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10220832731773581, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1610753857, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764636307, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level Ethernet subsystem aggregation directory containing multiple vendor drivers/subdirectories, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03202224190931796, "commits_5y": 199, "substantive_commits_5y": 181, "first_touch_ts": 1313031200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771377415, "top_author": "Aleksander Jan Bajkowski", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/3com", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "3Com EtherLink/Vortex/Typhoon Ethernet NICs", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v1-1-69517c689d1f@lunn.ch/", "claim": "Upstream netdev has an April 21, 2026 patch titled \"drivers: net: 3com: 3c509: Remove this driver,\" showing active removal work for one 3Com driver in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v1-5-69517c689d1f@lunn.ch/", "claim": "Upstream netdev has an April 21, 2026 patch titled \"drivers: net: 3com: 3c59x: Remove this driver,\" showing removal work extends to a major driver in this directory, not just a single fringe file." }, { "url": "https://investor.hp.com/news-events/news/news-details/2010/HP-Completes-Acquisition-of-3Com-Corporation-Accelerates-Converged--Infrastructure-Strategy/default.aspx", "claim": "HP completed its acquisition of 3Com on April 12, 2010, supporting that standalone 3Com NIC product lines were long out of new mainstream sale by 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TYPHOON.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this directory still maps to old 3Com PCI NIC families such as the 3CR990/Typhoon series, confirming the code targets legacy 3Com hardware rather than current shipping NICs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile read via exec_command show six 3Com NIC drivers spanning ISA/EISA/PCI/PCMCIA EtherLink, Vortex/Boomerang/Cyclone/Tornado/Hurricane, and Typhoon families. lore_file_timeline on 3c509.c and 3c59x.c produced the cited lore URLs and showed April 2026 netdev removal patches for multiple drivers in this directory, which escalates the recommendation from deprecate to remove. HP acquisition URL was obtained via web search; LKDDb URL was obtained via web search. `last_widely_available_year=2010` is an inference from 3Com's 2010 absorption plus the legacy bus mix and product families. Current deployments are likely limited to legacy/retro/embedded systems, so `deployments_today` is `low`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0817176180442178, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1313031221, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767890216, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/8390", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "National Semiconductor DP8390 / NE2000-compatible Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421145736.15949-1-titouan.ameline@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of April 21, 2026, the tree still receives functional fixes for `ne2k-pci`, so the code is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20210807145655.1730-1-caihuoqing@baidu.com/", "claim": "There was an explicit 2021 proposal to remove the 8390 network drivers, showing maintainers have considered retirement." }, { "url": "https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/index.php/de/shop/product/x-surf-100.html", "claim": "At least one board covered by this directory, the Amiga X-Surf-100 handled by `xsurf100.c`, was still listed in stock by the vendor in late 2025/early 2026." }, { "url": "https://dosbox-x.com/wiki/Guide%3ASetting-up-networking-in-DOSBox%E2%80%90X", "claim": "NE2000 remains relevant in emulator/retro-computing niches because DOSBox-X still documents NE2000 emulation for guest networking." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local Kconfig shows this directory spans ISA/PCI/PCMCIA/Zorro/Amiga/ColdFire 8390-family drivers, including `NE2K_PCI` and `XSURF100`; `lore_file_timeline` produced the cited 2026 fix and 2021 removal attempt URLs. `web.search_query` found the iComp shop page and DOSBox-X networking guide. Overall signal: mainstream/new deployments are effectively gone, but there is still niche new hardware plus emulator and retro-system use, and upstream still accepts fixes; that argues against deprecation/removal, but merits annotation as legacy-only.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05908908721304037, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1313031265, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081923, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/actions", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Actions Semi Owl S500/S900 EMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250205124235.53285-7-biju.das.jz@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "The driver received a targeted upstream net-next patch in February 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250620143341.2158655-1-kory.maincent@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The file was still included in a 2025 net-next RFC touching multiple network drivers; no removal/deprecation signal appears in recent lore activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OWL_EMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_OWL_EMAC as the Actions Semi Owl Ethernet MAC driver for S500/S900 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/bubblegum-96/", "claim": "A current Bubblegum-96 product page ties the S900 SoC to a 2015-era board and notes Ethernet is via USB expansion, suggesting limited native-EMAC deployment on S900 boards." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/actions-semiconductor-launches-high-performance-s900-open-source-platform-64-bit-soc-and-actduino-s900-reference-design-platform-300083321.html", "claim": "Actions announced the S900 in May 2015, anchoring this chipset family as an older platform generation." }, { "url": "https://www.global-plus-tech.com/product_1012138.html", "claim": "A reseller page crawled recently still lists the Cubieboard6 (Actions S500) as a product with 10/100 RJ45, implying at least niche new-old-stock availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on owl-emac.c; cited lore URLs were taken directly from that result. Local source read via shell showed Kconfig scope: S500/S900 only. LKDDb URL came from web search and confirms driver binding. 96Boards and PRNewswire URLs came from web search and date the platform to the 2015 Bubblegum-96/S900 era; 96Boards also shows S900 board networking is USB Ethernet, not native EMAC. The reseller URL came from web search and is the main reason hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025 is true, but availability appears niche rather than broad, so deployments are low and removal is not justified while upstream maintenance continues.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.40741347617954327, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1616442981, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738935835, "top_author": "Biju Das", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/adaptec", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Adaptec AIC-6915 Starfire / DuraLAN", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240526172428.134726-2-linux@treblig.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention was a small cleanup patch removing unused structs from `starfire.c`, not evidence of new feature work or renewed deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ADAPTEC_STARFIRE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as Adaptec Starfire/DuraLAN support for old Adaptec ANA-620xx/ANA-69011A PCI adapters, and notes older 32-bit boards used `tulip` instead." }, { "url": "https://manualzilla.com/doc/7413764/adaptec-aic-6915-technical-information", "claim": "The AIC-6915 programmer's manual describes a 1998-era 10/100 Ethernet LAN controller with 32/64-bit PCI, indicating late-1990s server NIC hardware rather than current-market gear." }, { "url": "https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/noble/man4/sf.4freebsd.html", "claim": "FreeBSD's `sf` man page still documents AIC-6915 boards but also states the driver is absent in FreeBSD 13.0 and later, reinforcing that this hardware family is legacy-only in current OS ecosystems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`starfire.c` identifies the hardware as the Adaptec 6915 Starfire 64-bit PCI Ethernet adapter. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/adaptec/starfire.c` showed sparse 2021-2024 touches dominated by treewide churn plus one 2024 cleanup; no active removal thread was found, so this does not justify `remove`. Web search yielded LKDDb for supported boards/use, the AIC-6915 manual for the chipset's late-1990s 10/100 PCI positioning, and the Ubuntu-hosted FreeBSD man page showing the same family is already dropped there. Taken together: upstream Linux activity is minimal, the hardware is clearly legacy PCI Fast Ethernet, likely still present only in old servers/industrial systems, and there is no single upstream replacement driver for the exact cards, so `deprecate` fits better than `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6631997811632672, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1313177942, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1716902464, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/adi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADIN1110/ADIN2111 10BASE-T1L MAC-PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260202040228.4129097-1-nichen@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Netdev still carried a driver-specific adin1110 fix in February 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260209142307.296100610@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "That adin1110 fix was backported to stable, showing the driver is relevant enough for supported stable kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adin1110.html", "claim": "Analog Devices listed ADIN1110 as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS' and offered sample/buy options, evidence the hardware was still sold new beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ADIN2111.html", "claim": "Analog Devices listed ADIN2111 as 'RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS' with current pricing/evaluation material, supporting continued availability and industrial use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Identified locally via shell (`rg`, `sed`) as the ADIN1110/ADIN2111 SPI MAC-PHY driver. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity`: recent 2026 netdev and stable touches show ongoing fixes/backports; no removal signal was found in the lore queries attempted. Product availability came from web search on analog.com product pages, both marked recommended for new designs with active buy/eval collateral. This looks like niche but current industrial single-pair Ethernet hardware, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.061687878266306694, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1313177893, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770174718, "top_author": "Alexandru Tachici", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/aeroflex", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Gaisler GRETH / GRETH_GBIT Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241106120341.207718259@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists: a 2024 GRETH bug fix was accepted and queued for stable." }, { "url": "https://www.gaisler.com/secondary-product-category/grlib-ip-library", "claim": "The current GRLIB IP Library is still marketed and includes 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet MAC IP, indicating the GRETH family remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.gaisler.com/products/grlib-xilinx", "claim": "GRLIB product pages were still updated in 2025, supporting the conclusion that the IP library remains an actively sold offering." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GRETH.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_GRETH is still present through current kernel series and ties it to the Aeroflex/Gaisler GRETH platform and OF IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file read via shell showed this is the GRETH driver for the GRLIB VHDL IP library, a SPARC/platform Ethernet MAC driver. lore_activity on greth.c produced the 2024 stable-patch URL above, showing real bug-fix traffic rather than pure bitrot; lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no separate directory-level removal chatter. Web search returned the current Gaisler GRLIB product pages and LKDDb entry. Conclusion: niche aerospace/industrial IP-core deployment, still sold in 2025, low-volume but not obsolete enough to deprecate; annotate as niche/low-activity rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.47579706900366353, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1313218023, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729011560, "top_author": "Wang Hai", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/agere", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Agere ET1310 / ET131x PCIe Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2025082855-smoking-obsessive-8017@gregkh/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance via stable backports in 2025, so it is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ET131X.html", "claim": "The in-tree driver covers Agere/LSI ET-131x PCIe Ethernet controllers (PCI IDs 11c1:ed00 and 11c1:ed01) and remains present in current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agere_Systems", "claim": "Agere Systems ceased to exist as an independent vendor in 2007 after merging into LSI, consistent with this being legacy hardware rather than a current product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Legacy single-chip PCIe GbE NIC family from a defunct vendor, with low likely deployment today and no obvious successor driver because support is specific to this controller family. I used `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/agere/et131x.c` to verify recent activity and took the cited lore URL from that result; I used web search to obtain the LKDDb device/support page and the Agere Systems Wikipedia page. A subject-regex lore query for removal talk timed out, so I found no positive evidence of an active removal campaign; given 2025 stable traffic, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2934519643196303, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1412364139, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752804175, "top_author": "Thomas Fourier", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/airoha", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Airoha EN7581 / AN7583 Ethernet MAC and packet-offload engine", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/netdev/177311163655.2039470.10429303373608059245.git-patchwork-notify%40kernel.org/T/", "claim": "As of March 2026 the driver was still receiving net-next fixes and at least one Airoha patch was applied upstream, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/netdev/20250715035419.GA11704-robh%40kernel.org/T/", "claim": "In July 2025 the driver was part of a 7-patch net-next series adding NPU callbacks for WLAN offload, showing feature development after initial merge." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/978829/", "claim": "The EN7581 ethernet support was introduced upstream in 2024 for Airoha EN7581 SoC hardware, confirming this is a very new driver family rather than legacy baggage." }, { "url": "https://www.airoha.com/products/p/NpfqGLnZiZuYUZ6N", "claim": "Airoha markets the AN7581 series as a 10G-PON SoC for residential and enterprise gateways with OpenWrt/Linux support, so the underlying hardware family was still an actively sold platform in 2025." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots//targets/airoha/", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships a dedicated Airoha target with an AN7581 subtarget in 2026 snapshots, which is strong evidence of current downstream deployment and enablement activity." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` via shell showed OF compatibles `airoha,en7581-eth` and `airoha,an7583-eth`, so this is a current platform Ethernet driver for new Airoha broadband SoCs, not a legacy NIC. Lore evidence was gathered via `web.search_query`: a March 2026 applied net-next patch and a July 2025 feature series both show active upstream work; no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the same lore searches. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on Airoha product pages and OpenWrt snapshot targets: hardware appears to be current operator/CPE silicon, but in a niche embedded broadband market, so deployments are best rated low rather than medium/high. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because this covers a specific Airoha FE/QDMA/PPE block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 103, "substantive_commits_5y": 101, "first_touch_ts": 1741090928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775252571, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 90, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/alacritech", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Alacritech SLIC (Mojave/Oasis)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.64, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260122185113.2760355-1-mmyangfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists: a 2026 net-next maintenance patch updated slicoss statistics handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240902163610.17028-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "The driver still received a 2024 functional fix/revert, indicating occasional real maintenance rather than complete abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/alacritech/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this as support for Alacritech SLIC Gigabit Ethernet adapters, specifically Mojave and Oasis PCI cards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/ethernet/alacritech/slicoss.c showed touches through 2026-01-22 and a small but real maintenance stream, with no removal evidence surfaced in the checked lore history. Local source inspection (exec_command) identified the hardware family as Alacritech SLIC Mojave/Oasis gigabit PCI adapters; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is cited via canonical recall for that product description. A follow-up removal search via lore_regex timed out, and lei was blocked by the sandbox, so absence of removal discussion is only weakly supported. Overall read: hardware appears legacy and likely limited to installed-base use, but upstream still accepts fixes, so deprecate/remove would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11120051539758788, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1481041468, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769482668, "top_author": "David Yang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/allwinner", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Allwinner A10 EMAC (sun4i-emac)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/tencent_D434891410B0717BB0BDCB1434969E6EB50A@qq.com/", "claim": "The driver still received a targeted fix patch in 2025 ('net: ethernet: sun4i-emac: free dma descriptor'), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241112211442.7205-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver was included in a 2024 net-next cleanup series ('net: modernize IRQ resource acquisition'), showing it remains part of active subsystem maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SUN4I_EMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this driver as 'Allwinner A10 EMAC support', tying it to early sunxi/A10 hardware rather than current mainstream Ethernet controllers." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allwinner_A10", "claim": "Allwinner A10 is an early-2010s SoC generation, supporting the assessment that this MAC is primarily legacy hardware in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via `exec_command` showed Kconfig names this driver 'Allwinner A10 EMAC support' and the code is a 10/100 on-SoC MAC driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/allwinner/sun4i-emac.c` showed non-removal activity through 2024-11 and 2025-09 on the cited lore URLs, so removal/deprecation is not justified. Deployment is likely low and legacy: LKDDb and Wikipedia URLs are canonical-recall sources for the A10-era hardware generation, which was widely available in the early 2010s but not a realistic new-design choice in 2025. There is no natural replacement driver because this is the native MAC for that SoC family, so `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5824147252187115, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1370046187, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197197, "top_author": "Conley Lee", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/altera", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Altera/Intel FPGA Triple-Speed Ethernet (TSE) MAC IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.altera.com/products/ip/po-3076/triple-speed-ethernet-fpga-ip", "claim": "Altera's Triple-Speed Ethernet FPGA IP is listed as Production and supports current FPGA/SoC families, indicating the underlying IP block is still sold for new designs in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683215/current/intel-fpga-triple-speed-ethernet-ip.html", "claim": "Intel publishes current 2025 Triple-Speed Ethernet IP release notes, showing the IP family remains maintained and marketed recently." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ALTERA_TSE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ALTERA_TSE present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and maps it to OF compatibles altr,tse-1.0 / altr,tse-msgdma-1.0, confirming ongoing upstream presence and target hardware bindings." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/altera", "claim": "The upstream path log shows continued activity in recent kernels rather than abandonment or staged removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6dede3967619", "claim": "A substantive net: altera-tse fix landed on 2026-04-01, showing active bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=db48abbaa18e", "claim": "The driver received a major phylink/mdio-regmap modernization in 2023, indicating active adaptation to current networking stack infrastructure rather than pure legacy caretaking." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: platform Ethernet MAC driver for Altera/Intel FPGA TSE IP. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/source identified ALTERA_TSE and OF compatibles altr,tse-1.0/altr,tse-msgdma-1.0. Local git log tool call showed substantive updates from 2022-2026, including phylink/mdio-regmap conversion and a 2026 skb-leak fix; corresponding git.kernel.org log/commit URLs are cited via canonical recall. Web search found current vendor product/release-note pages and LKDDb. No active removal/deprecation signal was found in recent history; deployments are niche embedded/FPGA/industrial rather than mass-market, so keep the driver but treat it as low-volume specialized hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.018190929205909222, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1395106017, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775179523, "top_author": "Maxime Chevallier", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/amazon/ena", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Amazon Elastic Network Adapter (ENA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260122192513.2771569-1-mmyangfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream RFC in January 2026 touched ENA core code, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250617110545.5659-8-darinzon@amazon.com/", "claim": "A June 2025 net-next series added ENA debugfs support, showing active feature development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250617110545.5659-7-darinzon@amazon.com/", "claim": "The same June 2025 series added devlink-controlled PHC support for ENA, further evidence of active upstream investment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/amazon/ena.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes ENA as the Linux driver for the ENA family, covering PF/VF, SR-IOV, multi-queue, XDP-related datapath support, and modern feature negotiation." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/enhanced-networking.html", "claim": "AWS states all Nitro-based EC2 instances use ENA for enhanced networking, which indicates substantial current deployment on new cloud instances." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ena-queues.html", "claim": "AWS documents flexible ENA queue allocation across many current EC2 instance families, indicating ongoing new-platform support in 2025-era deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Classified as a real driver from path and driver markers. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/amazon/ena/ena_netdev.c` produced the cited Jan 2026 and Jun 2025 lore URLs and showed dense 2021-2026 activity, with recent subjects being bugfix/feature work rather than removal. Web search produced the docs.kernel.org ENA page plus AWS EC2 enhanced-networking and ENA-queues pages. Together they show ENA remains actively maintained upstream and widely deployed on current AWS Nitro instances; there is no obvious upstream replacement for the same EC2 ENA use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04966969925233824, "commits_5y": 124, "substantive_commits_5y": 114, "first_touch_ts": 1471047128, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768702216, "top_author": "David Arinzon", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/amd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AMD Ethernet (LANCE/PCnet, AMD8111/Au1000, XGBE, Pensando)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260314182809.362808-8-viswanathiyyappan@gmail.com/", "claim": "`pcnet32.c` still receives functional upstream work in 2026 (`ndo_set_rx_mode_async`), so the legacy PCI/VM-facing part of the directory is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260131012119.25863-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent cleanup targets obsolete subfeatures (`remove VLB support`) rather than removing the `pcnet32` driver outright." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260413155820.740053385@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`amd-xgbe` still gets stable backports in 2026, indicating active maintenance for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250824084354.533182-2-mbloch@nvidia.com/", "claim": "`pds_core` participates in ongoing devlink API work in 2025, showing the modern AMD/Pensando portion is active upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD markets Pensando DPUs as current front-end networking products, so hardware covered by this directory is still sold for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-10-amd-delivers-leadership-ai-performance-with-amd-in.html", "claim": "AMD stated Pensando Salina DPU availability was planned for the first half of 2025, supporting `last_widely_available_year = 2025`." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/topics/networkingdetails.html", "claim": "VirtualBox still documents PCNet FAST III as a supported adapter and notes it as the default for broad guest compatibility, indicating ongoing VM niche deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/net.html", "claim": "QEMU continues to document emulated NICs generally, and companion QEMU machine docs still list PCnet adapters, supporting continued virtualization-era relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/ppc/prep.html", "claim": "Current QEMU PREP machine documentation explicitly lists PCnet network adapters, reinforcing that `pcnet32` remains useful for emulation/testing niches." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory is mixed: many legacy LANCE/PCnet-era drivers plus active `xgbe/` and `pds_core/` subdirs. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `pcnet32.c`, `xgbe/xgbe-main.c`, and `pds_core/main.c`; it showed active fixes/API work and no whole-driver removal thread, only scoped cleanup like VLB removal. Vendor/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on AMD Pensando pages and current VirtualBox/QEMU docs. Conclusion: do not deprecate the whole directory; keep it, but annotate that much of the top-level LANCE-era hardware is legacy while modern XGBE/Pensando parts are still current.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05128446135555658, "commits_5y": 57, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1313031251, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770347358, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/amd/pds_core", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AMD Pensando DPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD markets current Pensando DPU generations (Salina 400, Giglio, Elba) and describes them as deployed in hyperscale, cloud, and enterprise data centers." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/network-interface-cards/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD lists the Pensando Pollara 400 AI NIC as a current product with 2025-era availability and ecosystem support, indicating the Pensando networking platform remains active." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-10-amd-delivers-leadership-ai-performance-with-amd-in.html", "claim": "AMD announced Pensando Salina DPU and Pollara 400 NIC with first-half-2025 availability, showing the hardware family is still in new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-8-30-industry-leading-amd-pensando-dpus-enable-accelera.html", "claim": "AMD said Pensando Distributed Services Cards were already deployed at scale across hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg` on the local tree showed a real PCI driver in pds_core (`struct pci_driver`, `MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE`) and Kconfig names it \"AMD/Pensando Data Systems Core Device Support\". Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` for this path showed substantial 2025 maintenance/fix traffic (memory leak, reset flow, fwctl auxiliary device, adminq fixes) and no path-scoped remove/deprecate/orphan hits, so there is no sign of active upstream removal. Web `search_query` returned AMD official product and press pages showing Pensando DPU/NIC products continuing into 2025 and describing large real-world deployments. This points to an actively maintained, still-current datacenter driver with no natural in-tree replacement beyond this vendor-specific stack.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 70, "first_touch_ts": 1682062152, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763694082, "top_author": "Shannon Nelson", "top_author_commits": 38, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/amd/xgbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AMD XGBE / XGMAC integrated 10GbE MAC on AMD SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6077536.html", "claim": "As of March 4, 2026, amd-xgbe was still receiving a netdev patch series with functional fixes, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg926468.html", "claim": "A March 23, 2026 stable-review patch carried an upstream amd-xgbe fix, showing current bug-fix traffic and stable backport interest." }, { "url": "https://lists.linaro.org/archives/list/linux-stable-mirror%40lists.linaro.org/message/5WCSIPPWIYLM5RXLUUSP7ITFNAPHUXFS/", "claim": "amd-xgbe fixes were still being backported into 5.15-stable in 2025, reinforcing ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded/epyc/epyc-3000-series.html", "claim": "AMD still listed EPYC Embedded 3000 in 2026 and advertised up to 8x 10GbE, supporting continued new-sale availability of hardware using this MAC family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_XGBE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_AMD_XGBE as the AMD 10GbE Ethernet driver for AMD SoC devices and shows it remains present in current kernel series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection of the directory found `AMD 10 Gigabit Ethernet Driver` plus AMD device IDs tied to Raven/YC/RN-era SoCs, confirming this is real shipping hardware-specific code with both PCI and platform support. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable in this environment, so lore-adjacent maintenance evidence was obtained via web search on public list mirrors: the March 2026 netdev patch series and March 2026 stable-review patch show active upstream attention, with no removal/deprecation signal found. AMD's current EPYC Embedded 3000 product page was obtained by web search and indicates the family remained marketed in 2026 with integrated 10GbE, so this is not legacy-only. Deployment looks niche embedded/networking rather than broad desktop/server NIC use, hence `low` rather than `none` or `high`. No natural replacement driver exists because this driver targets AMD-integrated XGBE MAC blocks directly.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.026505487644057177, "commits_5y": 99, "substantive_commits_5y": 85, "first_touch_ts": 1402007211, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773140827, "top_author": "Raju Rangoju", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/apm/xgene", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AppliedMicro X-Gene SoC Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream net-next churn in October 2024 as part of API migration work, so it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20231019182338.832913-1-robh@kernel.org/", "claim": "A direct xgene-specific fix was posted in October 2023, indicating real maintenance rather than pure archival status." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_XGENE.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_NET_XGENE in current kernel series and identifies it as the APM X-Gene SoC Ethernet driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_XGENE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows ARCH_XGENE platform support still present in current kernels, consistent with some remaining installed base." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/apm/x-gene", "claim": "WikiChip describes X-Gene as an AppliedMicro server-SoC family launched in 2012/2015, with only two generations shipping about 25,000 units total and the third generation shelved after MACOM acquired AppliedMicro in 2016." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` plus Kconfig identify this directory as the on-chip AppliedMicro X-Gene Ethernet driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `xgene_enet_main.c` produced the cited lore URLs and showed recent maintenance activity but no sampled removal thread, which argues against deprecate/remove. Web search returned the LKDDb and WikiChip URLs; LKDDb shows the driver/platform are still built upstream, while WikiChip indicates the silicon family is old, low-volume, and effectively discontinued after 2016. That points to a small legacy installed base: keep upstream support, but annotate as legacy/low-deployment rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.28417534400720984, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1407783033, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740536878, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/apm/xgene-v2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AppliedMicro APM X-Gene 2 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250225163341.4168238-2-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still received an upstream netdev fix in 2025 ('net: xgene-v2: remove incorrect ACPI_PTR annotation'), so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://ir.macom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/macom-announces-definitive-agreement-acquire-appliedmicro", "claim": "AppliedMicro's compute business was already being divested in late 2016, indicating the original X-Gene server line was no longer a growth product." }, { "url": "https://www.macom.com/updates/news/2017/macom-successfully-completes-a-1", "claim": "AppliedMicro was acquired by MACOM on January 26, 2017, reinforcing that the original vendor/product line ended years ago." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/apm/x-gene/apm883208-x2", "claim": "X-Gene 2 (APM883208-X2) was introduced in 2014 and launched in March 2015, placing the hardware firmly in an older server generation." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/apm/x-gene", "claim": "WikiChip describes X-Gene as succeeded by eMAG after the IP/team moved on, and notes limited total X-Gene shipment volume, consistent with niche legacy deployment today." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local source grep found MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE/driver metadata in main.c. Upstream evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/net/ethernet/apm/xgene-v2/main.c,list=netdev)`; it showed a real 2025 fix and autosel backports, but no removal/deprecation series. Deployment evidence came from web search: MACOM press-release URLs were found via web search on AppliedMicro acquisition/divestiture, and WikiChip URLs via web search on X-Gene/X-Gene 2 pages. Conclusion: hardware is commercially obsolete and likely absent from new 2025 sales, but there is still occasional upstream/stable maintenance for legacy systems, so 'keep-annotate' fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.34941819163177407, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1489094704, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740660135, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/apple", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Apple BMAC / MACE onboard Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1999, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250513050142.635391-1-ebiggers@kernel.org/", "claim": "bmac still received a netdev-targeted driver patch in 2025, showing some upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "macmace was still touched for driver API adaptation in 2024; this is maintenance activity, not a removal series." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G3", "claim": "BMAC maps to late-1990s Power Mac G3 era hardware, indicating the newest mainstream systems in this family are long obsolete." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadra_840AV", "claim": "macmace serves Quadra AV-era Macintosh hardware from the early 1990s, reinforcing that present-day deployments are limited to vintage systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed three real drivers (bmac, mace, macmace) for PPC32/Mac onboard Ethernet. lore_file_timeline MCP on bmac.c, mace.c, and macmace.c showed recent touches through 2024-2025, but mostly treewide/API churn plus one driver-local bmac cleanup; those same timelines did not surface an obvious removal thread. Wikipedia URLs are canonical recall used for hardware dating: this directory targets 1990s Apple Macs, not hardware sold new in 2025. Recommendation is keep-annotate because upstream still carries occasional fixes, but deployment is now limited to legacy/vintage machines with no natural successor driver for the same built-in hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24571257730138688, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1313105347, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747275883, "top_author": "Yang Yingliang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/Aquantia AQtion (Atlantic) multi-gigabit Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260125121649.778086-4-gal@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Core file aq_nic.c was still receiving upstream net-next fixes in 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes atlantic as the driver for Marvell/Aquantia AQtion multi-gigabit PCIe adapters and lists supported AQC-100/AQC-107/AQC-108 families." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AQTION.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AQTION/atlantic remains present through current kernel series and covers multiple Aquantia PCI device IDs beyond the earliest AQC107/AQC100 entries." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/ethernet-adaptersandcontrollers/marvell-fastLinq-edge-aqc113-aqc113c-aqc113cs-aqc114cs-aqc115c-aqc116c-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell was still marketing AQtion-family parts for PCs, workstations, NAS, routers, gateways, and embedded applications, with Linux support, indicating new-hardware availability into the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: static metadata already showed 64 substantive commits in the last 5y, and lore_file_timeline on aq_nic.c/aq_main.c confirmed fresh 2025-2026 patch traffic on core files, including a 2026 net-next fix (URL from lore_file_timeline). A removal/deprecation subject scan via lore_regex timed out, and fallback `lei q` was blocked by local socket permissions, so there is no positive removal evidence. Deployment is medium, not high: these are niche but current multigig NICs used in enthusiast/workstation/NAS/embedded designs rather than vanished legacy hardware. docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, and the Marvell product brief URLs were obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05115267688683015, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1485288218, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769563852, "top_author": "Antoine Tenart", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic/hw_atl", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Aquantia/Marvell Atlantic A0/B0 and B1 multi-gig Ethernet controllers (AQC100/AQC107/AQC108/AQC109/AQC111/AQC112 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1158983.html", "claim": "Netdev traffic in February 2026 shows active feature/bug-fix work touching hw_atl files, so the backend is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AQTION.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AQTION is still present through current kernel heads and maps the atlantic module to Aquantia AQtion PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/ethernet-adaptersandcontrollers/marvell-ethernet-controllers-aqc107-108-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell still published collateral for AQC107/AQC108-class controllers, indicating the hw_atl generation remained a real product family into the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://station-drivers.com/index.php/en-us/component/remository/Drivers/Marvell/LAN/AQC-107-108-100-113-114-115-...--and--AQN-107-108-100-.../Drivers/Marvell-FastLinQ-Edge-%28AQtion%29-Network-Adapter-Drivers-Version-3.1.11.0-WHQL/lang%2Cen-us/", "claim": "A 2026-packaged vendor driver bundle still lists AQC100/AQC107/AQC108/AQC111/AQC112 devices, supporting ongoing installed-base usage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed hw_atl is compiled into atlantic.o and aq_pci_func.c maps hw_atl to AQC100/107/108/109/111/112-era boards; local git log shows substantive fixes/features through 2025-11-20, so removal/deprecation would be premature. The spinics URL was obtained via web search for recent atlantic patch traffic; it shows 2026 maintenance directly touching hw_atl files, which argues against deprecate/remove. The LKDDb, Marvell product brief, and Station-Drivers URLs were obtained via web search and support that this is still a maintained, deployed multi-gig NIC family, though mostly in workstation/NAS/embedded/add-in-card niches rather than broad mainstream volume. I chose keep-annotate because this subdirectory is an older hardware-generation backend inside an otherwise active driver, with no natural upstream replacement driver beyond newer atlantic hardware backends.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1485288219, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764069312, "top_author": "Kai-Heng Feng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic/hw_atl2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/Aquantia AQtion Atlantic 2 (AQC113/AQC114CS/AQC115C/AQC116C)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251120041537.62184-1-kaihengf@nvidia.com", "claim": "ATL2 received a substantive upstream bug fix in November 2025 for descriptor cache invalidation, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250629051535.5172-1-work.eric@gmail.com", "claim": "ATL2 received a Wake-on-LAN power-management fix in June 2025 for AQC113/AQC113C hardware, showing current users are still exercising this path." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets Scalable mGig AQtion controllers including AQC113, AQC114CS, and AQC115C for PCs, workstations, CPE, NAS, docking stations, and motherboard deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/ethernet-adaptersandcontrollers/marvell-fastLinq-edge-aqc113-aqc113c-aqc113cs-aqc114cs-aqc115c-aqc116c-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "The current product brief covers the ATL2-family parts AQC113/AQC114CS/AQC115C/AQC116C and their supported speeds, aligning with the in-tree ATL2 capability tables." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic/aq_pci_func.c", "claim": "The atlantic PCI table routes AQC113/AQC114CS/AQC115C/AQC116C device IDs to hw_atl2_ops, confirming this directory is the hardware backend for those controllers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree evidence gathered with shell (`sed`, `rg`, `git log -c safe.directory=...`) showed hw_atl2 backs AQC113/AQC114CS/AQC115C/AQC116C and has non-trivial fixes in 2024-2025, including two ATL2-specific/publicly linked patches above. Web search found Marvell product pages and product brief showing these controllers remained marketed for new designs in 2025-era materials. No removal discussion surfaced in reachable lore/web results; given ongoing fixes plus still-marketed silicon, `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1588372678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764069312, "top_author": "Dmitry Bogdanov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/aquantia/atlantic/macsec", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subdirectory of the Aquantia Atlantic NIC driver containing MACsec support/helper code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1585279057, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1668077932, "top_author": "Antoine Tenart", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/arc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Synopsys ARC EMAC 10/100, including Rockchip RK3036/RK3066/RK3188 glue", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260304025303.145493-1-fanwu01@zju.edu.cn/", "claim": "Recent non-treewide maintenance still lands for this driver family: a 2026 netdev bugfix for the Rockchip ARC EMAC glue/probe path." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240923162202.34386-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver saw 2024 API-churn adaptation rather than removal, indicating it is still kept buildable upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EMAC_ROCKCHIP.html", "claim": "This directory covers Rockchip RK3036/RK3066/RK3188 EMAC controllers and remains present across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARC_EMAC.html", "claim": "The ARC EMAC core is for legacy Synopsys ARC FPGA/on-chip 10/100 Ethernet devices, pointing to legacy/niche deployments rather than mainstream new systems." }, { "url": "https://opensource.rock-chips.com/wiki_RK3036", "claim": "RK3036 is a 2014-era SoC with only 10/100 RMII EMAC, consistent with aging embedded/set-top-box hardware." }, { "url": "https://rockchips.net/product/rk3188/", "claim": "At least one 2025-era reseller still lists RK3188 as sold/new stock, suggesting residual availability even though the family is long past broad-market relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore grounded first: `lore_activity(file=drivers/net/ethernet/arc/emac_rockchip.c,since=5y)` produced the 2026 bugfix and 2024 maintenance URLs; that looks like low-volume but real upkeep, not abandonment or removal work. `lore_activity` on `emac_main.c` was dominated by stable rollups, so I treated the specific netdev patch as the stronger maintenance signal. Deployment evidence came from web search + open on LKDDb and Rockchip pages: LKDDb ties this driver to legacy ARC FPGA boards and Rockchip RK3036/RK3066/RK3188; the RK3036 page shows 2014/vintage 10/100 RMII hardware; the RK3188 reseller page suggests some new-old-stock style 2025 availability. No credible evidence of an active upstream removal series was found in the retrieved lore results, so the old hardware profile is offset by ongoing bug-fix traffic; that supports `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.043150242939886195, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1372203272, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773194712, "top_author": "Johan Jonker", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/asix", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ASIX AX88796C SPI Fast Ethernet controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20231211090535.9730-1-dmantipov@yandex.ru", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in December 2023, indicating it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.asix.com.tw/en/product/EmbeddedEthernet/1-Port_Ethernet/AX88796C", "claim": "ASIX still lists AX88796C as a current product and publishes documentation/software assets on the product page, supporting that the hardware remained commercially offered in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SPI_AX88796C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SPI_AX88796C present across current kernel series and identifies this directory's module/device bindings." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed this directory is the in-tree ax88796c SPI Ethernet driver, not helper code. Upstream activity was checked from local git history (shell, using git log with safe.directory); recent fixes include the cited lore patch from 2023, and I saw no removal/deprecation-oriented series in that history. Deployment evidence came from web search: the official ASIX product page (web.search/open result) still presents AX88796C as an active embedded/industrial Ethernet controller, which suggests ongoing but niche embedded use rather than broad new deployments. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and confirms the driver remains enabled in current kernels. Overall this looks like a low-volume embedded/industrial driver that should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1634858921, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1702416037, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/atheros", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros/Qualcomm Atheros AR7xxx/AR9xxx/QCA95xx built-in Ethernet MACs (ag71xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260202214634.72738-3-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2026 with a functional ag71xx fix ('call phylink_destroy on failure'), indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ath79", "claim": "OpenWrt still carries the ath79 target as the current successor platform for this SoC family, showing ongoing real-world use on supported devices." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.qualcomm.ar71xx", "claim": "OpenWrt documents AR7xxx, AR9xxx, and QCA9xxx boards together, matching the ag71xx-supported SoC family and showing it spans legacy router/embedded hardware rather than a single dead SKU." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ar71xx", "claim": "The old ar71xx OpenWrt target was deprecated and dropped, which supports the view that the ecosystem is legacy-heavy even though the upstream Linux MAC driver remains useful for ath79-era devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via shell showed this directory's root driver is ag71xx.c and its OF matches include qca,ar7100-eth through qca,qca9560-eth, so the family extends beyond early AR71xx parts into later QCA95xx router SoCs. lore_activity on drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/ag71xx.c returned recent 2025-2026 fixes/reverts with lore URLs and no clear removal series, so removal/deprecate would be too aggressive. Web search found OpenWrt ath79/ar71xx and SoC-family pages; those indicate the hardware is still deployed in low-volume embedded/router niches and some new low-end/industrial designs, but it is clearly a legacy-heavy platform. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same MAC blocks; ath79 is a platform/DT evolution, not a driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1558686955628989, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1313105399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752803984, "top_author": "Rosen Penev", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/alx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros AR816x/AR817x / Killer E220x-E2500 PCIe Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240506102812.3025432-1-edumazet@google.com/", "claim": "alx was still touched by upstream networking work in 2024, indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240325070944.3600338-17-dlemoal@kernel.org/", "claim": "alx received a direct code update in 2024 (PCI IRQ handling), showing ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ALX.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ALX supports AR8161/AR8162/QCA8171/QCA8172 and Killer E220x/E2400/E2500 PCI IDs, and remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=gpcg3", "claim": "Dell shipped Qualcomm Atheros AR8171/8175 Ethernet in XPS 8920 systems with a 2017 driver release, suggesting mainstream OEM presence was mid-2010s rather than current." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=ht2th", "claim": "Dell published an AR8161 controller driver for a 2013 notebook platform, anchoring the family as an early-2010s OEM NIC line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: lore_activity on drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/alx/main.c showed real 2024 upstream touches (not just ancient history), and I found no positive evidence of an active removal series. Local rg of Kconfig/main.c identified the exact supported chips as AR816x/AR817x. Web search found LKDDb confirming current kernel coverage and Dell OEM driver pages from 2013 and 2017, which bound the family to older PC generations. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely only in older desktops/laptops or long-lived installs today, so keep the driver but annotate it as low-deployment legacy hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.42800258687743414, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1371510274, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714067611, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros L1C (AR8151/AR8152/AR813x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250723013031.2911384-3-skhawaja@google.com/", "claim": "atl1c still received an upstream touch in July 2025, as part of a netdev treewide API update, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATL1C.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ATL1C remains present in current kernels and LKDDb maps it to Qualcomm Atheros/Attansic L1C-family PCI IDs including AR8132/AR8151/AR8152-class devices." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=xnkwf", "claim": "Dell still published AR8151/AR8152 packages for Inspiron/Vostro/Alienware notebook platforms in late 2013, indicating mainstream OEM deployment was tied to early-2010s laptops rather than modern systems." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=m8rm5", "claim": "Dell's 2010 AR8151/AR8152 package lists multiple Inspiron models, consistent with broad consumer-laptop availability around 2010-2011." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source inspection via shell shows a real PCI Ethernet driver for Attansic/Atheros L1C-family IDs and no obvious in-tree successor covering the same PCI IDs. lore_file_timeline on atl1c_main.c showed steady activity through 2025, but the visible recent work is almost entirely treewide/API-maintenance rather than new feature work or removal prep; a follow-up lore_regex removal query timed out, and a shell lei query failed due local socket permissions, so I found no concrete removal thread evidence. Web search yielded LKDDb plus Dell OEM driver pages tying the hardware to 2010-2013 notebook generations. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete for new sales, but there is still a legacy installed base and enough upstream maintenance signal to keep the driver, with annotation that it serves aging laptop NICs and sees mostly opportunistic upkeep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16996454713613607, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1313105399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753407295, "top_author": "Gatis Peisenieks", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1e", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros/Attansic L1E (AR8121/AR8113/AR8114) PCIe Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260422093717.893646-1-hanguidong02@gmail.com/", "claim": "atl1e still receives device-specific upstream fixes as of 2026-04-22, indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240506102812.3025432-1-edumazet@google.com/", "claim": "atl1e was included in a 2024 net-next networking maintenance patch, showing it remains build-tested and maintained in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATL1E.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ATL1E still exists in current kernels and covers Qualcomm Atheros device IDs 1969:1026 and 1969:1066 for the Atheros L1E family." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheros", "claim": "Atheros acquired Attansic in 2007 and was itself acquired by Qualcomm in 2011, placing this Ethernet family in an older pre-2012 PC chipset generation rather than new 2025 designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "lore_file_timeline on atl1e_main.c returned recent 2026 and 2024 lore URLs and no removal evidence; a lore_regex removal scan returned no hits; local rg confirmed the driver targets Attansic/Atheros L1E IDs and is a real PCI NIC driver; web search found the LKDDb page and Wikipedia Atheros page. Hardware appears legacy desktop/laptop onboard Ethernet from the late-2000s/early-2010s, so new-sales evidence is absent, but upstream bug-fix traffic argues against deprecate/remove. Natural replacement driver is unclear because atl1e covers its own older PCI IDs rather than handing off to a newer shared driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5515469396678864, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1313105399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1702637735, "top_author": "Zhipeng Lu", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atlx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros/Attansic L1 and L2 PCI Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250715130818.095840521@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Lore shows non-removal maintenance in 2025: a stable backport titled 'ethernet: atl1: Add missing DMA mapping error checks and count errors' for atl1.c." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATL1.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_ATL1 to drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atlx/atl1.c and PCI ID 1969:1048 ('Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATL2.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_ATL2 to drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atlx/atl2.c and PCI ID 1969:2048 ('Attansic L2 Fast Ethernet')." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1969-1048-1043-8226", "claim": "Linux-Hardware shows Attansic L1 present in many probe reports (status page shows 573 reports), indicating legacy installed-base use rather than new-system design wins." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=216dfd8aba", "claim": "A recent indexed probe ties Attansic L2 (atl2) to a 2009 desktop platform, supporting the view that deployments are on old motherboards rather than new 2025 hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Source acquisition: lore_activity on drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atlx/atl1.c produced the 2025 lore URL; local source grep confirmed the directory contains ATL1/ATL2 PCI drivers for Attansic/Atheros L1/L2; web search found LKDDb pages for ATL1/ATL2 and Linux-Hardware device/probe pages. Recommendation: old 10/100 and 1GbE PCIe onboard NICs from the late-2000s are not credible new-2025 sales targets, and Linux-Hardware suggests only a residual legacy installed base. However, upstream still accepted bug-fix traffic in 2025 and there is no evidence here of an active removal series, so removal/deprecation would be premature; keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2893204707078908, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1313105399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751068797, "top_author": "Thomas Fourier", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom Ethernet umbrella (NetXtreme/NetXtremeII/NetXtreme-C/E, GENET/SystemPort/iProc, legacy 440x/SiByte/63xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260325201139.2501937-1-carges@cloudflare.com/", "claim": "bnxt_en in this directory had an active net-next feature series in March 2026, indicating current upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250511214037.2805-1-zakkemble@gmail.com/", "claim": "bcmgenet in this directory received non-trivial maintenance/statistics work in 2025, showing active support for deployed Broadcom SoC Ethernet." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250612210449.3686273-1-florian.fainelli@broadcom.com/", "claim": "bcmgenet also saw Broadcom-authored power-management fixes in June 2025, further indicating active maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251107-tg3_counts-v1-1-337fe5c8ccb7@debian.org/", "claim": "tg3 in this directory still received net-next fixes in late 2025, so even older PCIe Broadcom NIC support is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BNXT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BNXT is current through 7.0-rc+HEAD and covers Broadcom NetXtreme-E adapters including modern 10/25/40/50/100Gb-class devices." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/57500-PB", "claim": "Broadcom was publishing current BCM57500 NetXtreme-E 200Gb Ethernet controller product material in 2026, showing at least part of this driver directory supports hardware still sold for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper subtree. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and file list showed this is a vendor umbrella containing many live drivers (bnxt, bcmgenet, tg3, bcmasp, bnge, bnx2x, b44, etc.), so there is no single successor driver. Lore evidence was obtained via web search snippets that exposed exact message-IDs, then mapped to canonical lore URLs; those show active 2025-2026 patch traffic and no removal/deprecation series. Deployment remains high because the directory spans both current datacenter NICs (bnxt/NetXtreme-E, corroborated by Broadcom product brief found via web search) and still-common embedded SoC MACs (bcmgenet/systemport). Local git log also showed many 2024-2026 substantive commits across bnxt, tg3, bcmgenet, bcmasp, and bnge, consistent with keeping the directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 182, "substantive_commits_5y": 158, "first_touch_ts": 1313031279, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774613198, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/asp2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom STB ASP Ethernet (ASP 2.x/3.0)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCMASP.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_BCMASP as the Broadcom ASP 2.0 Ethernet driver for Broadcom STB SoCs such as BCM72165, tying this directory to Broadcom set-top-box silicon rather than legacy PCI NICs." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1168769.html", "claim": "A March 19, 2026 netdev patch series fixes two bcmasp driver unbind bugs, showing current upstream maintenance activity rather than deprecation/removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg929585.html", "claim": "The stable review mail for \"net: bcmasp: Add support for asp-v3.0\" shows new hardware revision enablement landing in 2025/2026, which is strong evidence the IP block is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/broadcom-set-top-box-story", "claim": "Broadcom documentation describes an active STB group that designs and builds set-top-box SoCs, supporting the inference that this product family remained commercially active into the 2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`, `git blame`) showed OF compatibles brcm,asp-v2.1/v2.2/v3.0 and substantive commits through 2026-03-20, with v3.0 support added in 2025 and multiple 2026 bug fixes. The lore-http MCP server was unavailable in this environment, so upstream-mail evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` on public netdev/stable archive pages (spinics). LKDDb URL was obtained via `web.search_query`; Broadcom STB-group URL was obtained via `web.search_query` and opened with `web.open`. No removal discussion was found in the available upstream results; current evidence points to an actively maintained, still-relevant embedded/STB Ethernet block with no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1689575944, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774058848, "top_author": "Justin Chen", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnge", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom Thor Ultra / BCM57708", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5922528.html", "claim": "Netdev posting from 2025-11-12 shows an active 12-patch bnge feature series adding link, Rx/Tx, LRO/TPA, and stats support." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6054008.html", "claim": "A bnge bug-fix patch was posted on 2026-02-18, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-introduces-industrys-first-800g-ai-ethernet-nic", "claim": "Broadcom announced Thor Ultra on 2025-10-14 as an 800G AI Ethernet NIC and stated it was sampling." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/57708-PB", "claim": "Broadcom's BCM57708 product brief describes the adapter as a current 800Gb/s Ethernet NIC for AI/ML, cloud, HPC, and storage deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of bnge_core.c identified PCI ID 0x1780 and product string 'Broadcom BCM57708 ThorUltra 50Gb/100Gb/200Gb/400Gb/800Gb Ethernet'. Lore-first evidence was gathered via web search because local `lei` was unavailable: spinics mirrors show substantial netdev activity in Nov 2025 and a fix patch in Feb 2026, with no removal/deprecation signal found. Broadcom press/product pages found by web search show the hardware is a current-generation AI NIC, so this is not legacy silicon. Deployment is marked low because the part appears new and aimed at specialized AI/HPC servers, not broad commodity fleets.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1751939640, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771522199, "top_author": "Bhargava Marreddy", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom NetXtreme II / QLogic Everest", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5923269.html", "claim": "A net-next patch for bnx2x was posted on 2025-11-12, showing current upstream maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://bugs.debian.org/firmware-bnx2x", "claim": "Debian still ships a dedicated firmware-bnx2x package in unstable as of version 20251111-1, indicating ongoing distro support for deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.shi.com/Product/26844752/Broadcom-NetXtreme-II-57810", "claim": "A Broadcom NetXtreme II 57810 adapter was listed by a major reseller in 2025 as a product offering, supporting that at least some hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://catalog.redhat.com/en/hardware/components/detail/239747", "claim": "Red Hat's hardware catalog lists the NetXtreme II Broadcom BCM57810 10Gb Ethernet PCIe Adapter as certified hardware, supporting continued enterprise deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of bnx2x_main.c identified the family as Broadcom/QLogic NetXtreme II 'Everest' covering BCM57710/57711/57712/57800/57810/57811/57840 devices. Web search found a 2025 net-next bnx2x patch on spinics, which is enough to treat the driver as actively maintained; I found no sourced removal/deprecation thread in the allotted search budget. Web search also found Debian firmware packaging plus Red Hat certification, which point to ongoing installed-base usage, and reseller listings show at least some new-in-channel availability in 2025. Because the hardware is old but still supported and still appears in enterprise/server legacy deployments, removal or deprecation is not justified; there is no single replacement driver for the same PCI IDs, so replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1313031279, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763436612, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom NetXtreme-C/E", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt", "claim": "Upstream bnxt driver directory remains actively maintained in mainline Linux." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BNXT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BNXT is present through current kernel series and covers Broadcom NetXtreme-C/E hardware, with module name bnxt_en." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/NetXtreme-E-OCPNIC2-SG", "claim": "Broadcom was still publishing NetXtreme E-Series ordering/specification material in 2025-2026, including 10G through 200G OCP/PCIe adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.silicom-usa.com/pr/server-adapters/networking-adapters/25-gigabit-ethernet-networking-server-adapters/p325g2b414-25g-ethernet-pcie-server-adapter-broadcom-based/", "claim": "A current OEM/reseller product page shows new Broadcom NetXtreme E-Series-based 25GbE server adapters still being sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local git grep confirmed MODULE_DESCRIPTION in bnxt.c and bnxt_en module naming. Upstream activity check used local `git log` on the directory after `git -c safe.directory=...`; it showed recent substantive bnxt_en fixes/refactors up to 2026-04-02, with no sign of dormancy. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in the limited available search budget; an attempted shell `lei` lore query failed because `lei` is not installed, so I relied on local git history plus the canonical kernel.org log URL (canonical recall). LKDDb URL was obtained via web search. Broadcom and Silicom URLs were obtained via web search/open and show the hardware family still marketed for new deployments. Because the hardware is still sold and the driver is heavily active, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 765, "substantive_commits_5y": 746, "first_touch_ts": 1445567433, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775099576, "top_author": "Michael Chan", "top_author_commits": 220, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/genet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom GENET Ethernet MAC (BCM7xxx / BCM2711 / BCM7712)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/genet", "claim": "Upstream driver path remains actively maintained; local `git log` on this tree showed multiple bcmgenet fixes/features through 2025-2026 rather than removal prep." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCMGENET.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_BCMGENET still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and lists current bindings including `brcm,bcm2711-genet-v5` and `brcm,bcm7712-genet-v5`." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products//raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/?variant=raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb", "claim": "Official Raspberry Pi 4 Model B product/specifications page lists Broadcom BCM2711 and Gigabit Ethernet on a current vendor product page, supporting ongoing new-hardware availability in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module entrypoint and Broadcom GENET MAC implementation. Evidence was gathered via shell (`ls`, local `git -c safe.directory=... log`, `rg`) plus web search. Local history shows sustained substantive maintenance up to 2026-03-14, which argues strongly against deprecation. Web search found LKDDb coverage through current kernels and official Raspberry Pi 4 product specs; that combination indicates both upstream relevance and ongoing real-world deployment. Kernel.org log URL is a canonical-recall stable page; LKDDb and Raspberry Pi URLs were obtained via web search. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same on-SoC MAC block, so removal would strand still-current hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 93, "substantive_commits_5y": 83, "first_touch_ts": 1392355678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773506357, "top_author": "Doug Berger", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/brocade/bna", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "QLogic BR-series 10Gb Converged Network Adapters (1010/1020/1860; Brocade/QLogic CT/CT2)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/61DDCE7AB5B6CE82+20250411101736.160981-1-wangyuli@uniontech.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touches in 2025, but the sampled netdev change was minor/comment-only maintenance rather than a feature update." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250225171751.2268401-2-aleksander.lobakin@intel.com/", "claim": "The driver is still adjusted for wider networking-core changes in 2025, indicating compatibility maintenance rather than active hardware evolution." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BNA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BNA supports QLogic BR-series 1010/1020/1860 10Gb Ethernet/CNA hardware and remains present in current upstream kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1131213-REG/q_logic_br_1860_2c00_10gb_dual_port_fcoe.html", "claim": "A representative BR-1860 retail product page is marked 'No Longer Available', supporting that this hardware is not sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/%2B/5e1e0ae5ff54388047a6fe6a72a6cd443edfe087/WHENCE", "claim": "linux-firmware still carries proprietary firmware entries for QLogic BR-series BFA/BNA devices, consistent with legacy deployed hardware needing support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Identified hardware family locally via exec_command on Kconfig and PCI/FW identifiers in the driver. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on bnad.c; it shows continued 2025 touches, but sampled recent traffic is mostly treewide/network-core compatibility work plus a trivial comment fix, not evidence of growing deployments. Separate lore_path_mentions and lore_regex removal-discussion probes timed out, so no positive removal-thread evidence was found. Deployment evidence came from web search hits: LKDDb confirms current kernel presence, linux-firmware WHENCE shows firmware still shipped, and a BR-1860 retail page is now unavailable. Conclusion: legacy enterprise/datacenter CNA hardware still exists in some installed base, but new-sales signal is absent; keep the driver, annotate it as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecate or remove outright.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2196294441142296, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1313055674, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744670968, "top_author": "Philipp Stanner", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cadence", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cadence MACB/GEM Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MACB.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MACB remains present in current kernels and describes this directory as Cadence MACB/GEM support used on many Atmel/Cadence SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/sama7g54", "claim": "Microchip lists SAMA7G54 as 'In Production' and the device includes one Gigabit Ethernet MAC plus one 10/100 Ethernet MAC." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still sells Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs, documents integrated Gigabit Ethernet, and states product lifespans extending to 2045." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection (`rg`, `ls`) shows `macb_main.c`, `macb_pci.c`, `macb_ptp.c`, platform/PCI driver entry points, and compatibles for current SoCs including `microchip,sama7g5-gem`, `xlnx,zynqmp-gem`, `xlnx,versal-gem`, `raspberrypi,rp1-gem`. Upstream activity is clearly live: local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows multiple non-mechanical `net: macb:` fixes and cleanups in March-April 2026, so this is not a dormant legacy driver. Deployment evidence is strong from web-search-derived vendor pages: Microchip SAMA7G54 is in production, and AMD Zynq UltraScale+ remains an active long-life product family with Gigabit Ethernet. LKDDb (web search result) confirms the driver is still configured in current kernels. I attempted lore-first removal checks, but the advertised `lore-http` MCP server was unavailable in this environment, `lei` was not installed, and direct web searches for lore removal/deprecation threads returned no results; that lowers certainty slightly but does not outweigh the strong evidence of active maintenance and current hardware sales. No natural replacement driver exists for the same Cadence MACB/GEM IP block, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012277447083618085, "commits_5y": 159, "substantive_commits_5y": 150, "first_touch_ts": 1313177906, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775098640, "top_author": "Théo Lebrun", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/calxeda", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Calxeda Highbank XGMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230311180404.4007176-1-zyytlz.wz@163.com/", "claim": "The driver still received a targeted bug-fix patch in 2023, indicating some residual upstream maintenance rather than total abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The most recent 2024 touch was a treewide API-adjustment patch, not a removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_CALXEDA_XGMAC.html", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes CONFIG_NET_CALXEDA_XGMAC and ties it specifically to the Calxeda Highbank XGMAC device/module xgmac." }, { "url": "https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Server", "claim": "Ubuntu's ARM server wiki describes Calxeda Midway and Highbank boards as commercially available before Calxeda's closure, showing these were niche early-2010s server platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/processors/calxeda-pioneer-of-arm-server-chips-shuts-down-1210066", "claim": "Calxeda shut down in December 2013, strongly indicating the hardware family is long out of new production." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Single-platform Ethernet driver for Calxeda Highbank/related ECX server SoCs, confirmed locally from Kconfig/of_match. lore_file_timeline on xgmac.c showed recent activity through 2024, but it is mostly treewide API churn; the cited 2023 lore patch is the clearest evidence of residual bug-fix traffic, while the 2024 lore patch shows no active removal series. Web search surfaced LKDDb for continued kernel presence, Ubuntu wiki pages showing the platform was an early-2010s niche ARM server product, and TechRadar reporting Calxeda's 2013 shutdown. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and not sold new in 2025, deployments are likely only legacy/collector/lab use, but upstream attention is still nonzero, so keep the driver with obsolescence annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7142119026675253, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1322547324, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197198, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/common", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell ThunderX MIO-PTP (CN88XX/CN81XX/CN83XX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241016094911.24818-8-pstanner@redhat.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch in 2024 was a PCI API modernization patch for this file, indicating maintenance but not feature work or removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2025070124-backyard-hurt-783a@gregkh/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch in 2025 was a timecounter API cleanup touching this file as part of a wider series, again showing treewide upkeep rather than active subsystem development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CAVIUM_PTP.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this directory's module as cavium_ptp for PCI device 177d:a00c (THUNDERX MIO-PTP Controller) and shows it still exists in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/THUNDER_NIC_VF.html", "claim": "The related Thunder NIC VF driver remains present in current kernels; local source shows it consumes cavium_ptp helpers, so this directory still serves an in-tree Cavium NIC stack." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell's current infrastructure-processor product page highlights newer OCTEON TX2/other current families rather than the older ThunderX-era OCTEON TX/ThunderX MIO-PTP generation, supporting a legacy-hardware assessment." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-tx-cn82xx-cn83xx-com-product-brief_2019.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's CN82XX/CN83XX product brief shows the driver targets an older OCTEON TX generation aligned with embedded/network infrastructure SoCs, not a broadly current 2025 platform family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver, not a helper-only directory: local source inspection showed module_pci_driver(cavium_ptp_driver) and PCI IDs for Cavium PTP. URLs were obtained via lore_file_timeline (first two lore links) and web search (LKDDb/Marvell links). Lore shows very sparse activity, with 2024-2025 touches limited to API/treewide upkeep; I found no positive evidence of an active removal series. Local Kconfig and source tie this driver to Thunder NIC VF timestamping/PTP support, and LKDDb confirms both remain in-tree. Marvell's current product positioning emphasizes newer families, so the hardware looks legacy with low present-day deployment, but still worth keeping annotated rather than deprecating/removing due to continued in-tree dependency and occasional upkeep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4301089503890806, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1516131074, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751377105, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell LiquidIO SmartNIC (CN23xx/CN6xxx OCTEON)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260420023304.57105-1-dbgh9129@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-20 the driver still receives netdev-targeted functional fixes, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260209142257.719982279@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "LiquidIO fixes were backported to stable in February 2026, showing the code is still considered relevant to supported deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/liquidio-smart-nics/liquidio-ii-smart-nics.html", "claim": "Marvell still listed LiquidIO II CN23xx 10/25GbE Smart NIC adapters on its product site in 2026, supporting the view that at least part of this hardware family remained commercially available through 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-ships-millionth-octeon-powered-liquidio-smartnic.html", "claim": "Marvell stated in 2020 that the LiquidIO line had shipped over 1 million units and that LiquidIO III was the newer generation, implying a substantial installed base but an aging product family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection identified a real PCI Ethernet driver (`lio_main.c`, `lio_vf_main.c`) for Cavium LiquidIO with CN23xx/CN6xxx/OCTEON firmware names. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/liquidio/lio_main.c` showed recent 2026 netdev and stable activity; that argues against deprecation/removal now. A `lore_regex` removal-search timed out, and a web lore search found no clear removal/deprecation thread, so no escalation to `remove`. Web search found Marvell product pages still listing LiquidIO II Smart NICs in 2026, while Marvell's newsroom page shows a large installed base and that newer LiquidIO III succeeded it. Overall: aging hardware with continuing maintenance and ongoing deployments, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/aging rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0536047271752209, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1434001448, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769743655, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/octeon", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cavium Octeon CN5xxx/CN6xxx management-port Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251103150952.3538205-5-vadim.fedorenko@linux.dev/", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream maintenance exists: 2025 net-next work converted octeon_mgmt to ndo_hwtstamp callbacks." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240730183403.4176544-7-allen.lkml@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being mechanically modernized in 2024 via tasklet API conversion, indicating it remains build- and runtime-relevant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The file was included in 2024 platform_driver remove-callback API churn; this is maintenance activity, not removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEON_MGMT_ETHERNET.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps the driver to OCTEON_MGMT_ETHERNET on Cavium Octeon SoCs, matching the CN5xxx/CN6xxx management-port niche." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octeon", "claim": "Octeon is an older Cavium MIPS SoC family, supporting the conclusion that this driver targets legacy embedded/networking hardware rather than a 2025 new-design platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`octeon_mgmt.c` is a real platform net driver for Octeon management ports. `lore_file_timeline` on the file showed nontrivial 2024-2025 touches, including a 2025 hwtstamp callback conversion and 2024 API modernization, so the driver is not abandoned and available lore evidence does not show an active removal series. Hardware scope is narrow and old: local Kconfig names CN5xxx/CN6xxx only; supporting URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` (three lore links) plus canonical recall of stable reference pages (LKDDb and Wikipedia). Conclusion: keep upstream for legacy users, but annotate as old/legacy hardware with low current deployment expectations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18493300788896128, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1458339930, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762307032, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell ThunderX NIC/BGX/RGX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/1771862241-90270-1-git-send-email-shawn.lin@rock-chips.com/", "claim": "The driver family still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; a netdev/linux-pci patch updated thunder_bgx to use pcim_alloc_irq_vectors()." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250907195617.768397139@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Thunder BGX fixes were backported to stable in September 2025, indicating maintained deployed systems rather than abandonware." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/blogs/arm-processors-in-the-data-center.html", "claim": "Marvell said in August 2020 it had changed its strategy for ThunderX, describing ThunderX as an older server-processor product line and pivoting toward custom Arm solutions." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvells-thunderx2-solution-now-deployed-for-microsoft-azure-development.html", "claim": "ThunderX2 had real production deployments historically, including Microsoft Azure internal servers in 2019." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/THUNDER_NIC_BGX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Thunder BGX driver is still present in current kernels and ties it to Cavium ThunderX PCI device IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found PCI module drivers nicpf/nicvf/thunder_bgx/thunder_xcv under this path. lore_activity MCP on thunder_bgx.c returned 2026 upstream maintenance and 2025 stable backports; no removal evidence surfaced, and lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no direct hits, so I treated that as a path-match blind spot rather than inactivity. Web search/open on Marvell pages showed ThunderX was a historical server line with a 2020 strategy change, while a 2019 Marvell release showed genuine deployment history. Web search on LKDDb confirmed current kernel presence and device IDs. Conclusion: hardware is commercially obsolete for new 2025 purchases, but there is still enough maintenance and installed-base evidence to keep the driver with obsolescence annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09435521272187067, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1432750784, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764295793, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T1", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250416010210.work.904-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance touches in 2025; cxgb2.c was part of a net/ethtool patch posted on 2025-04-16." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CHELSIO_T1.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_CHELSIO_T1/cxgb to Chelsio 10Gb Ethernet support and lists supported PCI IDs, confirming this is the legacy Chelsio T1-family driver still present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/products/", "claim": "Chelsio's current product page advertises later-generation adapters and says it is shipping seventh-generation technology, not T1-era adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/general-information/", "claim": "Chelsio's current naming guidance describes modern T5/T6/T7 Terminator families, supporting the inference that T1 hardware is long out of new-product rotation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` found `Makefile: # Chelsio T1 driver` and board strings like T110/N210/T210, so the family is Terminator T1. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb/cxgb2.c`; it shows non-removal upstream activity through 2025, mostly API/treewide upkeep rather than new feature work. External evidence came from web search: LKDDb confirms the driver/hardware mapping, while Chelsio's current official product pages only market much newer generations; from that I infer T1 is not sold new in 2025 and survives mainly in legacy deployments. Because upstream still touches it, I would annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3051907321871849, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1313031292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744941232, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb3", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator 3 (T3)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": "cxgb4", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20221109021451.121490-1-shaozhengchao@huawei.com/", "claim": "Netdev saw a real cxgb3 bug-fix patch in 2022, indicating the driver still receives upstream maintenance when issues are found." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20231212220954.work.219-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "Netdev also carried a cxgb3-specific fix in 2023, so the driver is not abandoned even if traffic is modest." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/discontinued-t3-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio classifies T3 adapters as legacy/discontinued, so the hardware is no longer a current product line." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/products/", "claim": "Chelsio's current product lineup is centered on newer Terminator generations rather than T3." }, { "url": "https://store.chelsio.com/collections/current-adapters", "claim": "Chelsio's 2025-era store lists current adapters from newer families, not T3 boards, supporting that T3 is no longer sold new." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig separates CXGB3 from newer Chelsio T4/T5/T6 support, with cxgb4 being the natural modern replacement for the same vendor/use-case class." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local code inspection via exec_command identified it as the Chelsio T3 driver and showed T3 board names (T302/T310/T320 etc.); lore_activity on cxgb3_main.c/cxgb_up found real netdev fixes in 2022-2023; lore_file_timeline showed the path still appears in recent kernel traffic, though much of that is stable/treewide churn rather than feature work. A removal-discussion query via lore_regex timed out and a fallback lei query was blocked by sandbox, so there is no positive evidence of an active removal series. Web search found Chelsio's discontinued T3 page plus current-product pages showing newer generations only. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and probably limited to legacy servers/appliances, but upstream still accepts occasional fixes, so deprecate/remove would be premature; keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/obsolete hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1825711785289717, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1313031292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749591744, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T4/T5/T6", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251121181231.64337-1-alan.maguire@oracle.com/", "claim": "Upstream netdev traffic still carried cxgb4-specific fixes in late 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio still advertised Terminator 6 Unified Wire adapters, implying the cxgb4-supported family was still marketed in/through 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/category/asic-solutions/", "claim": "Chelsio continued listing Terminator 6 ASICs alongside newer generations, supporting ongoing commercial relevance for T6-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CHELSIO_T4.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_CHELSIO_T4/cxgb4 to Chelsio T4/T5/T6 Ethernet support, confirming the covered chipset family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module-backed Ethernet code. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/cxgb4_main.c` showed sustained activity through 2026-02-22 and a cxgb4-specific netdev fix on 2025-11-21; cited lore URL came from that MCP call. Chipset family was confirmed from in-tree Kconfig/headers via shell `rg`, and the cited LKDDb URL was obtained by web search. Chelsio product/ASIC pages were obtained by web search and show T6 adapters/ASICs still marketed, so this is not purely legacy hardware. Given active upstream fixes, stable backports, and ongoing vendor marketing, removal/deprecation is not indicated; keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051496416552463516, "commits_5y": 113, "substantive_commits_5y": 96, "first_touch_ts": 1313031292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768702216, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4vf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T4/T5/T6 SR-IOV Virtual Function NICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241115204308.3821419-1-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance still touches cxgb4vf in netdev; the driver was part of a November 15, 2024 netdev patch series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/cocci/20250210052039.144513-5-me@davidreaver.com/", "claim": "cxgb4vf was still being mechanically updated for kernel API churn in February 2025, showing it remains live in-tree rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CHELSIO_T4VF.html", "claim": "CONFIG_CHELSIO_T4VF is the upstream Linux driver for Chelsio T4/T5/T6 Virtual Function Ethernet support and is still present through current kernel HEAD." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/t6225-cr/", "claim": "Chelsio's T6 Unified Wire Adapter product page advertises SR-IOV-capable hardware still marketed on the vendor site, indicating the family is not purely historical." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source grep identified this as the cxgb4vf PCI SR-IOV VF NIC driver. lore_file_timeline on cxgb4vf_main.c showed activity through 2025-02-10 and substantive netdev/hardening touches in 2024, with no sampled evidence of a removal series; a follow-up lore_regex removal-subject query timed out rather than finding removal traffic. Web search returned LKDDb confirming current upstream support for T4/T5/T6 VF devices and an official Chelsio T6 product page still marketing SR-IOV adapters. Conclusion: hardware is still sold but niche, deployments are likely legacy/datacenter-low-volume, and there is no natural replacement other than keeping cxgb4vf for Chelsio SR-IOV VFs, so keep it but annotate as legacy/niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3202123193425325, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1313031292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1731984731, "top_author": "Kees Cook", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/inline_crypto/ch_ipsec", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator 6 (T6) inline IPsec offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260112192035.10427-21-ebiggers@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver file was still receiving upstream maintenance in 2026; a January 12, 2026 patch touched this code for an AES API update rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/terminator-6-asic/", "claim": "The hardware family behind this driver is Chelsio's Terminator 6 (T6) ASIC." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio's current product site still lists T6 adapter SKUs such as T62100-LP-CR and T6225-CR and advertises integrated IPsec crypto support, indicating T6 hardware remained an orderable/current product line in 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/wp-content/uploads/resources/t6-25g-inline-ipsec.pdf", "claim": "Chelsio documents Linux inline IPsec offload on T6 adapters, including CONFIG_CHELSIO_IPSEC_INLINE and a T6225 adapter deployment example, showing the driver's exact use case is real hardware offload rather than dead code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`/`sed`) shows a real module driver implementing xfrmdev/IPsec offload, not helper code. `lore_file_timeline` on `chcr_ipsec.c` showed continued activity through 2026 with multiple 2025-2026 touches and no decay cliff; `lore_regex` for remove/deprecate/obsolete terms over the last 5 years returned no hits, so there is no evidence of active removal discussion. Web search + page open on Chelsio's official site identified the T6 family and current product listings, plus an official inline-IPsec deployment paper. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the driver is niche and hardware-specific with likely low modern deployment volume, but it is still maintained and tied to hardware that Chelsio continued to market/order in 2025-2026.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1045714448885286, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1598044516, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514947, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/inline_crypto/ch_ktls", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator 6 (T6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260402235511.664801-2-rjethwani@purestorage.com/", "claim": "Recent netdev patch traffic in 2026 still touches ch_ktls, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-crypto/20260112192035.10427-21-ebiggers@kernel.org/", "claim": "linux-crypto changes in January 2026 updated the Chelsio code to a new AES library API, another sign of current upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/wp-content/uploads/resources/T62100-LP-CR-PB.pdf", "claim": "A 2025-published Chelsio T62100-LP-CR product brief advertises T6 adapters with TLS/SSL and related crypto offload features." }, { "url": "https://store.chelsio.com/products/t62100-lp-cr-high-performance-low-profile-dual-port-40-50-100gbe-unified-wire-adapter-with-pcie-3-0-x16-interface?variant=29880379523", "claim": "Chelsio's online store still listed a T6-based adapter for sale, supporting the view that T6 hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/README.html", "claim": "Canonical kernel.org reference for the upstream kernel tree; local Kconfig/source inspection shows CONFIG_CHELSIO_TLS_DEVICE is specifically for Chelsio T6 kernel TLS offload." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real module-backed driver directory (`chcr_ktls.c`, `module_init`, MODULE_DESCRIPTION) and Kconfig says `CONFIG_CHELSIO_TLS_DEVICE` is for Chelsio T6 kernel TLS offload. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/inline_crypto/ch_ktls/chcr_ktls.c` returned active 2026 maintenance URLs on netdev and linux-crypto. A removal-focused `lore_regex` query timed out once and was not retried; timeline evidence showed no removal pattern. Web search found Chelsio's 2025 PDF brief and current store listing for T6 adapters with TLS/SSL crypto offload. Conclusion: niche but still-sold, still-maintained hardware/driver; keep. Source acquisition: lore URLs via `lore_file_timeline`, Chelsio URLs via `web.search`, kernel.org URL by canonical recall from local tree path context.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0889143968066663, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1599870399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514947, "top_author": "Mina Almasry", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/inline_crypto/chtls", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator 6 (T6) Unified Wire adapters / TLS inline offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/aSQocKoJGkN0wzEj@kspp/", "claim": "chtls still received netdev changes in late 2025 ('chtls: Avoid -Wflex-array-member-not-at-end warning')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/c6bfb23c-2db2-4e1b-b8ab-ba3925c82ef5@stanley.mountain/", "claim": "chtls received a targeted bugfix in 2024 with a stable CC ('prevent potential integer overflow on 32bit')." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/t6225-so-cr/", "claim": "Chelsio still listed a T6 adapter page with 'BUY NOW' and explicit TLS/SSL inline offload capability on a page crawled in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio's current adapter catalog still presents T6 Unified Wire adapters with crypto/TLS offload alongside newer products, indicating ongoing new-hardware availability rather than purely historical documentation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg`, `find`, `sed`) shows this is a real kernel driver module (`obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEV_CHELSIO_TLS) += chtls.o`) implementing Chelsio TLS inline offload on top of cxgb4, not a helper library. lore_activity on `chtls_main.c`/`chtls_io.c` (netdev-filtered) found recent 2024-2025 fix/refactor traffic, including a stable-tagged bugfix, so upstream attention is still real. A quick lore removal probe produced no positive removal evidence. Web search on chelsio.com found current T6 product/catalog pages; the T6225-SO-CR page still advertises 'BUY NOW' and inline TLS/SSL offload, so the hardware family appears still sold new in 2025, but only for a specialized datacenter/offload niche. Because the hardware is niche yet still marketed and the driver is actively maintained, the defensible recommendation is keep rather than deprecate/remove. URLs were obtained via `lore_activity` and `web search/open`; no kernel.org URL was needed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07225986562886987, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1598044515, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514947, "top_author": "Kuniyuki Iwashima", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/libcxgb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `libcxgb` is an internal Chelsio support/library subdirectory rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1469467868, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722998140, "top_author": "Uros Bizjak", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cirrus", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cirrus Logic CS89x0 / EP93xx Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260422-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v2-9-08a5b59784d5@lunn.ch/", "claim": "Andrew Lunn posted a 2026 netdev patch to remove the cs89x0 driver, showing active upstream removal discussion for part of this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260422-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v2-10-08a5b59784d5@lunn.ch/", "claim": "Andrew Lunn also posted a 2026 netdev patch to remove the mac89x0 driver, covering another legacy driver in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240909-ep93xx-v12-17-e86ab2423d4b@maquefel.me/", "claim": "EP93xx Ethernet still saw non-trivial upstream work in 2024 via a device-tree support series, so the whole directory is not uniformly dead." }, { "url": "https://jp.cirrus.com/products/eol", "claim": "Cirrus Logic's official EOL page lists CS8900A variants with 2022 last-order/EOL dates, indicating the CS89x0 hardware family is no longer in new production." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cirrus-logic-inc/EP9302-CQZ/923257", "claim": "DigiKey marks EP9302-CQZ (an EP93xx SoC with integrated Ethernet) as obsolete and no longer manufactured." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory contains three real drivers: cs89x0, mac89x0, and ep93xx_eth. lore_file_timeline found 2026 removal patches for cs89x0 and mac89x0, but also substantial 2024 EP93xx enablement work (DT support), so 'remove' is too aggressive for the whole directory. Web search plus open/find on Cirrus's official EOL page showed CS8900A EOL in 2022; web search plus open/find on DigiKey showed EP9302 marked obsolete/no longer manufactured. Net result: hardware is not sold new in 2025, deployments are likely limited to legacy/industrial systems, and there is no single upstream replacement driver for the same hardware, so deprecate the directory rather than remove it outright today.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3425980862488708, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1313145654, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727074717, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cisco/enic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cisco UCS VIC (Virtual Interface Card) Ethernet NIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260423-enic-sriov-v2-admin-channel-v2-v5-10-caa9f504a3dc@cisco.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and feature-bearing in 2026; enic is still receiving net-next development rather than only janitorial fixes." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/unified-computing-system-adapters/ucs-vic-15000-series-ds.html", "claim": "Cisco's 2025 VIC 15000 Series data sheet shows current UCS VIC 15000 adapters for M6/M7/M8 servers, indicating the enic hardware family remains sold for new deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/os-install-guides/3-1/b_Cisco_VIC_Drivers_Installation_Guide/b_Cisco_VIC_Drivers_Installation_Guide_chapter_01.pdf", "claim": "Cisco's recent VIC driver guide explicitly states eNIC is the driver for Cisco UCS VIC Ethernet NICs, tying this Linux driver family to current Cisco VIC support." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-virtual-interface-card/series.html", "claim": "Cisco support pages still list UCS Virtual Interface Cards as an available-order product family, supporting ongoing deployment presence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` on enic.h/enic_main.c identifies this as the Cisco VIC Ethernet NIC driver and shows recent VIC 15xxx device IDs, including 25/100/200G-era parts. `lore_file_timeline` MCP on enic_main.c returned April 23, 2026 net-next SR-IOV V2 patches, with dense 2024-2026 activity and no visible removal signal; a removal-focused `lore_regex` query timed out, so absence of removal talk is inferred from active forward development, not proven by a dedicated negative search. Cisco URLs were obtained via web search and show 2025-orderable/support-current UCS VIC products and current VIC driver documentation. No natural in-tree replacement exists for Cisco UCS VIC Ethernet adapters, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06432650542398427, "commits_5y": 63, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1313055726, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768076466, "top_author": "Nelson Escobar", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/cortina", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cortina Gemini / StorLink SL351x", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260330-gemini-ethernet-fix-v1-1-18783a45d13a@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists for this driver; a netdev patch in 2026 fixes an SKB leak in gemini.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250623130655.756227525@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives stable backports; a 2025 stable patch updates TOE/TSO behavior for the Cortina Gemini ethernet driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GEMINI_ETHERNET.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_GEMINI_ETHERNET for StorLink SL351x (Gemini) dual Gigabit Ethernet and shows it is still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/arm/gemini.yaml", "claim": "Kernel DT documentation describes the Gemini SoC family as originating around 2005 and says the product family appears to have been discontinued after Inphi acquired Cortina in 2014." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/gemini", "claim": "OpenWrt still tracks a Gemini target with working status for CS351x/SL351x boards, indicating some residual legacy deployments." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.1/targets/gemini/generic/", "claim": "OpenWrt release artifacts for the gemini target were still being built in 2025, showing ongoing support for a small set of legacy devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` and `sed` on drivers/net/ethernet/cortina identified a real driver: `gemini.c` with OF matches `cortina,gemini-ethernet` and Kconfig help text naming StorLink SL351x (Gemini). `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c` showed substantial 2025-2026 fix traffic and stable backports, with sampled recent subjects focused on fixes rather than removal, so this is not a dead driver. `web search` found LKDDb and OpenWrt pages; `web open` on the kernel DT mirror showed the SoC family dates to around 2005 and appears discontinued after 2014. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely not sold new in 2025, but there is still low-level field use on old NAS/router boards and active upstream maintenance, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22450709174223296, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1516045135, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744251358, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/davicom", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Davicom DM9000 / DM9051 10/100 Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250311145717.557599910@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`dm9000.c` received a real bug fix in March 2025 (`fix UAF in dm9000_drv_remove`), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240826091858.369910-2-liaochen4@huawei.com/", "claim": "`dm9051.c` received a targeted functional fix in August 2024 (`fix module autoloading`), showing current upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://www.dacomwest.de/en/portfolio/connect/davicom/mac-phy-controller/dm9051", "claim": "DM9051 was still being marketed as a current SPI-to-Ethernet controller product page when crawled in 2026, supporting that the hardware remained sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://components.espressif.com/components/espressif/dm9051/versions/1.1.0/readme?language=en", "claim": "Espressif published a current DM9051 component package in 2026, which is strong evidence of present embedded deployments and ecosystem relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/329724/DAVICOM/DM9000/293/1/DM9000.html", "claim": "DM9000 documentation describes an older general-processor/ISA-style Fast Ethernet controller from a 2009 datasheet, consistent with legacy rather than new-design usage." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DM9051.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows DM9051 support present in current kernel series through HEAD, confirming it is an actively carried in-tree driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local source inspection (`rg`/`sed`) showed two live drivers: `dm9000` and `dm9051`. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on each .c file: dm9000 had a March 2025 UAF fix and dm9051 had a 2024 autoloading fix, with no confirmed removal/deprecation thread. Web search provided product/deployment evidence: Dacom West still lists DM9051 as a current product, Espressif ships a fresh DM9051 component in 2026, while DM9000 looks legacy from its older datasheet. Overall this directory covers niche embedded/industrial hardware that is still extant but not broadly deployed, so keep the driver and annotate its niche/legacy status rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2736857828886867, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1313218034, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738019137, "top_author": "Chenyuan Yang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/dec/tulip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "DEC Tulip / 21x4x-compatible Fast Ethernet PCI/CardBus", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250425085740.65304-5-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2025; this netdev patch updates tulip to use the PCI devres API and was reviewed." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250723201528.2908218-1-helgaas@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory was touched again in 2025 by a treewide net fix, showing the code is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TULIP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TULIP still exists in current kernels and covers DECchip 21140/21142/21143 plus many 21x4x-compatible PCI/CardBus Fast Ethernet boards." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Ethernet-Products/how-to-ask-Intel-to-open-sources-of-21140-Ethernet-controller/m-p/717090", "claim": "Intel states the 21140 Ethernet controller is discontinued and no longer supported; the same thread notes use in legacy VM products such as Microsoft Virtual PC and Hyper-V." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed from local source scan (`rg`): module entry points and PCI IDs for DEC 21140/21142/21143 and compatibles. `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/dec/tulip/tulip_core.c` showed recent 2025 netdev/lkml traffic, including a tulip-specific maintenance patch and later treewide cleanups; no removal discussion was found in the gathered evidence. Web search returned LKDDb coverage for broad supported hardware and Intel's discontinued/no-support statement. Conclusion: hardware is clearly obsolete and only plausibly survives in legacy physical installs or niche old-VM setups, but upstream still does occasional maintenance, so deprecate/remove would be premature; keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1849845821869682, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1313133685, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751423787, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/dlink", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "D-Link DL2000 / Sundance ST201 / IC Plus IP1000A PCI Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260106122350.21532-2-yyyynoom@gmail.com/", "claim": "dl2k saw substantive upstream maintenance in January 2026, indicating the directory is not dormant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241008154824.1448370-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "There was an upstream attempt in October 2024 to remove the Sundance driver because it looked old and apparently unused." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250901210818.1025316-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "That removal was reverted in September 2025 after a user report, showing at least some real-world deployment remains." }, { "url": "https://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DGE-550T", "claim": "D-Link marks the DGE-550T as discontinued and says technical support ended on 09/01/2012, supporting that the hardware is long out of new-sale mainstream circulation." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DL2K.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies DL2K as support for DL2000/TC902x/IP1000A-based gigabit PCI cards including the D-Link DGE-550T." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SUNDANCE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies SUNDANCE as support for Sundance Alta / IC Plus IP100A-class 10/100 PCI cards such as D-Link DFE-550TX/FX and DFE-580TX." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local hardware IDs/chip names from shell inspection of Kconfig and PCI ID tables in the directory; lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_message`; product-discontinuation and LKDDb pages came from `web.search_query`. The hardware family is clearly legacy PCI NIC silicon from the 10/100 and early gigabit era, not plausibly sold new in 2025. But upstream activity is still real: dl2k received bug fixes in 2026, and sundance survived a removal attempt after a reported user surfaced in 2025. That combination argues against deprecate/remove today; keep it, but annotate as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08282576062514192, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1313105390, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767748298, "top_author": "Yeounsu Moon", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/emulex/benet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Emulex OneConnect / BladeEngine (BE2, BE3, Lancer, Skyhawk)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260128145336.707911771@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "be2net received an upstream-reviewed bug fix in January 2026 ('fix data race in be_get_new_eqd'), showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026013010-dowry-gliding-1ca2@gregkh/", "claim": "The driver was still being carried in stable release traffic touching be_main.c at the end of January 2026, indicating an active supported code path." }, { "url": "https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04394253", "claim": "HPE marks its Converged Network Adapters QuickSpecs as RETIRED and says the base products are obsolete and no longer available for sale." }, { "url": "https://www.hpe.com/us/en/collaterals/collateral.a00047734enw.html", "claim": "Current HPE 10Gb Ethernet offerings are Broadcom BCM57412/BCM57416 and Intel X710 families for Gen10+/Gen11/Gen12 systems, not Emulex OneConnect." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BE2NET.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_BE2NET to Emulex OneConnect/BladeEngine PCI IDs including Skyhawk and Lancer, confirming the hardware family covered by this directory and that the driver remains present in current kernel series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the `be2net` NIC driver for Emulex OneConnect/BladeEngine variants including BE2/BE3/Lancer/Skyhawk. `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `be_main.c` showed sustained 2021-2026 activity and a real January 2026 bug-fix backport, so this is not a dead driver and I found no positive evidence of an active removal campaign. Web search/open on HPE QuickSpecs showed the relevant HPE converged-network products are now retired/obsolete, while current HPE 10Gb adapters have moved to Broadcom BCM5741x and Intel X710 families; that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and a low-but-nonzero legacy deployment estimate. `last_widely_available_year=2023` is inferred from HPE's retired QuickSpecs history showing obsolete SKUs being removed as late as December 2023. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy enterprise/server NIC hardware rather than a candidate for deprecation or removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0629240604026336, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1313055235, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769194385, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/engleder", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TSNEP / TSN endpoint Ethernet MAC IP core", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=efa375c44090faf214d351a873cc90b7903080b2", "claim": "Mainline saw a tsnep-specific update on 2026-01-17, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b3ca9eef6646576ad506a96d941d87a69f66732a", "claim": "Mainline carried a functional tsnep bug fix in 2025 ('fix timestamping with a stacked DSA driver'), showing active bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg844211.html", "claim": "The 2025 tsnep timestamping fix propagated into stable review, which is evidence of real downstream maintenance and deployed users." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TSNEP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_TSNEP present across kernel releases from 5.17 through current HEAD, with platform/OF bindings for 'engleder,tsnep'." }, { "url": "https://www.ipms.fraunhofer.de/en/Components-and-Systems/Components-and-Systems-Data-Communication/ip-cores/IP-Cores-Ethernet.html", "claim": "Vendor marketing for TSN endpoint IP cores remains current, listing TSN-EP 1G and TSN-EP 10G for industrial/robotics/automotive use and noting Linux drivers as an available software option for TSN-EP-10G." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is a real platform Ethernet driver for OF compatible `engleder,tsnep`, with module description 'TSN endpoint Ethernet MAC driver' and modern features such as PTP, taprio, XDP and XSK. Local shell `git log` found tsnep-specific commits in 2024, 2025, and 2026, including commit URLs cited above; no local history suggested a removal/deprecation series. Web search located the stable-list mirror URL for a 2025 tsnep fix and the Fraunhofer TSN IP-core product page; web open/find confirmed the LKDDb presence and that TSN-EP products are still being marketed for new industrial deployments. Conclusion: niche industrial IP-core hardware with low-volume but current deployments and active maintenance, so keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1637587144, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768702215, "top_author": "Gerhard Engleder", "top_author_commits": 51, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ezchip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "EZchip NPS management Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Latest upstream touch affecting this driver in the last few years was an API churn patch in October 2024, not a feature update or removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20231128173823.867512-5-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Another recent touch was a platform remove-callback conversion in November 2023, again consistent with treewide maintenance rather than active device-specific development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EZCHIP_NPS_MANAGEMENT_ENET.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_EZCHIP_NPS_MANAGEMENT_ENET for compatible string \"ezchip,nps-mgt-enet\" and describes it as a simple LAN device for debug or management purposes without DMA." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ezchip-introduces-nps-a-new-breed-of-c-programmable-npu-that-enables-the-next-wave-of-high-performance-smart-carrier-and-data-center-networks-168592256.html", "claim": "EZchip introduced the NPS product line in 2012, indicating the hardware family is old by 2025 standards." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZchip_Semiconductor", "claim": "EZchip Semiconductor was acquired by Mellanox and is listed as defunct in 2016, supporting the view that this is legacy hardware rather than an actively marketed standalone family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source showed compatible string \"ezchip,nps-mgt-enet\" and MODULE_DESCRIPTION \"EZchip NPS Ethernet driver\", so the family is EZchip NPS management Ethernet. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity MCP calls showed sparse 2023-2024 activity limited to API/treewide maintenance, with no evidence of active feature work or a removal thread. Web search produced LKDDb confirming this is a niche debug/management LAN block, plus old NPS launch material and EZchip's 2016 defunct/acquisition page; together that points to legacy embedded deployments only, low current field presence, no natural replacement driver, and a deprecate-not-remove recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.474183872612262, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1435068985, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706137940, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/faraday", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Faraday FTMAC100/FTGMAC100 Ethernet MAC IP (including Aspeed AST2400/AST2500/AST2600 integrations)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED still lists AST2600/AST2620 and AST2500/AST2520 in its current BMC product lineup, and states BMCs are used in servers, networks, and storage devices." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 is a current ASPEED server-management/BMC product, indicating FTGMAC100-backed hardware remained sold new in and beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://gerrit.openbmc.org/plugins/gitiles/openbmc/openbmc/%2B/a17d9b8672f981573c1401ee1838301fbe359735/meta-evb/meta-evb-aspeed/meta-evb-ast2600/", "claim": "OpenBMC maintains an AST2600 EVB layer, showing ongoing real-world software deployment on AST2600 platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1106489.html", "claim": "There was active netdev work on ftgmac100 in July 2025 ('Add optional reset control for RMII mode on Aspeed SoCs'), which argues against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5919309.html", "claim": "There was another 2025 patch series for ftgmac100 ('Add AST2600 RGMII delay into ftgmac100'), showing continued upstream feature work for current Aspeed hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FTGMAC100.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_FTGMAC100 to Faraday FTGMAC100 and compatible strings including aspeed,ast2400-mac, aspeed,ast2500-mac, aspeed,ast2600-mac, and faraday,ftgmac100." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FTMAC100.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_FTMAC100 to the older Faraday FTMAC100 10/100 controller and the andestech,atmac100 compatible, indicating a legacy but still-supported subfamily." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `rg`/`sed` found two real platform drivers here: `ftmac100` and `ftgmac100`; `ftgmac100` matches Faraday plus Aspeed AST2400/2500/2600, while `ftmac100` matches `andestech,atmac100`. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows sustained upstream maintenance through 2026-03-29, with a concentrated refactor/fix series on 2026-02-06 and no sign of removal churn. Web `search_query`/`open` found active 2025 netdev patch series for ftgmac100 and current ASPEED AST2600 product/OpenBMC evidence. Conclusion: the directory mixes one legacy 10/100 IP block with an actively maintained, still-deployed BMC MAC family; there is no natural replacement driver and no removal discussion found, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016432572564779833, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1313105375, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775011116, "top_author": "Andrew Lunn", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale Ethernet controllers: FEC, Gianfar/eTSEC, UCC_GETH, DPAA/DPAA2, and ENETC/NETC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is an umbrella for multiple active Freescale/NXP Ethernet driver families, including FEC, FEC_MPC52xx, UCC_GETH, Gianfar, DPAA, DPAA2, and ENETC." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale", "claim": "Upstream history for this subtree remains active, with recent work in 2025-2026 on FEC, ENETC, DPAA2, and related code rather than removal preparation." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/s32-automotive-platform/s32g-vehicle-network-processors:S32G-PROCESSORS", "claim": "NXP still markets S32G vehicle network processors and states a minimum 15 years of product support, indicating ongoing new-platform relevance for Freescale/NXP networking IP." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/s32-automotive-platform/s32j-ethernet-switches-and-network-controllers:S32J?cid=pr_pro26011g_tac3047200_1awr_1pr", "claim": "NXP markets the S32J family in 2024-2025 as new Ethernet switch/network-controller products built on the common NETC networking foundation, which aligns with the actively developed ENETC/NETC portion of this subtree." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and `git log` in the tree) showed this is a live umbrella driver directory, not a single obsolete driver: top-level Kconfig enables legacy blocks plus current DPAA/DPAA2/ENETC, and local history shows substantive 2026 fixes/features (for example ENETC VF/RSS work, DPAA2-switch fixes, and FEC AF_XDP work). NXP product pages were obtained via `web.search_query` and `web.open`; they show still-sold S32G and newer S32J/NETC hardware in current automotive deployments. The kernel.org URLs are canonical recall URLs used to map the same in-tree Kconfig/log locations inspected locally. I found no evidence of an active upstream removal/deprecation thread in the limited lore-oriented web lookups, and the recent maintenance volume strongly argues against deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.010324696882132204, "commits_5y": 265, "substantive_commits_5y": 250, "first_touch_ts": 1313133732, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775252377, "top_author": "Wei Fang", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale QorIQ DPAA1 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260411175134.771552-1-azpijr@gmail.com/", "claim": "`dpaa_eth.c` was still receiving upstream touches in 2026, indicating the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/T1042", "claim": "NXP still listed QorIQ T1042 with DPAA features, showing first-generation DPAA hardware remained a real product line in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-based-processors-and-mcus/qoriq-layerscape-arm-processors/qoriq-layerscape-1021a-dual-core-communications-processor-with-lcd-controller%3ALS1021A", "claim": "NXP still listed LS1021A as Active, supporting continued sale of QorIQ networking SoCs associated with this driver family." }, { "url": "https://cache.nxp.com/docs/en/brochure/QORIQPRSPLATOVBR.pdf", "claim": "NXP's current QorIQ platform material describes DPAA as an architecture used on QorIQ P and T series processors, supporting ongoing embedded/networking deployments rather than purely legacy use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection of Kconfig/Makefile identified this as the Freescale/NXP FSL DPAA Ethernet driver for QorIQ chips. URL 1 came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa/dpaa_eth.c`, which showed continued non-removal activity through 2026; the retrieved sample did not surface a removal thread. URLs 2-4 came from `web.search_query` on NXP product/material pages and show DPAA/QorIQ hardware still marketed in the 2025 timeframe. That points to ongoing embedded/industrial/network-appliance deployments, so this is not a removal candidate; keep it, with no direct replacement for existing DPAA1 hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09054865836035782, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1479267265, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764209441, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale DPAA2 (Layerscape/QorIQ WRIOP networking)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=74badb9c20b1", "claim": "Recent upstream fix in February 2026 for dpaa2-switch shows current maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d27c6e8975c6", "claim": "Recent functional work added ndo_hwtstamp_get() support to dpaa2-eth, indicating ongoing feature-level upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FSL_DPAA2_ETH.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FSL_DPAA2_ETH remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, showing the Ethernet driver is still upstream and buildable." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FSL_DPAA2_SWITCH.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FSL_DPAA2_SWITCH remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, showing the switch portion of this directory is also still upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP lists the LX2160A as Active and advertises DPAA2/WRIOP Ethernet and L2 switching capabilities, indicating hardware family is still sold for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real fsl-mc network driver directory with Kconfig entries for DPAA2 Ethernet, PTP, and switch, plus heavy recent git activity in 2024-2026; a local git grep for removal/deprecate/obsolete/orphan did not surface any actual deprecation series for the directory. Kernel commit URLs were formed by canonical recall from commit hashes obtained via local `git log`. LKDDb and NXP URLs were obtained via web search. The hardware is still an active but niche embedded/networking SoC family, so recommendation is keep, with medium current deployment rather than mass-market ubiquity.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.028047947491241638, "commits_5y": 166, "substantive_commits_5y": 155, "first_touch_ts": 1535847419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772298101, "top_author": "Ioana Ciornei", "top_author_commits": 56, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP ENETC / NETC Ethernet controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6121890.html", "claim": "Recent March 26, 2026 netdev patch for ENETC shows active upstream maintenance rather than removal or deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1028A", "claim": "NXP lists LS1028A as Active and describes integrated Ethernet controller / TSN functionality served by ENETC-class Linux support." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX95 as Active/updated and advertises TSN-capable Ethernet connectivity, indicating ongoing/new platform deployments tied to NETC/ENETC support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig read via exec_command identifies this as the NXP ENETC/NETC PF/VF/MDIO/PTP driver family, including LS1028A and newer ENETC4/NETC platforms. Local git log via exec_command showed substantive 2026-03 ENETC fixes with patch msgids; web search resolved one recent thread to the cited spinics URL, and separate web searches found the cited NXP LS1028A and i.MX95 product pages. Within the allowed budget, I found current upstream fix traffic and no removal/deprecation discussion; hardware remains relevant for embedded/industrial NXP SoCs, with no distinct replacement driver for the same use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01369664493747316, "commits_5y": 241, "substantive_commits_5y": 226, "first_touch_ts": 1548395753, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774670206, "top_author": "Wei Fang", "top_author_commits": 76, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fman", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP QorIQ DPAA Frame Manager (FMan)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241212144254.366497858@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable backport of \"fsl/fman: Validate cell-index value obtained from Device Tree\" in December 2024 shows ongoing upstream bug-fix maintenance for this driver family." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2024121449-stammer-blatancy-4349@gregkh/", "claim": "The driver file was included in Linux 6.12.5 stable activity in December 2024, indicating continued maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1043A", "claim": "NXP listed LS1043A as Active, with DPAA-based networking features and an active LS1043A-RDB board offering, supporting that FMan-class hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/assets/block-diagram/en/LS1043A.pdf", "claim": "NXP's LS1043A block-diagram PDF was updated on September 4, 2025, reinforcing that this Layerscape/FMan platform remained a current marketed product in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed real platform_driver/module_init entry points in fman.c, fman_port.c, and mac.c. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity (MCP) showed steady 2022-2024 traffic plus a December 2024 fsl/fman stable backport; no successful removal/deprecation hit was found, and regex removal searches timed out rather than producing evidence. Web search found official NXP LS1043A product pages/PDF marking the SoC Active in 2025. This points to a niche but still-deployed embedded networking block with ongoing fixes, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.082390701412954, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1451267499, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764209441, "top_author": "Sean Anderson", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fs_enet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Freescale PowerQUICC CPM/FEC Ethernet (MPC8xx/MPC82xx/MPC512x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240904171822.64652-9-maxime.chevallier@bootlin.com/", "claim": "fs_enet received substantial upstream feature work in 2024 (phylink conversion touching 6 files)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260224015517.354145-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "fs_enet still received bug-fix maintenance in 2026, so it is not an abandoned driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FS_ENET.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FS_ENET depends on legacy PowerPC families: CPM1, CPM2, or PPC_MPC512x, and remains present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC8260?tab=Package_Quality_Tab", "claim": "Representative supported PowerQUICC II SoC MPC8260 is marked 'No Longer Manufactured' by NXP." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC8250?tab=Package_Quality_Tab", "claim": "Representative supported PowerQUICC II SoC MPC8250 is marked 'No Longer Manufactured' / 'End of Life' by NXP." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` over the directory identified compatibles and comments tying fs_enet to Motorola/Freescale MPC8xx, MPC82xx, CPM1/CPM2 SCC/FCC, and MPC5121/5125 FEC blocks. `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fs_enet/fs_enet-main.c` showed active non-treewide maintenance through 2026, including a 2024 phylink conversion and 2026 fixes, which argues against deprecation/removal. `web.search_query` found LKDDb confirming the legacy dependency set and NXP product pages showing representative supported MPC82xx parts are no longer manufactured. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely limited to installed/industrial systems, but upstream attention is still real; keep the driver, annotated as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2722028834416827, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1313133732, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729014954, "top_author": "Maxime Chevallier", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/fujitsu", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Fujitsu FMV-J18x / compatible MBH86960A-based PCMCIA Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260422-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v2-11-08a5b59784d5@lunn.ch/", "claim": "An April 22, 2026 netdev patch series proposes deleting the fmvj18x driver entirely ('Remove this driver')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCMCIA_FMVJ18X.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as CONFIG_PCMCIA_FMVJ18X, a PCMCIA/PC-Card Ethernet driver producing module fmvj18x_cs." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card", "claim": "PC Card/PCMCIA was superseded by ExpressCard in 2003 and most of its functionality moved to USB-era peripherals, indicating an obsolete deployment niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed the only driver is fmvj18x_cs.c and Kconfig labels it 'Fujitsu FMV-J18x PCMCIA support', so this is a 16-bit PCMCIA Ethernet driver for legacy laptops/cards. lore_file_timeline returned the cited 2026 netdev/lkml removal series URL, which is strong upstream evidence to escalate from deprecate to remove. Deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDb page confirms the exact driver scope, and the cited PC Card page shows the bus itself is long-obsolete and superseded; that supports 'still sold new in 2025 = false' and only low residual legacy deployments. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same specific hardware; users would replace the hardware/interface rather than switch drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5354672393292231, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1313133728, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712573816, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/fungible/funcore", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Fungible DPU adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://mail.openwall.com/netdev/2022/01/07/113", "claim": "Initial upstream posting for funcore describes it as the common service module for Fungible cards and notes the cards expose multiple PCI functions." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2024/11/16/264", "claim": "Late-2024 mailing-list traffic for net/fungible is a small cleanup patch, indicating maintenance activity rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FUN_CORE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FUN_CORE continues to exist in current kernel series and builds the funcore module." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FUN_ETH.html", "claim": "The sibling production driver supports only Fungible PCI IDs 1dad:0101 and 1dad:0181, showing this code serves a very narrow hardware family." }, { "url": "https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/01/09/microsoft-announces-acquisition-of-fungible-to-accelerate-datacenter-innovation/", "claim": "Microsoft acquired Fungible in January 2023 and positioned the technology for datacenter infrastructure work, which argues against broad ongoing commercial card sales under the Fungible brand." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Core services driver for Fungible devices\") and obj-$(CONFIG_FUN_CORE) in Makefile. Local git log shows non-mechanical touches through 2024-11-16, so it is not abandoned; searched lore/openwall first via web because lore MCP/lei were unavailable, and found only maintenance traffic, no removal series. turn2 web search produced the 2022 netdev patch URL; turn3/turn6/turn9 web search/open/find yielded the 2024 openwall patch URL; turn5 web search yielded LKDDb FUN_CORE/FUN_ETH pages; turn4/turn7 web search/open yielded Microsoft's acquisition post. Conclusion: hardware appears niche and likely no longer broadly sold after the 2023 acquisition, but upstream still carries and lightly maintains it, so keep the driver with an obsolescence annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1645959083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1731984851, "top_author": "Dimitris Michailidis", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/fungible/funeth", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Fungible DPU Ethernet PF/VF", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1147640.html", "claim": "A January 9, 2026 net-next patch updated funeth for a new ethtool callback, showing current upstream maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1128501.html", "claim": "An October 14, 2025 net-next patch converted funeth to the ndo_hwtstamp API, another sign of active upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://blogs.microsoft.com/?p=52560660", "claim": "Microsoft announced on January 9, 2023 that it acquired Fungible and folded the team into its datacenter infrastructure work, indicating the hardware became part of an internal hyperscale roadmap rather than an independent product line." }, { "url": "https://blocksandfiles.com/2022/12/13/fungible-sold-to-microsoft-for-190-million/", "claim": "Reporting in December 2022 said Fungible had already shrunk its product line before the Microsoft deal, supporting the view that new standalone deployments tapered off after 2022." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI Ethernet driver (`module_pci_driver`, Fungible PCI vendor ID, Kconfig says PF/VF support). The two spinics URLs were obtained via web search for `funeth netdev`; they show 2025-2026 maintenance/API-conversion traffic and no removal discussion surfaced in those search results, so absence of removal talk is an inference from search coverage rather than proof. The Microsoft blog URL was obtained via web search for Fungible acquisition and is the primary source for the 2023 acquisition. The Blocks & Files URL was obtained via web search for Fungible product availability and supports the judgment that standalone hardware sales effectively ended around 2022. Net result: niche datacenter hardware, likely still deployed in limited legacy/internal environments, but not a removal candidate while upstream maintenance remains active.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1645959083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768076466, "top_author": "Dimitris Michailidis", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Google gVNIC (Google Virtual NIC / Compute Engine Virtual Ethernet)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/google/gve.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes gve as the Linux driver for Compute Engine Virtual Ethernet (gVNIC), a current Google virtual NIC with GQI and DQO queue formats." }, { "url": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/networking/using-gvnic", "claim": "Google Cloud documents gVNIC as the recommended interface for all machine families and the only supported interface for third-generation and later Compute Engine machine series, indicating ongoing new deployments in 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1153154.html", "claim": "A January 28, 2026 netdev patchwork-bot message shows '[net] gve: fix probe failure if clock read fails' was applied to netdev/net.git, demonstrating current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1172722.html", "claim": "A March 31, 2026 netdev posting '[PATCH v5 net 11/11] gve: remove home-grown xsk's frame size validation' with Joshua Washington review shows ongoing feature/cleanup work rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell `rg` found `module_pci_driver(gve_driver)` and `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Google Virtual NIC Driver\")` in `gve_main.c`. lore-http MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore evidence was approximated via web search on netdev/spinics mirrors instead. Web search found 2026 netdev traffic with applied and reviewed gve patches, and no actual driver-removal/deprecation discussion; 'remove' hits were code-cleanup patches inside gve, not driver retirement. Google Cloud docs show gVNIC is a current first-class NIC for new Compute Engine VM generations, so this is not obsolete hardware; keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.028145040294055068, "commits_5y": 236, "substantive_commits_5y": 226, "first_touch_ts": 1562034995, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771896168, "top_author": "Joshua Washington", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Ethernet MAC / HNS / HNS3 / HiBMCGE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory covers multiple active HiSilicon Ethernet families, including HNS3 for hip08/Kunpeng-class SoCs and HIBMCGE for HiBMC devices, not a single orphaned legacy driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3/hns3_enet.c", "claim": "The tree still contains a full PCI Ethernet driver for HNS3, indicating maintained production hardware support rather than dead code." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng", "claim": "HiSilicon still markets Kunpeng server processors, which aligns with continued relevance of the HNS3 network stack in new systems." }, { "url": "https://support.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/productdesc-ecs/ecs_01_0081.html", "claim": "Huawei Cloud documented Kunpeng ECS offerings in 2025, showing contemporary deployment of Kunpeng-based platforms." }, { "url": "https://core.dpdk.org/supported/nics/hisilicon/", "claim": "DPDK lists Hisilicon hns3 support for Kunpeng 920/920s/930, consistent with ongoing ecosystem usage in server/datacenter deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HIBMCGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb tracks HIBMCGE in recent kernel releases, showing the directory still maps to currently shipped kernel support for HiSilicon BMC Ethernet hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: directory contains real platform and PCI Ethernet drivers. Evidence mix: local shell inspection of Kconfig/source confirmed active driver families and module entry points; canonical recall used for stable kernel.org tree URLs; web search produced the HiSilicon Kunpeng, Huawei Cloud Kunpeng ECS, DPDK, and LKDDb URLs. Static input already shows substantial 5-year churn and a substantive touch in 2025-11-27 with many authors, which argues against deprecation/removal. I attempted lore-based checks for removal/deprecation signals, but the available lore queries returned no usable removal evidence (one empty result, one timeout, one missing embedding index), so I treat lore as showing no positive removal signal rather than inactivity.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10396058249127758, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1401777545, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764210160, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hibmcge", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Huawei/Hisilicon HiBMC Gigabit Ethernet (HIBMC-xx_gmac / PCI ID 19e5:3730)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HIBMCGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_HIBMCGE as 'Hisilicon BMC Gigabit Ethernet Device Support', tied to PCI ID 19e5:3730 and boards such as the HIBMC-210." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5346030.html", "claim": "The upstream submission introducing the driver describes hibmcge as a passthrough network device whose software runs on the host while the MAC hardware is on the BMC side over PCIe." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5747727.html", "claim": "A July 1, 2025 net-next v4 series adds new hibmcge functionality ('support scenario without PHY'), showing active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5966701.html", "claim": "A December 15, 2025 RFC patch adds ACPI-related PHY-device support for hibmcge, indicating continued maintenance after initial merge." }, { "url": "https://e.huawei.com/sa/products/computing/kunpeng/accessories/ibmc", "claim": "Huawei's enterprise iBMC product page was still live in 2025, supporting the view that Huawei server BMC hardware remains a current product area." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100148759/15c87241/ibmc", "claim": "Huawei server documentation updated July 11, 2025 still documents iBMC on current TaiShan servers, indicating ongoing deployments of iBMC-equipped systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` inspection confirmed this is a real PCI Ethernet driver with module entry points and PCI ID 19e5:3730 in hbg_main.c. Web search (targeting lore/spinics equivalents because lore MCP/lei were unavailable here) found active 2025-2026 netdev patch traffic for hibmcge and no returned removal/deprecation series. LKDDb page was obtained via web search and ties the driver to HIBMC-210-class hardware. Huawei iBMC product/docs pages were obtained via web search and show the underlying server-management hardware family is still current in 2025. Because the driver is new, actively developed, and tied to still-deployed server BMC hardware with no natural upstream replacement, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1729502812, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764210160, "top_author": "Jijie Shao", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon HNS DSAF Ethernet (HIP05 / Hi1610 / Hi1612 era SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HNS_DSAF.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_HNS_DSAF to HiSilicon hip05 and Hi1610-class hardware, and shows the driver still present in current kernel series through 6.19-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/hisilicon/kunpeng/hi1610", "claim": "Hi1610 is a 2015 HiSilicon server SoC, placing this driver's hardware generation in an older server platform era." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng-920", "claim": "HiSilicon's current server CPU marketing centers on Kunpeng 920, indicating the older Hi1610/HIP05 generation covered by hns is long superseded rather than a current sell-new platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on `drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/Kconfig`) shows HNS_DSAF/HNS_ENET cover hip05, Hi1610 and related SoCs. Local `git log` with safe.directory override shows steady upstream maintenance through 2024-2026, including fixes and API updates, with no obvious removal trend in inspected history; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search yielded LKDDb for supported hardware/current kernel presence, WikiChip for Hi1610 launch vintage, and HiSilicon's current Kunpeng 920 page for evidence that this hardware generation is superseded. Conclusion: legacy but still maintained, so keep with annotation rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0682176721163338, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1442810577, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768076466, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Huawei/HiSilicon HNS3 Ethernet for Kunpeng HIP08-family SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3", "claim": "Upstream kernel history for this directory remains active; local tree history also shows multiple substantive hns3 fixes/features in 2025, which is inconsistent with deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100404234/2bfd33f9/hcc-turnkey-hardware-compatibility", "claim": "Huawei documentation published in 2025 lists TaiShan 200 systems with an 'Onboard HNS3 NIC', indicating current supported hardware using this driver family." }, { "url": "https://support.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/productdesc-ecs/en-us_topic_0178844867.html", "claim": "Huawei Cloud documentation updated on 2026-04-15 shows current Kunpeng 920-based ECS offerings, supporting the view that Kunpeng platforms remain deployed in production." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows HNS3/HCLGE PCI Ethernet support for Huawei device IDs and Kconfig text explicitly targets hip08-family SoCs and upcoming SoCs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3` shows ongoing nontrivial maintenance in 2025 (bug fixes, ethtool/PTP/debugfs work), so this is actively maintained rather than dormant. I attempted lore-first checks via MCP (`lore-http`) and `lei`, but MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; a web search on `lore.kernel.org` returned no removal hits, so there is no positive evidence of an active removal series. Source URLs were obtained as follows: kernel.org log URL by canonical recall matching the locally verified path/history; Huawei deployment URLs via `web.search_query` results. Because hardware is still documented as shipping/supported with onboard HNS3 NICs and the upstream driver is active, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03483782278756253, "commits_5y": 257, "substantive_commits_5y": 243, "first_touch_ts": 1501798097, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770439906, "top_author": "Hao Chen", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3/hns3_common", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon HNS3 (HCLGE, Hip08/Kunpeng 920 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250623040043.857782-8-shaojijie@huawei.com", "claim": "The directory was still receiving upstream fixes in June 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250618203823.1336156-10-kuba@kernel.org", "claim": "The code was updated for a current ethtool RXFH API migration in June 2025, showing ongoing subsystem integration work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HNS3_HCLGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows HNS3_HCLGE/hclge-common is current through 7.0-rc+HEAD and ties the driver to Huawei/HiSilicon HNS PCI IDs for Hip08-family hardware." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100297714/2c99a15a/features", "claim": "Huawei's 2025 TaiShan 200 server documentation says Kunpeng 920 integrates 100GE/25GE/10GE/GE ports, evidence that the hardware family remained in shipping server products in 2025." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100320451/94806f58/technical-specifications", "claim": "Huawei's 2025 TaiShan 200 specs list FlexIO options up to 100GE, supporting continued deployment of this networking stack in current systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is shared driver code built into the real kernel module `hclge-common` for HNS3 PF/VF, not a mere header/test/doc directory. Local shell inspection of `drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3/Makefile` showed `hns3_common/*.o` linked into `hclge-common`; local `git log` showed substantive touches in 2024-2025 and exposed the two cited `patch.msgid.link` URLs. Web search found the LKDDb page and Huawei 2025 TaiShan product docs. I found no evidence of an upstream removal/deprecation series; combined with active 2025 maintenance and current Huawei server documentation, this points to keeping the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1640960746, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750810162, "top_author": "Jie Wang", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3/hns3pf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon/Huawei HNS3 HCLGE (HIP08/Kunpeng-class Ethernet controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5893657.html", "claim": "October 23, 2025 netdev thread shows active HNS3 bug-fix review traffic, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1101324.html", "claim": "June 2025 net-next patch series covers cleanup touching hns3pf files, showing continued development activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HNS3_HCLGE.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_HNS3_HCLGE to hns3pf/hclge_main.c, lists Huawei PCI IDs, and says the driver is present through 7.0-rc+HEAD for HIP08 and later SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.1/networking/devlink/hns3.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation has dedicated hns3 devlink support documentation, consistent with a maintained, featureful in-tree driver." }, { "url": "https://info.support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100297719/b3316a35/logical-structure", "claim": "Huawei TaiShan 200 server documentation, updated in 2025, still describes 25GE/100GE Ethernet FlexIO options on current Kunpeng server platforms, supporting ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `web.search_query` on lore/kernel terms found active 2025 HNS3 bug-fix and cleanup threads on spinics mirrors, and lore-targeted searches found no removal/deprecation discussion. `exec_command` local `git log` also showed many 2024-2026 touches in this directory. LKDDb and kernel.org pages were obtained via `web.search_query` and confirm the driver remains in current kernels for HIP08/upcoming SoCs. Huawei support documentation found via `web.search_query` shows 25GE/100GE Ethernet options on 2025-updated Kunpeng/TaiShan hardware, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same devices, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 318, "substantive_commits_5y": 310, "first_touch_ts": 1501798097, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769517152, "top_author": "Guangbin Huang", "top_author_commits": 55, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/hisilicon/hns3/hns3vf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon HNS3 SR-IOV VF (Kunpeng 920/930, HIP08/HIP09/HIP10)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1144481.html", "claim": "A 2025 netdev patch series includes VF-specific fixes for hns3, including 'using the num_tqps in the vf driver to apply for resources', showing active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1110895.html", "claim": "Another 2025 netdev patch series includes 'fixed vf get max channels bug', further indicating current upstream bug-fix traffic for the VF path." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100270163/b2e95e89/enabling-sr-iov", "claim": "Huawei's 2025 SR-IOV guide documents creating VFs on supported NICs and shows VF PCI IDs including 19e5:a22f, demonstrating real deployment of HNS3 virtual functions." }, { "url": "https://doc.dpdk.org/guides-24.03/nics/hns3.html", "claim": "Current DPDK documentation says HNS3 covers Kunpeng 920 and Kunpeng 930 SoCs and explicitly lists SR-IOV VF support, indicating an active software ecosystem around this hardware family." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100297714/a27754d9/overview", "claim": "Huawei support documentation updated in 2025 describes TaiShan 200 servers powered by Kunpeng 920 processors, supporting the conclusion that the platform remained in market/service in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI VF driver (`hclgevf`, Huawei VF PCI IDs) and local `git log` showed 2024-2025 nontrivial fixes in this directory. Public URLs were then obtained via `web.search_query`: Spinics/netdev threads for the matching 2025 VF fixes, Huawei support pages for 2025 TaiShan/Kunpeng and SR-IOV deployment evidence, and DPDK docs for ongoing HNS3 VF ecosystem support. Available searches found active maintenance and deployment evidence, but no clear removal/deprecation discussion; there is no natural replacement other than the paired PF-side `hns3`/`hclge` stack, so the correct hint is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06482563910734222, "commits_5y": 104, "substantive_commits_5y": 100, "first_touch_ts": 1513353334, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766073508, "top_author": "Jie Wang", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/huawei/hinic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Huawei HiSilicon Hi1822 / HiNIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.5/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/huawei/hinic.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes HiNIC as a data-center NIC family with 10/25/40GbE-class devices, SR-IOV support, and PF support in this driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HINIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_HINIC to this directory and lists supported PCI IDs for the Hi1822 family, including 2x100GE, 4x25GE, and VF IDs, with support still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/es/doc/EDOC1100063073?section=j003", "claim": "Huawei's IN200 NIC guide, updated 2024-11-15, says the IN200 is based on the HiSilicon Hi1822 chip and lists current card variants such as SP570/SP580/SP572/SC371/SP582/SP586/SC381." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/cover.1734599672.git.gur.stavi@huawei.com/", "claim": "A 2025 netdev patch series shows Huawei actively upstreaming a 3rd-generation HiNIC driver, which is evidence the product line is still active rather than undergoing removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` found CONFIG_HINIC in Kconfig and MODULE_DESCRIPTION/MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE in hinic_main.c. Upstream activity is not removal-shaped: static input reports 59 substantive commits in the last 5y with a latest substantive touch on 2026-01-10; an MCP `lore_file_timeline` query on the directory path returned 0 events, which looks like a path-prefix limitation rather than true inactivity. No removal series was found; web search/open instead surfaced ongoing Huawei netdev work on hinic3 in 2025. Deployment looks niche but real: official Huawei docs obtained via web search/open show Hi1822-based IN200 adapters still documented for server products as of 2024-11-15, so new-in-2025 sales are plausible. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same PCI IDs today; `hinic3` is a newer-generation driver, not a drop-in replacement for Hi1822 PF devices. Source acquisition: kernel.org/LKDDb/Huawei URLs via web search + open; lore URL extracted from the opened LKML page found by web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.061214914889180426, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1503424132, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768076465, "top_author": "Zhengchao Shao", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/huawei/hinic3", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "HiNIC3 (Huawei SPx series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/huawei/hinic3.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes hinic3 as a current data-center NIC family supporting 10/25/100GE and multiple form factors, with PF/VF PCI IDs 19e5:0222 and 19e5:375f." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.cn/enterprise/en/software/265083781-ESW2001374273", "claim": "Huawei published hinic3 source package 'IN220 2.4.0.1' on 2025-04-28 for SP670/SP680/SP681/SP623Q/SP226D, indicating active vendor support for shipping hardware in 2025." }, { "url": "https://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/2025-September/324720.html", "claim": "DPDK accepted/iterated a 2025 hinic3 PMD series for Huawei SPx adapters, describing 25/100/200Gbps support and showing active ecosystem enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HINIC3.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_HINIC3 present in recent upstream kernels and identifies the Huawei PCI device family handled by the driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of Kconfig and hinic3_lld.c confirmed this is a real PCI Ethernet driver for Huawei HiNIC3. Shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/huawei/hinic3` showed the directory is very new, with feature additions and fixes continuing through 2026-02-07; `git log --diff-filter=D --summary -- ...` showed no removal/deletion history. Web `search_query` found the kernel docs page, Huawei support download page, DPDK mailing-list archive, and LKDDb page. The combined evidence points to an actively maintained, newly upstreamed data-center NIC driver with current vendor-backed hardware, so deprecation/removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1747884702, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770437284, "top_author": "Fan Gong", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/i825xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel 82586/82596 Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230515060714.621952-5-bagasdotme@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists for this directory; at least one netdev patch touched i825xx in 2023, indicating the code is not abandoned even if activity is sparse." }, { "url": "https://www.openpa.net/systems/hp-9000_712.html", "claim": "HP 9000 712 systems used an integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller in the HP LASI chipset, showing this driver targets early-1990s PA-RISC workstation hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-3", "claim": "Sun-3 systems launched in 1985, matching the age/profile of the sun3_82586-supported hardware and reinforcing that these are legacy platforms rather than modern deployments." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Nixdorf", "claim": "Siemens Nixdorf, whose RM systems are covered by sni_82596, was defunct by 1999, supporting the conclusion that new-system deployments are effectively over." }, { "url": "https://man.openbsdhandbook.com/ie.4/", "claim": "Current OpenBSD documentation still describes the Intel i82596 on HP PA-RISC systems, which is evidence of surviving niche retro/legacy deployments rather than mainstream use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module markers show board-specific NIC drivers for Intel 82586/82596-family controllers. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/ethernet/i825xx/82596.c and shows recent maintenance, but the visible touches are sparse and mostly cleanup-class, so removal would be premature. Deployment evidence came from web search results: OpenPA identified HP LASI systems with integrated 82596CA; Wikipedia pages for Sun-3 and Siemens Nixdorf dated the supported machine families to the 1980s/1990s; OpenBSD's current ie(4) page shows the hardware still survives in hobbyist/legacy use. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same onboard devices; replacement is usually replacing the whole platform/NIC, not switching Linux drivers. Recommendation is keep the code but annotate it as legacy/obsolete-platform support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3187564644750303, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1313031852, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729371860, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ibm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "IBM Power virtual Ethernet / vNIC (PowerVM LPAR networking)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260424162917.65725-1-mmc@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "`ibmveth.c` still receives substantive upstream fixes in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260401050845.1388145-1-LivelyCarpet87@gmail.com/", "claim": "`ibmvnic.c` also received a bug fix in 2026, showing ongoing real-world attention for IBM virtual NIC support." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power11/9080-HEU?topic=networking-virtual-ethernet-adapters", "claim": "IBM documents Virtual Ethernet adapters as a current Power11 feature, so the ibmveth use case remains present on new-generation systems." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power11/9856-42H?topic=systems-managing-virtual-network-interface-controllers", "claim": "IBM documents vNIC management on Power11, showing the ibmvnic class is a current platform feature rather than legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/supported-bonding-modes-ibmveth-and-ibmvnic", "claim": "IBM support guidance explicitly covers both ibmveth and ibmvnic for enterprise Linux on POWER systems, supporting continued deployed use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Top-level directory contains active IBM Power virtual networking drivers, chiefly `ibmveth` and `ibmvnic`, not a dead legacy stub. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ibmveth.c` and `drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ibmvnic.c`; both show 2026 fixes. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on current IBM Power11 documentation for Virtual Ethernet and vNIC, plus an IBM support page covering ibmveth/ibmvnic bonding on supported enterprise Linux releases. I found no positive removal signal in the inspected lore history; with active maintenance and current-platform vendor docs, this backs `keep` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10601393902576955, "commits_5y": 130, "substantive_commits_5y": 119, "first_touch_ts": 1313055719, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756194350, "top_author": "Sukadev Bhattiprolu", "top_author_commits": 45, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ehea", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "IBM Host Ethernet Adapter (HEA) / Logical Host Ethernet Adapter (LHEA)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": "ibmveth", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240816015837.109627-1-zhangzekun11@huawei.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists, but it is lightweight maintenance/cleanup rather than evidence of growing deployment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240730183403.4176544-12-allen.lkml@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives occasional treewide API adaptation work in net-next, indicating it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EHEA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_EHEA is the IBM pSeries eHEA Ethernet driver, tying this directory to IBM pSeries HEA/LHEA hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power11/9043-MRU?topic=adapters-virtual-ethernet", "claim": "IBM's current Power11-era docs say HEA is not supported on POWER9 and Power10 systems, implying no support on current-generation new systems." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power9/9009-42G?topic=devices-virtual-adapters", "claim": "IBM Power9 documentation states HEA is not supported on POWER9, showing the feature had already dropped before modern Power generations." }, { "url": "https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4340.html", "claim": "IBM's Redpaper describes IVE/HEA as a POWER6-era feature, placing the hardware family in an older server generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore evidence with MCP lore_file_timeline on ehea_main.c; recent hits were 2024 cleanup/API-conversion patches and no removal-series signal surfaced. A follow-up MCP lore_regex removal query timed out, so I did not retry the same query. Deployment evidence came from web search results on official IBM docs plus LKDDb and IBM Redbooks: LKDDb identifies the driver as IBM pSeries eHEA, Redpaper places HEA/IVE in the POWER6 era, and IBM Power9/Power11 docs say HEA is unsupported on newer systems. That points to legacy-only deployments, likely existing PowerVM/pSeries estates, with ibmveth as the practical upstream path for new virtual-Ethernet deployments rather than new HEA-based hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.41077179521960283, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1313055719, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1724159729, "top_author": "Zhang Zekun", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "IBM/AMCC PowerPC 4xx EMAC (including APM821xx and Axon southbridge variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes IBM EMAC as the Ethernet controller family used on 4xx embedded PowerPC chips, and also on the Axon southbridge for Cell." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260107073601.40829-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity still touches this driver in 2026; the subject is a cleanup ('remove unused emac_link_differs function'), not a removal of the driver directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250205124235.53285-8-biju.das.jz@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "The driver received net-next maintenance in 2025 ('Use of_get_available_child_by_name()'), indicating it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.4/targets/apm821xx/", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships an `apm821xx` target in late 2025, which is evidence of ongoing but niche deployment of hardware in this family." }, { "url": "https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2011/06/21/appliedmicro-incorporates-paragon/", "claim": "AppliedMicro positioned APM821xx as an SoC family for OEM network-storage/media-server devices in 2011, supporting that this driver's surviving deployments are legacy embedded/network appliances." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC", "claim": "The PowerPC 4xx line is an embedded-oriented historic family; IBM sold the 4xx product line to AMCC in 2004, and modern PowerPC use is described as niche/embedded rather than mainstream new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/Kconfig` identifies the hardware as IBM EMAC on 4xx embedded PowerPC chips plus Axon; the kernel.org URL is the canonical recall twin of that file. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/emac/core.c` showed substantial 2024-2026 traffic, with recent subjects being API churn/cleanups and no obvious driver-removal series in the returned hits, so this is not a dead driver. Web search/open on OpenWrt's `apm821xx` target shows the platform is still supported in 2025, but only as a niche legacy target. Web search/open on the APM821xx article and PowerPC page supports that this family's broad commercial heyday was long ago; I therefore marked deployments as low, hardware not still sold new in 2025, and chose `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate` or `remove` because upstream still carries real maintenance for remaining users.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21348448445845228, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1313055719, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738935835, "top_author": "Rosen Penev", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: vendor umbrella directory containing multiple Intel Ethernet drivers plus Kconfig/Makefile/helper subdirs, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762393083, "top_author": "Michal Swiatkowski", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet (82542-82547 class, including 82540EM/82545EM variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/e1000.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes e1000 as the Intel PRO/1000 driver and explicitly references very old controllers such as 82542, 82543, 82544, 82547 and 82540/82545-era adapters." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/E1000.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_E1000 is still present in current kernels and maps the driver to many legacy Intel PCI PRO/1000 device IDs including 82542/82543/82544/82540/82545/82546/82547 variants." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/1285/intel-82540em-gigabit-ethernet-controller/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists the 82540EM as launched in Q3 2002 and discontinued, with expected discontinuance on May 13, 2014, supporting that this hardware family is long past new mainstream sales." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/topics/networkingdetails.html", "claim": "Current VirtualBox documentation still offers Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM), T Server (82543GC), and MT Server (82545EM) virtual NIC models, showing ongoing VM-guest niche deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) shows this is real driver code and names old 8254x-era MACs; local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021` shows recent nontrivial fixes through 2026-04-06, so it is maintained rather than abandoned. lore-http MCP was unavailable in this session, and web searches against lore.kernel.org for e1000 removal/deprecation terms did not surface an active removal series, so there is no visible removal signal here. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`/`web.open`; the maintenance evidence came from local shell, not a URL. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is obsolete and not meaningfully sold new in 2025, but the driver still gets bug-fix traffic and remains relevant for legacy systems plus virtualization niches.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775510018, "top_author": "Jesse Brandeburg", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel PRO/1000 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet and integrated ICH/PCH GbE (82571-82574, 8257x/82583, I217/I218/I219)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6115031.html", "claim": "March 23, 2026 net-next v4 series adds XDP support to e1000e, showing active upstream feature development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6120077.html", "claim": "March 25, 2026 patch series updates e1000e EEPROM/endianness handling, showing ongoing maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/E1000E.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes CONFIG_E1000E as Intel PRO/1000 PCI-Express Gigabit Ethernet support and lists many supported 8257x/I217/I218/I219 devices." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/82185/intel-ethernet-connection-i219lm/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists I219-LM as launched and not expected to discontinue until 1H'33, indicating the family was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation: keep. The directory is an active production NIC driver, not a legacy orphan: user-provided history already shows 92 substantive commits in the last 5 years with most recent touch on 2026-03-10, and web-obtained mailing-list pages show fresh March 2026 net-next work (spinics URLs from web search) including new XDP support and bug-fix traffic. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in web searches. LKDDb page (web search) confirms e1000e covers a broad Intel PCIe 1GbE family including still-common I219 variants; local netdev.c inspection also shows ICH/PCH generations through modern PCH IDs. Intel's product page for I219-LM (web search) shows marketing status launched with expected discontinuance in 1H 2033, so this hardware family was still shipping new in 2025, though mainly as onboard 1GbE in OEM/client/embedded systems rather than as a growth segment. There is no direct replacement driver for the same hardware; newer Intel NIC families use other drivers, but e1000e remains the correct upstream driver for these devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 106, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773172974, "top_author": "Sasha Neftin", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel FM10000", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/92674/intel-ethernet-multihost-controller-fm10420/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists FM10420 in the FM10000 family as discontinued, with last-order date July 22, 2022 and last-ship date January 22, 2023." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/92675/intel-ethernet-multihost-controller-fm10840/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists FM10840 in the FM10000 family as discontinued on the same 2022/2023 timeline." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/fm10k.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still carries the fm10k driver as the Linux base driver for Intel Ethernet Multi-host Controller hardware, including SR-IOV/VF configuration notes." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FM10K.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_FM10K still present through current kernel series and identifies supported PCI IDs for FM10000 host and virtual interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19047/driver-for-intel-ethernet-multi-host-controller-fm10000-series.html", "claim": "Intel still publishes a separate FM10000 driver package/download page, indicating legacy support visibility even though the products are discontinued." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI Ethernet driver directory with module entry points. Upstream activity signal is not removal-shaped: user-provided tree metadata shows 23 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 18 authors, and most recent substantive touch on 2025-11-27, so this is maintained legacy code rather than abandoned code. Hardware side is obsolete: Intel ARK pages for both FM10000 SKUs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show discontinued status with 2022 last-order / 2023 last-ship dates. Kernel-docs and LKDDb pages were also obtained via `web.search_query` and show the driver remains documented and selectable in current kernels. Direct lore probing was attempted via shell (`lei`) but unavailable in this environment; no removal discussion was surfaced by web lore queries. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/discontinued hardware with low modern deployment and no clear drop-in replacement driver for the same silicon.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1411469953, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764205750, "top_author": "Jesse Brandeburg", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet Controller 700 Series", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/i40e.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation identifies i40e as the base driver for Intel Ethernet Controller 700 Series devices including X710, XL710, X722, and XXV710." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/ethernet/700-network-adapters.html", "claim": "Intel still markets 700 Series network adapters, including X710, XL710, and XXV710, as current products." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025890/ethernet-products.html", "claim": "Intel's 2026 supported-OS matrix lists retail Intel Ethernet 700 Series adapters using the i40e driver across current Linux distributions, indicating active product/support status." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-01335.html", "claim": "Intel issued a 2025 security advisory specifically for Intel 700 Series Linux drivers (i40e), recommending updates to version 2.28.5 or later." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/I40E.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_I40E present continuously through modern kernel releases, with module name i40e and XL710-family support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence first: exec_command on the tree confirmed CONFIG_I40E, module_init/module_exit, and recent local git history with multiple substantive 2025-2026 i40e fixes, so this is actively maintained kernel driver code, not a dead subtree. Lore-specific removal check was attempted via exec_command using `lei q`, but `lei` is unavailable in this environment; a web search for lore removal/deprecation terms returned no hits, so there is no visible removal discussion from the accessible evidence. URLs were obtained by web search/open for Intel support/product/security pages and LKDDb, plus direct open of the canonical kernel.org i40e documentation page. Recommendation is keep: hardware is still sold/support-listed in 2026, deployed broadly in servers/NICs, and there is no natural in-tree replacement driver for the same hardware family (newer `ice` serves newer Intel generations, not these devices).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 368, "substantive_commits_5y": 347, "first_touch_ts": 1378888200, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773172965, "top_author": "Ivan Vecera", "top_author_commits": 59, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet 700/800 Series SR-IOV Virtual Function", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/iavf.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes iavf as the Intel Ethernet Adaptive Virtual Function driver, formerly i40evf, for Intel XL710/X710/X722/XXV710 class VFs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18159/intel-network-adapter-linux-virtual-function-driver-for-intel-ethernet-controller-700-and-e810-series.html", "claim": "Intel's Linux iavf download page was current in late 2025 and lists supported controllers spanning 700-series, E810/E822/E823, and E830 devices, indicating ongoing vendor support and current hardware relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005722/ethernet-products.html", "claim": "Intel's SR-IOV FAQ, reviewed on 2025-02-11, says Linux VF drivers are available and lists SR-IOV-capable Intel Ethernet 800, X722, and XL710 families." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/products/189610/ethernet-products/800-series-controllers-up-to-200gbe.html", "claim": "Intel's 800-series support page shows an iavf Linux VF driver release dated 2025-11-21, evidence that the driver and corresponding hardware line remained active through 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Active in-tree maintenance is strongly suggested by the provided static history: 232 substantive commits in 5 years, latest substantive touch on 2026-03-23, and 66 unique authors, which is inconsistent with deprecation. I found no removal/deprecation discussion in web searches targeting lore.kernel.org, so there is no evidence to escalate toward remove. The cited kernel-doc URL was obtained via web search result turn2search0; Intel URLs were obtained via web search results turn0search1, turn0search2, and turn0search4. This driver is the VF side of Intel SR-IOV for still-sold 700/800-series server NICs, so deployments are not universal but remain meaningful in virtualization and cloud/server environments; there is no single upstream replacement covering the same installed base.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 245, "substantive_commits_5y": 232, "first_touch_ts": 1537285383, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774297790, "top_author": "Jacob Keller", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet E800/E810 family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.98, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ICE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ICE is current through Linux 7.0 and covers many actively supported Intel E800-family PCI IDs, including E810, E822/E823, E830, and E835 devices." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/ethernet/800-controllers/e810-controllers/products.html", "claim": "Intel lists the E810 controller family as an active product family for high-performance server workloads." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/218110/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e810cqda2t/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel shows a concrete E810 adapter SKU as 'Launched' with current specifications, indicating the hardware remained a live shipping product line beyond 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is plainly a real PCI Ethernet driver: prompt metadata shows module-driver markers, 50 C files, 1352 substantive commits in 5 years, 188 authors, and most recent substantive touch on 2026-04-06, which is strong evidence against deprecation. Local shell `rg` confirmed the directory is the in-tree 'Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E800 Series' driver. `web search` found LKDDb's CONFIG_ICE page showing the driver is still built in current kernels and has gained newer E830/E835 PCI IDs, which indicates ongoing upstream expansion rather than retirement. `web search` also found Intel's E810 family page and a launched E810 adapter SKU page, supporting that hardware is still sold for server/datacenter deployments. A direct `web search` for lore removal/deprecation discussion returned no hits; combined with the very recent activity, that argues strongly for keep. No natural replacement driver exists upstream for the same hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1373, "substantive_commits_5y": 1352, "first_touch_ts": 1522078082, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775507963, "top_author": "Jacob Keller", "top_author_commits": 232, "c_file_count": 50, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/devlink", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains ice devlink support/helper code within the Intel ice Ethernet driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver with its own device binding or entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1711987089, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773158911, "top_author": "Michal Swiatkowski", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/virt", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/virt` is a subdirectory of the Intel ICE driver tree and, from the path/static metadata, appears to contain internal virtualization support code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1756112397, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764127587, "top_author": "Przemek Kitszel", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel IDPF (Infrastructure Data Path Function) Ethernet/IPU family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IDPF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IDPF in mainline kernels 6.7+ and lists PCI IDs 8086:1452/145c plus the IDPF PCI programming-interface class, indicating an active, current upstream driver rather than legacy-only support." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1134348.html", "claim": "A November 3, 2025 net-next patch extends idpf to the new IDPF PCI programming interface for future hardware, explicitly saying current hardware uses 0x1452/0x145C and that the patch makes the driver forward/backward compatible; it was tested on Intel IPU E2000 and newer hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1177702.html", "claim": "An April 14, 2026 net patch fixes an idpf XDP soft-reset crash, showing active upstream bug-fix traffic very recently." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/238871/intel-ethernet-controller-e830ccam1/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists the E830 controller as Launched on February 24, 2025, showing relevant Intel Ethernet hardware is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/network-io/ipu.html", "claim": "Intel markets current IPU products including the IPU Adapter E2100, indicating present-day deployment relevance in cloud/enterprise infrastructure." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command read drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_main.c and confirmed MODULE_DESCRIPTION names this as the Intel Infrastructure Data Path Function driver; local idpf_devids.h shows PF/VF IDs 1452/145C. Lore MCP was unavailable and shell lei was missing, so lore-style evidence was gathered via web.search_query against netdev archives (spinics mirrors): I found recent 2025 feature-enablement and 2026 bug-fix patches, but no removal/deprecation thread. Intel product pages obtained via web.search_query show contemporary E830 and IPU products, so this is a current datacenter/networking driver with ongoing upstream maintenance and no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 206, "substantive_commits_5y": 199, "first_touch_ts": 1694642363, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775507955, "top_author": "Joshua Hay", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/igb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel 82575/82576/82580, I350, I210/I211 gigabit Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/64402/intel-ethernet-controller-i210it/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel still lists I210-IT as launched, with expected discontinuance in 1H'35, indicating new-sale availability well past 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/52966/intel-ethernet-controller-i350am4/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel still lists I350-AM4 as launched, with expected discontinuance in 1H'31, supporting continued new deployments of igb-supported parts." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/ethernet.html", "claim": "Intel's current Ethernet catalog still includes I350 and I210 series, showing the family remains an actively marketed product line." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IGB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IGB present through current kernel series and tied to many PCI IDs in igb_main.c, indicating broad ongoing upstream support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b1e067240379", "claim": "A March 12, 2026 igb bugfix commit shows active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a22ed15c99a0", "claim": "A March 19, 2025 igb interrupt-handling fix further shows recent substantive upstream attention." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: module entrypoints and PCI ID table in igb_main.c cover 82575/82576/82580, I350, I210/I211. Lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` failed because `lei` is not installed in this environment, so I fell back to local source inspection (`rg`, `sed`) and local `git log`; git.kernel commit URLs were then formed from those commit hashes by canonical recall of kernel.org commit URL format. Intel and LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search. Evidence points to active upstream fixes in 2025-2026, no removal signal found, and hardware family members still sold/newly deployable in embedded, industrial, appliance, and some server/edge contexts, so this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 145, "substantive_commits_5y": 130, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775509999, "top_author": "Jesse Brandeburg", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/igbvf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel 82576 / I350 SR-IOV Virtual Functions", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IGBVF.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps igbvf to PCI IDs 8086:10ca (82576 VF) and 8086:1520 (I350 VF), confirming the driver covers only legacy Intel SR-IOV virtual-function NICs and is still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/37166/intel-82576eb-gigabit-ethernet-controller/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK marks the 82576 controller family as Discontinued, so one of the two hardware families behind igbvf is firmly legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/52966/intel-ethernet-controller-i350am4/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists I350-AM4 as Launched with expected discontinuance in 1H'31 and SR-IOV capability, supporting that at least part of igbvf's hardware base was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9157b8a88c0bd769808caaecce4b8c96bd826304", "claim": "A non-treewide igbvf-specific fix landed on 2025-10-29, showing upstream still accepts maintenance patches for this driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5a9b7bfb0d15e0877115b8fa6992ebc59855c5d7", "claim": "A substantive igbvf PCI reset support change landed in 2023, indicating real upkeep rather than a fully abandoned driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) showed igbvf only binds 82576 VF and I350 VF PCI IDs. Upstream activity was checked with shell `git log` because lore MCP/lei were unavailable in this environment; the two git.kernel.org commit URLs were then formed from those commit IDs using canonical recall of stable kernel commit URLs. Deployment judgement is an inference from the cited hardware mix: 82576 is discontinued, but I350 remains sold and SR-IOV-capable, so igbvf still matters mainly for legacy/embedded virtualization guests rather than broad new deployments. No concrete removal-series evidence was found in the available public searches, so active maintenance argues against deprecation/removal; annotate it as legacy/niche instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761771322, "top_author": "Jesse Brandeburg", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/igc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet Controller I225/I226 (Foxville)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/210599/intel-ethernet-controller-i226v/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists I226-V as launched in Q2'22 with expected discontinuance in 1H'33, indicating the family remains an actively sold product well past 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/184676/intel-ethernet-controller-i225v/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists I225-V as launched in Q4'19 with expected discontinuance in 1H'27, showing the earlier igc-supported generation was still in-market in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/210588/intel-ethernet-controller-i226-series.html", "claim": "Intel ARK shows the I226 series currently includes I226-V, I226-IT, and I226-LM 2.5G PCIe controllers, matching an ongoing product family rather than a legacy-only niche." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1169225.html", "claim": "A March 2026 netdev thread discusses a 2-patch igc series enabling the build_skb RX path, evidence of ongoing upstream feature and performance work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/netdev/20250815204205.1407768-5-anthony.l.nguyen%40intel.com/t/", "claim": "An August 2025 Intel Wired LAN update for netdev included igc fixes, showing the driver is still part of active Intel-maintained upstream update streams." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1097874.html", "claim": "A June 2025 pull request for igc added queue-priority harmonization and preemptible queue support, indicating active enhancement work and no visible removal trajectory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree inspection via exec_command showed `config IGC` plus PCI IDs for I225/I226 variants, so this is a live dedicated hardware driver with no natural replacement driver. Recent local `git log` output (exec_command) showed substantive 2025-2026 fixes. External URLs were obtained via web search: Intel ARK/spec pages show I225/I226 products still marketed with future discontinuance dates; netdev/lore mirror results show active 2025-2026 patch traffic and no removal discussion surfaced in the allotted search budget. Given ongoing upstream work and hardware still shipping into the 2030s for I226, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 274, "substantive_commits_5y": 258, "first_touch_ts": 1539803694, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773779335, "top_author": "Sasha Neftin", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel 10GbE PCIe Ethernet (82598/82599/X520/X540/X550/X552/X553/E610)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/ixgbe.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation says ixgbe covers Intel 82598, 82599, X520, X540, X550, X552, and X553 10GbE controllers." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/14302/intel-network-adapter-driver-for-pcie-intel-10-gigabit-ethernet-network-connections-under-linux.html", "claim": "Intel's current ixgbe download page lists supported controllers including 82598, 82599, X520, X540, X550, X552, X553, and E610, indicating ongoing vendor support." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/230548/10gbe-intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e610.html", "claim": "Intel ARK shows E610 10GbE adapters as a current product family, so ixgbe-backed hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/ethernet/500-network-adapters/x550-network-adapters.html", "claim": "Intel product page for X550 adapters shows another ixgbe-backed family still marketed as current product." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IXGBE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IXGBE continuing through current kernel series and maps it to PCI devices handled by ixgbe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command confirmed this is a real PCI net driver (`module_init`/`pci_register_driver` in `ixgbe_main.c`) and `drivers/net/ethernet/intel/Kconfig` names it as Intel 10GbE PCIe adapters support. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe` showed active upstream maintenance through 2026-04-06, including functional fixes and new feature work (`ixgbe: Add 10G-BX support`), with no evidence of a removal trajectory. Web search produced the cited kernel docs, LKDDb, Intel download page, and Intel product pages. Deployment level is assessed as high from the combination of still-sold E610/X550 hardware, long-lived enterprise/server installed base, and continued active kernel/vendor maintenance. No natural replacement driver exists for the same PCI IDs; newer Intel drivers such as `ice` target different hardware families rather than replacing ixgbe devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 205, "substantive_commits_5y": 188, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775507963, "top_author": "Jedrzej Jagielski", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/devlink", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Ethernet E610", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/devlink/ixgbe.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation has a dedicated ixgbe devlink page describing supported flash, reload, info, and region features, indicating maintained upstream functionality rather than a deprecated path." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1003217/", "claim": "Upstream net-next work added Intel E610 device support to ixgbe in late 2024, showing this code serves newly introduced hardware rather than only legacy adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/236437/intel-ethernet-controller-e610xat2/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists the E610-XAT2 controller as 'Launched' with launch date Q1'25, showing the covered chipset family was newly sold in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/237052/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e610xt2/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists the E610-XT2 adapter as 'Launched' with launch date Q2'25, confirming new retail/server adapter deployments for this family." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/237052/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e610xt2/downloads.html", "claim": "Intel provides current downloads for the E610 series, including Linux drivers and NVM update packages, indicating active vendor support into 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg870938.html", "claim": "A 2025 stable-kernel fix adjusted ixgbe devlink behavior after real user regressions, showing active bug-fix traffic rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection shows this directory is ixgbe driver-specific devlink code, not a generic helper library; code is explicitly gated for `ixgbe_mac_e610`, so the directory mainly serves E610-era hardware. Local `git log` via `exec_command` shows fresh substantive work in 2025-2026, including initial region support and later bug/performance fixes, with no sign of sunset. `web.search_query` found current kernel docs for ixgbe devlink plus Intel product/spec and download pages showing E610 controllers/adapters launched in 2025 and still vendor-supported in 2026. Separate lore-targeted web searches did not surface an active removal/deprecation series. Because the code is new, actively maintained, and tied to currently sold hardware with no natural in-tree replacement for these devices, the recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1744727792, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775507963, "top_author": "Jedrzej Jagielski", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbevf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel 10GbE SR-IOV Virtual Functions for 82599/X540/X550/X552-class adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1162986.html", "claim": "Netdev saw a substantial ixgbevf feature series in March 2026 ('libeth and full XDP for ixgbevf'), indicating active upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1177213.html", "claim": "Netdev carried an ixgbevf bug-fix patch in April 2026 for a use-after-free, showing current maintenance and real bug traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/ixgbevf.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes ixgbevf as the Linux VF driver for Intel 10GbE SR-IOV devices and lists 82599, X540, X550, and X552-based hardware support." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/ethernet/adapters-and-devices-user-guide/discontinued-support/", "claim": "Intel's adapter guide says release 30.6 ended support for Intel 82599 Virtual Function, showing at least part of the supported hardware family is legacy/EOL." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/88209/intel-ethernet-converged-network-adapter-x550-t2.html?pStoreID=bizclubgold%252F1000%2527%255B0%255D", "claim": "Intel's X550-T2 product page still showed 'Marketing Status: Launched' and SR-IOV capability, so some ixgbevf-capable underlying hardware remained commercially current in the 2025-2026 window." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI net driver directory. Local source inspection via shell showed ixgbevf targets VF variants of 82599/X540/X550 families. Mailing-list evidence was obtained by web search because lore MCP/lei were unavailable here: spinics pages show both a major March 4, 2026 feature series and an April 13, 2026 bug fix, with no removal/deprecation thread found in those searches. Kernel docs URL was obtained by web search for supported hardware/use-case. Intel discontinued-support and X550 product URLs were obtained by web search to judge hardware age and continued new-sale status. Conclusion: keep upstream, but annotate as a legacy 10GbE SR-IOV guest driver with shrinking hardware scope (notably 82599 EOL) and mainly enterprise/virtualization deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 59, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1313031807, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775507963, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/libeth", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: Intel Ethernet common helper library (`libeth`) used by drivers, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1713981985, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772726525, "top_author": "Alexander Lobakin", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/intel/libie", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `drivers/net/ethernet/intel/libie` is an internal Intel Ethernet helper library (`lib*` naming, no standalone driver marker in the directory summary), not a kernel-bound hardware driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1713981985, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773781956, "top_author": "Michal Swiatkowski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/litex", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "LiteX LiteEth", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240123190332.677489-10-leitao@debian.org", "claim": "The driver received an upstream-maintained substantive update in January 2024, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230614162035.300-1-jszhang@kernel.org", "claim": "The driver received a functional stats fix in June 2023, showing real maintenance beyond initial bring-up." }, { "url": "https://github.com/enjoy-digital/liteeth", "claim": "LiteEth remains an actively maintained LiteX Ethernet core, described as usable in commercial and open-source FPGA designs with copyright updated through 2024." }, { "url": "https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/wiki/Cores-Ecosystem", "claim": "LiteEth is still listed in the active LiteX cores ecosystem as supported Ethernet hardware/IP for multiple FPGA families." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel source inspection via shell showed a real platform net driver for the LiteX LiteEth soft MAC. `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/litex` found ongoing upstream touches through 2024 and exposed lore URLs for the 2023 and 2024 maintenance patches; no removal-oriented commits or discussion appeared in that history. Web search found the active LiteEth upstream repo and LiteX ecosystem wiki, which show current ecosystem presence, but this is niche FPGA soft-IP rather than mass-market standalone hardware. Recommendation is keep-annotate: maintained and still relevant for new FPGA-based deployments, but low-volume and specialized.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1629976432, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706137941, "top_author": "Cai Huoqing", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Ethernet (Yukon, Armada/MVEBU, Prestera, OcteonTX2/CN10K)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/1775728404-28451-5-git-send-email-sbhatta@marvell.com/", "claim": "April 9, 2026 net-next patch touches drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c, showing current upstream development in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260403043237.3909226-10-edumazet@google.com/", "claim": "April 3, 2026 net-next patch updates octeontx2-pf, confirming recent non-removal maintenance by multiple authors." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig shows this directory spans multiple Marvell Ethernet families, including legacy Yukon/SysKonnect parts and newer Armada/MVEBU plus Octeon and Prestera support." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-switching/prestera.html", "claim": "Marvell markets Prestera Ethernet switching silicon, indicating hardware in this driver family remains a current product line." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/processors/infrastructure-processors/octeon-10.html", "claim": "Marvell markets OCTEON 10 infrastructure processors, supporting the conclusion that Octeon/CN10K-era networking hardware covered here is still sold in the 2025 timeframe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is a broad vendor driver directory, not a single obsolete NIC. lore_file_timeline on otx2_pf.c (tool) showed heavy 2024-2026 traffic with April 2026 net-next patches; no removal signal was found in the evidence gathered. The top-level Kconfig URL was added by canonical recall to map covered families. Prestera and OCTEON 10 product URLs were added by canonical recall as current-product evidence. Legacy skge/sky2 and Orion-era code exists, but active modern Octeon/Prestera/MVEBU deployments dominate, so deprecation/removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03727922098613257, "commits_5y": 156, "substantive_commits_5y": 137, "first_touch_ts": 1313133711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770733045, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/mvpp2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Armada PPv2 / PPv2.2 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MVPP2.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_MVPP2 as the driver for Marvell Armada 375/7K/8K network interfaces and lists the relevant OF/ACPI IDs." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2025/09/15/146", "claim": "Netdev patch from September 15, 2025 shows active upstream feature work on mvpp2 (hardware timestamp support), arguing against deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.sceen.net/linux/linux-stable.git/commit/drivers/net?h=v5.7-rc7&id=9a45e193c88a55a536d7fd0ebfa29823d588c2cf", "claim": "Mainline/stable-visible 2025 commit adds XDP metadata support to mvpp2, showing ongoing non-trivial maintenance rather than tree-rot only." }, { "url": "https://shop.solid-run.com/product/SRS91-EVKCB-R03/", "claim": "SolidRun still listed a CN9130 evaluation kit for sale in a page crawled last month, indicating new hardware based on this Armada-family networking block remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.solid-run.com/embedded-networking/marvell-octeon-tx2-family/clearfog-cn9130/", "claim": "SolidRun markets ClearFog CN9130 systems as current edge/networking platforms, indicating contemporary embedded deployments rather than purely legacy installed base." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local source inspection (`sed` on mvpp2_main.c) shows platform_driver registration and OF/ACPI IDs for Armada 375 and Armada 7K PP22. Local `git log` shows many 2024-2026 substantive commits; a local grep for remove/deprecate found no removal signal. Cited activity URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` for mvpp2 patch subjects after checking local history. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results for current SolidRun Armada/CN9130 products; local `rg` in arch/arm64 DTS also tied CN9130 boards to the Armada PP22 block. Use-case is SoC-integrated Ethernet, so there is no natural replacement driver; active maintenance plus hardware still sold supports `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.021218834522593856, "commits_5y": 106, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1527866975, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773912679, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeon_ep", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON PCI Endpoint NIC (CN93/CN98/CNF95N/CN10K family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6020571.html", "claim": "Patchwork bot confirms a Jan 2026 octeon_ep fix was applied to netdev/net.git, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6040956.html", "claim": "A Feb 2026 v4 net patch series for octeon_ep shows ongoing feature/bug-fix traffic and maintainer review activity." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON 10 DPUs for current cloud, carrier, enterprise and SmartNIC use cases, supporting that related hardware remains current in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/two-new-marvell-octeon-10-processors-for-networking-devices.html", "claim": "Marvell announced OCTEON 10 CN102/CN103 as broadly available to OEMs in December 2023, supporting continued new-product availability in the family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEON_EP.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_OCTEON_EP as the Marvell Octeon PCI Endpoint NIC Driver and lists the supported Cavium/Marvell PCI device IDs, matching this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` and local doc read showed this is the PF PCI endpoint NIC driver (`octeon_ep`) for CN93/CN98/CNF95N/CN10K-class devices, not a helper library; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive fixes through 2026-03-03. Web search found the spinics/netdev threads above; they show active Jan-Feb 2026 maintenance and no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced in the lore/spinics searches I ran. Web search also found Marvell product/news pages showing OCTEON 10 DPU hardware still being marketed and broadly available to OEMs, so this is not legacy-only silicon. Deployment is niche infrastructure/SmartNIC/DPU rather than mass-market, so `medium` fits. No natural replacement driver covers the same PF endpoint NIC PCI IDs, so the right recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 79, "first_touch_ts": 1649850992, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772534060, "top_author": "Shinas Rasheed", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeon_ep_vf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON PCIe Endpoint VF NICs (CN93xx/CN98xx/CN10K, incl. CNF variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEON_EP_VF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_OCTEON_EP_VF in mainline kernels 6.9-6.19 and lists supported Cavium/Marvell VF PCI IDs including b103, b203, b403, b903, ba03, bc03, bd03." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON 10 and related DPU platforms for cloud, 5G, enterprise, carrier, and SmartNIC/networking equipment use cases, indicating the family remains a current product line." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-octeon-10-dpu-platform-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "The OCTEON 10 DPU platform brief describes active datacenter, 5G, enterprise, and carrier deployment targets and modern I/O such as PCIe 5.0 and 200/400GbE, supporting continued new deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6c73126ecd10", "claim": "Recent upstream history includes a substantive 2026-03-03 fix ('octeon_ep_vf: avoid compiler and IQ/OQ reordering'), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found module/Kconfig entry and VF PCI IDs for CN93xx/CN98xx/CN10K-family parts. Local `git log` on the directory showed multiple substantive fixes in 2025-2026, with the latest on 2026-03-03, so upstream attention is active and I found no removal/deprecation signal. `https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEON_EP_VF.html`, `https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html`, and the Marvell product-brief PDF URL were obtained via web search. The git.kernel.org commit URL was added by canonical recall from the locally observed commit hash. Because this is a VF driver for currently marketed OCTEON DPU/SmartNIC silicon, there is no natural replacement driver beyond the PF-side `octeon_ep`, which does not replace the VF use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1704205193, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772534060, "top_author": "Shinas Rasheed", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON TX2 / OCTEON 10 RVU Admin Function", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes the octeontx2 AF driver as the administrative function for Marvell RVU hardware and documents active PF/VF/SR-IOV/devlink use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell's current DPU product page still markets OCTEON 10 devices and lists OCTEON TX2 DPUs within the portfolio, indicating the family remains relevant in current networking and 5G infrastructure." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/two-new-marvell-octeon-10-processors-for-networking-devices.html", "claim": "Marvell announced OCTEON 10 CN102/CN103 as broadly available to OEMs, supporting that successor-family hardware covered by this driver remained in new-product channels around 2025." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2025/02/24/14", "claim": "A 2025 net-next posting updates octeontx2-af for CN10K and next-generation CN20K subsystem IDs, showing forward-looking upstream enablement rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2025/10/26/44", "claim": "A 2025 patch series adds substantial octeontx2-af inline IPsec support, indicating ongoing feature development in AF code." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2026/02/06/179", "claim": "A 2026 net patch fixes octeontx2-af CGX bitmap leaks, showing current maintenance traffic and bug fixing." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI/network driver directory with module/PCI IDs in local tree and Kconfig help naming 'Marvell OcteonTX2 RVU Admin Function driver' (exec_command: rg, sed). Local git log (exec_command with git -c safe.directory=...) shows fixes through 2026-03-10, matching the supplied high commit activity. Web search was used for lore/openwall evidence after lei/lore MCP was unavailable in this environment; targeted remove/deprecate searches did not surface any active removal discussion, while searches did surface 2025-2026 net/net-next traffic and CN20K/OCTEON 10 feature work. Marvell product pages obtained via web search show OCTEON 10 still marketed and broadly available to OEMs, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural in-tree replacement exists because AF is the control-plane/admin driver for this hardware family itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019037932822613426, "commits_5y": 408, "substantive_commits_5y": 402, "first_touch_ts": 1539191161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773286759, "top_author": "Hariprasad Kelam", "top_author_commits": 54, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af/cn20k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON 10 CN20K", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Marvell OcteonTX2 RVU AF/PF/VF networking drivers and explicitly discusses CN10K-era hardware support in the same driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell product page lists OCTEON 10 DPU family members including CN102/CN103/CN106/CN106S and positions the family for current edge, carrier, enterprise, and cloud deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/two-new-marvell-octeon-10-processors-for-networking-devices.html", "claim": "Marvell announced OCTEON 10 CN102/CN103 as broadly available to OEMs for product design and pilot production, indicating active commercialization of the CN10K family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection (`rg` in the directory) shows real hardware-specific AF support code for CN20K NIX/NPA/mailbox paths, not tests or docs. Local git history (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows the subtree was introduced in June 2025 and received follow-up debugfs/NPA/NIX work in October 2025, which is recent maintenance rather than abandonment. I attempted lore-first evidence via `lei q`, but `lei` is unavailable in this environment; fallback web searches on lore produced no indexed removal-thread hits. URLs were obtained by web search (`site:marvell.com OCTEON 10...`) and direct search result selection for kernel.org docs. Given very recent upstream activity, no visible removal discussion, and Marvell's still-marketed OCTEON 10 family, this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1750120669, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761817448, "top_author": "Sai Krishna", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell OcteonTX2 / Octeon 10 RVU NIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1156719.html", "claim": "Netdev patch traffic hit this exact driver directory in February 2026 (`otx2_pf.c`), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1157292.html", "claim": "Patchwork bot reported the February 2026 octeontx2-pf fix was applied to `netdev/net.git`, showing current maintainer acceptance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1147528.html", "claim": "A January 2026 net-next series added new tracing support under `drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/switch/`, which is feature work, not end-of-life cleanup." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1162498.html", "claim": "A March 2026 MAINTAINERS update says OcteonTX2 still has active maintainers and last activity on 2026-02-18, with only one inactive maintainer being removed." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON 10 DPUs and OCTEON TX2 DPUs for 5G, enterprise, carrier, routers, secure gateways, and SmartNIC use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/two-new-marvell-octeon-10-processors-for-networking-devices.html", "claim": "Marvell announced new OCTEON 10 CN102/CN103 processors on December 6, 2023 and stated production availability in late 2023 / early 2024, supporting ongoing new-platform deployment into 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEONTX2_PF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the PF driver remains present through current kernel series and covers OcteonTX2 PF/VF/representor PCI IDs, confirming continued upstream support breadth." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still describes the OcteonTX2 RVU networking drivers as a supported multi-driver stack with PF/VF/representor functionality." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection found active PCI drivers (`rvu_nicpf`, `rvu_nicvf`, `rvu_rep`), and local `git log` showed nontrivial 2025-2026 fixes in this directory. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: spinics links were used as mailing-list mirrors after direct lore access was unavailable in this environment; Marvell product/news pages establish ongoing product sales and new deployments; LKDDb and kernel.org docs confirm current upstream support. I found active patch flow and maintainer activity, and no removal/deprecation thread, so this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03197800633321934, "commits_5y": 310, "substantive_commits_5y": 296, "first_touch_ts": 1580132019, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770800186, "top_author": "Subbaraya Sundeep", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/prestera", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Prestera Ethernet switch ASICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250918142427.309519-4-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "`prestera_main.c` was still being touched by a 2025 netdev patch series, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250905090505.104882-4-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "Another 2025 netdev posting touched the same core Prestera driver file, reinforcing that the driver remains in active treewide maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-switching/prestera-packet-processors.html", "claim": "Marvell markets Prestera packet processors as a current Ethernet-switching product family, supporting the conclusion that related hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/marvell/prestera.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the upstream Prestera Ethernet driver as the in-tree driver for Marvell Prestera switch devices, with no successor driver indicated." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/prestera/prestera_main.c`; both showed substantial 2025 activity and no removal signal. A broad removal-subject search timed out, but the observed recent lore traffic was normal maintenance/treewide work, not deprecation. Marvell product and kernel-doc URLs are canonical recall pages used to establish that Prestera is a current switch-ASIC family and that this is the active upstream driver. No natural replacement driver surfaced; this is a modern switchdev ASIC driver with continuing deployments in enterprise/OEM switching rather than a legacy-only niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.039388530609374015, "commits_5y": 137, "substantive_commits_5y": 128, "first_touch_ts": 1600385746, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770437109, "top_author": "Yevhen Orlov", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mediatek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek SoC Ethernet MACs (mtk_eth_soc, WED/PPE, STAR EMAC; MT27xx/MT76xx/MT79xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250619125137.GN1699%40horms.kernel.org/T/", "claim": "June 2025 net-next patch series reworks IRQ handling in mtk_eth_soc, with review activity and explicit MT7988 test coverage, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.8/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists 'MEDIATEK ETHERNET DRIVER' for drivers/net/ethernet/mediatek as Maintained." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/inbox/toh/sinovoip/bananapi_bpi-r4?s%5B%5D=bananapi&s%5B%5D=mediatek", "claim": "Current OpenWrt device page shows Banana Pi BPI-R4 using MediaTek MT7988AV (Filogic 880) with multiple Ethernet ports and active OpenWrt support, evidencing contemporary deployment." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/xdr-6088?s%5B%5D=curl", "claim": "OpenWrt device page for TP-Link XDR-6088 shows a MediaTek MT7986A platform with 4x1G and 2x2.5G networking, showing the driver family remains relevant in current router hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed by local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `sed` on Kconfig/Makefile): it builds NET_MEDIATEK_SOC and NET_MEDIATEK_STAR_EMAC. Lore evidence was gathered first via web search query `\"mtk_eth_soc\" lore kernel 2025`, which returned the June 2025 net-next thread above showing ongoing feature work and review, not deprecation. A local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/mediatek` also showed many 2025-2026 fixes/features (MT7988 PHY, MT7992 WED, XDP/EEE, bugfixes). Deployment evidence came from web search results for current OpenWrt hardware pages on MT7986/MT7988 devices. Because the driver is actively maintained and tied to still-sold MediaTek router/edge SoCs, there is no natural upstream replacement and the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.013124460043392409, "commits_5y": 365, "substantive_commits_5y": 354, "first_touch_ts": 1457644932, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774576885, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 134, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Mellanox ConnectX-3 / ConnectX-3 Pro", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": "mlx5_core", "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxofedv496060lts/introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA maps mlx4 to ConnectX-3/ConnectX-3 Pro, while mlx5 covers ConnectX-4 and newer adapters." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxenv582030lts/general%2Bsupport", "claim": "NVIDIA states that as of MLNX_EN/OFED version 5.1, ConnectX-3 and ConnectX-3 Pro are no longer supported except via older 4.9 LTS branches." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1155062.html", "claim": "As late as February 2026, mlx4 was still receiving net-next functional cleanup work, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5831561.html", "claim": "A September 2025 mlx4 bug fix was accepted into netdev/net, showing current bug-fix traffic and maintainer attention." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `sed` on local mlx4 Kconfig shows the driver is a real Mellanox Ethernet driver; shell `git log` on the local tree shows substantive mlx4 activity through 2025-2026, including bug fixes and API conversions. Source 1 was obtained via `web.search_query` and identifies mlx4 with ConnectX-3/3 Pro and mlx5 as the successor line for newer hardware. Source 2 was obtained via `web.search_query` and shows vendor support has already moved ConnectX-3/3 Pro to legacy/LTS-only status, supporting `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and a legacy-market assessment; `last_widely_available_year=2019` is an inference from that vendor support transition and the age of the product family, so confidence is slightly reduced. Sources 3 and 4 were obtained via `web.search_query` on mailing-list archives and show ongoing upstream mlx4 development in 2025-2026 with no clear removal/deprecation thread found, so removal is not justified. Overall this looks like legacy but still-deployed hardware with active upstream upkeep: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 134, "substantive_commits_5y": 119, "first_touch_ts": 1313055695, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770439812, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX-IB/ConnectX-4 through ConnectX-10 and BlueField integrated mlx5 NICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.98, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7vpi", "claim": "NVIDIA's 2026 ConnectX-7 adapter manual lists multiple current SKUs as 'Mass Production', showing the mlx5 hardware family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLX5_CORE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MLX5_CORE is present through current kernels and maps this driver to a wide PCI ID set including ConnectX-4/5/6/7/8/9/10 and BlueField integrated controllers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command confirmed this is a real PCI driver directory with module_init in main.c/dpll.c and Kconfig naming it the ConnectX-series core driver. Upstream activity check via exec_command (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed many 2026 fixes plus a 2026-04-07 supported-device update, which is strong evidence against deprecation/removal. A web search against lore.kernel.org for mlx5 remove/deprecate/orphan returned no hits, so I found no active removal discussion. Source 1 was obtained by web search + open; source 2 was obtained by web search + open. No natural replacement driver exists because mlx5_core is the actively maintained upstream driver for this hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2020, "substantive_commits_5y": 2002, "first_touch_ts": 1373304744, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775528262, "top_author": "Roi Dayan", "top_author_commits": 129, "c_file_count": 55, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/diag", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the mlx5 core diagnostic subdirectory, an internal support component under an existing driver rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1503579778, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766061569, "top_author": "Shay Drory", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX (mlx5 Ethernet: ConnectX-4 and later, including ConnectX-5/6/7 families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/kconfig.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation lists CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN as the basic Ethernet netdevice/offload support for mlx5, showing the driver is current upstream functionality rather than legacy code." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/multi-host/", "claim": "NVIDIA's Ethernet NIC product page still markets ConnectX-7 and ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet NICs, indicating mlx5-supported hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/ConnectX6DxEN", "claim": "The ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet Adapter Cards manual was updated on March 1, 2025 and includes ordering part numbers, supporting that mlx5 Ethernet hardware remained an active product line in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLX5_CORE_EN.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN present across many kernel releases, consistent with a long-lived, still-supported in-tree driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper library. Static evidence is strongly active: 498 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 78 authors, and most recent substantive touch on 2026-03-07. No credible removal signal was found; lore-http MCP was unavailable, `lei` was not installed, and direct lore web searches returned no hits for removal/deprecation discussions. URLs were obtained via web search tool except none by canonical recall. Kernel docs show mlx5 Ethernet support as current upstream functionality; NVIDIA product/manual pages show ConnectX-6 Dx and ConnectX-7 were still sold/documented in 2025, implying ongoing datacenter/HPC/cloud deployment. There is no natural replacement driver for the same hardware family, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 503, "substantive_commits_5y": 498, "first_touch_ts": 1527197013, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772846739, "top_author": "Maxim Mikityanskiy", "top_author_commits": 71, "c_file_count": 31, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX / BlueField crypto-offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6023375.html", "claim": "Public upstream patch traffic hit en_accel PSP code in January 2026, showing active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6054054.html", "claim": "Public upstream patch traffic hit en_accel MACsec code in February 2026, again indicating ongoing fixes/features." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/ethernet-adapters/", "claim": "NVIDIA still markets current ConnectX NICs, including ConnectX-7 and ConnectX-8, and explicitly advertises inline TLS/IPsec/MACsec acceleration." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxenv24070610/ipsec%2Bfull%2Boffload", "claim": "NVIDIA documents IPsec full offload support on BlueField-2, ConnectX-6 Dx/Lx, and ConnectX-7, with future generations expected to support it." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxenv24104140lts/macsec-full-offload", "claim": "NVIDIA documents MACsec full offload as supported from ConnectX-7 onward, requiring kernel/firmware support." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/sdk/DOCA-TLS-Offload-Guide/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA still publishes a current TLS offload guide that depends on Linux kTLS/MLX5 support, indicating active deployment and product relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of mlx5 Kconfig/Makefile shows en_accel is the mlx5 offload block for TLS, IPsec, MACsec, and PSP inside the main mlx5 driver, not a standalone obsolete side driver. Recent upstream activity was evidenced via web search of exact patch subjects, which surfaced 2026 public mailing-list threads on spinics for PSP and MACsec fixes; I found no removal/deprecation hits in the lore/spinics searches I ran. Vendor deployment evidence came from web search results on NVIDIA product/docs pages: current ConnectX NIC marketing pages still sell ConnectX-7/8 and explicitly list TLS/IPsec/MACsec acceleration, while NVIDIA docs show these offloads on ConnectX-6 Dx/7 and BlueField families. Because the code is actively maintained and maps to currently sold datacenter NIC/DPU features, this should be kept; there is no separate replacement driver because en_accel is part of mlx5_core.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 348, "substantive_commits_5y": 346, "first_touch_ts": 1498570607, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773881693, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 125, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX-5 and newer mlx5 Ethernet eSwitch representors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=211de28b1caf51581ba5e0978e83213db4f488c6", "claim": "Upstream touched this directory on 2025-10-28 (`net/mlx5: Use common mlx5_same_hw_devs function`), indicating current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4b8eeed4fb105770ce6dc84a2c6ef953c7b71cbb", "claim": "A 2025-03-13 bugfix specifically for representor bridge handling (`Bridge, fix the crash caused by LAG state check`) shows active functional fixes in this code." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxenv24040700/ovs%2Boffload%2Busing%2Basap%C2%B2%2Bdirect", "claim": "NVIDIA documents this feature as supported on ConnectX-5 and above, and describes switchdev mode creating VF representor netdevices, matching this directory's role." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/nvidia-connectx-7-adapter-cards-user-manual.pdf", "claim": "ConnectX-7 was still being documented as a current product in 2025/2026, supporting modern offload/datacenter deployments on the same mlx5 family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subdirectory for mlx5 representor/eSwitch datapath, not a helper-only asset directory. Evidence of ongoing upstream attention came from shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/rep`, which showed substantive 2025 path-local fixes; kernel.org commit URLs were then added via canonical recall for those exact hashes. Web search found NVIDIA docs; the ASAP2 page was opened directly and states ConnectX-5+ support plus representor netdevice creation, and the ConnectX-7 manual URL came from search results as proof the hardware family remains current. `lei` was unavailable in this environment and a `site:lore.kernel.org/all` web search did not surface any active removal/deprecation thread, so there is no removal signal to override the strong maintenance signal. This code serves an active but specialized deployment niche (SR-IOV/switchdev/OVS offload in datacenter and NFV environments), so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1590191168, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761646287, "top_author": "Vlad Buslov", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/tc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the mlx5 Ethernet traffic-control offload submodule under an existing driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 74, "first_touch_ts": 1629435036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771522208, "top_author": "Roi Dayan", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/tc/act", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal mlx5 traffic-control action helper code under the mlx5 driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 69, "first_touch_ts": 1639546181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752115663, "top_author": "Roi Dayan", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/xsk", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AF_XDP/XSK support subdirectory within the mlx5 Ethernet driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 71, "first_touch_ts": 1561668808, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771462108, "top_author": "Maxim Mikityanskiy", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/esw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox mlx5 E-Switch (ConnectX/BlueField family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6035000.html", "claim": "A net-next patch from February 3, 2026 adds new mlx5 E-Switch/devlink functionality for host PF state control, indicating active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1135650.html", "claim": "A November 6, 2025 netdev patch series proposes 'devlink eswitch inactive mode', showing ongoing design and review activity around mlx5 eswitch behavior." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg926124.html", "claim": "A March 23, 2026 stable patch carries an mlx5 esw QoS locking fix, indicating current bug-fix maintenance for this code." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/devlink/mlx5.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes mlx5 devlink E-Switch parameters and notes future ConnectX-8 behavior, showing the subsystem is current and forward-looking." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/ethernet-adapters/", "claim": "NVIDIA's current Ethernet adapter lineup still markets ConnectX NICs, including ConnectX-6 Dx and ConnectX-7, as active products." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/ConnectX6DxEN", "claim": "NVIDIA's ConnectX-6 Dx user manual, updated March 1, 2025, documents actively sold adapter SKUs alongside only some legacy EOL part numbers, consistent with ongoing availability of mlx5-era hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local shell inspection of the in-tree history (`git log` on this directory) shows heavy recent activity through 2026-03-19 with fixes and feature work, not end-of-life drift. No upstream removal/deprecation series was found; web search located active net-next and stable traffic on spinics mirrors of lore-indexed mail instead. URLs were obtained via web search results; the activity signal was cross-checked against local kernel git history. Hardware remains in new datacenter/SmartNIC deployments via current NVIDIA ConnectX products, and this directory is part of the main mlx5 stack rather than something with a separate replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 201, "substantive_commits_5y": 197, "first_touch_ts": 1585550542, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773881693, "top_author": "Vlad Buslov", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/esw/acl", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal mlx5 eSwitch ACL implementation subdirectory under core/, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1590628426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769142658, "top_author": "Moshe Shemesh", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/fpga", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Mellanox Innova / Innova-2", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable/%2B/master/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still exposes CONFIG_MLX5_FPGA as 'Mellanox Technologies Innova support', so the code remains a supported in-tree hardware enablement path." }, { "url": "https://network.nvidia.com/pdf/eol/LCR-000415.pdf", "claim": "Mellanox announced EOL for Innova Flex EN adapters on February 17, 2019, with last-time-buy on February 17, 2019 and no replacement OPN." }, { "url": "https://network.nvidia.com/related-docs/eol/LCR-000535.pdf", "claim": "Mellanox announced EOL for Innova IPsec EN adapters on November 10, 2019, recommending ConnectX-6 Dx EN as the product replacement rather than another Innova FPGA card." }, { "url": "https://network.nvidia.com/pdf/eol/LCR-000437.pdf", "claim": "Mellanox announced EOL for Innova-2 Flex/IPsec EN adapters on March 31, 2019 and states 'Low market interest' as the reason for termination." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2022/04/06/95", "claim": "There was upstream removal work for Innova IPsec support in 2022, showing the ecosystem was being trimmed because FPGA-specific offload pieces were obsolete." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/2204.0/02785.html", "claim": "The 2022 TLS-removal cover letter says Innova TLS cards were EOL, unmaintained, untested, and not used by upstream/distro-oriented customers, but this targeted TLS support rather than the whole FPGA core." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLX5_FPGA.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists CONFIG_MLX5_FPGA through current kernel series, indicating the base Innova FPGA support remains present upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is built under CONFIG_MLX5_FPGA and implements Innova FPGA support inside mlx5_core, so it is a real hardware-facing driver slice, not just generic helpers. Local git log (shell) also showed non-removal touches after 2021 plus 2022 commits dropping only TLS/IPsec subfeatures. URLs were obtained via web search results: kernel.googlesource and LKDDb for current in-tree status, NVIDIA/Mellanox EOL PDFs for product lifecycle, and mailing-list archive pages for removal history. Conclusion: hardware is clearly obsolete in the market and likely only survives in legacy deployments, but the remaining core still has some upstream maintenance and no cited active series removing the whole fpga directory, so 'keep-annotate' fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1494761057, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763520814, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/ipoib", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX VPI (mlx5, ConnectX-4+ )", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "ib_ipoib", "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/kconfig.html", "claim": "Current kernel docs still list CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_IPOIB as 'IPoIB offloads & acceleration support' for mlx5." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/OFEDv502180/IP%2Bover%2BInfiniBand%2B%28IPoIB%29", "claim": "NVIDIA documents Enhanced IPoIB as a current feature and states it is supported on ConnectX-4 adapter cards family and above only." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx6vpi/introduction", "claim": "ConnectX-6 VPI adapter documentation lists current InfiniBand/Ethernet adapter SKUs and positions them for HPC, storage, and datacenter deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7vpi/introduction", "claim": "ConnectX-7 VPI documentation presents the family as a current InfiniBand/Ethernet adapter line for AI, scientific computing, and hyperscale/cloud workloads." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case: local `sed` reads of `ipoib.c` and `ethtool.c` show mlx5-enhanced IPoIB netdev support for IB-port HCAs and explicit linkage to `ib_ipoib`. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/ipoib` showed steady 2021-2025 maintenance traffic, with recent 2024-2025 fixes/refactors and no directory-specific remove/deprecate hits from a grep over commit subjects. The cited kernel-doc URL was obtained via web search; the NVIDIA IPoIB and ConnectX-6/7 URLs were also obtained via web search/open. Conclusion: this is active support for still-current ConnectX InfiniBand hardware in ongoing HPC/datacenter niches, so removal/deprecation is not indicated; if acceleration were ever dropped, generic `ib_ipoib` is the natural fallback.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1497886820, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763427452, "top_author": "Lama Kayal", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lag", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: mlx5 core LAG support subdirectory implementing internal helper/library code for the broader mlx5 Ethernet driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 111, "substantive_commits_5y": 109, "first_touch_ts": 1634613488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775099440, "top_author": "Mark Bloch", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal mlx5 core helper library subdirectory under `core/lib`, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 196, "substantive_commits_5y": 192, "first_touch_ts": 1498570607, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771664572, "top_author": "Jianbo Liu", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/sf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox mlx5 Scalable Functions (ConnectX-6 Dx and newer mlx5 NICs/DPUs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1138087.html", "claim": "November 2025 net-next patch touches SF code directly ('Move SF dev table notifier registration outside the PF devlink lock'), showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1047274/", "claim": "November 20, 2025 patch series for mlx5/devlink cross-function rate scheduling explicitly states the approach works for SFs, indicating active feature development around SF support." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxenv24104140lts/scalable-functions", "claim": "NVIDIA's MLNX_EN documentation still documents Scalable Functions as a current feature, aimed at containerized/offloaded networking deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx6dxen/introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA's ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet adapter manual lists current adapter SKUs and capabilities, supporting that relevant mlx5 hardware remained actively marketed/documented in 2025-2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is real mlx5 SF implementation code (cmd/devlink/hw_table/vhca_event), not a helper-only stub. Local `git log` plus web-found mailing-list threads show substantive SF fixes and refactors through Jan 2026, with no removal/deprecation discussion found. URLs were obtained via web search: exact recent patch subjects for Spinics, mlx5 SF/devlink series for LWN, and NVIDIA docs searches for 'Scalable Functions' and 'ConnectX-6 Dx'. Because SF is an actively developed, vendor-documented feature on still-sold mlx5 hardware, this should be kept; deployment looks niche outside modern datacenter/SmartNIC/container-offload environments, so I marked deployments as low rather than medium/high.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1611343928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763613148, "top_author": "Jiri Pirko", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/sf/dev", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA mlx5 Scalable Function (SF)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1138087.html", "claim": "A net-next patch posted on 2025-11-16 updates SF dev-table notifier registration for mlx5, showing ongoing upstream work in this area rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1150464.html", "claim": "A net patch posted on 2026-01-20 fixes an mlx5 initialization bug in the same subsystem window, consistent with active maintenance through 2026." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/archive/3-2-1/bluefield-scalable-function-user-guide/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's 2026 BlueField SF guide documents creating, configuring, and deploying `mlx5_core.sf.*` auxiliary devices, showing SF is a current supported deployment model." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/bf3dpu/specifications", "claim": "The BlueField-3 platform guide lists BlueField-3 DPU and SuperNIC SKUs/specifications, indicating the underlying mlx5 hardware family is still a current product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `driver.c` shows a real `auxiliary_driver` for `mlx5_core.sf`, not a helper library. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows substantive touches through 2026-01-29. Web search was used because `lei` is unavailable here: spinics/netdev results show active 2025-11 and 2026-01 patch traffic touching this SF area, and I found no removal/deprecation thread in the same searches. NVIDIA docs found by web search show SF deployment instructions in 2026 and current BlueField-3 DPU/SuperNIC SKUs, so this is still sold and deployed, but mainly in datacenter/DPU/SmartNIC niches rather than mass commodity systems. No direct replacement upstream driver exists; SR-IOV VFs are an architectural alternative, not a driver replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1611343928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769662289, "top_author": "Shay Drory", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/steering/hws", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal mlx5 hardware-steering support code under an existing driver, with no standalone driver entry point or device binding role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 134, "substantive_commits_5y": 129, "first_touch_ts": 1725905404, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768475427, "top_author": "Yevgeny Kliteynik", "top_author_commits": 63, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/steering/sws", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal mlx5 software-steering support code under an existing driver, with no standalone device-binding entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1730677035, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772078503, "top_author": "Saeed Mahameed", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxbf_gige", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox BlueField SoC Gigabit Ethernet management port (BlueField-2/BlueField-3)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1098809.html", "claim": "June 2025 netdev patch for mlxbf_gige shows active bug-fix maintenance on the driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5757138.html", "claim": "July 2025 net-next application notice shows mlxbf_gige changes were still being merged upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg856615.html", "claim": "June 2025 stable review patch shows mlxbf_gige fixes were considered important enough for stable backporting." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/BlueField2DPUENUG/Introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPU documentation shows the BlueField-2 family remained a real datacenter product line, not legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/Data-Center/documents/datasheet-nvidia-bluefield-3-dpu.pdf", "claim": "NVIDIA BlueField-3 datasheet published in late 2025 advertises current BlueField-3 DPUs and explicitly lists a 1GbE out-of-band management port, matching this driver's use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real platform driver for the BlueField SoC out-of-band Gigabit Ethernet management port; Kconfig names BlueField-2 and in-tree headers include BF2/BF3 MDIO variants. `lei`/lore MCP were unavailable here, so lore history was approximated via `web.search_query`, which found active 2025 netdev/stable mail threads on Spinics mirrors and no removal/deprecation hits from a removal-focused search. NVIDIA docs/datasheet were also obtained via `web.search_query`; together they indicate BlueField-2/3 were still current datacenter products in 2025, so this driver should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 35, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1624645223, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751938486, "top_author": "David Thompson", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxfw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX and Spectrum firmware-flash support", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=70d81f25cc92cc4e914516c9935ae752f27d78ad", "claim": "Mainline received a January 2025 mlxfw fix removing a firmware image size limit because newer BlueField-3 firmware exceeded it, indicating current-hardware maintenance rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c0e73276f0fcbbd3d4736ba975d7dc7a48791b0c", "claim": "Mainline also carried a 2023 mlxfw bug fix for a null-pointer dereference, showing the code still gets functional fixes." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLXFW.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_MLXFW as a tristate module present across current kernel series, with module name mlxfw and definition in this directory." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7vpi", "claim": "NVIDIA's ConnectX-7 adapter manual lists multiple adapter SKUs with lifecycle marked Mass Production, evidence that Mellanox/NVIDIA networking hardware using this firmware-update path is still sold in the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `sed`/`git grep` inspection showed this is a real shared firmware-flash driver component, not a pure helper library: it builds module `mlxfw` and is called by both `mlx5` and `mlxsw`. Local `git log` showed a substantive upstream touch on 2025-01-16. Kernel.org commit URLs were added by canonical recall from those locally observed hashes; LKDDb and NVIDIA docs URLs were obtained via web search. Separate web searches for lore removal/deprecation discussion did not surface an active removal thread. Because the code still gets upstream fixes and supports hardware families still in new datacenter deployments, removal/deprecation is not warranted.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1495748777, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737169267, "top_author": "Maher Sanalla", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlxsw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Mellanox/NVIDIA Spectrum switch ASICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8ac1dacec458f55f871f7153242ed6ab60373b90", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix activity in mlxsw (Dec 4, 2025) shows the driver is actively maintained, not pending removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=189f164e573e18d9f8876dbd3ad8fcbe11f93037", "claim": "The directory was still being touched in mainline in February 2026, indicating current upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLXSW_CORE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies mlxsw as support for Mellanox Technologies Switch ASICs and shows current kernel presence." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MLXSW_SPECTRUM.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists Spectrum through Spectrum-4 PCI IDs under mlxsw_spectrum, tying the driver to current Spectrum hardware generations." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/products/ethernet", "claim": "NVIDIA's current Ethernet product page shows Spectrum Ethernet remains an actively marketed switch platform." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/sn5000/Introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA documentation for the SN5000 series describes Spectrum-4 switches as current data-center products, supporting continued new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via module_init/module driver markers and Kconfig. Recent activity came from local `git log` on the directory; canonical kernel.org commit URLs were then constructed from the observed hashes. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search (`site:cateee.net LKDDb CONFIG_MLXSW*`). NVIDIA product/docs URLs were obtained via web search (`site:nvidia.com Spectrum-4`, `site:docs.nvidia.com SN5000`). Limited lore-targeted web search found no removal/deprecation discussion; combined with 757 substantive commits in 5y and fresh 2025-2026 fixes, this points strongly to keep. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same ASIC family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 769, "substantive_commits_5y": 757, "first_touch_ts": 1438239899, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081923, "top_author": "Amit Cohen", "top_author_commits": 212, "c_file_count": 50, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/meta/fbnic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Meta FBNIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/meta/fbnic.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation identifies fbnic as the Meta Platforms Host Network Interface driver and documents current feature areas such as firmware management, health reporters, queueing, and statistics." }, { "url": "https://engineering.fb.com/2024/10/15/data-infrastructure/open-future-networking-hardware-ai-ocp-2024-meta/", "claim": "Meta described FBNIC in October 2024 as a multi-host foundational NIC for its server fleet and MTIA solutions, said the driver was upstreamed in v6.11, and presented it as part of ongoing next-generation infrastructure." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/netdev/20250811215620.1061335-1-mohsin.bashr%40gmail.com/T/", "claim": "Netdev archive shows an August 2025 fbnic XDP feature series, indicating active upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2025/09/22/299", "claim": "A September 2025 netdev patch adds module EEPROM support to fbnic, showing continued feature growth and maintenance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`fbnic_pci.c` was inspected locally via shell (`sed`) and identifies a real PCI Ethernet driver with `DRV_SUMMARY` = Meta Host Network Interface and PCI ID `META/FBNIC_ASIC`; the prompt's static history also shows 203 substantive commits in 5 years and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-04-02. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable (`lei: command not found`), so lore/history evidence was gathered with web search against lore/netdev archive mirrors: active 2025 patch series were found, while a separate web search for fbnic removal/deprecation on lore returned no hits. Deployment evidence came from the official kernel docs page and Meta's October 15, 2024 engineering post describing FBNIC as current infrastructure for Meta server fleet/MTIA and contributed to OCP. There is no natural in-tree replacement because this is a vendor-specific NIC driver for distinct hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 208, "substantive_commits_5y": 203, "first_touch_ts": 1721073042, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775144314, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 58, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/micrel", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Micrel/Microchip KSZ8841/KSZ8842/KS8851 10/100 Ethernet controller/switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/micrel/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig for this directory covers KSZ8841/42 and KS8851 variants." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260415231020.455298-1-marex@nabladev.com/", "claim": "The KS8851 side is still receiving real upstream bug-fix work in 2026, including a v4 fix tagged for stable." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/ksz8851", "claim": "Microchip lists KSZ8851 as 'In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/ksz8842", "claim": "Microchip lists KSZ8842 as 'In Production'." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/ksz8841", "claim": "Microchip lists KSZ8841 as 'Not Recommended for new designs', showing the family is mixed rather than uniformly current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: lore_activity on ks8851_spi.c showed active 2026 maintenance with a stable-bound bug fix, so this is not a dead driver; local Kconfig inspection shows the directory serves KSZ8841/42 and KS8851 parts; web search on microchip.com found KSZ8851 and KSZ8842 still in production while KSZ8841 is NRND. That points to ongoing niche embedded/industrial deployments, not broad new deployments. No natural replacement driver covers the same chips. Source acquisition: lore URL via lore_activity tool; Microchip product pages via web search; kernel.org Kconfig URL via canonical recall aligned with the locally inspected file.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06564428896275233, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1313133738, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768964446, "top_author": "Ronald Wahl", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip Ethernet controllers and switch SoCs (ENC28J60/ENCx24J600, LAN743x, LAN865x, LAN966x, Sparx5/LAN969x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/2409.0/06500.html", "claim": "September 2024 net-next series for lan966x shows substantial ongoing upstream feature/refactor work in this directory, including shared FDMA work with Sparx5." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1174485.html", "claim": "April 2026 lan966x fix series shows current bug-fix traffic and maintenance activity, not abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/2408.3/06295.html", "claim": "August 2024 LAN743x phylink support series shows active development on the PCIe Ethernet portion of this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan7431", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN7431 as 'In Production', indicating hardware covered by this directory is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN8651", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN8651 as 'In Production', showing current-market 10BASE-T1S MAC-PHY hardware uses this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9698", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9698 as 'In Production', showing current switch silicon corresponding to Sparx5/LAN969x support in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `rg` on module macros) showed this is a real multi-driver directory spanning PCIe NICs, SPI MAC/PHY parts, and switch SoCs; local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/microchip` showed frequent 2024-2026 fixes/features across lan743x, lan865x, lan966x, sparx5/lan969x. Web search was used because lore MCP/`lei` were unavailable; obtained activity evidence from lkml/spinics mirror URLs and product-status evidence from Microchip product pages. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in the sampled lore-visible results, while upstream activity is recent and substantial. Because several covered chip families are still in production and deployed in embedded/industrial/automotive networking, there is no natural replacement for the directory as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01718295136734528, "commits_5y": 127, "substantive_commits_5y": 116, "first_touch_ts": 1313218029, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774410505, "top_author": "Raju Lakkaraju", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/fdma", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains a shared Microchip FDMA API/helper library (exported symbols, no device probe/remove or bus binding), used by switchcore drivers rather than directly driving hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1725447229, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727775103, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan865x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip LAN8650/LAN8651 10BASE-T1S MAC-PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/8/12/505", "claim": "The driver was posted upstream in 2024 as support for Microchip's LAN865X MAC-PHY, indicating a new rather than legacy device family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ca47c44d36a9", "claim": "Upstream received a functional LAN865x fix in 2025 ('Fix LAN8651 autoloading'), showing active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c5b7509d3a47", "claim": "Upstream received another LAN865x change in 2025 ('Enable MAC address validation'), confirming continuing attention." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN8650", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN8650 as 'Status: In Production' and markets it as a 10BASE-T1S MAC-PHY." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/microchip-technology/LAN8650B1T-E-LMX/21573092", "claim": "A current distributor page shows the LAN8650B1 variant as Active and in stock, supporting ongoing new-hardware availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local source inspection via `rg` showed `module_spi_driver`, compatibles `microchip,lan8650`/`microchip,lan8651`, and Kconfig text naming the LAN8650/1 Rev.B0/B1 MAC-PHY. Direct lore tooling was unavailable here (`lei` missing; MCP lore endpoints not exposed), so upstream activity was grounded with local `git log` on the file plus canonical kernel.org commit URLs for the hashes observed there; no deletion/removal commit was present in local history. LKML patch URL and vendor/distributor URLs were obtained via web search. This is a very new niche industrial/automotive 10BASE-T1S part family, still sold for new designs, so the driver should be kept; deployments are likely low-volume rather than broad legacy saturation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1726113226, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757986448, "top_author": "Parthiban Veerasooran", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan966x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip LAN966x TSN Ethernet switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026042458-CVE-2026-31644-34ba@gregkh/T", "claim": "A Linux CVE announcement dated 2026-04-24 references a lan966x fix, showing the driver is still receiving current upstream maintenance attention." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg932568.html", "claim": "Patchwork-bot reported on 2026-04-09 that a lan966x fix series was applied to netdev/net.git, indicating active upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN9668", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9668 as 'Status: In Production', indicating the LAN966x family is still an active product line." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN9662", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9662 as 'Status: In Production', showing newer and smaller LAN966x-family parts are still commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/high-speed-networking-and-video/ethernet/profinet-technology", "claim": "Microchip's current PROFINET/industrial networking portfolio still features LAN9668 and LAN9662, supporting ongoing industrial deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "web.search_query found current maintenance evidence via lore/spinics results (including the direct lore URL surfaced in a Red Hat CVE result and a spinics patchwork-bot application notice), plus Microchip product/portfolio pages showing LAN9662/LAN9668 remain in production and marketed for industrial TSN/PROFINET use. Local shell checks (`sed` on lan966x_main.c) confirmed this is the main platform OF driver for `microchip,lan966x-switch`, and local `git -c safe.directory ... log` showed recent 2025-2026 bug-fix traffic with no removal discussion. No natural replacement exists for the same silicon family, so this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 215, "substantive_commits_5y": 207, "first_touch_ts": 1638190718, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775740643, "top_author": "Horatiu Vultur", "top_author_commits": 136, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/sparx5", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip SparX-5 / LAN969x Ethernet switch family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/a49d2a2c37a6252c41cbdd505f9d1c58d5a3817a", "claim": "The driver received a functional fix on 2026-02-13 (`net: sparx5/lan969x: fix PTP clock max_adj value`), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6287982aa54946449bccff3e6488d3a15e458392", "claim": "The driver gained new platform-selection support on 2025-09-18 (`make it selectable for ARCH_LAN969X`), showing ongoing enablement for current hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/high-speed-networking-and-video/ethernet/ethernet-switches", "claim": "Microchip's current Ethernet-switch portfolio page still markets LAN969x devices and associated Linux DSA support, indicating the family is still being sold into new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/vsc5641ev", "claim": "Microchip still lists a current SparX-5/-5i evaluation/reference design, which is evidence of continuing commercial availability and ecosystem support." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/EV23X71A", "claim": "Microchip still lists a LAN969x evaluation board, supporting the conclusion that LAN969x hardware remains active in current deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on the local kernel git history showed recent non-mechanical activity in 2025-2026, including the cited 2026-02-13 fix and 2025-09-18 LAN969x enablement commit; a separate local `git log --grep='remove|obsolete|deprecat'` over this path did not surface a sparx5 removal/deprecation series. The GitHub commit URLs were derived from the repo's `upstream` remote URL returned by `exec_command`. `web.search_query` found Microchip's current Ethernet-switch portfolio page plus active SparX-5 and LAN969x evaluation-board pages, which support 'still sold new' but also suggest this is a niche industrial/embedded switch family rather than a broad commodity NIC, so deployments are best rated `low`. No natural replacement driver exists upstream for the same ASIC family; this driver is the correct in-tree support path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 252, "substantive_commits_5y": 246, "first_touch_ts": 1624559292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771014349, "top_author": "Daniel Machon", "top_author_commits": 93, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/sparx5/lan969x", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip LAN969x", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5470540.html", "claim": "December 5, 2024 patch series moved LAN969x support under sparx5 to fix a module dependency cycle, showing active upstream integration work rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1059147.html", "claim": "Late-2024 net-next series added FDMA support for LAN969x, indicating ongoing feature bring-up for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1157744.html", "claim": "A LAN969x-related PTP fix was applied to netdev/net in February 2026, showing current upstream maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9694", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9694 as \"Status: In Production,\" evidence that LAN969x family hardware remains actively sold." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/news-releases/products/next-generation-family-ethernet-switches-features-time-sensitive-networking", "claim": "Microchip announced LAN9694/LAN9696/LAN9698 in January 2024 and said they were available for purchase, supporting new-deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LAN969X_SWITCH.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_LAN969X_SWITCH present from Linux 6.13 onward, consistent with a recently introduced upstream-supported driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of Kconfig and source shows this is real LAN969x switch support nested under sparx5, not a helper-only directory. Local exec_command git log shows the directory was introduced in late 2024 and had follow-up fixes, with no in-tree sign of retirement. Web search found spinics patch threads for initial bring-up and February 2026 fixes; I found no removal discussion in the searched public threads, so active maintenance outweighs the small commit count. Web search on Microchip product pages shows LAN9694/LAN9698 still marked In Production and a 2024 launch/availability announcement, so hardware is still sold and seeing niche embedded/industrial/automotive deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same LAN969x switch block; this directory is itself the platform-specific implementation under sparx5.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1733751016, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736979213, "top_author": "Daniel Machon", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/vcap", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: Microchip VCAP support code under ethernet appears to be an internal helper/library block for switch classification/offload logic rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 94, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1666604262, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1732495933, "top_author": "Steen Hegelund", "top_author_commits": 55, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana", "claim": "Upstream driver directory is actively maintained; the tree shows frequent 2025-2026 fixes and feature work rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig names this as 'Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA) support', confirming the hardware family and that this is a first-class supported driver." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-overview", "claim": "Microsoft documents MANA as a current Azure Boost networking interface for Azure VMs and states it is a next-generation NIC with Linux support." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-existing-sizes", "claim": "Microsoft states MANA was introduced in February 2025 with Intel v6 VM families and that many new and existing Azure VM sizes are eligible to run on MANA-capable hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana` showed substantial recent maintenance through 2026-03-24, with many bug fixes and feature updates, matching the provided high commit count. Local `rg` on `drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/Kconfig` identified the family name as Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA). Web search was used for Microsoft Learn pages, which indicate MANA is current Azure VM networking hardware in active rollout during 2025-2026. A web search against lore.kernel.org for MANA removal/deprecation discussion produced no useful hits here; combined with the active local history, that argues strongly against deprecation or removal. The use case is current Azure cloud deployment, not a legacy-only niche, and there is no clear upstream replacement driver for the same accelerated VF path; `netvsc` is fallback functionality, not an equivalent replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015251011405486068, "commits_5y": 163, "substantive_commits_5y": 155, "first_touch_ts": 1618871065, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774576627, "top_author": "Haiyang Zhang", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/moxa", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MOXA ART ARM9 SoC integrated Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241112211442.7205-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in late 2024 via a net-next cleanup touching moxart_ether.c; no removal signal was evident from recent lore activity." }, { "url": "https://www.moxa.com/en/products/industrial-computing/arm-based-computers/uc-7100-series", "claim": "Moxa marks the UC-7100 Series, a MOXA ART-based platform family, as an end-of-life product and says it was replaced by the UC-2100 Series." }, { "url": "https://www.moxa.com/en/products/industrial-computing/arm-based-computers/ia240-series", "claim": "Moxa marks the IA240 Series as an end-of-life product and says it was replaced by the UC-5100 Series." }, { "url": "https://www.moxa.com/getmedia/614c0418-6b4f-4ae1-ad1d-d71dcc18af9c/moxa-uc-7100-series-uc-7110-7112-7112-plus-hardware-manual-v7.0.pdf", "claim": "The UC-7100 hardware manual identifies the CPU as a MOXA ART ARM9 processor and documents onboard 10/100 Ethernet, matching the driver’s MOXA ART internal MAC scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains a real platform Ethernet driver (local shell read of Kconfig and moxart_ether.c). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/ethernet/moxa/moxart_ether.c; it showed recent 2024 net-next maintenance and no removal-series evidence, while a follow-up `lore_regex` removal query timed out and was not retried. Deployment evidence came from web search: Moxa product pages for UC-7100 and IA240 both show End-of-life status and replacement families, and the UC-7100 hardware manual confirms these are MOXA ART ARM9 systems with integrated Ethernet. Conclusion: hardware family is legacy/industrial and no longer sold new, but upstream still does occasional real maintenance, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove. The 2020 last-availability year is an inference from Moxa's March 5, 2020 migration/EOL-era documentation, not a formal sell-through date.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5336746543285666, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1376282292, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197199, "top_author": "Sergei Antonov", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mscc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip Ocelot / VSC7514", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250414-jk-supported-perout-flags-v2-2-f6b17d15475c@intel.com/", "claim": "The mscc Ocelot driver stack was still receiving upstream functional changes in 2025; this patch touched drivers/net/ethernet/mscc/ocelot_vsc7514.c." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/VSC7514", "claim": "Microchip lists VSC7514 as 'In Production' and describes it as a 10-port industrial switch." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/vsc7514ev", "claim": "Microchip still lists the VSC7514EV reference design/evaluation board, indicating ongoing hardware ecosystem availability." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MSCC_OCELOT_SWITCH.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_MSCC_OCELOT_SWITCH to drivers/net/ethernet/mscc and the OF compatible 'mscc,vsc7514-switch', confirming the covered hardware/use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active, niche industrial Ethernet switch driver, not an abandoned legacy leaf. `functions.exec_command` on local Kconfig/driver files identified the target as the Microsemi/Microchip Ocelot VSC7514 switch driver. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on ocelot_vsc7514.c showed sustained real upstream traffic through 2025; a separate removal-search attempt (`lore_regex`) timed out and a `lei` fallback failed due local socket permissions, so there is no positive removal evidence. `web.search_query` returned Microchip product pages showing VSC7514 still in production and its eval board still listed, which supports hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true. Deployment today is rated low because this is specialized industrial/embedded switch silicon rather than broad commodity NIC hardware. No natural replacement driver exists upstream for the same silicon; newer switch families are different hardware, not drop-in replacements.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03229257771736378, "commits_5y": 255, "substantive_commits_5y": 247, "first_touch_ts": 1526416875, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770951675, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 157, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/mucse/rnpgbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MUCSE N210/N500 1GbE PCIe Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1173914.html", "claim": "As of April 3, 2026, rnpgbe still had an active net-next patch series adding TX/RX and link-status support, indicating ongoing upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1124227.html", "claim": "The driver was introduced through a multi-revision netdev patch series in late 2025, showing recent upstream bring-up activity." }, { "url": "https://www.mucse.com/en/pro/detail.aspx?Id=57", "claim": "MUCSE was advertising the N210 as a current 1G single-port PCIe controller product, consistent with hardware still being sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.mucse.com/en/pro/detail.aspx?Id=40", "claim": "MUCSE was advertising the N500 as a current quad-port 1G PCIe controller product, consistent with ongoing commercial availability." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/mucse/rnpgbe.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies rnpgbe as the Linux base driver for MUCSE N210 and N500 adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of the directory identified PCI IDs and board names for MUCSE N210/N500 and confirmed this is a real PCI Ethernet driver. Upstream activity evidence came from web search results on spinics.net because lore search did not surface directly here; the April 2026 patch thread shows active feature work and no removal discussion. Product availability evidence came from MUCSE product pages obtained via web search, plus kernel docs from web search. Conclusion: very new, niche hardware with likely low present deployment, but clearly not obsolete and still under active upstream development, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1762308696, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762308697, "top_author": "Dong Yibo", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/myricom/myri10ge", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Myri-10G", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260228173244.1509663-339-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream fix traffic and stable backports; a myri10ge bugfix was queued for stable on 2026-02-28." }, { "url": "https://support.ariacybersecurity.com/support/solutions/articles/70000667927-eol-notice", "claim": "Arista/Endace support states all Myricom network adapters are end-of-life, not recommended for new programs, and no longer supported." }, { "url": "https://packages.debian.org/sid/firmware-myricom", "claim": "A current Debian package still ships firmware specifically for Myri-10G Ethernet adapters supported by the myri10ge driver." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrinet", "claim": "Myri-10G is an older generation product line that started shipping at the end of 2005, indicating legacy rather than modern hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` via shell found `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Myricom 10G driver (10GbE)\")`, PCI IDs, and firmware blobs in `myri10ge.c`. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/myricom/myri10ge/myri10ge.c`; they show recent activity through 2026, including a concrete stable backport URL above, which argues against deprecate/remove. A `lore_regex` subject search for removal talk timed out and was not retried; available lore results did not surface removal discussion. Market/deployment evidence came from web search: the vendor-side EOL notice says Myricom adapters are no longer recommended or supported, while Debian still carries `firmware-myricom`, suggesting residual legacy installs remain. Result: not for new deployments, but still maintained enough upstream to keep with annotation rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06582398511659382, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1313055702, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770948587, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/natsemi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "National Semiconductor SONIC / DP8381x / DP83820 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250425085740.65304-6-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "`natsemi.c` still received upstream maintenance work in 2025 (`net: ethernet: natsemi: Use pure PCI devres API`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/tencent_EB7280CE1394ABF5035CDA078FC60A481906@qq.com/", "claim": "`ns83820.c` still received real bug-fix traffic in 2026 (`fix DMA mapping error handling in hard_start_xmit`)." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/DP83815", "claim": "TI lists DP83815 as `NOT RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS`; it is a 33MHz PCI 10/100 controller aimed at older PC motherboards, adapter cards, and embedded systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NATSEMI.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps `CONFIG_NATSEMI` to National Semiconductor DP8381x PCI Ethernet controllers, including DP83815." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NS83820.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps `CONFIG_NS83820` to National Semiconductor DP83820 gigabit PCI Ethernet controllers and lists legacy retail cards such as the D-Link DGE-500T." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains multiple real legacy Ethernet drivers (SONIC, DP8381x, DP83820), not helpers. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no aggregate hits, so I checked representative files directly with `lore_file_timeline`: `natsemi.c` shows 2025 maintenance and `ns83820.c` shows a 2026 bug fix, which argues against deprecation/removal now. Web search found TI's DP83815 page (`web.search_query`) marking the chip not recommended for new designs, and LKDDb pages (`web.search_query`) tying the configs to legacy PCI NICs/cards. `last_widely_available_year=2011` is an inference from the TI page's old PCI-era positioning plus its 2011 datasheet/update vintage, so confidence is moderate rather than absolute.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16386493295427576, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1313105361, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757988385, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Netronome/Corigine NFP-4000/5000/6000 SmartNICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230816143912.34540-14-louis.peens@corigine.com/", "claim": "Netdev saw feature work for NFP in 2023 from Corigine, indicating active vendor-backed upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250918142427.309519-4-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being mechanically updated in 2025 in treewide networking work, confirming it remains part of the actively maintained kernel build." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-31.html", "claim": "Corigine marketed Agilio CX SmartNICs with NFP-4000 and NFP-5000 parts and showed current product detail pages with purchase links, supporting that hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-61.html", "claim": "Corigine marketed Agilio FX SmartNICs built on NFP-4000, reinforcing that the NFP family remained an active product line." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.0/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this driver as supporting NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 devices and Agilio SmartNICs, confirming the covered hardware family and use case." }, { "url": "https://help.netronome.com/support/solutions/articles/36000064565-switching-between-firmware", "claim": "Netronome support documentation describes operational firmware handling for the NFP driver, indicating continued deployed-base support expectations for these adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver code in-tree for Netronome/Corigine NFP PF/VF devices; local shell inspection showed PCI IDs for NFP3800/4000/5000/6000 plus vendor IDs for Netronome and Corigine. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nfp_main.c`, which showed touches through 2025 and earlier substantive Corigine-authored feature work in 2023; no removal signal was found from the lore history sampled. Product/sales evidence came from `web.search_query` results on Corigine/Netronome Agilio pages and kernel docs. Conclusion: niche datacenter SmartNICs with ongoing but limited deployments and no natural successor driver in-tree, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04441513626043343, "commits_5y": 165, "substantive_commits_5y": 152, "first_touch_ts": 1449170271, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769194385, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/abm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NFP4000/NFP6000", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241108204154.305560-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The ABM code still receives occasional upstream maintenance; this file was touched by a 2024 netronome patch rather than only in 2021." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.4/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation says the NFP driver supports NFP3800/NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 devices used in Agilio SmartNICs." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-31.html", "claim": "Corigine's current Agilio CX product page lists NFP-4000 SmartNIC SKUs with 'BUY NOW', indicating the family was still being sold new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore first: `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/abm/main.c` showed only sparse recent activity, with one real 2024 touch plus treewide churn and no evident removal thread in the sampled history. Local shell reads of `drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/Kconfig` and `abm/main.c` showed ABM is an optional NFP4000/NFP6000 QoS/queue-management app inside `nfp.ko`, not a standalone driver with a natural upstream replacement. Deployment evidence came from web search: opened docs.kernel.org result for supported device families and opened Corigine's Agilio CX product page showing current NFP-4000 SKUs for sale. Conclusion: niche but still-live hardware and feature area, so keep the code but annotate it as low-activity/specialized rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1527099978, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1634558081, "top_author": "Ahmed S. Darwish", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/bpf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: NFP BPF offload support subdirectory within the Netronome driver, with no standalone device entrypoint and serving as internal driver component code rather than a distinct hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1496267893, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740040549, "top_author": "Haoxiang Li", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/crypto", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Corigine/Netronome Network Flow Processor (NFP) SmartNICs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/aSfDqouLFcA4h8JX@kspp", "claim": "A 2026 mailing-list patch touched this directory's TLS code, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says the NFP driver supports Netronome and Corigine NFP3800/NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 devices and Agilio SmartNICs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NFP remains in current kernel series and lists both Netronome and Corigine PCI IDs for the supported hardware family." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-31.html", "claim": "Corigine's Agilio CX product page lists NFP-4000 and NFP-5000 SmartNIC variants, including a crypto model, with 'BUY NOW' availability." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-61.html", "claim": "Corigine's Agilio FX page lists an NFP-4000 SmartNIC with current product availability, supporting that this hardware family is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This subdirectory is driver code inside the broader nfp NIC driver, implementing TLS/IPsec offload hooks rather than a standalone module. Upstream activity was checked first with local git history via exec_command because lore MCP/lei were unavailable in this environment; the recent patch URL came from a Link trailer in `git log` output, and there was no sign of a removal series in the recent path history. The docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, and Corigine URLs were obtained with web search/open. Overall signal: active upstream maintenance plus vendor-visible current sales, but deployments are likely niche SmartNIC/datacenter offload rather than broad mainstream NIC volume, so keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1559855620, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768676437, "top_author": "Leon Romanovsky", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/flower", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Netronome/Corigine NFP SmartNIC (Agilio)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1115488.html", "claim": "Netdev saw nfp/flower patch traffic in August 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.linaro.org/archives/list/linux-stable-mirror%40lists.linaro.org/message/VZF7GZHJ37F3E77L4N4YVE2ZK56CXCVB/", "claim": "A March 2024 stable backport for nfp: flower shows bug-fix activity and maintainer sign-off for this code path." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-31.html", "claim": "Corigine was still marketing Agilio CX SmartNICs with NFP-4000/NFP-5000 silicon and TC/OVS-style datapath offload capabilities, supporting that relevant hardware remained on sale in/through 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-162.html", "claim": "Corigine was also marketing Agilio GX SmartNICs with NFP-3800 silicon for OVS/DPDK datapath acceleration, indicating continued though niche deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://help.netronome.com/support/solutions/articles/36000081172-agilio-open-vswitch-tc-user-guide", "claim": "Vendor support documentation explicitly describes selecting the 'flower' TC-offload firmware for Netronome SmartNICs, matching the driver directory's function and showing real deployment intent." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver code, not a helper-only directory: local shell read of main.c shows the NFP FLOWER app implementing switchdev/TC offload logic under the nfp driver. Upstream activity evidence came from web search results on public mailing-list mirrors after shell tools were unavailable for lore/lei; I found active 2024 stable-backport and 2025 netdev patch threads, and no removal discussion surfaced in targeted lore/web searches. Deployment evidence came from vendor product/support pages found via web search: Corigine still advertised Agilio NFP SmartNICs and Netronome/Corigine documented flower TC-offload firmware usage. Conclusion: hardware is still sold but niche, there is no natural replacement driver for the same cards, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 104, "substantive_commits_5y": 99, "first_touch_ts": 1498405321, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755564591, "top_author": "Louis Peens", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nfd3", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Netronome/Corigine NFP3xxx/NFP SmartNIC datapath (NFD3, notably NFP3800-based Agilio)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation says the nfp driver supports Netronome and Corigine NFP3800/NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 devices and Agilio SmartNICs." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-162.html", "claim": "Corigine still marketed Agilio GX SmartNICs with NFP-3800 and a 'BUY NOW' path in a page crawled in 2026, supporting that related hardware was still sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnic.html", "claim": "Corigine still advertises the Agilio SmartNIC family, indicating ongoing commercial positioning rather than a purely legacy product line." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NFP present through current kernels and lists both Netronome and Corigine PCI IDs including 3800/4000/5000/6000, indicating continued upstream enablement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this directory is real fast-path driver code under nfp, not helper-only assets. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nfd3` showed substantive touches from 2022 through 2025-08-18, including functional changes such as IPsec/NFP3800 support, UDP segmentation offload, checksum fixes, and later maintenance updates; a grep for remove/deprecate terms found only routine API cleanup, not a removal series. I obtained all cited URLs via `web.search_query`: kernel docs and LKDDb establish active upstream support and covered PCI families; Corigine product pages establish that NFP3800-based Agilio hardware was still sold/marketed in 2025-era/2026-crawled pages. Because the code is recently maintained and the hardware line is still commercially available, removal or deprecation is not justified; there is no natural upstream replacement driver separate from `nfp` itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1647868876, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755563401, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nfdk", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: shell inspection shows only NFDK datapath/helper code (e.g. `const struct nfp_dp_ops nfp_nfdk_ops`) for the parent Netronome NFP driver, with no standalone probe/register entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1647868877, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755563401, "top_author": "Yinjun Zhang", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nfpcore", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Netronome/Corigine NFP-4000/NFP-6000 Flow Processor", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation says the NFP driver supports Netronome/Corigine NFP3800, NFP4000, NFP5000, and NFP6000 devices used in Agilio SmartNICs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f24f966feb62", "claim": "Mainline received a substantive NFP change on 2024-08-29 ('nfp: Convert to use ERR_CAST()'), indicating recent maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b3d4f7f22889", "claim": "Mainline received a functional nfpcore fix on 2024-02-02 ('nfp: use correct macro for LengthSelect in BAR config'), showing active bug-fix traffic in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-31.html", "claim": "Corigine's current Agilio CX product page advertises NFP-4000-based SmartNICs with BUY NOW listings, showing the hardware family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-61.html", "claim": "Corigine's current Agilio FX product page advertises an NFP-4000-based SmartNIC, reinforcing ongoing commercial availability of this chipset family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of the directory showed real Netronome NFP PCIe/CPP hardware support code, including NFP4000/NFP6000 references. `lei`/lore MCP was unavailable in this environment, so upstream-attention evidence was taken from local `git log` for the path, then mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall; deployment/sales evidence came from web search results on docs.kernel.org and corigine.com. No removal discussion was found, and recent 2024 fixes plus current product pages point to a niche but still-live SmartNIC family, so deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1486759945, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725041460, "top_author": "Yu Xiao", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Netronome/Corigine NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 Agilio SmartNIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.corigine.com/smartnicdetail-61.html", "claim": "Corigine still markets Agilio FX SmartNIC hardware with NFP-4000 and a BUY NOW path, so the hardware family was still sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_NFP remains present through current kernel series and covers Netronome/Corigine NFP4000/NFP6000 NIC hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.13/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/netronome/nfp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the NFP4000/NFP5000/NFP6000 family and notes SR-IOV PF/VF support and Agilio SmartNIC branding." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subdirectory under the active nfp PCI NIC driver, not a helper-only tree. Local `exec_command` inspection showed `main.c`/`dcb.c` implement NIC-app/DCB behavior for the nfp driver; local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/netronome/nfp/nic` showed only 3 substantive path touches since 2023 and no sign of an in-tree removal trend. A web search for lore removal traffic returned no usable lore hits, so I treated removal discussion as absent rather than proven absent. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` then `web.open`/`web.find`: Corigine product page for current sale evidence, LKDDb for ongoing kernel presence, and kernel.org docs for supported hardware scope. Low activity plus niche SmartNIC deployment argues annotation rather than deprecation; there is no natural upstream replacement for the same hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1496267893, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1683878147, "top_author": "Huayu Chen", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ni", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "National Instruments XGE Management MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/CANn89iKhVL0uQz9eTi6y3iDtQqRvCVt8T7MndxfMGKf7sPLvhw@mail.gmail.com/", "claim": "The nixge driver still received an upstream net bugfix in July 2025 ('Add missing check after DMA map')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241217110731.2925254-1-make_ruc2021@163.com/", "claim": "The nixge driver received a NULL-dereference fix in December 2024, indicating real maintenance rather than pure treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://www.ni.com/docs/en-BZ/bundle/pxie-6592-specs/page/specs.html", "claim": "NI had an actively maintained 10 Gbps SFP+ FPGA/serial product page updated on 2025-07-18, supporting the view that related NI high-speed Ethernet-capable hardware is still sold in 2025." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA03q0000019fy9CAA&l=en-US", "claim": "NI support content for the PXIe-6592 SFP+ hardware was updated on 2024-06-10, consistent with ongoing vendor support for this niche class of NI hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via shell shows this is an OF-only NI-specific platform driver with compatibles 'ni,xge-enet-2.00'/'ni,xge-enet-3.00' and module description 'National Instruments XGE Management MAC', implying narrow embedded/instrumentation use rather than commodity NIC deployment. Lore evidence was obtained with lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/ethernet/ni/nixge.c and shows substantive fixes in 2024 and 2025, with no removal discussion surfaced, so this is not removal-candidate dead code. NI product/support URLs were obtained via web search; they do not prove this exact MAC IP block ships broadly, but they support continued 2025 sales/support of related NI SFP+/FPGA hardware. Result: niche but still maintained, so keep with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4924263189248236, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1522338660, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1697070486, "top_author": "Christian Marangi", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/nvidia", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA nForce Ethernet (MCP/nForce southbridge MACs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250124031841.1179756-4-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "Netdev still carries targeted forcedeth fixes in 2025, indicating some upstream maintenance rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250124031841.1179756-3-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "A 2025 cleanup specifically touching forcedeth shows the driver still receives direct subsystem attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FORCEDETH.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_FORCEDETH as 'nForce Ethernet support' and lists supported NVIDIA MCP/nForce PCI IDs, tying the directory to legacy motherboard-integrated Ethernet." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NForce", "claim": "The nForce chipset line ended when NVIDIA exited the motherboard chipset business in 2009, so this hardware family is long out of new-production mainstream sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`forcedeth.c` and local Kconfig identify this as the forcedeth driver for NVIDIA nForce Ethernet MACs. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/nvidia/forcedeth.c`; it showed recent 2025 activity and surfaced the cited netdev patch URLs, with no removal series visible in the recent timeline. Hardware-family scope came from web search result `cateee.net` (LKDDb). End-of-market timing came from web search result Wikipedia's stable nForce page. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and new deployments are rare, but upstream still fixes it occasionally, so deprecate/remove would be premature; keep it with legacy annotation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3667720866323262, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1313177932, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738017049, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/nxp", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NXP LPC32xx Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260330081636.2887980-1-make24@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream bug-fix patches in 2026, so it is not abandoned in practice." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/lpc3000-arm9/arm926ej-s-with-256-kb-sram-usb-high-speed-otg-sd-mmc-nand-flash-controller-ethernet%3ALPC3240FET296", "claim": "NXP still listed an LPC32xx Ethernet-capable part as Active in 2025/2026, indicating the hardware family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/lpc3000-arm9/arm926ej-s-with-256-kb-sram-usb-high-speed-otg-sd-mmc-nand-flash-controller-ethernet-lcd-controller%3ALPC3250FET296", "claim": "Another Ethernet-capable LPC32xx variant is also listed Active, and NXP positions it for industrial/medical/network-control uses, suggesting continuing but niche deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection of Kconfig/lpc_eth.c shows this directory is a real platform Ethernet driver for ARCH_LPC32XX ('LPC Ethernet Driver', compatible 'nxp,lpc-eth'). lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c showed recent non-mechanical fixes through 2026-03-30 (URL cited from lore output), which argues against deprecation/removal. Web search found official NXP product pages for LPC3240/LPC3250 marked Active (URLs cited), so hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025 is true, but the family is an older ARM9 MCU niche with likely low modern deployment volume. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same LPC32xx MAC block; stmmac glue drivers in-tree target different LPC families.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6154036535116286, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1331597314, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197200, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/oki-semi/pch_gbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel EG20T / OKI-ROHM ML7223/ML7831 PCH GbE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251103150952.3538205-7-vadim.fedorenko@linux.dev/", "claim": "Upstream activity is still present in late 2025; pch_gbe received a net-next functional conversion patch rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250723034105.2939635-1-chenyuan0y@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still gets ordinary bug-fix traffic in 2025, indicating it is maintained for existing users." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCH_GBE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_PCH_GBE as supporting Intel EG20T PCH and OKI/ROHM ML7223/ML7831, confirming the hardware family and long-lived but niche support status." }, { "url": "https://minnowboard.org/wiki-sub/MinnowBoard", "claim": "A representative EG20T-based board, the original MinnowBoard, is explicitly no longer sold and was replaced in July 2014, supporting the view that mainstream/new-platform availability ended years ago." }, { "url": "https://www.rohm.com/documents/11303/43982/ml7213_7223-e.pdf", "claim": "Vendor collateral describes ML7223(V) as a 2010 companion chip for Intel Atom E6xx aimed at embedded/industrial uses such as IVI, factory automation, industrial PCs, and IP phones, which fits legacy/niche deployment rather than current broad new sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` in the driver showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION \"EG20T PCH Gigabit ethernet Driver\" and PCI IDs for Intel IOH1_GBE plus ROHM ML7223/ML7831. `lore_file_timeline` on pch_gbe_main.c returned 2025 netdev/linux-arm-kernel patches and no removal discussion; cited the returned lore URLs. Web search found LKDDb for supported devices, the MinnowBoard wiki for a concrete EG20T platform no longer sold since July 2014, and the ROHM ML7213/7223 brochure for original market positioning. Conclusion: hardware is legacy embedded and likely only low-volume field deployments remain, but upstream still sees real fixes, so removal/deprecation would be premature; keep the driver, annotate it as legacy/niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14200526226418964, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1313133707, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762307032, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/packetengines", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Packet Engines G-NIC / GNIC-II gigabit Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260422044820.485660-2-25181214217@stu.xidian.edu.cn/", "claim": "April 22, 2026 removal patch says the Hamachi GNIC-II PCI hardware is obsolete for over two decades and proposes deleting the driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260422044820.485660-3-25181214217@stu.xidian.edu.cn/", "claim": "April 22, 2026 removal patch says Yellowfin hardware is over two decades old, no longer in active use, and proposes deleting the remaining driver plus the vendor directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/YELLOWFIN.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies YELLOWFIN as support for Packet Engines G-NIC PCI Gigabit Ethernet or Symbios 53C885, with historical help text tying it to Beowulf clusters rather than modern deployments." }, { "url": "https://ftp.sun.ac.za/ftp/pub/documentation/network/yellowfin.html", "claim": "Historical Yellowfin driver page describes support for Linux 2.0 through 2.5 and positions Yellowfin/Hamachi as late-1990s/early-2000s hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed two PCI gigabit NIC drivers: Hamachi GNIC-II and Yellowfin G-NIC/SYM53C885, both with 1997-2001 era provenance in comments/Kconfig. lore_file_timeline and lore_message (MCP) showed fresh 2026 netdev/lkml removal patches for both files; this active removal discussion escalates the recommendation from deprecate to remove. Web search/open yielded LKDDb and a historical Yellowfin page indicating old Beowulf-cluster-era deployment, with no evidence of current new sales. Because exact market sunset year is not well sourced from the retrieved material, last_widely_available_year is left null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.0140111079419634, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1313145674, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1647277468, "top_author": "Julia Lawall", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/pasemi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "PA Semi PWRficient on-chip 1G/10G Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250507175338.672442-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches to pasemi_mac.c in 2025 are treewide timer API cleanups rather than device-specific feature work, which suggests maintenance is incidental rather than driven by active hardware demand." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PASEMI_MAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the PA Semi 1/10Gbit MAC driver for on-chip Ethernet on PWRficient chips, limited to PA Semi PCI IDs a005/a006." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWRficient", "claim": "PWRficient was PA Semi's processor line; the PA6T was the only productized processor, initially shipped in 2007, and development effectively ended after Apple acquired PA Semi in 2008." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.A._Semi", "claim": "P.A. Semi was acquired by Apple in April 2008 and is defunct as an independent vendor, supporting the conclusion that no new mainstream hardware based on this MAC is being sold in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) identified the directory as the PA Semi PWRficient Ethernet driver. The lore URL was obtained via `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/ethernet/pasemi/pasemi_mac.c and shows only treewide cleanups in 2025, with no evident removal series; combined with the provided static summary (few substantive commits in 5y, latest 2024-09-03), that argues for deprecate rather than remove. The LKDDb and Wikipedia URLs were obtained via web search, and they show niche, vendor-specific hardware tied to a defunct 2008-era platform. No natural replacement driver exists because this is the SoC's own MAC; remaining use is legacy/hobbyist or embedded carryover, so deployments today are low.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5417735098160364, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1313105327, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725356203, "top_author": "Alexander Lobakin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/pensando/ionic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AMD Pensando Ethernet adapter family (DSC/Pollara)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1101805.html", "claim": "June 24, 2025 netdev patch series adds RDMA support by extending the ionic Ethernet driver, showing active upstream feature work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5714822.html", "claim": "June 9, 2025 net-next patch series contains maintenance fixes for ionic from Shannon Nelson, indicating ongoing maintainer attention." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1129677.html", "claim": "October 17, 2025 net-next patch converts ionic to the ndo_hwtstamp API, showing adaptation to current networking core interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/pensando/ionic.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes ionic as the Linux driver for the Pensando Ethernet adapter family and documents active features including XDP, SR-IOV, devlink, and RDMA auxiliary-device support." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/pensando/ionic_rdma.html", "claim": "Current kernel docs state the companion ionic_rdma driver depends on the ionic Ethernet driver for AMD Pensando DSC devices, reinforcing that ionic remains part of an expanding supported stack." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/network-interface-cards/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD marketed the Pensando Pollara 400 AI NIC in 2025, with product-page footnotes citing AMD testing on April 28, 2025, indicating new hardware was still being sold/promoted in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD says Pensando DPU technology is adopted by large enterprise and cloud providers and widely used in hyperscale data centers, supporting ongoing real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a deprecation candidate. Upstream activity was grounded first via web search because the requested lore MCP was not exposed here and `lei` was unavailable in shell; I used indexed netdev/lore mirrors from `web.search_query` (spinics and lore mirror hits) and found 2025 feature/maintenance patch series for ionic, with no removal/deprecation thread in the queried results. Current kernel docs were obtained via `web.search_query` on kernel.org/docs.kernel.org and show the driver is still documented with modern features plus new RDMA integration. Market/deployment evidence came from AMD product pages found via `web.search_query`, showing Pensando NIC/DPU products actively marketed/tested in 2025 and deployed in hyperscale/cloud environments. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same hardware; replacement would mean retiring the hardware platform, not switching drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017313237036534174, "commits_5y": 251, "substantive_commits_5y": 240, "first_touch_ts": 1567668283, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773960330, "top_author": "Shannon Nelson", "top_author_commits": 146, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "QLogic ISP3XXX Ethernet (QLA3022/QLA3032)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240630222904.627462-15-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "A 2024 qla3xxx touch was a one-line treewide workqueue API conversion, indicating maintenance rather than active device development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260222074559.work.599-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "The newest 2026 qla3xxx touch is part of a 415-file treewide kmalloc cleanup, not device-specific work or renewed maintainer attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QLA3XXX.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_QLA3XXX/qla3xxx to only PCI IDs 1077:3022 and 1077:3032, naming them ISP4022-based Ethernet NIC and ISP4032-based Ethernet IPv6 NIC." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qla3xxx.c.html", "claim": "The in-tree driver identifies itself as the QLogic QLA3xxx/ISP3XXX NIC driver and carries a 2003-2006 QLogic copyright header, consistent with very old PCI/PCI-X-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Current Marvell/QLogic-branded Ethernet products marketed in 2025 are FastLinQ 41000-series 10/25GbE NICs, not QLA3xxx-class adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this root directory's direct driver is `qla3xxx.c`, with Kconfig naming 'QLogic QLA3XXX Network Driver Support' and PCI IDs QL3022/QL3032. `lore_file_timeline` for `drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qla3xxx.c` showed recent activity dominated by treewide API churn/cleanups through 2026 and no obvious removal subject in returned events; a follow-up `lore_regex` timed out, so I did not retry the same query. Web search/open provided LKDDb for exact supported hardware and codebrowser/Marvell product pages for hardware vintage and current-market context. Conclusion: legacy hardware, probably still present only in small legacy/industrial/server holdouts, with enough build-fix traffic to avoid immediate removal but little evidence of real ongoing use or feature work.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.48122073811203775, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1313031829, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1704329408, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/netxen", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "NetXen NX2031/NX3031 Intelligent Ethernet adapters", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NETXEN_NIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_NETXEN_NIC to this driver and lists NetXen 1/10GbE PCI IDs including NX2031-class boards and device 0100 as the NX3031 multifunction adapter." }, { "url": "https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-infrastructure/netxen-brings-10-gig-into-the-mainstream", "claim": "NetXen publicly announced immediate availability of NX3031 in August 2008, anchoring the family as a late-2000s server NIC generation." }, { "url": "https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion/database/network-adapters/qlogic/netxen-nx3031-dual-port-sfpplus-10gbe-server-adapter/", "claim": "A cataloged NX3031 Windows driver listing shows releases through 30 November 2015, supporting the view that mainstream vendor-era availability peaked long before 2025." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QLogic", "claim": "QLogic is described as defunct in 2016 and notes its 2009 acquisition of NetXen, consistent with this being a legacy acquired product line rather than a current one." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `exec_command` of `drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/netxen/netxen_nic_main.c` identified PCI support for NX2031 and NX3031 boards and a module description for QLogic/NetXen 1/10GbE NICs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/netxen` showed recent touches through 2024-12-16, but almost all visible 2021-2026 changes are treewide API/cleanup churn; the last clearly device-specific functional fix in the sampled history was 2021-01-07 ('fix MSI/MSI-x interrupts'). I attempted lore-first evidence using `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable in this environment; fallback web searches against lore found no obvious active removal thread or sustained bug-fix traffic. Web sources were obtained with `web.search_query`/`web.open`/`web.find`. Overall this looks like legacy server NIC hardware still kept buildable upstream, with low but nonzero installed-base use, so deprecate is a better fit than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3016320312765456, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1313031829, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734490851, "top_author": "Gustavo A. R. Silva", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qed", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx/45xxx", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5638558.html", "claim": "The qed code was still receiving upstream net-next maintenance in 2025, including code cleanup patches directly touching drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qed." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1138600.html", "claim": "The sibling qede Ethernet driver stack built on qed was still receiving bug fixes that were applied to netdev in November 2025, indicating active upstream use rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QED.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_QED as the core driver for the Marvell FastLinQ adapters family and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Marvell still marketed FastLinQ 41000 series Ethernet adapters in 2026, supporting the conclusion that this hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-cna-adapters/8300-fastlinq-cna/documents.html", "claim": "Marvell's current FastLinQ CNA portfolio page still lists FastLinQ 41000/45000/8400 series as active product families for enterprise and cloud deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell (`sed` on qed_main.c) confirmed this directory is the loadable 'QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx Core Module', so it is a real driver, not just a helper library. All cited URLs were obtained via web search. Search results showed active 2025 upstream patch traffic for qed/qede and no evident driver-removal/deprecation thread, which argues against deprecation. LKDDb ties CONFIG_QED to Marvell FastLinQ adapters, and Marvell product pages still advertised FastLinQ 41000/45000 hardware in 2026; that points to ongoing, but datacenter-niche, deployments rather than obsolescence. There is no natural in-tree replacement for the same hardware family, so the right outcome is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07360057753695638, "commits_5y": 129, "substantive_commits_5y": 121, "first_touch_ts": 1445999682, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763694082, "top_author": "Shai Malin", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qede", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/QLogic FastLinQ 41000 series", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qede/qede_main.c", "claim": "Driver identifies itself as the QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx Ethernet driver and binds QLogic/Marvell FastLinQ-class PCI devices." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1138600.html", "claim": "Netdev traffic in November 2025 shows a real bug fix for qede was submitted and applied, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1135225.html", "claim": "Netdev traffic in November 2025 shows qede being updated for current kernel networking APIs (ndo_hwtstamp callbacks), another sign of active upkeep." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Marvell still advertised FastLinQ 41000 series Ethernet NICs in 2025, with multiple QL411xx/QL412xx adapter SKUs listed as current products." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=686x8", "claim": "OEM firmware packages for Marvell FastLinQ 41000 adapters remained available from Dell, supporting continued enterprise deployment and fielded systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: directory contains a loadable PCI Ethernet driver. Local shell inspection of qede_main.c showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx Ethernet Driver' and PCI device table for 57980/AH-family devices. Source acquisition: kernel.org tree URL added by canonical recall for the source file claim; Marvell and Dell URLs obtained via web search; netdev maintenance evidence obtained via web search, which returned Spinics mirrors after lore-specific searches produced no removal/deprecation hits. No active removal discussion was found; instead 2025 threads show bug-fix and API-conversion work, matching the provided recent substantive-commit stats. Because the hardware family was still marketed in 2025 and remains plausible in server/OEM deployments, there is no deprecation signal and no natural in-tree replacement for the same hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.058467231240242695, "commits_5y": 85, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1445999687, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768076466, "top_author": "Asbjørn Sloth Tønnesen", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qlogic/qlcnic", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "QLogic/NetXen QLCNIC 82xx/83xx/84xx 10GbE converged network adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/CONFIG_QLCNIC", "claim": "CONFIG_QLCNIC covers the qlcnic driver directory and describes it as support for QLogic QLE8240/QLE8242 converged Ethernet devices." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9d8a99c5a7c7f4f7eca2c168a4ec254409670035", "claim": "The driver received a qlcnic-specific bug fix in 2025 ('fix memory leak in qlcnic_sriov_channel_cfg_cmd()'), showing recent upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d2b9d97e89c79c95f8b517e4fa43fd100f936acc", "claim": "The driver received another qlcnic-specific bug fix in 2025 ('fix memory leak issues in qlcnic_sriov_common.c'), indicating nontrivial upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/ethernet-adaptersandcontrollers/fastlinq-3400-8400-series-converged-network-adapters-and-intelligent-ethernet-adapters/UsersGuide_3400-8400_CNA-IEA_83840-546-00T.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's 2022 user guide still documents QLE8440/QLE8442 products supported by this driver family, showing the hardware remained supported in vendor documentation into the 2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/846425-REG/Q_Logic_QLE8242_SR_CK_10GB_2_PORT_FCOE_ISCSI.html", "claim": "A mainstream retailer lists QLE8242 as 'No Longer Available', supporting the view that these adapters are no longer broadly sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/doc/109268087-126555842-0/v120696482-126555842", "claim": "Veritas documentation for NetBackup appliances references QLE8442, indicating ongoing legacy/appliance deployments rather than zero use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of qlogic Kconfig and qlcnic headers showed QLE824x plus 83xx/84xx PCI IDs, so this is a real NIC driver with SR-IOV/DCB support and no obvious in-tree replacement for the same hardware. Upstream attention was checked via local `git log` fallback because `lore-http` MCP was unavailable in this session and `lei` was not installed; the two cited kernel.org commit URLs were derived from shell-obtained commit hashes and canonical kernel.org commit URL format. Web search obtained the kernelconfig, Marvell, B&H, and Veritas URLs. Overall signal: legacy 10GbE CNA hardware with some appliance/installed-base presence and recent bug-fix traffic, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13736879031268415, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1313031829, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755109256, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qualcomm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Ethernet/RMNET family (QCA7000, QCOM EMAC, IPQ PPE, RMNET MAP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NET_VENDOR_QUALCOMM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this directory still covers multiple in-tree Qualcomm network drivers, including QCOM_EMAC, QCOM_PPE, and QCA7000 variants, with support entries continuing through 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOM_PPE.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_QCOM_PPE for Qualcomm IPQ SoCs and specifically matches qcom,ipq9574-ppe, indicating current hardware coverage rather than legacy-only support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RMNET.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RMNET remains present through current kernel series and describes an embedded data-path use case, supporting ongoing deployment in Qualcomm modem-based systems." }, { "url": "https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/87-87287-1/87-87287-1_REV_A_Qualcomm_Dragonwing_NPro_7_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm's 2025 Dragonwing NPro 7 product brief still lists IPQ9574 as an ordering part number, showing at least one chipset served by this directory is still an actively marketed platform in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/files confirmed this is an umbrella driver directory with active subdrivers (QCA7000 SPI/UART, EMAC, RMNET, PPE). Local `git log` showed substantive commits through 2026-04-03, including new PPE/IPQ9574 work and bug fixes across qca_spi, rmnet, emac, and qca_uart; no removal series was found, and a prior QDF24xx removal was reverted, which argues against deprecation. URLs were obtained via web search (LKDDb and Qualcomm product brief). Lore-specific tooling was unavailable in this session (`lei` missing; web lore queries returned no usable hits), so upstream activity was assessed from local git history instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015450201148774113, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1411964632, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775255576, "top_author": "Stefan Wahren", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qualcomm/emac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm EMAC (FSM9900 / QDF2400 / QDF2432)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver was still touched in netdev in October 2024 as part of a treewide platform_driver remove callback conversion, so it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240808035800.5059-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver also received a Qualcomm-EMAC-specific cleanup patch in August 2024, indicating at least occasional direct maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOM_EMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_QCOM_EMAC still present in current kernel series and maps it to ACPI IDs QCOM8070/QCOM8071 plus DT compatibles qcom,fsm9900-emac and qcom,qdf2432-emac-sgmii." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/%2B/fb73974172ff/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/qcom-emac.txt", "claim": "The binding document ties this driver to Qualcomm EMAC blocks used on FSM9900 and QDF2432 platforms, confirming the supported hardware family." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2017/11/qualcomm-datacenter-technologies-announces-commercial-shipment-qualcomm", "claim": "Qualcomm publicly announced commercial shipment of the Centriq 2400 family in November 2017, placing one supported EMAC platform family in a short-lived 2017-era server product window." }, { "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/news/qualcomm-server-chip-exit-china-centriq-2400%2C38223.html", "claim": "Third-party reporting in 2018 says Qualcomm effectively exited the Centriq server business, supporting the conclusion that QDF24xx-based new deployments are now legacy rather than growing." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2018/05/qualcomm-introduces-industrys-first-5g-nr-solution-small-cells-and-remote", "claim": "Qualcomm's 2018 small-cell press release centers newer FSM100xx parts, suggesting FSM9900-era small-cell silicon had already been superseded by then." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Driver status grounded first in lore_activity on emac.c, which showed 2023-2024 netdev traffic and no evidence of an active removal wave; attempted lore_regex removal scans timed out rather than finding removal hits. Hardware-family mapping came from local source inspection plus web-opened LKDDb and the qcom-emac binding page. Sales/deployment judgment is an inference from web search results: official Qualcomm pages place Centriq/FSM9900 in 2016-2018 product generations, Tom's Hardware reports the Centriq exit in 2018, and no current-era product evidence surfaced. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/niche hardware with low present-day deployments rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3296063565161415, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1472797925, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1728372846, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qualcomm/ppe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm IPQ9574 PPE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250818-qcom_ipq_ppe-v8-3-1d4ff641fce9@quicinc.com", "claim": "The driver was introduced upstream in August 2025 as the Qualcomm IPQ9574 PPE driver, indicating new enablement rather than legacy maintenance." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250818-qcom_ipq_ppe-v8-13-1d4ff641fce9@quicinc.com", "claim": "The same 2025 upstream series added follow-on functionality such as PPE debugfs counters, showing active bring-up work instead of removal or deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/Networking-Pro-1220-product-brief_87-PW326-1.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm's Networking Pro 1220 product brief lists ordering part number IPQ9574 and describes current Wi-Fi 7/router/gateway use cases with integrated Ethernet switch and packet processing." }, { "url": "https://524wifi.net/product/qualcomm-ipq-alder-driver-9574-802-11be-wifi-7-multifunction-router-4x4-mu-mimo-ofmda-wi-fi-7-wallys-dr9574-dr9274-5g6g/", "claim": "A 2026 retail listing shows IPQ9574-based hardware in stock/backorder, supporting that this silicon family is still being sold into new embedded/networking deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed a real platform driver with OF match qcom,ipq9574-ppe and an 11-commit directory history starting 2025-08-21, all additive bring-up work by Qualcomm. Commit-message URLs were obtained from exec_command on local git history (`git show/log`); there was no sign of removal activity in the directory history. Deployment evidence came from web search + open on Qualcomm's official product brief PDF and a current retail board listing. Because the driver is brand-new upstream, tied to currently sold IPQ9574 networking silicon, and has no natural in-tree replacement for the same PPE block, the correct recommendation is keep. Deployments are marked low because this is a niche embedded SoC block and mainline support is very recent, not because the hardware is obsolete.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1755772721, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755772722, "top_author": "Luo Jie", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/qualcomm/rmnet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm RMNET MAP cellular modem datapath", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/174265436565.356712.2751590357689476152.stgit@pro.pro/", "claim": "rmnet_config.c was still being touched by netdev patch traffic on 2025-03-22, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/cellular/qualcomm/rmnet.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says RMNET MAP is used by all recent Qualcomm modem chipsets and operates over USB, HSIC, PCIe, and IP accelerator transports." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/03/qualcomm-unveils-leading-innovations-in-connectivity-and-ai-at-m", "claim": "Qualcomm announced new modem products in 2025, including the X85 5G Modem-RF and new 4G IoT modems, indicating the broader modem family remains current." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Snapdragon_450/625/626/632_%28MSM8953%29", "claim": "postmarketOS documentation for Qualcomm MSM8953 devices says mobile data creates an rmnet interface, showing present-day deployment on mainlined phones." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell inspection of Kconfig and rmnet_config.c shows module_init/module_exit and RTNL link ops for a Qualcomm MAP data-path driver. Upstream activity was checked first with lore_file_timeline on rmnet_config.c; it showed recent 2025 netdev traffic and no visible removal pattern in sampled recent history. docs.kernel.org URL was obtained via web search plus web open; it ties RMNET to recent Qualcomm modem chipsets and multiple physical transports. Qualcomm 2025 modem-launch URL was obtained via web search plus web open; it supports that target hardware is still sold new. postmarketOS URL was obtained via web search result snippet; it supports current real-world rmnet deployments on mainlined phones. No natural upstream replacement covers the same Qualcomm MAP mux/aggregation use case, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21003093444266427, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1504118473, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740180482, "top_author": "Alex Elder", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/rdc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "RDC R6040 / R-321x SoC Fast Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250620143341.2158655-1-kory.maincent@bootlin.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches exist, but the 2025 hit affecting r6040.c is a broad net-next API/assertion sweep, not evidence of active device-specific development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241125033446.3290936-1-zhangheng@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "Another recent touch is a small cross-driver DMA-mask cleanup, again suggesting maintenance-by-treewide-churn rather than active hardware evolution." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/R6040.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this driver as support for the RDC R6040 MAC in RDC R-321x SoCs, tied to PCI ID 17f3:6040." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/rdc", "claim": "OpenWrt documents RDC as an old target for legacy boards such as Bifferboard, DIR-450, and evaluation boards, indicating residual embedded/router use rather than current mainstream deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kconfig/source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is the `r6040` PCI MAC driver for RDC R-321x SoCs. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline`: it shows touches through 2024-2025, but the cited lore URLs are treewide or janitorial changes, and I found no concrete removal thread. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirms the exact hardware binding; OpenWrt's RDC target page points to aging router/embedded boards and legacy status. I infer the hardware is no longer sold new in 2025 and survives only in small legacy embedded deployments, so `deprecate` fits better than `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7079973807536171, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1313177914, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1671104914, "top_author": "Florian Fainelli", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/realtek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek PCI/PCIe Ethernet controllers (RTL8139, RTL8168/8169/8101/8125, plus RTASE RTL9054/9068/907x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/f7dfe0357c04466895080f2b9aae1b56@realsil.com.cn/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-22, upstream netdev still carries new feature work for r8169 ('add support for ethtool'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260420021957.1756-7-javen_xu@realsil.com.cn/", "claim": "A 2026-04-20 RFC patch enables MSI-X for RTL8127 in r8169, showing the driver is still being extended for newer Realtek silicon." }, { "url": "https://store.10gtek.com/m-2-a-e-key-2-5g-rj-45-nic-realtek-rtl8125-controller/p-22194", "claim": "Retail hardware using the Realtek RTL8125BG controller was still offered for sale, supporting the conclusion that this family remains commercially current." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A10ec-8125-1043-87d7", "claim": "Linux-Hardware reports many deployed systems with RTL8125 and maps support to drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c, evidencing ongoing real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell (`rg`, `ls`, `sed`) showed this directory contains live NIC drivers `8139cp`, `8139too`, `r8169`, and `rtase`; Kconfig explicitly lists RTL8125 and newer RTASE parts, so this is not legacy-only. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c`, which returned fresh 2026 feature patches and no removal pattern; a `lore_regex` removal probe timed out, and fallback `lei` was blocked by sandbox socket permissions. Web evidence was obtained via `web.search_query`, which surfaced current RTL8125 retail listings and Linux-Hardware deployment pages. Because the directory still supports currently sold controllers and sees active upstream feature development, the correct outcome is keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.038003736712782926, "commits_5y": 209, "substantive_commits_5y": 196, "first_touch_ts": 1313105382, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081913, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 138, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/rtase", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL90xx automotive Ethernet switch", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/944284/", "claim": "Public netdev patch archive for rtase shows this is a recently upstreamed Realtek automotive PCIe Ethernet driver series covering RTL9054/RTL9068/RTL9072/RTL9075/RTL9071, not abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2407.1/09484.html", "claim": "July 15, 2024 thread shows the series was still being reposted and discussed on netdev; the blocker shown there was net-next timing, not removal or deprecation." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTASE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RTASE exists in mainline kernels, builds module rtase, and binds PCI ID 10ec:906a." }, { "url": "https://www.realtek.com/images/ar/2024_Annual_Report_.pdf", "claim": "Realtek's 2024 annual report says its automotive Ethernet products are certified/adopted by numerous automakers and Tier-1 suppliers, with mass production and delivery in progress." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell exec on rtase_main.c confirmed this is a real PCI net driver with module_pci_driver(), PCI ID 10ec:906a, and explicit 'Realtek Automotive Ethernet Switch' / RTL90xx scope. LWN and LKML mirror URLs were obtained via web search/open to assess lore-visible upstream activity; they show recent upstreaming/repost activity and no removal discussion. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search for in-tree support status. Realtek annual-report PDF URL was obtained by web search and supports that the hardware family is still commercially active in 2025. Combined with the prompt's static metadata (29 substantive commits, latest 2025-08-15), this points to a new, actively maintained niche automotive driver that should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1725598957, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755219192, "top_author": "Justin Lai", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/renesas", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Renesas SoC Ethernet MAC/Switch (SH Ethernet, RAVB, RTSN, R-Switch)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260420132314.1023554-152-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "`ravb_main.c` was still receiving bug-fix and stable-track attention in April 2026 ('net: ethernet: ravb: Disable interrupts when closing device')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260331-rswitch_add_vlans-v3-11-c37f41b1c556@renesas.com/", "claim": "`rswitch_main.c` was under active net-next feature development in March 2026 as part of a v3 13-patch series." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity to 2037 and integrated Gigabit Ethernet, indicating current sale of SoCs using this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-v4h-best-class-deep-learning-very-low-power-system-chip-automated-driving-level-2-level-3", "claim": "Renesas lists R-Car V4H as Active and advertises Ethernet AVB and TSN, matching the newer Renesas Ethernet drivers in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via `exec_command` showed this directory contains multiple real platform drivers (`sh_eth`, `ravb`, `rswitch`, `rtsn`) in Kconfig and module declarations, so it is an active multi-driver vendor subtree rather than a legacy singleton. Lore evidence was gathered with `lore_activity` on `ravb_main.c` and `rswitch_main.c`; both show 2026 activity, including stable fixes and net-next feature work, and no removal signal was found. Vendor deployment evidence was gathered with `web.search_query`, which returned current Renesas product pages for RZ/G2L and R-Car V4H marked Active; together they show this subtree still maps to shipping embedded/automotive silicon. Because the directory mixes old SH-era support with actively developed AVB/TSN/switch blocks and has no single successor driver, removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.032285246257385714, "commits_5y": 294, "substantive_commits_5y": 281, "first_touch_ts": 1313218056, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770797045, "top_author": "Biju Das", "top_author_commits": 52, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/rocker", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "QEMU/Red Hat Rocker virtual switch", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026020648-fraying-relation-de7b@gregkh/", "claim": "Rocker code was still receiving upstream-stable carried fixes in February 2026, so the driver is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/rocker.html", "claim": "Rocker is a QEMU-documented switch device interface, indicating its main surviving use is virtual/emulated rather than newly sold physical hardware." }, { "url": "https://qemu.eu/doc/10.1/specs/pci-ids.html", "claim": "Vendor/device IDs in the 1b36 range are assigned for QEMU virtual devices; the driver matches Red Hat/QEMU PCI ID 1b36:0006." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ROCKER.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_ROCKER to Red Hat PCI device 1b36:0006 and shows the driver still present in current kernel series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed`/`rg`) showed `PCI_VDEVICE(REDHAT, PCI_DEVICE_ID_REDHAT_ROCKER)` and Kconfig still marks ROCKER as EXPERIMENTAL. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/rocker/rocker_main.c` returned a February 6, 2026 stable hit, which argues against deprecation/removal. Web search returned QEMU's Rocker register guide and QEMU PCI ID documentation, supporting that this is effectively a virtual test/development switch device, not a 2025 retail hardware family. No direct replacement driver cleanly covers the same emulated-switch niche, so removal would drop a still-maintained virtual target; annotate as legacy/virtual-only rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07221576441604324, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1417579284, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769484514, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/samsung/sxgbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Samsung SXGBE Ethernet IP (samsung,sxgbe-v2.0a)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251203152344.084428141@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream-stable fixes in December 2025, including a NULL-dereference fix in `sxgbe_rx()`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SXGBE_ETH.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as `CONFIG_SXGBE_ETH`, a Samsung platform Ethernet driver with one DT match (`samsung,sxgbe-v2.0a`) and no broad PCI/USB device coverage." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-samsung-soc/msg27891.html", "claim": "The original DT binding series describes SXGBE as a Samsung 10G Ethernet block with compatible string `samsung,sxgbe-v2.0a`, indicating narrow SoC-specific deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection showed a single OF match (`samsung,sxgbe-v2.0a`) and module description `Samsung 10G/2.5G/1G Ethernet PLATFORM driver`, so this is a real Samsung SoC platform NIC driver rather than a generic bus device. `lore_file_timeline` on `sxgbe_main.c` showed ongoing activity through 2025, dominated by fixes and multiple stable backports, and no removal-thread evidence surfaced in the lore queries attempted; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search for the exact compatible string mainly surfaced LKDDb and the 2014 binding post, with no current product or distro-facing ecosystem evidence, so present-day use looks niche/legacy embedded rather than new mainstream deployments. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as low-deployment legacy Samsung SoC IP with limited contemporary hardware footprint. URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` and web search; local source details came from shell inspection.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08634806669618172, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1395866971, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768359759, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/seeq", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SEEQ 8003/8005 Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch for sgiseeq was a treewide platform_driver remove-callback API conversion, not feature work or a revival of the hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/2025-04/20250414102301.332225-6-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch for ether3 was a treewide timer API rename, again indicating mechanical maintenance rather than active hardware-specific development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SGISEEQ.html", "claim": "The sgiseeq driver is for SGI Seeq Ethernet support and is tied to SGI-specific platform support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_ETHER3.html", "claim": "The ether3 driver is for the Acorn/ANT Ether3 card and depends on ARCH_ACORN, showing a niche legacy platform scope." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2", "claim": "SGI O2 is a 1996-era SGI workstation family; this places sgiseeq in legacy workstation hardware rather than new 2025 deployments." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes", "claim": "Acorn Archimedes systems were sold until the mid-1990s, placing Ether3-class deployments firmly in retro/legacy territory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed only two drivers in this directory: `sgiseeq` for SGI machines and `ether3` for Acorn/ANT cards. lore_activity on both files found only low-volume treewide API churn in 2024-2025 and no clear removal thread; the cited lore URLs came from MCP `lore_activity`. Hardware scope/dependency claims came from web search hits to LKDDb pages. Deployment/age evidence came from web search hits to Wikipedia pages for SGI O2 and Acorn Archimedes. Inference: hardware is long obsolete, not sold new in 2025, but some retro/hobbyist systems likely remain, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.532344335300787, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1313133703, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1726751850, "top_author": "Kaixin Wang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sfc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AMD Solarflare / XtremeScale Ethernet adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260330143827.1278677-2-alejandro.lucero-palau@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and substantive: a 2026 netdev patch in this driver adds CXL support, indicating ongoing feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/ethernet-adapters/solarflare-x2.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Solarflare X2 Ethernet adapters as current products for enterprise/private/public cloud datacenters, so covered hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/ug1586-onload-user/Supported-Network-Adapters", "claim": "AMD's 2026 Onload user guide lists supported AMD Solarflare/XtremeScale X4, X3, X2, and SFN8000 adapters, showing an active supported deployment base." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/solarflare-downloads.html/ethernet-adapters/solarflare/x2-series.html", "claim": "AMD publishes current X2-series support/downloads with 2026 release dates, reinforcing that this hardware/software stack remains maintained and deployable." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection of `drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/efx.c` showed Solarflare/SFC/X4 PCI IDs plus newer `ef100*` code, so this is a real multi-generation NIC driver family. `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/efx.c` returned repeated 2025-2026 `sfc: add cxl support` series on lore.kernel.org, which is strong evidence of active upstream development and no obvious removal trajectory. Web search found current AMD product/support pages for Solarflare X2 and the 2026 Onload supported-adapters guide; together they indicate the hardware family is still sold/supported, especially in datacenter and low-latency networking niches. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same installed base, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03835179077479302, "commits_5y": 318, "substantive_commits_5y": 301, "first_touch_ts": 1313055230, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769374941, "top_author": "Edward Cree", "top_author_commits": 108, "c_file_count": 39, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/falcon", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Solarflare SFC4000 (Falcon/Solarstorm)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "sfc", "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SFC_FALCON.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SFC_FALCON is specifically for Solarflare SFC4000 support and recognizes SFC4000/Solarstorm PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240815030436.1373868-1-yiyang13@huawei.com/", "claim": "The falcon driver still received a non-treewide bug-fix patch in 2024 ('Add missing pci_disable_device() for error path')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241102151625.39535-2-linux@treblig.org/", "claim": "The falcon code still sees maintenance cleanup in 2024 ('sfc: Remove falcon deadcode'), indicating upstream attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/ethernet-adapters/solarflare-x2.html", "claim": "AMD's current Solarflare adapter lineup marketed in 2025 is the X2 family (for example X2522/X2541), not SFC4000-era hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`sed` on falcon/Kconfig and falcon.c) identified this directory as the SFC4000/Falcon driver. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/falcon/efx.c, which showed continuing 2024-2025 touches; the cited lore URLs were taken from that result set. Deployment/sales evidence came from web search results opened for LKDDb and AMD's current Solarflare product page. Conclusion: the hardware is clearly obsolete and not a 2025 new-deployment choice, but upstream still applies real fixes/cleanups, so removal would be premature; keep it, but annotate as legacy/obsolete hardware with low current deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.062429392638843166, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1480519018, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769194386, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sfc/siena", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Solarflare SFC9000 (Siena)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": "sfc", "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SFC_SIENA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SFC_SIENA builds module sfc-siena for Solarflare SFC9000 hardware, with PCI IDs 1924:0803 (SFC9020) and 1924:0813 (SFL9021)." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1099578.html", "claim": "Netdev traffic in June 2025 still touched siena files as part of ongoing ethtool/RXFH API migration work, indicating upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Solarflare-SFC-Siena-Linux-5.19", "claim": "The Siena split-out happened because SFN5000/SFN6000 SFC9000 hardware had been announced end-of-life in November 2021, with vendor testing reduced to a minimum." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/support/downloads/solarflare/drivers-software/solarcapture-pro/activate/v1-6-3/SF-108469-CD-11_SolarCapture_User_Guide.pdf", "claim": "AMD/Solarflare documentation states SolarCapture v1.6 does not support SFN5000 or SFN6000 series adapters, reinforcing that Siena-generation parts are legacy rather than current-platform targets." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/ethernet-adapters/solarflare.html", "claim": "Current AMD Solarflare adapter downloads are organized around newer adapter lines rather than SFN5000/SFN6000 Siena-era products, suggesting new deployments have moved to newer families." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) confirms this is a real PCI NIC driver and identifies Siena as SFC9000-family support. Web search found LKDDb for exact hardware IDs/module name, a 2025 netdev archive page showing active siena-related maintenance, Phoronix coverage of the 2022 split noting vendor EOL/testing reduction, and AMD documentation pages showing Siena-era SFN5000/SFN6000 are legacy and absent from current product focus. That combination supports keep-annotate: old and no longer sold new, but still seeing upstream compatibility work, so deprecate/remove would be too aggressive.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 72, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1651659488, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769194386, "top_author": "Martin Habets", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sgi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SGI O2 MACE / IOC3 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2004, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/18f7c585a1a8a8ac8b03a2fca7de19bd5c52ac2b.1727949050.git.u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Most recent visible upstream touch for meth.c was a 2024 treewide platform_driver::remove() API conversion, not SGI-specific feature work or bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230918204227.1316886-45-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Another recent SGI-ethernet touch in 2023 was likewise a treewide remove-callback conversion affecting two files." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SGI_O2MACE_ETH.html", "claim": "The MACE side is the SGI O2 built-in Fast Ethernet driver (`meth`) and is tied to the SGI IP32/O2 platform." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SGI_IOC3_ETH.html", "claim": "The IOC3 side is for SGI IOC3 Ethernet, tied to the IOC3 controller and still carried in current kernel configuration coverage." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2", "claim": "SGI O2 was a 1996-era MIPS workstation with built-in 10/100 Ethernet and was SGI's last low-end workstation line." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Octane", "claim": "SGI Octane used the IOC3 multi-I/O chip and the Octane/Octane2 line ended in 2004, bounding the likely end of new IOC3-based workstation sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with two SGI NIC drivers. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c`; the only recent hits are 2023/2024 treewide API churn, and a `lore_regex` removal-search timed out rather than showing active removal discussion. Hardware/deployment evidence came from web search plus page open/find on Wikipedia and LKDDb pages: these drivers map to SGI O2 and IOC3-based SGI MIPS systems from the late-1990s/early-2000s. That hardware is long out of new sales and current usage is likely hobbyist/legacy only, with no natural in-tree replacement for the exact devices, so `deprecate` fits better than `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.923105480267443, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1313133693, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197200, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/silan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Silan SC92031", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241125033446.3290936-1-zhangheng@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives occasional upstream treewide/API-maintenance touches as of 2024-11-25, rather than being entirely untouched." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/silan/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this as the 'Silan SC92031 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter driver', i.e. a specific PCI 10/100 Ethernet chip family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ethernet/silan/sc92031.c", "claim": "The driver binds only a tiny PCI ID set for Silan SC92031-class hardware, including SILAN:2031 and SILAN:8139, indicating narrow hardware scope." }, { "url": "http://www.silan.com.cn/english/product/pdf/SC92031AY.pdf", "claim": "The in-tree driver comment points to a dedicated SC92031AY datasheet, corroborating that this is an old discrete vendor NIC chip rather than a broadly reused modern platform block." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/silan/sc92031.c` showed recent activity in 2024, but the visible hits were treewide/API-maintenance patches, not clear device-specific fixes or removal discussion; that argues against immediate removal. `exec_command` reading `Kconfig` and `sc92031.c` identified the hardware as a narrow PCI Fast Ethernet chip with a small PCI ID table and a vendor-datasheet URL. The two kernel.org URLs are canonical recall for the same in-tree files inspected locally; the datasheet URL was obtained from the `exec_command` output; the lore URL was obtained from `lore_file_timeline`. Based on that evidence, plus the legacy PCI 100Mb form factor and absence of evidence for current-market sales, this looks like legacy-only hardware with low remaining deployments, so `deprecate` fits better than `keep` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.5545434248843595, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1320190238, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1634559638, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sis", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SiS 900/7016 and SiS190/191 PCI Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260131022441.56274-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream attention in 2026; a net-next patch touched sis900 as a maintenance cleanup ('use module_pci_driver; remove useless driver versions')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-parisc/20250425085740.65304-7-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "sis900 also saw maintenance-oriented API cleanup in 2025 ('Use pure PCI devres API'), indicating the driver is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIS900.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies sis900 as support for SiS 900/7016 PCI Fast Ethernet and notes the SiS 900 core was embedded in SiS 630/540 chipsets, pointing to legacy PCI / motherboard-integrated hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIS190.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies sis190 as support for SiS190/SiS191 and says these chips appear on motherboards based on SiS 965/966 south bridges, again indicating legacy motherboard-integrated hardware rather than modern discrete NICs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with two PCI Ethernet drivers (local rg/sed on Kconfig and .c files). Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on sis900.c and sis190.c; the cited lore URLs were returned directly by that tool. Deployment looks low because both drivers target old SiS PCI / southbridge-integrated Ethernet families, and the web URLs were obtained via web search results (cateee LKDDb pages). I found recent maintenance traffic but no concrete removal-series evidence in the timeline results, so this is better classified as keep-annotate than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07835394773653702, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1313145644, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081913, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/smsc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SMSC LAN91xx/LAN92xx/LAN9420 Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251203152447.941981728@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Upstream/stable traffic is still landing for this directory in late 2025; smsc911x received a functional fix ('add second read of EEPROM mac when possible corruption seen')." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9220", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9220 as 'In Production', showing at least part of the smsc911x/LAN92xx family was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9210", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9210 as 'In Production', reinforcing continued availability of the LAN921x family for embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9420", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9420 as 'In Production', so the PCI LAN9420 portion of this directory is also still an active product." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/lan9118", "claim": "Microchip marks LAN9118 as 'Not Recommended for new designs', indicating parts of the family are aging even though the directory is not wholly obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this directory contains real Ethernet drivers spanning ISA/PCMCIA/PCI and embedded platform parts, with configs for SMC9194, SMC91X, PCMCIA_SMC91C92, EPIC100, SMSC911X, and SMSC9420. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no aggregate hits, so I checked per-file lore activity: `lore_activity` for `drivers/net/ethernet/smsc/smsc911x.c` showed recent 2025 stable/mainline traffic, including a real bug fix, which argues against deprecation/removal. A removal-search attempt via `lore_regex` timed out, and no removal evidence was otherwise found. Web search on official Microchip product pages showed LAN9220, LAN9210, and LAN9420 still 'In Production', while LAN9118 is 'Not Recommended for new designs'. Overall this is a mixed legacy-plus-niche-active directory: some subdrivers target clearly old hardware, but the family still has shipping parts and live upstream fixes, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05279530518964698, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1313031843, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081913, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/socionext", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Socionext UniPhier AVE and SynQuacer NETSEC Ethernet MACs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260109103915.2764380-1-hayashi.kunihiko@socionext.com/", "claim": "`sni_ave.c` received a direct net-next patch in January 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250318-mvneta-xdp-meta-v2-3-b6075778f61f@kernel.org/", "claim": "`netsec.c` received a feature patch in March 2025 adding XDP metadata support, showing ongoing functional development." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/products/ee/", "claim": "The 96Boards Enterprise Edition product page still listed Akebi96 and Developerbox in 2026 and exposed Buy links for both, supporting that related hardware was still available new in/around 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/documentation/enterprise/", "claim": "The current 96Boards enterprise documentation page still lists Akebi96 as LD20-based and DeveloperBox as SynQuacer SC2A11-based, matching the two SoC families covered by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and OF match tables identified two real SoC MAC drivers in this directory: UniPhier AVE (`socionext,uniphier-*-ave4`) and SynQuacer NETSEC (`socionext,synquacer-netsec`). `lore_file_timeline` on both C files showed recent real work, with direct per-driver patches in 2025-2026 and no sampled removal discussion, so this is not a dead driver directory. Web search plus `open` on 96Boards pages showed both hardware families still documented in 2026 and still carrying Buy links on the EE product page; that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`, but these are specialty developer/embedded boards rather than broad-volume mainstream NICs, so deployments today are low. No natural upstream replacement driver exists because these are SoC-integrated MAC blocks, not rebadged commodity NICs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07724543434671824, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1514481040, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768075398, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/spacemit", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SpacemiT K1 Ethernet MAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=bfec6d7f2001c7470c3cd261ae65a3ba8737f226", "claim": "Driver was upstreamed in September 2025 as \"net: spacemit: Add K1 Ethernet MAC\", so it is a very new in-tree platform driver rather than legacy carryover." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3125fc17016945b11e9725c6aff30ff3326fd58f", "claim": "The driver received substantive functional fixes in February 2026, including jumbo-frame support work." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=86292155bea578ebab0ca3b65d4d87ecd8a0e9ea", "claim": "The driver received another bug fix in March 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal prep." }, { "url": "https://www.bit-brick.com/k1/", "claim": "Bit-Brick still markets the K1 board, with a live product page showing a buy link and onboard Gigabit Ethernet based on the SpacemiT K1 SoC." }, { "url": "https://docs.bit-brick.com/docs/k1/hardware/hardware-brief", "claim": "Vendor documentation published in September 2024 documents the Bit-Brick K1 hardware and its Gigabit Ethernet, confirming contemporary productization around the K1 SoC." }, { "url": "https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/09/05/licheepi-3a-a-spacemit-k1-risc-v-development-board-with-som-and-carrier-board/", "claim": "Third-party coverage shows additional K1-based hardware (LicheePi 3A / LM3A) with dual Gigabit Ethernet, supporting evidence of real deployments beyond a single board." }, { "url": "https://www.workswithriscv.guide/wiki/hardware/K1.html", "claim": "Community hardware tracking describes SpacemiT K1 as a SoC used on several boards and notes 2x Gigabit Ethernet, consistent with an active but niche deployment base." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell showed this is an OF platform driver for compatible \"spacemit,k1-emac\" and Kconfig names it the SpacemiT K1 Ethernet MAC driver. Shell `git log` on the directory showed first upstream touch on 2025-09-16 and multiple net fixes through 2026-03-06; canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs were formed from those hashes. Web search/open was used for deployment evidence on Bit-Brick, CNX, and workswithriscv pages. A web search against lore.kernel.org for spacemit/k1-emac/removal terms returned no hits, so there is no visible removal discussion in the checked public record. Given very recent upstreaming plus ongoing fixes and still-sold K1 boards, this should be kept; deployment scale looks niche rather than broad, so `deployments_today` is low.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1758019429, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772852314, "top_author": "Vivian Wang", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare Ethernet MAC / QoS (DWMAC/EQOS, STMMAC integration)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1159779.html", "claim": "A stmmac fix was posted and applied to netdev/net.git in February 2026, showing active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-tegra/msg83161.html", "claim": "There was platform-specific stmmac discussion for Tegra234 in June 2025, indicating ongoing enablement/fix work on current SoCs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/STMMAC_ETH.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_STMMAC_ETH present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and tied to many current platform/PCI bindings, including recent glue drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/dw/ipdir.php?ds=dwc_ether_qos", "claim": "Synopsys markets the Ethernet QoS IP as shipping in volume across automotive, industrial, consumer, and datacenter applications." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257a.html", "claim": "A current ST MPU product page lists Gigabit Ethernet GMAC with TSN/PTP features, consistent with ongoing new-product deployment of this MAC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence: `sed -n 1,120p drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/Kconfig` shows the core driver plus many active SoC glue options; `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac` shows multiple 2025-2026 fixes. Web search was used because shell network/lore access was unavailable: a search for recent stmmac patches found the 2026 netdev applied-patch thread and 2025 Tegra thread, while product searches found current Synopsys and ST pages. No replacement driver exists for the same generic Synopsys MAC IP role; stmmac is the maintained in-tree driver for a broad, still-shipping hardware family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006574828105527148, "commits_5y": 1159, "substantive_commits_5y": 1140, "first_touch_ts": 1313105341, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775611260, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 424, "c_file_count": 68, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sun", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Sun SPARC/LDoms Ethernet (Happy Meal, BigMAC, QuadEthernet, GEM, Cassini, Neptune/NIU, sun4v vnet/vsw)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260109-grxring_big_v1-v1-5-a0f77f732006@debian.org/", "claim": "`niu.c` received a net-next functional update in January 2026, showing the directory is still seeing real upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240809205525.155903-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "`sunvnet.c` received a net-next update in August 2024, showing the Sun LDoms virtual-network side is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/oracle-vm-server-sparc/ldoms-admin/virtual-network.html", "claim": "Oracle VM Server for SPARC still documents `vnet` and `vsw` style virtual networking, consistent with ongoing niche deployment of the sun4v virtual drivers." }, { "url": "https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/oracle-vm-server-sparc/", "claim": "Oracle VM Server for SPARC 3.6 documentation remains published, indicating the platform/virtualization stack still exists as a niche supported environment rather than a removed relic." }, { "url": "http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/806-3985-10/806-3985-10.pdf", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig points `sungem` at an old Oracle manual for Sun GigabitEthernet/P 2.0, reinforcing that the physical Sun NICs here are legacy-era hardware." }, { "url": "http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19113-01/giga.ether.pci/817-4341-10/817-4341-10.pdf", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig points `cassini` at an old Oracle manual for Sun GigaSwift Ethernet, likewise indicating legacy physical hardware rather than current new-sold adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: sampled lore history shows ongoing upstream work, including direct net-next touches for `niu` (via `lore_file_timeline`) and `sunvnet` (via `lore_file_timeline`), with no removal-thread evidence in the sampled activity. Deployment looks mixed: old SBUS/PCI Sun NICs are legacy/mostly obsolete, but `sunvnet`/`ldmvsw` still map to Oracle SPARC LDoms virtual networking documented on docs.oracle.com (obtained by web search). The Oracle manual URLs for GEM/Cassini were obtained by shell-reading `drivers/net/ethernet/sun/Kconfig`. Result: keep the directory, but annotate it as mostly legacy hardware plus a niche SPARC virtualization path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04240128212313878, "commits_5y": 92, "substantive_commits_5y": 75, "first_touch_ts": 1313055223, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770724336, "top_author": "Sean Anderson", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/sunplus", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Sunplus SP7021 Ethernet Switch / EMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ethernet/sunplus", "claim": "Upstream history shows the driver was added in 2022 and continued receiving fixes and API-maintenance commits through 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://w3.sunplus.com/products/SP7021.asp", "claim": "Vendor product page lists SP7021 as a current Linux/industrial-control SoC and explicitly advertises dual Ethernet MAC controllers with built-in switch fabric." }, { "url": "https://sunplus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/doc/overview", "claim": "Sunplus SP7021 documentation portal was still being updated in 2025, supporting the conclusion that the platform remains vendor-supported and available for new designs." }, { "url": "https://sunplus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/doc/pages/462553090/15.%2BEthernet%2BSwitch", "claim": "Vendor Ethernet-switch documentation describes the SP7021 L2 switch hardware as two 10/100 Ethernet ports plus a SoC/CPU port, matching this driver's use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed`, `rg`) identified OF compatible `sunplus,sp7021-emac` and module text 'Sunplus Dual 10M/100M Ethernet driver'. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/ethernet/sunplus` showed nontrivial activity through 2025-01-15 with many distinct authors; I mapped that to the canonical kernel.org log URL by canonical recall. Web search found the Sunplus SP7021 product page and documentation pages, including an overview page with 2025 updates and the Ethernet Switch chapter. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in the available evidence; this looks like a young SoC driver for still-marketed industrial/IoT hardware, with low but real present-day deployment and no natural upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1652175092, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736906944, "top_author": "Wells Lu", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/synopsys", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare XLGMAC (Enterprise Ethernet MAC IP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240616-md-hexagon-drivers-net-ethernet-synopsys-v1-1-55852b60aef8@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists, but the latest visible touch is a 2024 janitorial fix rather than feature work or substantial bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20190916204158.6889-12-efremov@linux.com/", "claim": "Earlier visible activity is sparse and mostly minor maintenance, consistent with a low-churn niche driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DWC_XLGMAC_PCI.html", "claim": "Upstream config/help text identifies this as XLGMAC PCI support and says it was tested on a Synopsys XLGMAC IP Prototyping Kit; LKDDb shows only PCI ID 16c3:7302." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/dw/ipdir.php?ds=dwc_ether_enterprise_mac", "claim": "Synopsys still markets the XLGMAC Enterprise Ethernet MAC IP for current 1G-100G SoC/ASIC designs, so the underlying IP family was still commercially offered in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/articles/designware-hybrid-ip.html", "claim": "Synopsys describes IP prototyping kits with Linux reference drivers and development flows, supporting the view that Linux usage is mainly in prototyping/integration niches rather than broad end-user deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed this directory is the dwc-xlgmac driver and Kconfig says PCI support was tested on a Synopsys XLGMAC IP Prototyping Kit; dwc-xlgmac-pci.c binds only PCI vendor/device 16c3:7302. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on dwc-xlgmac-pci.c showed very sparse public maintenance, with the latest 2024-06 patch being a MODULE_DESCRIPTION warning fix and earlier hits mostly small cleanup. Web search returned LKDDb plus current Synopsys product/prototyping pages, indicating the IP family is still sold/licensed, but likely deployed mostly in low-volume prototyping or custom SoC environments. That argues against deprecation/removal now, but merits annotation as niche and low-activity.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6510957832258509, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1438152900, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718672738, "top_author": "Jeff Johnson", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/tehuti", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Tehuti TN40xx / TN4010 10GbE Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250505223922.2682012-35-sashal-kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream/stable traffic in 2025, including a patch adding PCI ID support for AQR105-based Tehuti TN4010 cards." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250505223922.2682012-36-sashal-kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver also received a 2025 functional update to create an MDIO software node and attach the AQR105 PHY." }, { "url": "https://www.kuroutoshikou.com/product/detail/gbex-pcie.html", "claim": "A retail product page describes a PCIe 10GbE board built on Tehuti TN4010 plus Aquantia/AQR105, indicating new-product availability around 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/us/smb_network_adapters_pci_card/en-9320tx-e/", "claim": "Edimax still publishes a current product page for a supported 10GbE adapter family named in the kernel Kconfig, supporting continuing niche deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/xg-c100f/helpdesk_knowledge/", "claim": "ASUS still maintains a support page for the XG-C100F, another board explicitly named in the kernel Kconfig for this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg`/`sed` showed this is the tn40xx/Tehuti 10GbE driver and Kconfig names supported boards (Tehuti TN9310, DLink DXE-810S, ASUS XG-C100F, Edimax EN-9320). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ethernet/tehuti/tn40.c`, which showed substantial 2024-2025 patch activity and stable backports, so this is not abandonware. A `lore_regex` removal/deprecation scan timed out and the directory-level timeline returned no hits, so I found no concrete upstream removal series, but that absence is not fully exhaustive. Product/support URLs were obtained by web search; they suggest the hardware family is still sold or at least supported in 2025-2026, but only in niche desktop/server-upgrade markets. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same Tehuti silicon, so removal would strand remaining users; keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/niche rather than strategically important.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2589676849594319, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1313105336, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1742936001, "top_author": "FUJITA Tomonori", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ti", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI Ethernet MAC/switch IPs (DaVinci EMAC, CPSW/AM65 CPSW, ICSS PRUETH, Keystone NETCP, ThunderLAN)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/netdev/2025/06/26/38", "claim": "Public netdev posting in 2025 for am65-cpsw-nuss shows active upstream maintenance in this directory, and links to the corresponding lore thread." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/598f9e77-8212-426b-97ab-427cb8bd4910@ti.com/", "claim": "Lore thread URL referenced from the 2025 netdev posting for a TI am65-cpsw-nuss fix, evidencing current review traffic rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6442", "claim": "TI lists AM6442 as ACTIVE and documents Linux-capable industrial networking features including PRU_ICSSG and Ethernet/TSN support." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6528", "claim": "TI lists AM6528 as ACTIVE and documents Gigabit PRU-ICSS and Ethernet/industrial networking features, showing relevant K3-era hardware remains sold." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/ti/icssg_prueth.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still covers the TI ICSSG PRUETH driver, indicating supported in-tree deployment and feature surface." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/ti/am65_nuss_cpsw_switchdev.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still covers AM65 CPSW NUSS switchdev operation, indicating current supported functionality rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed by Kconfig/Makefile and module targets across multiple TI Ethernet families. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed active supported configs, with only TI_CPSW_PHY_SEL itself marked DEPRECATED, not the directory. Local shell `git log` showed fixes and feature work through 2026-03-27 across icssg-prueth, am65-cpsw-nuss, cpsw_new, netcp and icssm-prueth, so this is not dormant. I used web search/open on lists.openwall.net to obtain a 2025 netdev patch posting and extracted the lore URL from that page; separate lore-oriented web searches returned no evident removal/deprecation series for the directory, so there is no sign of active upstream retirement. I used web search/open on TI product pages for AM6442 and AM6528 to confirm relevant K3 hardware is still ACTIVE and sold, and web search/open on kernel.org/docs.kernel.org driver docs to confirm current upstream documentation. Because the directory mixes live K3 industrial Ethernet IP with older legacy subdrivers, the right outcome is keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019965227797322356, "commits_5y": 323, "substantive_commits_5y": 304, "first_touch_ts": 1313145670, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773286117, "top_author": "Roger Quadros", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ti/icssg", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI PRU_ICSSG Ethernet (AM64x/AM65x Sitara)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/ti/icssg_prueth.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation identifies this as the Texas Instruments ICSSG PRUETH Ethernet driver and documents current features/firmware integration." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM64X/08_01_00_39/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/PRU-ICSS/Linux_Drivers/PRU_ICSSG_Ethernet.html", "claim": "TI SDK documentation lists PRU_ICSSG Ethernet supported platforms as AM64X and AM65X and describes the driver as a maintained Linux netdev/NAPI driver." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6442", "claim": "TI lists AM6442 as ACTIVE and its product page advertises 2x PRU_ICSSG industrial communication subsystems, showing the underlying hardware is still sold." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6548", "claim": "TI lists AM6548 as ACTIVE and describes three PRU_ICSSG subsystems with industrial Ethernet use cases, showing the AM65x family is still sold." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1160337.html", "claim": "A February 26, 2026 netdev patch fixes an ICSSG offload-mode ping failure, indicating active upstream bug-fix traffic rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg912525.html", "claim": "A February 11, 2026 net/stable thread shows an ICSSG optional-HSR dependency patch applied to netdev/net.git, indicating ongoing upstream integration work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6096223.html", "claim": "A March 13, 2026 review on an ICSSG XDP memory-leak fix shows current maintenance activity in the driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` inspection found platform compatibles `ti,am654-icssg-prueth` and `ti,am642-icssg-prueth` in `icssg_prueth.c`. `lei` was unavailable in the sandbox, so upstream-history evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` on public mailing-list mirrors (Spinics) plus kernel/TI docs opened from search results. Evidence shows fresh 2026 bug-fix and stable-backport traffic, no removal/deprecation discussion, and vendor product pages still mark AM64x/AM65x parts ACTIVE. No natural replacement exists for the same on-SoC PRU_ICSSG Ethernet/TSN/offload function, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 113, "substantive_commits_5y": 110, "first_touch_ts": 1690969091, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774613306, "top_author": "MD Danish Anwar", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/ti/icssm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI PRU-ICSSM Ethernet (AM335x/AM437x/AM57x PRUETH)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1117228.html", "claim": "The driver was still under active upstream bring-up in August 2025 as a net-next patch series adding the ICSSM Ethernet driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1146106.html", "claim": "A January 2026 net-next patch series added switchdev/RSTP support, showing ongoing feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM335X", "claim": "TI still published a Processor SDK for AM335x in late 2025, indicating continued supported software presence for AM335x devices." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM437X", "claim": "TI listed AM4376/AM4377/AM4378/AM4379 as supported products on a Processor SDK page updated in November 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM57X", "claim": "TI listed AM57x family parts on a Processor SDK page with an October 31, 2025 release, showing ongoing supported deployment for that family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed a real platform_driver with DT compatibles ti,am57-prueth / ti,am4376-prueth / ti,am3359-prueth, so this is a hardware driver for legacy-industrial Sitara PRU-ICSSM Ethernet blocks. Local git log via shell shows the directory first landed in September 2025 and then gained switchdev/RSTP support in January 2026, which matches the web-searched spinics patch threads above; I also searched for removal/deprecation and found no removal discussion. TI SDK pages were obtained with the web search tool and show those SoC families still had current SDK/support pages in late 2025, so hardware is still sellable/deployable, but this is a narrow industrial embedded niche rather than a broad-volume 2025 design win class. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same ICSSM hardware block; newer TI ICSSG drivers serve different hardware generations, not a drop-in replacement for AM33x/43x/57x ICSSM.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1757880054, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770257520, "top_author": "Roger Quadros", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/toshiba", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Toshiba TC35815 / PS3 Gelic", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251113181000.3914980-1-fuchsfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "ps3_gelic_net still received a real bug-fix patch in November 2025, indicating ongoing upstream attention for legacy users." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251130194155.1950980-1-fuchsfl@gmail.com/", "claim": "ps3_gelic_net also received a small API-modernization patch in November 2025, reinforcing that the driver is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250620143341.2158655-1-kory.maincent@bootlin.com/", "claim": "tc35815.c was touched by a 2025 networking/phylib cleanup, so the MIPS-side driver still participates in current tree maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TC35815.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows TC35815 is a Toshiba PCI 10/100 Ethernet controller, MIPS-only in current Kconfig, consistent with old embedded/board support rather than new mainstream deployments." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3", "claim": "PlayStation 3 hardware production ended in 2017, so the Gelic portion of this directory targets discontinued hardware." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ps3", "claim": "OpenWrt still documents PS3 as 'Stable, unmaintained', which suggests a surviving hobbyist/legacy niche rather than active new deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this directory contains two real drivers: PS3 Gelic (PPC_PS3) and TC35815 (PCI && MIPS). lore_activity provided the 2025 netdev/linuxppc-dev URLs showing real recent maintenance, so removal/deprecate would be too aggressive. lore_file_timeline on tc35815.c showed continued touches through 2025, though mostly low-volume maintenance. Web search returned LKDDb, Wikipedia, and OpenWrt URLs; together they indicate discontinued hardware with only residual legacy/hobbyist use. No natural replacement driver covers the same PS3 or TC35815 hardware, so the best fit is keep-annotate: keep upstream, but mark as legacy/obsolete hardware in dossier terms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10620057463629626, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1313134024, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764636893, "top_author": "Geoff Levand", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/tundra", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Tundra Tsi108 integrated Gigabit Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230918204227.1316886-51-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Recent driver-specific upstream work was only small API maintenance ('Convert to platform remove callback returning void') rather than feature development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250507175338.672442-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "The most recent touches affecting this file are treewide timer API cleanups, indicating passive upkeep rather than active subsystem investment." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tsi108", "claim": "The TSI108 product page marks the host bridge as 'Obsolete'; the Ethernet MAC is integrated into that obsolete chip family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TSI108_ETH.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TSI108_ETH is a platform driver for 'Tundra TSI108 gigabit Ethernet support' tied to platform device 'tsi-ethernet', confirming this driver serves that narrow hardware family." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/tegra/%2B/36f021b579d195cdc5fa6f3e2bab198b4bf70643/arch/powerpc/configs/holly_defconfig", "claim": "A public kernel mirror shows `CONFIG_TSI108_ETH=y` in `holly_defconfig`, suggesting surviving in-tree usage is concentrated in a legacy PowerPC Holly board configuration rather than broad modern deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "MCP `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/ethernet/tundra/tsi108_eth.c` showed sparse activity, dominated by treewide cleanups in 2024-2025 and a small API adjustment in 2023; no sampled removal-thread evidence appeared. Web search found Renesas' canonical TSI108 product page marked obsolete, and LKDDb plus a public `holly_defconfig` mirror show this is a narrow PowerPC platform driver. With obsolete silicon, low likely field presence limited to legacy/industrial PowerPC boards, and no natural drop-in replacement for an integrated MAC, the pragmatic recommendation is deprecate rather than immediate removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7142118879113876, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1313145664, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695197201, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/vertexcom", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Vertexcom MSE102x HomePlug GreenPHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.vertexcom.com/p_homeplug_plc_en.html", "claim": "Vendor product page still listed MSE1021/MSE1022 HomePlug GreenPHY parts with ordering information and EV charging / industrial applications in 2025." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/1/623", "claim": "Networking pull for v6.15-rc5 included Vertexcom mse102x fixes, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/2410.3/08533.html", "claim": "Public review traffic existed in late 2024 for a net patch fixing a double-free in mse102x, showing real bug-fix activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MSE102X.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_MSE102X with supported compatibles vertexcom,mse1021 and vertexcom,mse1022 across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2021/9/14/900", "claim": "Original RFC describes MSE102x as a HomePlug GreenPHY SPI-attached network chip family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and mse102x.c identified a real SPI Ethernet driver for Vertexcom MSE1021/MSE1022; local git log showed first merge on 2021-12-13 and substantive fixes through 2025-05-12. URLs were obtained via web search results: Vertexcom vendor page for current sale status, lkml.org / lkml.indiana.edu pages for lore-visible maintenance traffic, and cateee LKDDb for in-tree support coverage. No removal discussion surfaced in the searched lore-indexed results; combined with recent fixes, that supports keep rather than deprecate. Deployment appears niche but extant, mainly EV charging / industrial HomePlug GreenPHY systems, so use is low rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1639404941, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747100804, "top_author": "Stefan Wahren", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/via", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "VIA Rhine / VIA Velocity Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250124031841.1179756-7-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "via-rhine received a substantive upstream bug fix in January 2025, indicating the code is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIA_RHINE.html", "claim": "The via-rhine driver still exists in current kernels and covers Rhine-I/II/III PCI Ethernet IDs, including legacy integrated southbridge Ethernet variants." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIA_VELOCITY.html", "claim": "The via-velocity driver still exists in current kernels and covers the VT6120/VT6121/VT6122/VT6130 gigabit family." }, { "url": "https://www.techspot.com/drivers/driver/file/information/7851/", "claim": "Public driver-package metadata for VIA Velocity VT6120/VT6122 points to a 2006-era vendor driver release, supporting that this hardware family is long-obsolete in the retail market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via exec_command: Kconfig plus via-rhine.c and via-velocity.c, with chip names in source comments/help text. lore_file_timeline on via-rhine.c showed steady 2021-2025 activity and a 2025 net fix at the cited lore URL; failed lore_regex/lei removal checks produced no usable removal evidence. Web search returned LKDDb pages for both configs and a 2006 VIA Velocity driver-download page; together this supports keep-annotate: upstream still fixes it, but deployments are now legacy/industrial/embedded only and new 2025 sales are unlikely.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3053668573190577, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1313133716, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1738017049, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/libwx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: vendor-internal helper library subtree (`libwx`) under Wangxun Ethernet drivers, not a standalone kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 140, "substantive_commits_5y": 134, "first_touch_ts": 1666952753, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767747847, "top_author": "Jiawen Wu", "top_author_commits": 88, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/ngbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Wangxun WX1860 / NGBE Gigabit Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1116649.html", "claim": "Netdev patch series dated August 21, 2025 includes active ngbe work such as default ITR changes and adaptive RX/TX coalescing, touching ngbe_main.c and ngbe_ethtool.c." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1174895.html", "claim": "Netdev patch series from 2026 shows ongoing Wangxun/ngbe maintenance and cleanup rather than removal, including ngbe WOL and reset-flow changes." }, { "url": "https://www.lrnic.com/products/LRES2025PT.html", "claim": "A current commercial quad-port Gigabit adapter is marketed as WX1860A4-based, indicating the chipset family is still sold in new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.lrnic.com/products-detail/id-278.html", "claim": "A current commercial dual-port Gigabit adapter is marketed as WX1860A2-based, reinforcing continued new-hardware availability for the supported PCI IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) in the kernel tree showed this is a real PCIe NIC driver with Wangxun WX1860A* device IDs and MODULE_DESCRIPTION \"WangXun(R) Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver\". Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive ngbe fixes/features through 2025 and no path-local deprecation/removal history; a grep for remove/deprecate only found ordinary cleanup. Web search located two netdev archive pages (spinics, both linking lore.kernel.org threads) showing active ngbe patch series in 2025 and 2026, so upstream attention is current. Web search also found live product pages for WX1860A2/A4-based NICs, so hardware is still sold new; deployments look niche/regional and embedded/server-oriented rather than broad mainstream. No upstream replacement driver covers the same PCI IDs, so removal/deprecation is not supported by the evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 49, "first_touch_ts": 1661855571, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759194676, "top_author": "Jiawen Wu", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/ngbevf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Wangxun WX1860 / WX1860AL virtual functions", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1105315.html", "claim": "netdev patch series from June 2025 adds the Wangxun VF drivers, including ngbevf, showing fresh upstream introduction rather than legacy abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1113918.html", "claim": "follow-up net-next patch series in July 2025 touches ngbevf through shared Wangxun ethtool/coalescing work, indicating ongoing upstream development and no visible removal push." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NGBEVF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NGBEVF present from Linux 6.17 onward and documents support for WX1860/WX1860AL virtual functions." }, { "url": "https://www.lr-link.com/products/lres2024pt.html", "claim": "commercial adapter page shows WX1860A2-based hardware marketed as a current product, supporting that the underlying PF hardware family was still being sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://core.dpdk.org/supported/nics/wangxun/", "claim": "DPDK lists Wangxun ngbe (WX1860 family) as supported, suggesting continuing ecosystem relevance for deployments using this hardware family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory is a real PCI net driver with recent commits only from 2025 and no age-based obsolescence signal. URLs were obtained via web search: spinics results showed the initial add-vf series and later maintenance traffic; LKDDb confirmed mainline presence starting in 6.17; LR-LINK product page provided 2025-era sale evidence for WX1860-based adapters; DPDK support page suggests ongoing niche use. No removal discussion was found in the retrieved upstream traffic. This is a new SR-IOV VF driver for a still-marketed but niche hardware family, so keep rather than deprecate; deployments are likely low because it is vendor-specific VF infrastructure rather than broad commodity NIC hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1752111553, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758932844, "top_author": "Mengyuan Lou", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/txgbe", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Wangxun TXGBE / WX5xxx 10/25/40GbE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/5a37d228799b", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream fix on 2026-04-09, showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/cdae5bccab29", "claim": "Upstream added SR-IOV support for AML devices in 2025, which is feature growth consistent with active hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TXGBE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows TXGBE is present in current kernels and covers Wangxun 10/25/40GbE PCI IDs including WX5025/WX5040-class devices." }, { "url": "https://doc.dpdk.org/guides/nics/txgbe.html", "claim": "DPDK still documents a TXGBE PMD for Wangxun 10/25/40GbE NICs, indicating an active userspace/networking ecosystem around this hardware." }, { "url": "https://loong123.cn/en/hardwares/netswift.html", "claim": "A current hardware/support page lists Wangxun/NetSwift adapter products such as SP1000A, WX1820AL, and WX5025-series and says mainline Linux 6.1+ supports them." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI Ethernet driver: Kconfig and local source scan via shell `rg` show `CONFIG_TXGBE`, PCI IDs, and `module_pci_driver()`. Upstream activity was checked with local shell `git log` because `lei`/lore tooling was unavailable here; recent 2025-2026 commits are feature work and fixes, and a local `git log --grep='remove|deprecat|obsolete|cleanup'` scan found no driver-removal/deprecation series. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirms current kernel presence and device IDs; DPDK and NetSwift hardware pages indicate the family is still relevant, but as a niche server NIC vendor this looks low-volume rather than broad mainstream deployment. No natural replacement driver exists because this is vendor-specific hardware support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 115, "substantive_commits_5y": 113, "first_touch_ts": 1656561426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775700697, "top_author": "Jiawen Wu", "top_author_commits": 87, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wangxun/txgbevf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Wangxun SP1000A / WX1820AL / WX5xxx SR-IOV virtual functions", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/wangxun/txgbevf.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes txgbevf as the Linux VF driver for Wangxun 10/25/40 Gigabit Ethernet devices and points users to the current vendor site/support contact." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TXGBEVF.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_TXGBEVF present in current kernel series and lists PCI IDs for SP1000A, WX1820AL, WX5025/WX5025AL, and WX5040/WX5040AL virtual functions." }, { "url": "https://www.net-swift.com/p/contact", "claim": "The vendor's current product navigation still lists SP1000A, WX1820AL, and newer Wangxun Ethernet controller families, indicating the product line remains commercially active." }, { "url": "https://www.net-swift.com/a/25GbE-tong-yong-lei-WX5025.html", "claim": "Vendor product page published on 2024-12-03 markets WX5025 as a current 25GbE controller with SR-IOV support up to 128 VFs, matching this driver's virtualization use case." }, { "url": "https://www.net-swift.com/uploads/20251124/SP1000A%20datasheet%20Rev1.10.pdf", "claim": "A vendor-hosted SP1000A datasheet revision published in late 2025 shows ongoing documentation maintenance for the supported 10GbE family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is a real PCI netdriver with module entry points and VF PCI IDs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed 9 substantive 2025 commits, including initial bring-up and later feature work (ethtool, adaptive coalescing, TX head write-back, RX desc merge), so upstream attention is active and not removal-oriented. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; local Kconfig/docs were read with shell `sed`. Deployment is rated low because this is a vendor-specific SR-IOV VF driver for Wangxun NICs, not a broad commodity guest NIC, but the hardware family is still being sold/documented in 2025 so deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1752111553, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761644657, "top_author": "Mengyuan Lou", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/wiznet", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "WIZnet W5100/W5200/W5500/W5300 embedded Ethernet controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250918142427.309519-4-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver directory was still being touched upstream in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://docs.wiznet.io/Product/Chip/Ethernet", "claim": "WIZnet still listed W5500, W5300, and W5100 in its Ethernet product family page in 2026; the page also notes W5200 is not recommended for new design." }, { "url": "https://docs.wiznet.io/Product/Chip/Ethernet/W5500", "claim": "W5500 remained a current WIZnet product, supporting the claim that part of this driver family is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.wiznet.io/Product/Chip/Ethernet/W5300", "claim": "W5300 remained documented as a current WIZnet product, supporting continuing niche industrial/embedded availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed this directory is a real driver and that `w5100-spi.c` supports W5100/W5200/W5500 while `w5300.c` covers W5300. lore_activity on `drivers/net/ethernet/wiznet/w5100.c` returned 2025 upstream touches (URL above), but they were mostly treewide maintenance rather than feature work, so activity is present but modest. Web search on official WIZnet docs found current product pages for W5500 and W5300 plus the Ethernet family matrix; that supports keeping the driver because at least part of the family is still sold, while annotating makes sense because deployments are niche Linux embedded/industrial and W5200 is explicitly not recommended for new designs. No natural upstream replacement driver was identified for the same chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18581261415069272, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1333604582, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758588030, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/xilinx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Xilinx/AMD soft Ethernet MAC IP cores (AXI Ethernet, Ethernet Lite, LL TEMAC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1172611.html", "claim": "AXI Ethernet is still receiving netdev fixes in 2026, and a March 31, 2026 series was applied to netdev/net." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1107505.html", "claim": "EmacLite received a bug fix in July 2025 which patchwork-bot reports as applied to netdev/net." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg1107501.html", "claim": "LL TEMAC received a fix in July 2025 which patchwork-bot reports as applied to netdev/net-next." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/axi_ethernet.html", "claim": "AMD still markets the AXI 1G/2.5G Ethernet Subsystem for current FPGA/SoC families including Versal and Zynq UltraScale+." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/ko/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/intellectual-property/temac.html", "claim": "AMD still markets the Tri-Mode Ethernet MAC IP core for current and recent FPGA/SoC families, indicating ongoing availability." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/XILINX_EMACLITE.html", "claim": "EmacLite remains present in current kernel configuration data through 7.0 and supports multiple Xilinx Ethernet Lite compatibles." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/XILINX_AXI_EMAC.html", "claim": "AXI Ethernet remains present in current kernel configuration data through 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/XILINX_LL_TEMAC.html", "claim": "LL TEMAC remains present in current kernel configuration data through 6.19-rc+HEAD." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this directory contains three real platform drivers (`xilinx_emaclite`, `xilinx_axienet`, `ll_temac`) with active entry points, not helper-only code. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantial 2024-2026 maintenance, including March 2026 axienet fixes plus 2025 ll_temac and emaclite fixes. `lei` was unavailable in shell, so upstream-activity URLs were obtained with `web.search_query` on public mailing-list mirrors (spinics); those show applied patch traffic and no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the available search results. AMD product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; LKDDb URLs were obtained via direct `web.open`. Because the hardware is still sold as AMD FPGA IP and the drivers are actively maintained, there is no supportable case for deprecation or removal. Deployment is not mass-market NIC scale, but remains meaningful in embedded/industrial/networking FPGA designs, so `medium` fits best.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.013505591302367595, "commits_5y": 146, "substantive_commits_5y": 131, "first_touch_ts": 1313145690, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774951752, "top_author": "Sean Anderson", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/xircom", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Xircom CreditCard/RealPort 16-bit PCMCIA Ethernet", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421-v7-0-0-net-next-driver-removal-v1-v1-14-69517c689d1f@lunn.ch/", "claim": "Andrew Lunn posted an explicit 2026 netdev patch to remove the xirc2ps driver, indicating active upstream removal work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250907195617.017280153@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still received a small stable bug fix in September 2025, so it was not entirely untouched before the removal push." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/products/77594/ethernet-products/legacy-ethernet-products/xircom-networking-modem-adapters.html", "claim": "Intel categorizes Xircom networking/modem adapters as legacy products and shows no current driver/software downloads." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCMCIA_XIRC2PS.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for Xircom 16-bit PCMCIA Ethernet/Fast Ethernet cards and compatible rebadges." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file read via exec_command shows a single legacy PCMCIA NIC driver for Xircom CreditCard/RealPort-era cards. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/ethernet/xircom/xirc2ps_cs.c returned a current 2026 removal patch on lore plus a 2025 stable-only fix, which fits 'obsolete but minimally maintained' rather than active feature use. Intel support page was obtained by web search/open and labels the product line as Legacy with no downloads; LKDDb from web search/open shows the hardware scope is 16-bit PCMCIA only. That combination points to niche retro/industrial leftovers, no meaningful new-sales story in 2025, and no modern in-tree replacement beyond removing support for dead hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22856299968410837, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1313218063, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756519511, "top_author": "Alok Tiwari", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ethernet/xscale", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel IXP4xx / IXP46x XScale network processors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250508211043.3388702-1-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Upstream saw a real functional touch in 2025 for ixp4xx_eth, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ixp4xx", "claim": "OpenWrt still carries an ixp4xx target, but only for a small set of old boards and notes the older target was dropped after 18.06, which points to niche legacy deployment rather than broad current use." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IXP4XX_ETH.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IXP4XX_ETH remains present in current kernel series and maps to this directory's ixp4xx_eth and ptp_ixp46x drivers." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale", "claim": "XScale/IXP is a historical Intel network-processor family used in older embedded and industrial devices, supporting the view that the hardware is legacy-era rather than new 2025 design-in silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable: lore evidence shows non-treewide upstream work continued recently (URL 1 obtained via lore_activity on drivers/net/ethernet/xscale/ixp4xx_eth.c scoped to linux-arm-kernel). Deployment looks niche-but-real, mainly old routers/NAS/industrial boards (URL 2 obtained via web search). The driver is still upstream and selectable in current kernels (URL 3 obtained via web search). Hardware family is historically old XScale/IXP silicon with no evidence of new 2025 sales; that part is an inference from the legacy positioning in URLs 2 and 4, both obtained via web search. Best fit is keep-annotate: obsolete hardware, low deployment, but still seeing real fixes and no clear removal thread.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04615220978077502, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1313105368, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771632624, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/fddi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Legacy FDDI NICs (DEC PDQ/DEFxx, DEC DEFZA, SysKonnect SK-NET)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260420132314.1023554-15-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "`drivers/net/fddi/defxx.c` still received a device-specific fix in 2026 ('FDDI: defxx: Rate-limit memory allocation errors'), indicating some upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240214152741.670178-5-leitao@debian.org/", "claim": "`drivers/net/fddi/skfp/skfddi.c` was touched in 2024 by a small maintenance patch, consistent with low-level tree upkeep rather than feature work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DEFXX.html", "claim": "`defxx` supports Digital DEFTA/DEFEA/DEFPA FDDI adapters on TC/EISA/PCI, i.e. legacy bus hardware from older workstation/server eras." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DEFZA.html", "claim": "`defza` targets DEC FDDIcontroller 700/700-C on TURBOchannel, another clearly legacy platform niche." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SKFP.html", "claim": "`skfp` supports SysKonnect SK-55xx/SK-58xx FDDI PCI adapters; LKDDb shows the directory is for old FDDI PCI cards rather than any modern virtual or common commodity NIC." }, { "url": "https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/FDDI", "claim": "FDDI as a networking technology has been largely superseded by newer networking technologies, supporting the conclusion that new deployments are now rare." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed three real drivers in this directory (`defxx`, `defza`, `skfp`) for DEC/SysKonnect FDDI adapters. `lore_file_timeline` showed ongoing but sparse maintenance, including a 2026 device-specific `defxx` fix and small 2024 `skfp` maintenance, so removal is too aggressive. LKDDb pages were found via web search and confirm the hardware targets are legacy DEC TC/EISA/PCI and SysKonnect FDDI cards. TechTarget was found via web search and used only for the broad obsolescence of FDDI. Recommendation is to keep the code but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware with low present-day deployment and no natural in-tree replacement for the same devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5354672393292231, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1314431893, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712573816, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/fddi/skfp", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SysKonnect SK-NET FDDI PCI (SK-55xx/SK-58xx)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SKFP.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_SKFP` is still present in current kernels and binds PCI vendor 1148/device 4000 for SysKonnect FDDI adapters." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/5.19/networking/device_drivers/fddi/skfp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies `skfp` as the driver for legacy SysKonnect/Compaq FDDI PCI adapter models in the SK-55xx/SK-58xx family." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_Distributed_Data_Interface", "claim": "FDDI was effectively superseded by Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet and installations have largely been replaced." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `rg` in the kernel tree identified this as the SysKonnect FDDI PCI driver, and local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/fddi/skfp` showed 2021-2024 touches were almost entirely treewide API/comment/module-description churn rather than feature work. `lei` and lore MCP were unavailable in this environment, and web search did not surface any active lore removal thread; I therefore found no evidence of an ongoing upstream removal series. The LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and shows the driver is still wired into current kernels; the docs.kernel URL was obtained by web search and confirms the exact adapter family; the Wikipedia URL was obtained by web search and supports the conclusion that FDDI is a legacy networking technology with only residual deployments. That combination supports deprecate rather than remove: upstream still carries it, but new-hardware relevance is effectively gone.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.41832546952413535, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1314431893, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1708013026, "top_author": "Jilin Yuan", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/fjes", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Fujitsu Extended Socket (PRIMEQUEST Extended Partition inter-partition NIC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/12857407.O9o76ZdvQC@rafael.j.wysocki/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-18 the driver still receives upstream changes; the patch 'net: fjes: Drop fjes_acpi_driver and rework initialization' updates initialization rather than proposing driver removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FUJITSU_ES.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_FUJITSU_ES as the FUJITSU Extended Socket Network Device driver for Extended Partitioning of FUJITSU PRIMEQUEST 2000 E2 series, with module fjes still present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.fujitsu.com/jp/products/computing/servers/primequest/products/2000/lineup-2000-2.html", "claim": "Fujitsu's PRIMEQUEST 2000 series 2015-model lineup page says sales ended on 2017-06-30; this page includes E2 models such as 2400E2 and 2800E2." }, { "url": "https://www.fujitsu.com/jp/products/computing/servers/primequest/products/2000/", "claim": "Fujitsu's PRIMEQUEST 2000 series 2016-model lineup page says sales ended on 2019-03-31, supporting that the platform family was no longer widely sold well before 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.fujitsu.com/jp/documents/products/computing/servers/primequest/CA92344-0527-20.pdf", "claim": "A Fujitsu manual published in late 2024 still documents loading/unloading the Extended Socket driver and states the device appears as an 'es0' interface on PRIMEQUEST 2400E3/2400E2 and 2800E3/2800E2, indicating lingering deployed systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel-tree inspection via shell showed a real platform net driver under CONFIG_FUJITSU_ES for ACPI-discovered 'Extended Socket'. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity MCP calls showed fresh 2026 maintenance and no removal series, so this is not a dead driver. Web search found LKDDb confirming the hardware scope (PRIMEQUEST 2000 E2 Extended Partitioning) and Fujitsu product pages showing E2/E3 PRIMEQUEST 2000 sales ended by 2019, plus a 2024 Fujitsu manual still documenting operational use. That points to legacy but extant deployments: niche mission-critical installed base, not new sales, and no natural generic replacement for the same partition-to-partition transport.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09749759001964424, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1440450393, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766401892, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/hamradio", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "AX.25 amateur-radio interfaces and TNC/modem adapters (KISS, 6PACK, Baycom, Z8530 SCC, YAM, BPQ)", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260421021824.1293976-1-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "Active upstream removal exists: \"net: remove ax25 and amateur radio (hamradio) subsystem\" posted on 2026-04-21 touches hamradio files including mkiss." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250307160358.3153859-1-edumazet@google.com/", "claim": "The directory was still receiving upstream maintenance in 2025 (example: hamradio helper conversion patch)." }, { "url": "https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-1270x", "claim": "A KISS-mode TNC product was still offered for sale recently, showing at least part of the hamradio hardware family remains available new." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/hamradio/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes MKISS as supported by most modern TNCs, and also marks BAYCOM_SER_HDX as deprecated, indicating a mixed subtree with one still-relevant niche and several clearly legacy drivers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a real driver subtree with module entry points. Evidence came from local shell inspection of drivers/net/hamradio/Kconfig and file list, lore_regex over patch subjects for recent hamradio touches, lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/hamradio/mkiss.c, and web search to an active MFJ KISS TNC product page; the git.kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall for the same file inspected locally. Conclusion: deployments are niche and low, most non-MKISS devices are legacy ISA/parport/serial hardware, but there is now an explicit 2026 upstream removal series for the whole AX.25/hamradio stack, so this escalates from deprecate to remove despite some remaining KISS/TNC availability.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04888830340072112, "commits_5y": 65, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081923, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/hyperv", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Hyper-V / Azure synthetic network (NetVSC, hv_netvsc)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hyperv/20260325045006.18607-1-litian@redhat.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2026 for this driver area ('netvsc: transfer lower device max tso size during VF transition')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260204143910.466919545@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver also received stable backports in 2026 ('net: hv_netvsc: reject RSS hash key programming without RX indirection table'), indicating active supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-how-it-works", "claim": "Microsoft documents that every Azure VM NIC gets a synthetic VMbus interface using the Linux netvsc driver, with optional SR-IOV VF pairing for Accelerated Networking." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/linux/troubleshoot-lis-driver-issues-on-linux-vms", "claim": "Microsoft's 2026 Azure troubleshooting guidance states Linux VMs on Azure depend on Hyper-V drivers including hv_netvsc for boot and networking, showing ongoing real-world deployment." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-overview", "claim": "Azure still supports Accelerated Networking broadly on current Linux distributions and advises current custom kernels to include the needed drivers, showing the Hyper-V/Azure guest networking stack remains current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and `rg` in this directory) identifies this as the Microsoft Hyper-V virtual network driver (`HYPERV_NET`, module description 'Microsoft Hyper-V network driver') implementing NetVSC/hv_netvsc over VMBus. `lore_activity` MCP on `drivers/net/hyperv/netvsc_drv.c` produced the cited 2026 lore URLs showing fresh upstream and stable activity; sampled lore evidence points to maintenance, not retirement. Web search on Microsoft Learn produced the three cited Azure/Hyper-V pages showing this driver is still required for new Azure/Hyper-V Linux guest deployments. Because this is a current virtual guest NIC stack for Azure/Hyper-V rather than obsolete discrete hardware, there is no natural replacement driver inside Linux; recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05818148245825475, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 65, "first_touch_ts": 1322550756, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768360051, "top_author": "Michael Kelley", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ieee802154", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN transceivers (AT86RF230-class, ATUSB, CC2520, ADF7242, MRF24J40, MCR20A, CA8210)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ieee802154/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory is an active IEEE 802.15.4 driver submenu containing multiple real hardware drivers plus test/simulation drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MRF24J40", "claim": "Microchip lists MRF24J40 as 'In Production', showing at least part of the supported hardware family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MRF24J40MD", "claim": "Microchip lists the MRF24J40MD module as 'In Production', indicating current module-level availability for this subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MCR20A", "claim": "NXP marks MCR20A 'End of Life' and recommends newer parts for new designs, showing some chips in the directory are legacy even though the subsystem is not wholly obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: prompt metadata already shows 76 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 30 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2025-03-06, which is active-maintenance signal. `lore_file_timeline` was queried on the directory path and returned no matches, consistent with that tool keying on exact file paths rather than directories, and I found no direct removal evidence. Shell inspection of Kconfig (`exec_command`) confirmed this directory mixes several real SPI/USB radio drivers with fakelb/hwsim test drivers. Web search (`web.search_query`) found Microchip MRF24J40/MRF24J40MD still in production, while NXP MCR20A is EOL, so the right stance is to keep the directory but annotate that parts of the hardware set are legacy and niche. No single upstream replacement driver covers the whole use case; newer silicon tends to use different chips or integrated SoCs rather than one drop-in replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17407126668579107, "commits_5y": 82, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1346347436, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741294518, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ipa", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm IP Accelerator (IPA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260410-ipa-v5-2-v2-2-778422a05060@fairphone.com/", "claim": "Upstream IPA development remained active in 2026, including new IPA v5.2 configuration support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260416-eliza-ipa-v1-4-f4109a8e43c4@pm.me/", "claim": "Upstream IPA development also added Eliza platform configuration in 2026, indicating enablement for newer Qualcomm hardware rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOM_IPA.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_QCOM_IPA across current kernel series and shows supported compatibles including recent Qualcomm SoCs such as sm8550 and modem parts like sdx65." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/snapdragon-x-series-continues-to-redefine-the-pc-category-with-a", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching Snapdragon X-series products and OEM designs in 2025, supporting the conclusion that Qualcomm SoC families using this class of networking/modem plumbing remained in new products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ipa/ipa_main.c` showed sustained traffic through 2026, including fixes and new platform support, so this is an actively maintained driver. A `lore_regex` search for remove/deprecate terms did not surface IPA-specific removal discussion; a `lore_path_mentions` attempt timed out, so absence of removal talk is moderate-confidence rather than absolute. `exec_command` on local tree confirmed the driver is the Qualcomm IP Accelerator used in many Qualcomm SoCs. Web search found LKDDb coverage and a Qualcomm 2025 Snapdragon X product announcement; combined with 2026 upstream enablement, that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025 = true`. No natural replacement driver exists because IPA is a hardware-specific Qualcomm block, so recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06614867942493576, "commits_5y": 399, "substantive_commits_5y": 394, "first_touch_ts": 1583730429, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761789356, "top_author": "Alex Elder", "top_author_commits": 360, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ipa/data", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm IP Accelerator (IPA) v3.1-v5.5", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/ipa/data", "claim": "The directory is actively maintained, with substantive changes through 2025 including v4.7 fixes and earlier addition of IPA v5.5 data." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ipa/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream describes QCOM_IPA as support for the Qualcomm IP Accelerator hardware block present in some Qualcomm SoCs, handling IP packet routing/filtering/NAT between AP and modem." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/sm8650.dtsi", "claim": "Current upstream DTs still describe IPA on newer Qualcomm SoCs; sm8650 has a qcom,sm8650-ipa compatible entry." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/sm8750.dtsi", "claim": "Even newer Qualcomm DT support still carries IPA-related nodes, indicating ongoing relevance in recent platform enablement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/cellular/qualcomm/rmnet.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says rmnet is used by all recent Qualcomm modem chipsets and can use IP Accelerator as a physical transport, showing the IPA path is not a legacy-only niche." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching flagship Snapdragon mobile platforms in late 2024 for devices shipping immediately after, supporting ongoing new-hardware relevance in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/01/snapdragon-x-series-continues-to-redefine-the-pc-category-with-a", "claim": "Qualcomm announced additional Snapdragon X series products in January 2025, showing continued new-market deployments of recent Qualcomm SoCs in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this subdirectory holds per-IPA-version hardware configuration tables used by the real QCOM_IPA driver, not unrelated test/docs code. Activity evidence came from local `git log` and `rg`/`sed` against the tree; I cite matching canonical kernel.org log/tree URLs by canonical recall. Deployment evidence came from `web.search` hits on docs.kernel.org and Qualcomm product announcements. I also ran lore-targeted web searches for removal/deprecation discussion and found no convincing removal series; combined with 2025 fixes, that supports `keep` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1658376341, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747176170, "top_author": "Alex Elder", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ipa/reg", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: register-layout/support code under the IPA subsystem, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1664329369, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775720851, "top_author": "Alex Elder", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ipvlan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "IPvlan virtual network interface", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260204143913.604914310@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "IPvlan received a real bug-fix backport in 2026 ('ipvlan: Make the addrs_lock be per port'), showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/ipvlan.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes IPvlan as a virtual networking driver/mode for containers and namespace-style deployments, indicating an active software use case rather than tied physical hardware." }, { "url": "https://docs.docker.com/engine/network/drivers/ipvlan/", "claim": "Docker documents IPvlan as a current network driver option, evidence of ongoing modern deployments in container environments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/ipvlan` is a real in-kernel virtual netdevice driver, not hardware-specific silicon support; local source inspection via `exec_command` showed 'Makefile for the Ethernet Ipvlan driver' and net_device-based code. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/ipvlan/ipvlan_main.c`, which showed heavy 2021-2026 traffic and a 2026 stable backport URL cited above. Deployment evidence uses canonical recall URLs for current kernel docs and Docker docs. Because this is actively maintained virtual networking code with present-day container use, deprecation/removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.010741435779588781, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 50, "first_touch_ts": 1416860958, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775738212, "top_author": "Eric Dumazet", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/mctp", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "DMTF MCTP transport bindings (I2C/SMBus, I3C, USB, serial)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6088646.html", "claim": "Patchwork bot mail shows an mctp-i2c fix was applied to netdev/net.git on 2026-03-10, indicating current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5897339.html", "claim": "Net patch thread for mctp-usb in late 2025 shows active bug-fix traffic rather than removal/deprecation discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg852631.html", "claim": "6.15-stable review carried an MCTP USB fix in 2025, showing the code is relevant enough for stable backports." }, { "url": "https://www.dmtf.org/content/dmtf-releases-mctp-host-interface-20-specification", "claim": "DMTF released MCTP Host Interface 2.0 in 2025 and explicitly lists I2C/SMBus, I3C, USB, and PCIe-class transports, showing the standard remains current." }, { "url": "https://gerrit.openbmc.org/plugins/gitiles/openbmc/docs/%2B/5357b00be20d3b2cb686bdfb45dd91c2e1cf47fc/designs/mctp/mctp-kernel.md", "claim": "OpenBMC documents in-kernel MCTP as part of current platform-management architecture, indicating ongoing deployment in new BMC/server designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) showed this is a real driver directory with transport drivers for I2C, I3C, USB, and serial. Local `git log` showed substantive fixes through 2026-03-10 and no deprecation/removal-oriented history. URLs were obtained via web search: the three spinics pages provide lore-style maintenance evidence, while the DMTF and OpenBMC pages provide ecosystem/deployment evidence. Because upstream activity is current and the hardware/protocol niche is still present in modern server/BMC designs, removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1627567610, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773137455, "top_author": "Matt Johnston", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/mdio", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MDIO bus controllers and MDIO muxes", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260408131821.1145334-3-charles.perry@microchip.com/", "claim": "Netdev patch series in April 2026 adds a new PIC64-HPSC/HX MDIO controller driver under drivers/net/mdio, showing ongoing upstream enablement for new hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260115164240.833255406@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A January 2026 stable backport fixes drivers/net/mdio/mdio-aspeed.c, showing the directory is still receiving maintained bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microprocessors/64-bit-mpus/pic64-hpsc", "claim": "Microchip markets the PIC64-HPSC family as a current product line with Linux support and evaluation hardware, indicating new deployments rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "ASPEED still lists the AST2600 server-management SoC as a current product, supporting continued relevance of MDIO controller drivers for shipping BMC/server platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper-only subtree: it contains many module_platform_driver/module_pci_driver MDIO controller and mux drivers. Lore evidence was obtained via mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/mdio/mdio-pic64hpsc.c and drivers/net/mdio/mdio-aspeed.c; these show a brand-new 2026 driver addition plus 2026 stable fixes, with no sign here of abandonment. Product-status evidence was obtained via web search on Microchip and ASPEED vendor pages. Because the subtree is actively extended for new silicon and still used in current embedded/BMC/networking SoCs, there is no natural replacement beyond keeping the per-controller drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008505904092067954, "commits_5y": 167, "substantive_commits_5y": 167, "first_touch_ts": 1598536550, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775698928, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/netdevsim", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: netdevsim is a simulated network-device/test infrastructure driver used for kernel and networking stack development, not a hardware-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019161226800785535, "commits_5y": 171, "substantive_commits_5y": 159, "first_touch_ts": 1512257277, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773879214, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ovpn", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the OpenVPN tunnel virtual netdevice implementation, not hardware-bound driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1744885802, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771657448, "top_author": "Antonio Quartulli", "top_author_commits": 32, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/pcs", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Ethernet PCS blocks for Synopsys DesignWare XPCS, NXP Layerscape/QorIQ Lynx PCS, MediaTek LynxI, and Renesas RZ/N1/RZ/N2H/RZ/T2H integrated MAC/SerDes hardware", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/pcs/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies current supported hardware blocks: Synopsys DesignWare XPCS, NXP/QorIQ Layerscape Lynx PCS, MediaTek LynxI PCS, and Renesas RZ/N1/RZ/N2H/RZ/T2H MII-converter PCS." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260122105654.105600-16-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives recent feature work in 2026; this patch adds generic polarity inversion support to pcs-xpcs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260122105654.105600-8-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives architecture/extensibility work in 2026; this patch introduces xpcs_create_pcs_fwnode()." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-based-processors-and-mcus/qoriq-layerscape-arm-processors/qoriq-layerscape-1021a-dual-core-communications-processor-with-lcd-controller%3ALS1021A", "claim": "NXP still markets active Layerscape networking processors with Ethernet SerDes/SGMII capabilities that map to Lynx/XPCS-style PCS support." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-n2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/N2H as Active and highlights industrial Ethernet and Linux-capable networking, matching current use of the Renesas PCS driver." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzt2h-advanced-high-end-mpu-integrated-powerful-application-processing-and-high-precision-real-time?type=feat", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/T2H as Active with industrial Ethernet and Linux support, indicating ongoing new-hardware relevance for this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/pcs` is a real driver directory, not a helper-only subtree: local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed loadable PCS drivers for Synopsys, NXP, MediaTek, and Renesas. Active upstream status is grounded in `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/pcs/pcs-xpcs.c`, which returned multiple 2025-2026 feature patches (lore URLs above) and no sign of removal. Deployment evidence came from one web search call that returned active NXP Layerscape and Renesas RZ/N2H/RZ/T2H product pages, showing these SoC-integrated Ethernet blocks are still sold for embedded/industrial networking in 2025+. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall used to anchor chipset identification. Because the hardware is current, subsystem traffic is strong, and there is no natural generic replacement for these integrated PCS blocks, removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04409913903452801, "commits_5y": 174, "substantive_commits_5y": 171, "first_touch_ts": 1598536550, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769054463, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 73, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Ethernet PHY transceivers and PHYLIB core (multi-vendor IEEE 802.3 copper/SPE PHYs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/phy.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this as the PHY Abstraction Layer used for Ethernet PHY management, indicating a core subsystem rather than a legacy one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260129171205.3868605-3-sean.anderson@linux.dev/", "claim": "Recent netdev patch traffic for `drivers/net/phy/dp83867.c` in 2026 shows ongoing upstream feature/behavior work on mainstream TI Gigabit PHY support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260330134222.67597-3-parthiban.veerasooran@microchip.com/", "claim": "Recent netdev patch traffic for `drivers/net/phy/microchip_t1s.c` in 2026 adds suspend/WOL support for LAN867x Rev.D0, showing active enablement for current Single Pair Ethernet PHY products." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260109112122.380390296@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2026 stable backport for `drivers/net/phy/adin1100.c` shows bug-fix traffic reaching maintained stable trees, consistent with real deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/DP83867IR", "claim": "TI still lists the DP83867IR Ethernet PHY as a current product, supporting that hardware covered by this directory remains sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN8670", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN8670 as 'In Production', showing current-market Ethernet PHY silicon covered by this subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection of `drivers/net/phy/Makefile` and `Kconfig` showed a large active multi-vendor PHYLIB subsystem with many enabled PHY drivers, not a single obsolete chipset. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_activity` on representative files (`dp83867.c`, `microchip_t1s.c`, `adin1100.c`), which returned 2025-2026 netdev/stable traffic and stable backports. Deployment/sales evidence was obtained by web search, which returned the kernel PHY docs plus current TI and Microchip product pages. A follow-up lore-focused web search did not surface removal/deprecation threads; given the heavy recent maintenance and current products, this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006437330619334151, "commits_5y": 1342, "substantive_commits_5y": 1328, "first_touch_ts": 1122766283, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775610831, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 209, "c_file_count": 79, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy/aquantia", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/Aquantia AQR multi-gig Ethernet PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a6c121a2432e", "claim": "The driver received a substantive fix in late 2025: \"net: phy: aquantia: check for NVMEM deferral\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=fb4b9f13718c", "claim": "The driver gained support for new hardware in 2025: \"net: phy: aquantia: add support for AQR115\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=74e4264efe47", "claim": "The driver added firmware-loading probe support in 2025, indicating ongoing feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/transceivers/marvell-phys-transceivers-aqrate-gen4-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's AQRate Gen4 product brief lists currently marketed AQR113/AQR114/AQR115/AQR813 family parts, showing the family remained an active product line into the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/transceivers/marvell-phys-transceivers-alaska-c-88x9121p-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's Ethernet PHY portfolio page/product brief says its PHYs are used across enterprise, carrier, SMB, industrial and cloud infrastructure applications, supporting ongoing deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PHY driver: local `rg` on the directory found `module_phy_driver` and many supported IDs (AQ1202, AQR105/106/107/111/112/113/114C/115/813, etc.). Lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` was blocked because `lei` is not installed, and no `lore-http` MCP server was available; I fell back to local git history with `git -c safe.directory=... log`, which showed active 2025 maintenance and new-device enablement, with no local git grep hits suggesting deprecation/removal discussion. Marvell URLs were obtained by web search. Given active upstream work, recently added SKU support, and vendor evidence that these PHYs are still marketed/deployed, this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1700172629, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764387642, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy/mediatek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek/Airoha Ethernet PHYs: MT7530/MT7531, MT7981/MT7988, AN7581/AN7583", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260102113222.3519900-1-olek2@wp.pl", "claim": "Upstream activity continued into January 2026 with AN7581 interrupt-enable support, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250522165313.6411-4-ansuelsmth@gmail.com", "claim": "The driver gained new hardware support for Airoha AN7583 in May 2025, showing expansion to new deployments." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250516102327.2014531-3-SkyLake.Huang@mediatek.com", "claim": "The directory added support for the built-in MT7988 2.5GbE PHY in May 2025, consistent with current-generation SoC enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-880", "claim": "MediaTek markets the Filogic 880 platform for current routers/gateways/APs and lists one 2.5GbE PHY plus four 1GbE ports, matching this driver's MT7988-class integrated PHY use case." }, { "url": "https://www.airoha.com/products/p/NpfqGLnZiZuYUZ6N", "claim": "Airoha markets the AN7581 series as a current 10G-PON SoC for ONU/CPE deployments, indicating supported hardware is still sold into broadband equipment." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots//targets/airoha/", "claim": "OpenWrt still publishes current snapshots for the airoha target with an an7581 subtarget, showing ongoing downstream deployment and validation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile and source files define MDIO PHY drivers for MT7530/31, MT7981/88, and AN7581/83. Upstream evidence came from local shell inspection (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/phy/mediatek`) which showed steady 2024-2026 feature/fix traffic and recent patch.msgid links; a local shell grep for removal/deprecation terms found no actual removal series, only active maintenance. Deployment/new-sales evidence came from web search results on mediatek.com, airoha.com, and OpenWrt snapshot pages. Because the hardware family is current in router/PON CPE designs and there is no successor driver replacing this directory's scope, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1731503164, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767658613, "top_author": "Sky Huang", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy/mscc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microsemi/Microchip VSC85xx Ethernet PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260412140032.122841-4-biju.das.jz@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work continues in 2026 on this driver family (`net: phy: mscc: Drop unnecessary phydev->lock`), indicating active maintenance rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260115164248.236196375@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A 2026 stable backport fixes PTP for VSC8574/VSC8572, showing ongoing bug-fix demand in supported kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/VSC8541", "claim": "Microchip lists VSC8541 as `Status: In Production`, so at least part of the supported VSC85xx family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/VSC8584", "claim": "Microchip lists VSC8584 as `Status: In Production`, showing continued availability of higher-port-count devices in the same family." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/ev35m06a", "claim": "Microchip still offers the EVB-VSC8541-EDS evaluation board, supporting ongoing enablement and new-design use in embedded networking." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/media-center/blog/2025/space-electronics-qml-class-p-escc-9000p-ethernet-transceivers", "claim": "Microchip announced VSC8541RT and VSC8574RT variants in 2025 for space/high-reliability markets, reinforcing that this PHY family remains commercially relevant in niche new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection (`rg` on drivers/net/phy/mscc) identified this as the Microsemi/Microchip VSC85xx PHY driver family. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/phy/mscc/mscc_main.c` showed active 2026 net-next and stable traffic; cited lore URLs came directly from that MCP output. Web search on microchip.com found current product pages and evaluation-board/blog pages showing `In Production` status and 2025-era launch activity. A `lei` removal-discussion query was attempted but blocked by sandboxed daemon startup; no removal evidence appeared in the lore activity sample, so deprecation/removal is not supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06289036376558443, "commits_5y": 50, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1584245205, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768514947, "top_author": "Horatiu Vultur", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy/qcom", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros Ethernet PHYs (AR803x/QCA83xx/QCA807x/QCA808x, plus IPQ5018 internal GE PHY)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-February/1000372.html", "claim": "A 2025 net-next patch series adds qca807x SFP/phy_port support, showing ongoing upstream feature work rather than sunset/removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/05/25/271", "claim": "A 2025 patch series adds IPQ5018 internal GE PHY support to at803x under this directory, indicating new Qualcomm hardware enablement and fresh deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/products/networking/qca8081", "claim": "Qualcomm still lists QCA8081 as a current product, supporting the conclusion that at least part of this PHY family was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` inspection of Kconfig/files shows Qualcomm PHY driver code for AR803x, QCA83xx, QCA807x, QCA808x and IPQ5018 support. Local `git log` via `exec_command` shows the directory was created on 2024-01-31 and still had a substantive fix on 2026-02-20, with many non-mechanical commits. The two mailing-list URLs were obtained with `web.search_query` using exact recent patch subjects; they show active 2025 feature and enablement work, not removal. The Qualcomm product URL was obtained with `web.search_query` and supports current-market availability. No removal discussion surfaced in the lore-targeted web searches, so the evidence points strongly to keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1706747116, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771632547, "top_author": "Christian Marangi", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/phy/realtek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8201/8208/8211/8221/8224/8226/8251 Ethernet PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/REALTEK_PHY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_REALTEK_PHY is present in current kernels (6.14-6.19, 7.0) and describes support for RTL821x/RTL822x and fast Ethernet PHYs." }, { "url": "https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C5155988.html", "claim": "Current distributor listing shows Realtek RTL8221B-VB-CG, a 2.5G PHY handled by this driver family, is sold new and in stock." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/1131980/REALTEK/RTL8211F.html", "claim": "Datasheet index identifies RTL8211F as a Realtek integrated 10/100/1000M Ethernet transceiver; this is one of the PHYs supported by the driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection of the directory shows this is a real PHY driver with `module_phy_driver()` and support for multiple live families from FE through 5GbE, including RTL8211F, RTL8221B, RTL8224, RTL8226, RTL8251, and RTL9000A. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/phy/realtek` shows sustained upstream work throughout 2024-2026, with the most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-18 and no removal/deprecation series found by local `git log --grep='remove|deprecat|obsolete'` beyond routine code cleanup. URL evidence was obtained via web search/open: LKDDb confirms current upstream presence, LCSC confirms at least one handled PHY is sold new, and the RTL8211F datasheet index corroborates the supported Realtek PHY product line. This is active, current hardware support with no natural replacement outside the same driver, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1736895092, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768695136, "top_author": "Heiner Kallweit", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/plip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "PC parallel-port (IEEE 1284/LPT) controllers used for PLIP direct host-to-host links", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20241015-net-plip-tx-fix-v1-1-32d8be1c7e0b@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream netdev saw a real PLIP functional fix in October 2024 ('fix break; causing plip to never transmit'), indicating the driver is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/plip.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still describes PLIP as IP over a parallel port using null-printer/LapLink-style cables, confirming the hardware/protocol niche the driver serves." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PLIP.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PLIP remains present through current kernel series, so the driver is still buildable upstream." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_port", "claim": "Parallel ports were common on PCs through the 2000s but are now virtually non-existent on new computers, supporting an 'obsolete but legacy/niche' deployment assessment." }, { "url": "https://www.linuxcnc.org/docs/devel/html/nb/getting-started/hardware-interface.html", "claim": "Parallel-port hardware is still used in niche modern deployments such as LinuxCNC, including onboard and PCI/PCIe parallel-port cards, supporting 'still sold new' but low-volume status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/plip/plip.c`, which showed 2024 upstream and stable activity including the cited netdev patch and stable backports; an attempted broader lore removal search timed out, so there is no positive evidence here of an active removal series. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results for kernel docs, LKDDb, parallel-port background, and LinuxCNC niche current use. Conclusion: PLIP is clearly legacy and likely near-zero in new networking deployments, but recent bug-fix traffic argues against deprecation/removal right now; keep it, but annotate as legacy/niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4001253767213739, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1314431913, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729372015, "top_author": "Jakub Boehm", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/ppp", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains PPP protocol/channel/encapsulation modules (e.g. generic PPP, PPPoE, PPTP/L2TP support), not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.045925176243108934, "commits_5y": 73, "substantive_commits_5y": 69, "first_touch_ts": 1314431906, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770282387, "top_author": "Qingfang Deng", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/pse-pd", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "PoE PSE controllers (Microchip PD692x0, TI TPS23881, Skyworks Si3474, plus generic regulator-backed PSE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/lkml/20250805155903.736ef6b1%40kernel.org/T/", "claim": "In 2025 the subsystem gained a new Skyworks Si3474 driver, indicating active upstream enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/lkml/20250617-feature_poe_port_prio-v14-11-78a1a645e2ee%40bootlin.com/T/", "claim": "A 2025 net-next series added PSE budget/event support and included TPS23881 work, showing active feature development in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/lkml/aLgfnia_ZlclCrdy%40pengutronix.de/T/", "claim": "PD692x0 received 2025 work for permanent configuration management, showing ongoing maintenance and enhancement." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS23881", "claim": "TI lists TPS23881 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least one supported controller is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PD69210", "claim": "Microchip lists PD69210 as In Production, so the PD692x0 family remains in current-market availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command showed real driver code for current PSE controllers: pd692x0, tps23881, si3474, plus a generic regulator-backed driver. Lore evidence was obtained via web search against public mailing-list mirrors: no removal/deprecation series surfaced, while 2025 threads show new Si3474 enablement and ongoing TPS23881/PD692x0 feature work. Product-status URLs were obtained via web search on vendor product pages and show TPS23881 ACTIVE and PD69210 In Production. This points to a young, still-expanding subsystem used in current PoE switch/industrial Ethernet designs, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1664843636, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761958592, "top_author": "Kory Maincent (Dent Project)", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/slip", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "SLIP/CSLIP serial-line networking over generic UART/TTY links", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "drivers/net/ppp", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260415213359.335657-2-bestswngs@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/net/slip/slip.c` received a targeted slab-out-of-bounds fix on 2026-04-15, so the code is still seeing non-trivial upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SLIP.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_SLIP` is still present in current kernel series, and the Kconfig help describes PPP as the more common protocol for the same serial-IP use case." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Line_Internet_Protocol", "claim": "SLIP has largely been replaced by PPP on PCs, but it still has niche use on microcontrollers because of its very small overhead." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory: `slip.c` implements the SLIP line discipline and `slhc.c` provides CSLIP header compression helpers. Evidence came from local `rg` inspection of `drivers/net/slip`, `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/slip/slip.c`, and one web search that surfaced the LKDDb and Wikipedia URLs above. The lore evidence shows current maintenance rather than abandonment, while the deployment evidence points to a legacy/embedded niche rather than broad new deployments. Because SLIP is protocol glue over still-sold generic serial hardware, not a dead chipset, removal would be premature; annotate as legacy and prefer PPP for new serial-IP links.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3162934660778135, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1314431916, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1728576392, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/team", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "software network teaming", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "bonding", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260409-teaming-driver-internal-v7-9-f47e7589685d@google.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and substantive: April 9, 2026 net-next patch adds a new team port option, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/9/html/9.4_release_notes/deprecated-functionality", "claim": "RHEL 9 documents network teams as deprecated for new deployments and recommends configuring a bond instead." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real kernel driver directory, but it implements a virtual netdevice/teaming facility rather than hardware support. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/team/team_core.c returned fresh 2026 patch traffic with multiple feature additions, so there is no evidence here of an upstream removal push; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search surfaced current Red Hat release notes showing network teams deprecated for new deployments in favor of bonding, which supports low present-day deployment and bonding as the natural replacement. URLs were obtained via lore_file_timeline and web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02142057671800991, "commits_5y": 53, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1321218610, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774347992, "top_author": "Hangbin Liu", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/thunderbolt", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Thunderbolt/USB4 host-to-host networking (Apple ThunderboltIP / USB4NET)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/thunderbolt.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents 'Networking over Thunderbolt cable', including Linux, Windows, and macOS interoperability via thunderbolt-net." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/sq-al/guide/mac-help/mchld53dd2f5/mac", "claim": "Apple still documents 'Use IP over Thunderbolt to connect Mac computers', indicating the peer-to-peer Thunderbolt networking use case remains supported on current Macs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/learn/thunderbolt-5-for-gaming.html", "claim": "Intel markets Thunderbolt 5 as a current-generation shipping technology, so the underlying transport hardware is still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB4_NET.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB4_NET present through current kernel series, with this driver living in drivers/net/thunderbolt for recent kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile plus net_device_ops in main.c. Local shell inspection showed active in-tree maintenance, with recent commits through 2026-01-19 (feature work and bug fixes such as link settings, MAC address changes, flow control), which argues against deprecation. I attempted lore-first evidence via shell `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable in this environment; web searches for lore-specific threads returned no usable hits, so no direct lore URL for removal discussion was obtained. Cited URLs were obtained via web search (`docs.kernel.org`, Apple Support, Intel, LKDDb). The feature is not mass-market Ethernet, but it is still relevant on modern Thunderbolt/USB4 systems and remains documented for cross-OS host-to-host networking, so deployment is low rather than none. No natural upstream replacement covers the same Thunderbolt-cable host-to-host networking use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1673587170, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768853398, "top_author": "Mika Westerberg", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/usb", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "USB Ethernet and mobile-broadband adapters (mixed chipsets/protocols)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/usb/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory is a live umbrella for many still-relevant USB NIC classes, including Realtek RTL8152/8153, Microchip LAN78xx, ASIX AX88xxx, CDC Ethernet/NCM/EEM, and WWAN-style USB networking support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/usb", "claim": "Canonical upstream history location for the directory; local git history in this checkout shows touches reaching 2026 and no deprecation/removal-subject hits for the directory in recent history." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN7800.", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN7800 as 'In Production', indicating at least one major USB Ethernet family in this directory is still an active product." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/EVB-LAN7800", "claim": "Microchip still offers the EVB-LAN7800 evaluation board, evidence of ongoing new-hardware availability around the LAN78xx support in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory is unquestionably a real driver subtree. `lore_file_timeline` on the bare directory path returned no matches, so I fell back to local `git log` over `drivers/net/usb` and representative files; that showed recent 2026 activity and no removal/deprecation grep hits. Kconfig URL is canonical recall for subsystem scope; Microchip URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the subtree is active and still covers shipping hardware, but it also contains clearly legacy leaf drivers (older 10Mbps/early USB NICs) that may merit per-driver review rather than subtree deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01621799033025945, "commits_5y": 521, "substantive_commits_5y": 506, "first_touch_ts": 1178760715, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773750972, "top_author": "Oleksij Rempel", "top_author_commits": 77, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/vmxnet3", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "VMware VMXNET3 virtual NIC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260314182809.362808-7-viswanathiyyappan@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream development is active: a 2026 net-next patch adds ndo_set_rx_mode_async support to vmxnet3." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260226163121.4045808-1-atomlin@atomlin.com/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving bug-fix traffic in 2026, including fixes for Rx ring/page-allocation behavior." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/321259/choosing-a-network-adapter-for-a-virtual.html", "claim": "Broadcom/VMware documents VMXNET3 as a paravirtualized NIC designed for performance for virtual machines, not a legacy physical adapter." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/414172/vmxnet3-network-adapter-missing-in-windo.html", "claim": "Broadcom support still documents VMXNET3 troubleshooting for vSphere ESXi 8.0.x guest VMs, indicating current production deployments." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/368812/how-to-change-the-vmxnet3-link-speed-of.html", "claim": "Broadcom documents VMXNET3 configuration on vSphere 8.0.2 and later, showing ongoing supported use in current VMware stacks." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an actively maintained paravirtual VMware guest NIC driver, not obsolete hardware. lore_file_timeline on vmxnet3_drv.c showed substantial 2025-2026 traffic and yielded the cited lore URLs; lore_regex over body_prose for deprecation/removal terms returned no hits in the last 5 years, so there is no evident upstream removal push. Web search found current Broadcom/VMware KBs showing VMXNET3 remains a supported, recommended virtual adapter in modern vSphere deployments. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` because VMXNET3 is a virtual device family rather than retail hardware; deployments remain high in VMware guest niches, so no deprecation signal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08767560418871949, "commits_5y": 60, "substantive_commits_5y": 56, "first_touch_ts": 1255418151, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763612061, "top_author": "Ronak Doshi", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/vxlan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "VXLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/vxlan", "claim": "Canonical kernel git log location for this directory; local git history inspection showed many 2025-2026 vxlan fixes/features and no clear deprecation/removal series." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/networking/vxlan.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes VXLAN as a supported Linux tunnel device with current configuration and operation details, indicating an actively supported in-kernel networking feature." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.10/networking/netlink_spec/ethtool.html", "claim": "Current kernel ethtool netlink spec still enumerates `vxlan` as a UDP tunnel type for offload/tunnel management, evidence of present-day integration." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.6/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/intel/i40e.html", "claim": "Intel 700-series driver documentation discusses VXLAN/GENEVE hardware offload in virtualized or cloud environments, indicating ongoing real deployments rather than pure legacy use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real kernel networking driver directory, but it is a virtual tunnel driver rather than hardware-specific silicon. Evidence: local `exec_command` inspection of `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/vxlan` showed active 2025-2026 fixes/features by multiple authors; a local grep for remove/deprecate/orphan terms returned only code-cleanup commits, not a removal discussion. Deployment/use evidence came from `web.search_query` results for kernel docs pages on VXLAN, ethtool tunnel types, and Intel offload docs. The git URL is a canonical-recall kernel.org log page corresponding to the locally inspected history.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 162, "substantive_commits_5y": 156, "first_touch_ts": 1646123881, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774669034, "top_author": "Ido Schimmel", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Mixed legacy WAN/HDLC adapters plus NXP PowerQUICC/QMC and Infineon PEF2256 telecom blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240730063133.179598-1-herve.codina@bootlin.com/", "claim": "`drivers/net/wan/fsl_qmc_hdlc.c` had a real bug-fix patch in 2024, indicating active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240314123346.461350-1-herve.codina@bootlin.com/", "claim": "The QMC HDLC driver also saw a 2024 build-fix patch, reinforcing current upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240409091203.39062-2-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Treewide API-conversion work touched the driver in 2024, showing it remains integrated with current kernel interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC8323", "claim": "NXP still listed MPC8323 with HDLC/QMC capability and a longevity-program note, showing at least part of this directory still maps to supported embedded telecom silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/MPC8250", "claim": "Older PowerQUICC II HDLC-capable parts tied to this directory are marked 'No Longer Manufactured' and 'not recommended for new designs'." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/infineon-technologies/PEF-2256-E-V2-2-G/1282235", "claim": "The Infineon PEF2256 framer used by the in-tree framer support is listed as obsolete, showing legacy portions of the directory are aging out." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/wan` is a real driver umbrella directory, not a helper library: local shell inspection showed multiple pci/platform drivers plus generic HDLC protocol modules. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no hits, so I fell back to `lore_activity(file=drivers/net/wan/fsl_qmc_hdlc.c)`, which showed 2024 bug fixes and API updates via the cited lore URLs and no removal discussion. Web search produced official NXP product pages for MPC8323 and MPC8250 plus a DigiKey page for PEF2256; together they show a mixed picture: much of the old PCI/PowerQUICC WAN hardware is legacy/EOL, but some embedded telecom/QMC-related silicon is still in supported-sale programs. Because the directory still has live upstream traffic and at least one still-relevant niche hardware line, removing or deprecating the whole directory would be too aggressive; annotate as a mostly legacy, low-deployment subsystem instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01059327399380211, "commits_5y": 224, "substantive_commits_5y": 217, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775252436, "top_author": "Peng Li", "top_author_commits": 162, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wan/framer", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Infineon/Lantiq PEF2256 (FALC56) E1/T1/J1 framer", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20231128132534.258459-4-herve.codina@bootlin.com", "claim": "Initial upstream addition of Linux support for the Lantiq PEF2256 framer in late 2023 shows this subtree is a recently added, specific hardware support path rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251105034716.662-1-vulab@iscas.ac.cn", "claim": "A 2025 bug-fix patch for pef2256 shows ongoing upstream maintenance activity and no immediate removal posture." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/infineon-technologies/PEF-2256-H-V2-2/1282236", "claim": "Distributor listing marks PEF 2256 H V2.2 as obsolete and no longer manufactured, indicating the chip is not still a normal new-design component." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/79747/INFINEON/PEF2256.html", "claim": "The PEF2256/FALC56 is an E1/T1/J1 framer and line interface component, confirming the hardware class and legacy telecom deployment niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this directory is a small framer subsystem with framework code plus the real hardware driver in pef2256/. Local git log via exec_command showed substantive 2025-2026 fixes and feature work, with patch.msgid.link URLs captured from commit Link tags; I found no removal discussion in those recent commits. Web search found DigiKey marking the chip obsolete/no longer manufactured and a datasheet mirror confirming it is an E1/T1/J1 telecom framer. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely niche today, but upstream activity is recent enough that removal/deprecation would be premature; keep it, but annotate as legacy/niche telecom support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1702418724, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767888903, "top_author": "Herve Codina", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wan/framer/pef2256", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Lantiq/Infineon PEF2256 (FALC56) E1/T1/J1 framer/LIU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/953106/", "claim": "The driver entered upstream in late 2023 as a new framer infrastructure plus PEF2256 support series, so it is a recently added driver rather than abandoned historical baggage." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4d6ec3a7932c", "claim": "The directory still received a substantive upstream change in November 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal preparation." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/infineon-technologies/PEF-2256-E-V2-2-G/1282235", "claim": "A mainstream distributor lists the part as obsolete and no longer manufactured, which is strong evidence the hardware is not still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/79747/INFINEON/PEF2256.html", "claim": "The chip is an Infineon/Lantiq FALC56 E1/T1/J1 framer and LIU for telecom line interfacing, implying present-day use is niche legacy/industrial telecom rather than broad new deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains platform-driver code for the Lantiq/Infineon PEF2256 framer. Lore history was checked first via web search results pointing to the upstream patch series on LWN, and local git history showed no removal discussion signal; instead the tree still has 2025 substantive maintenance. Deployment evidence came from web search distributor and datasheet pages: DigiKey marks the part obsolete/not manufactured, while the datasheet shows a narrow E1/T1/J1 telecom function. Kernel commit URL was formed from the local git hash using canonical kernel.org commit URL recall. Result: hardware looks commercially obsolete, but upstream attention is still active enough that removal would be premature; annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1702418724, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762394554, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireguard", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the WireGuard virtual VPN network interface implementation, a software tunnel device rather than hardware-bound driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07781839533588024, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 70, "first_touch_ts": 1575856122, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764645169, "top_author": "Jason A. Donenfeld", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireguard/generated", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a generated-code subdirectory under the WireGuard driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver for a device/chipset.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1764645169, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764645169, "top_author": "Asbjørn Sloth Tønnesen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireguard/selftest", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains WireGuard selftest/test harness code under a selftest subdirectory, not kernel-bound hardware driver implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1575856122, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1748329579, "top_author": "Jason A. Donenfeld", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/admtek", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ADMtek ADM8211", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250615082312.619639-2-quic_rdevanat@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches in 2025 are wide mac80211/cfg80211 API work that incidentally updates adm8211 alongside many other drivers, indicating maintenance compatibility rather than strong device-specific development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20240129194108.6d0ead50f5cf.I60d093b2fc81ca1853925a4d0ac3a2337d5baa5b@changeid/", "claim": "A 2024 adm8211 touch was part of a cross-driver mac80211 simplification series, again suggesting low but nonzero upstream upkeep." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/adm8211.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless documentation describes adm8211 as supporting PCI/mini-PCI/CardBus ADM8211A/B/C 802.11b devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ADM8211.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver is still present in current kernels and ties it to legacy PCI/CardBus ADM8211 hardware IDs." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/adm8211", "claim": "Debian documents the driver for ADMtek/Infineon ADM8211 802.11b devices and lists only old PCI/CardBus-era products; the page itself is long-stale legacy documentation." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/ADMtek", "claim": "DeviWiki's ADMtek timeline says ADM8211 was ADMtek's first Wi-Fi chip in 2002 and that ADMtek was acquired by Infineon in 2004, supporting the conclusion that this chipset family is long obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains adm8211.c and Kconfig entry for ADMtek ADM8211. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/admtek/adm8211.c showed touches through 2025, but the cited lore URLs are treewide mac80211/cfg80211 API series rather than device-specific feature work; a lore_regex removal search timed out, so there is no evidence here of an active removal thread. web search produced the wireless.docs.kernel.org page and LKDDb page confirming the hardware class as PCI/mini-PCI/CardBus 802.11b, plus Debian Wiki and DeviWiki timeline pages showing this is early-2000s hardware from an acquired vendor line. From those sources, new sales in 2025 are not credible, deployments should be limited to legacy/collector/industrial systems, and there is no like-for-like upstream replacement driver for the same silicon, so deprecate is a better fit than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7244645328786289, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1447782559, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1707393512, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros/Qualcomm ath common core", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 0.99, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/net/wireless/ath/", "claim": "The directory is a source-tree umbrella containing multiple real drivers in subdirectories (ath5k, ath9k, ath10k, ath11k, ath12k, etc.) plus shared helper files at the top level." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH_COMMON.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ATH_COMMON builds module ath and is described as common shared helper code used by multiple Atheros drivers, not a standalone hardware-specific driver." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-wireless/?t=20250502050633", "claim": "Current wireless mailing-list traffic under the ath umbrella is concentrated on subdrivers such as ath12k, reinforcing that the top-level ath directory is a family container/common layer rather than one device driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile (`sed` on the checked-out tree) showed `source` entries for multiple subdrivers and `obj-$(CONFIG_ATH_COMMON) += ath.o`, i.e. a shared common layer. The cited Codebrowser and LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search; local `git log` also showed recent touches are minor common-code/treewide edits while active hardware work is in child driver directories.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1240433677, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750688913, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ar5523", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros AR5523 USB 802.11a/b/g", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20251103195519.3152385-2-eeodqql09@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists: a linux-wireless patch in November 2025 fixes an integer underflow in ar5523." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-ar5523", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships kmod-ar5523, indicating some present-day downstream deployment for legacy devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AR5523.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies AR5523 as an in-kernel driver for Atheros AR5523 USB adapters such as Netgear WPN111 and D-Link DWL-G132, across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2020-August/030821.html", "claim": "OpenWrt discussion describes AR5523 hardware as an older 802.11a/b/g-only solution based on AR2112/AR5112, reinforcing that this is legacy pre-11n USB WLAN hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local source inspection via exec_command showed module_usb_driver, many branded USB dongle IDs, and external firmware loading. lore_file_timeline on ar5523.c showed ongoing upstream touches, including a direct bug-fix patch in 2025, and no removal series was evident from recent activity; attempted lore subject searches timed out, so I relied on the timeline result. Web search produced the OpenWrt package page, LKDDb entry, and OpenWrt mailing-list discussion. Combined evidence points to mid-2000s legacy USB Wi-Fi hardware with low but nonzero deployments today; obsolete hardware alone argues against growth, but current packaging plus recent fixes means deprecate/remove would be too aggressive, so keep-annotate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.42628173795986657, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1351538945, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714484229, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros/Qualcomm Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) ath10k family: QCA6174/QCA9377/QCA988x/QCA99x0/QCA9984/QCA4019/WCN3990", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k", "claim": "Upstream ath10k still has active history; local git metadata and provided stats show substantive touches through 2026, inconsistent with deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/ath10k.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless documentation treats ath10k as a current supported driver family for Qualcomm/Atheros 802.11ac devices rather than a legacy-retired stack." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH10K.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists ath10k support across many kernel releases and multiple Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac device IDs, showing broad in-tree hardware coverage." }, { "url": "https://compex.com.sg/shop/wifi-module/802-11ac-wave-2/wle1216v5-20-2/", "claim": "A QCA9984-based module was still listed for sale recently, supporting the view that ath10k hardware remains available for new embedded/industrial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module entry points and large .c footprint. Lore-first probe used `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path; it returned no matches, likely because that endpoint is file-oriented for this path shape. Follow-up lore regex probes for removal/deprecation timed out, so I fell back to local tree evidence: provided static stats show 195 substantive commits in 5y, 89 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-30; local `git log` also shows 2026 activity. Chipset family was identified from local source inspection (`pci.c`/`core.c`). URLs were obtained via web search for LKDDb and Compex, plus canonical recall for kernel.org log and wireless.docs.kernel.org. Conclusion: active upstream maintenance plus ongoing embedded sales means keep, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03948654249238721, "commits_5y": 208, "substantive_commits_5y": 195, "first_touch_ts": 1371059530, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769785957, "top_author": "Jeff Johnson", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6/6E)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/ath11k.html", "claim": "Official Linux Wireless documentation describes ath11k as the Linux driver for Qualcomm IEEE 802.11ax devices and lists multiple supported contemporary chip families/products." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ath11k/20260423211458.458911-1-santiagorr@riseup.net/", "claim": "April 23, 2026 upstream patch adds missing Lenovo IDs to ath11k, showing active maintenance for current OEM hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ath11k/20260330-p14s-pm-quirk-v2-1-ef18ce07996b@gmail.com/", "claim": "March 31, 2026 upstream patch applies an ath11k PM quirk to ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 AMD, indicating deployment in recent laptop platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: static signals already show heavy recent churn, and lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/core.c returned sustained 2024-2026 patch traffic plus 2026 device-quirk work, not removal. The Linux Wireless ath11k page was obtained via web search and confirms this is the active upstream driver for Qualcomm 802.11ax hardware with supported devices still relevant to new systems. The two lore URLs were obtained from lore_file_timeline and show ongoing fixes/enablement for recent Lenovo/ThinkPad hardware, so deployments remain high. No natural replacement driver exists for the same hardware generation; ath12k targets newer Wi-Fi 7 parts instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012735958388177666, "commits_5y": 712, "substantive_commits_5y": 699, "first_touch_ts": 1574684194, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774359840, "top_author": "Baochen Qiang", "top_author_commits": 86, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 (ath12k: WCN7850/QCN9274/IPQ5332 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes ath12k as Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 support and names WCN7850, QCN9274, and IPQ5332-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260123155750.6007-1-bjsaikiran@gmail.com/", "claim": "A January 23, 2026 lore patch series exists for ath12k/WCN7850 regression handling, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2138754", "claim": "Ubuntu bug traffic in January-February 2026 shows real-world ath12k WCN7850 deployment on Snapdragon X Elite laptops and references the upstream lore patch series plus firmware follow-up." }, { "url": "https://524wifi.net/product/qualcomm-ipq-miami-driver-5332-802-11be-wifi-7-multifunction-main-board-2x2-mu-mimo-ofmda-wi-fi-7-wallys-dr5332/", "claim": "Commercial product listing shows IPQ5332/QCN9274 Wi-Fi 7 hardware still being sold, indicating ongoing new hardware availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Active upstream driver: local Kconfig inspection via shell showed ath12k is a Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 driver and names WCN7850/QCN9274/IPQ5332. No removal evidence surfaced; instead, a lore patch series URL for Jan 23 2026 was obtained from web-search snippet, indicating ongoing bug-fix traffic. Deployment evidence came from Launchpad web results showing WCN7850 use in current Snapdragon X Elite laptops. New-sales evidence came from opening the 524wifi product page showing an IPQ5332/QCN9274 board in stock/backorder in 2026. Given 2026 maintenance and current-market Wi-Fi 7 devices, this should be kept; there is no natural replacement driver for the same chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1034, "substantive_commits_5y": 1023, "first_touch_ts": 1669718946, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774359840, "top_author": "Baochen Qiang", "top_author_commits": 117, "c_file_count": 31, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 ath12k family (QCN9274, WCN7850/FastConnect 7800-class, IPQ5332, QCC2072)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/ath12k/2025-August/007708.html", "claim": "The wifi7 directory was introduced as a separate ath12k_wifi7 module and was tested on QCN9274, WCN7850, and IPQ5332 hardware." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/ath12k/2025-November/008183.html", "claim": "ath12k maintainers were still actively applying wifi7-directory patch series in November 2025, showing ongoing upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1051219/", "claim": "A December 2025 ath12k patch series added QCC2072 support and touched drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7, indicating fresh hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2022/02/qualcomm-extends-connectivity-leadership-worlds-first-and-fastest-wi-fi-7", "claim": "Qualcomm's FastConnect 7800 is a commercial Wi-Fi 7 client solution, confirming this driver family targets current-generation hardware rather than legacy gear." }, { "url": "https://www.524wifi.com/index.php/network-modules-adapters/wifi-7-11be-modules/524wifi-wifi7-9274-5g-qualcomm-qcn-9274-11be-5ghz-4x4-mu-mimo-wifi-module-m-2-e-key-waikiki.html", "claim": "QCN9274-based Wi-Fi 7 modules were still listed in stock for sale, supporting ongoing new-hardware availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command of wifi7/hw.c identified current target chips QCN9274, WCN7850, IPQ5332, and local git log showed first-tree entry in August 2025 plus substantive January 2026 work including QCC2072 enablement. URLs were obtained via web search_query: infradead ath12k list pages show creation and continued application of ath12k_wifi7 patch series; LWN summarizes the December 2025 QCC2072 enablement series; Qualcomm and current reseller pages show Wi-Fi 7 hardware is still commercial. No removal/deprecation discussion was found; evidence instead shows active upstream bring-up and ongoing deployments, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 90, "substantive_commits_5y": 88, "first_touch_ts": 1755725944, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768526382, "top_author": "Pavankumar Nandeshwar", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros AR5xxx / AR52xx 802.11a/b/g WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2024121449-stammer-blatancy-4349@gregkh/", "claim": "Lore activity for `drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/pci.c` shows the driver was still being carried in stable updates in December 2024, consistent with ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH5K.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies ath5k as support for Atheros 5xxx chipsets, listing legacy PCI IDs such as AR5210/AR5211/AR5212 and related 802.11a/b/g-era devices." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.qualcomm.ar5xxx?s%5B%5D=%2Alink%2A&s%5B%5D=%2Atp%2A", "claim": "OpenWrt documents AR5xxx as old Atheros 802.11a/b/g WiSoC hardware generations (AR231x/AR5312 and AR5001/AR5002 families), indicating a legacy embedded deployment base." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/ath5k", "claim": "Debian describes ath5k as supporting Atheros 802.11a/bg PCI/PCI-E devices, which points to legacy laptop/PCI adapter deployment rather than current new-product design wins." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep-annotate`: local `rg`/Kconfig inspection shows ath5k is the in-tree driver for Atheros 5xxx chips (AR5211/AR5212 plus older RF parts), i.e. pre-802.11n hardware. `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/pci.c` show nonzero recent upstream/stable traffic, and the task metadata reports substantive touches through 2026-01-16, so removal would be premature. Web search yielded LKDDb, OpenWrt, and Debian pages showing only legacy PCI/CardBus/MiniPCI and old AR5xxx embedded SoCs; that supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `deployments_today=low`. I left `last_widely_available_year` null because the retrieved sources establish age/obsolescence but not a defensible final market year. No natural replacement driver exists for the same silicon; newer Atheros parts use different drivers (for example ath9k) rather than replacing ath5k-covered chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06660356205717378, "commits_5y": 43, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1240433678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768526374, "top_author": "Peter Seiderer", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath6kl", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros AR6003/AR6004", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.63, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath6kl/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes ath6kl as support for Atheros AR6003 and AR6004 mobile chipsets, with separate SDIO and USB bus drivers." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath6kl", "claim": "Canonical upstream log location for assessing whether ath6kl still receives maintenance in mainline." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ATH6KL.html", "claim": "LKDDb records ath6kl as a current Linux wireless driver family, reinforcing that it still exists upstream and covers legacy Atheros mobile WLAN devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of Kconfig identified the chipset family as AR6003/AR6004 and bus scope as SDIO/USB; sources above are canonical-recall URLs for that same upstream material. lore_file_timeline on the directory prefix returned no directory-scoped events, and a lore_regex removal-subject scan timed out, so I relied on the user-supplied history metadata: 46 substantive commits in 5y, 29 authors, and a latest substantive touch on 2025-06-27. That level of recent upkeep argues against deprecate/remove. The hardware itself is an older mobile/embedded WLAN generation and likely only persists in legacy devices, so deployments are low and the right stance is keep-annotate rather than removal. No natural replacement driver covers the same AR6003/AR6004 hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15556032881183238, "commits_5y": 54, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1312908318, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751035365, "top_author": "Gustavo A. R. Silva", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros ath9k (AR5xxx/AR9xxx 802.11n PCI/PCIe/AHB WLAN)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260415222343.1540564-1-tristmd@gmail.com/", "claim": "ath9k still receives upstream bug-fix patches in 2026; this patch fixes an out-of-bounds access in ath9k firmware tx status handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/69d1f089.a70a0220.a26f2.001d.GAE@google.com/", "claim": "ath9k is still exercised by syzbot and patch discussion in 2026, indicating active maintenance and test exposure rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/ath9k.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless docs describe ath9k as the driver for Atheros 802.11n chipsets including AR5416 through AR9565-era parts, i.e. an older 11n family rather than current-generation Wi-Fi hardware." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ath79", "claim": "OpenWrt still maintains the ath79 target and documents device support on current releases, which is strong evidence of continued field deployment of ath9k-era Atheros SoCs in routers/APs." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/ath9k/products.html", "claim": "The ath9k product list is dominated by older retail laptops/APs from the 802.11n era, supporting the view that new-sales presence is largely legacy rather than active 2025 mainstream retail." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: lore evidence shows current maintenance activity, so deprecation/removal would be premature, but the hardware family is clearly legacy 802.11n and mostly relevant for existing fleets. No indexed removal/deprecation discussion was found in the tool results used. Source acquisition: first two URLs came from lore-http `lore_regex` patch hits; the three docs URLs came from `web.search_query`. `last_widely_available_year` is an inferred estimate from the documented chipset/product era, not a vendor EOL date.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01968549632673647, "commits_5y": 160, "substantive_commits_5y": 151, "first_touch_ts": 1240433678, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773821398, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 59, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atheros AR9170 / AR9001U (\"otus\") 802.11n USB", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/GVYP280MB151823D632870B1B48DA947D9453A@GVYP280MB1518.SWEP280.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM/", "claim": "The driver still receives substantive upstream work in 2026; this March 31, 2026 patch updates carl9170/main.c." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CARL9170.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_CARL9170 as 'Linux Community AR9170 802.11n USB support' and lists supported USB IDs/devices." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/carl9170.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless docs describe carl9170 as the GPL-firmware driver for Atheros USB AR9170 draft-802.11n devices." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/carl9170", "claim": "Debian documents carl9170 as support for Atheros AR9170 devices and lists supported products that are legacy 802.11n USB dongles." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/carl9170-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships carl9170 firmware, indicating some residual field use on embedded/router systems." }, { "url": "https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/tl-wn821n/", "claim": "TP-Link's current support page for TL-WN821N exposes newer hardware revisions (V3-V6), implying the older V2 AR9170-based revision is no longer the current retail hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and usb.c identified this as the AR9170/'otus' USB Wi-Fi driver and showed only old 802.11n dongle models. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/main.c showed active 2026 patch traffic, so removal/deprecation is not supported by upstream activity; this argues against deprecate/remove and toward keep-annotate for legacy hardware. URLs were obtained via lore MCP (`lore_file_timeline`) and web search results (LKDDb, kernel wireless docs, Debian wiki, OpenWrt package index, TP-Link support page). 'Still sold new' and 2014 availability are inference-based: the supported devices are older single-chip 802.11n USB dongles, while current retail descendants use later revisions/chipsets; deployments persist but appear niche/legacy rather than new mainstream installs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0655662310993825, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1284494621, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768676437, "top_author": "Gustavo A. R. Silva", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/wcn36xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Atheros WCN36xx (WCN3660/WCN3680)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260306004344.10968-4-kerigancreighton@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of March 6, 2026, upstream still carries feature work for this driver family ('wifi: wcn36xx: Add support for WCN3610'), indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WCN36XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_WCN36XX as support for Qualcomm Atheros WCN3660/3680 and shows the driver remains present through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2011/05/qualcomm-atheros-announces-highly-integrated-connectivity-solution-superior", "claim": "Qualcomm announced WCN3660 in May 2011 as a smartphone/tablet connectivity chip with commercial release scheduled for late 2011, establishing this as an early-2010s mobile part." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2012/02/qualcomm-atheros-launches-80211ac-product-ecosystem-provide-end-end-gigabit", "claim": "Qualcomm described WCN3680 in February 2012 as a mobile companion chip for Snapdragon S4-era smartphones, tablets, and PCs, reinforcing that the family is from the early 2010s product cycle." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Nexus_7_2013_%28asus-flo%29", "claim": "A current postmarketOS device page for the 2013 Nexus 7 reports mainline support and working Wi-Fi, showing present-day hobbyist/aftermarket use of old devices that can still depend on this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/wireless/ath/wcn36xx/main.c`; it showed recent 2025-2026 patch traffic and no removal signal, while a removal-oriented `lore_regex` timed out and a `lei` fallback was blocked by local socket permissions. Device identity was confirmed from local `Kconfig` via shell and corroborated with LKDDb from web search. Age/new-sales judgment is inferred from Qualcomm launch pages found by web search: WCN3660/WCN3680 were introduced in 2011-2012 mobile designs, so broad new-market availability likely ended around 2014 even though legacy devices remain in enthusiast use. Current deployments are best characterized as low: not zero because postmarketOS-era legacy devices still use it, but not a mainstream 2025 new-hardware target. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same onboard chipset, so removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/mobile-niche hardware but keep the driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09317387823643818, "commits_5y": 98, "substantive_commits_5y": 90, "first_touch_ts": 1381427015, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760571472, "top_author": "Bryan O'Donoghue", "top_author_commits": 36, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Wilocity/Qualcomm Wil6200 (Sparrow) 802.11ad 60GHz WiGig", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260219114327.65c9cc96f814.Ic02066b88bb8ad6b21e15cbea8d720280008c83b@changeid/", "claim": "Recent upstream linux-wireless work still touches wil6210 code in 2026, so the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20220505015814.3727692-6-rui.zhang@intel.com/", "claim": "There was wil6210-specific maintenance on linux-wireless, indicating real subsystem attention rather than a fully dead driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WIL6210.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_WIL6210 as 'Wilocity 60g WiFi card wil6210 support' and maps it to Wilocity/Qualcomm PCI IDs including 1ae9:0310 and 17cb:1201." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/wil6210.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation describes wil6210 as a Qualcomm 60GHz PCIe 802.11ad card and explicitly frames it as experimental/research-oriented hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2018/10/qualcomm-dramatically-extends-wi-fi-experiences-5g-era-60ghz-80211ay", "claim": "Qualcomm's later public 60GHz portfolio had moved to newer 802.11ay QCA64x1/QCA64x8 families by 2018, implying the original wil6210-era 11ad client hardware was already being superseded." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A1ae9-0310-1ae9-0000", "claim": "Community probe data shows the Wil6200 still appears in some machines, suggesting residual legacy/hobbyist deployments rather than zero use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified this as the Wilocity 60GHz PCIe 802.11ad driver. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity`: `main.c` was touched repeatedly through 2026 on linux-wireless, and `pcie_bus.c` still saw wil6210-specific maintenance; I also checked for removal/deprecation signals, but found active maintenance instead of removal evidence. Web URLs were obtained with `web.search_query`/`open`: LKDDb and Linux Wireless docs establish device identity and niche/research status; Qualcomm's 2018 11ay announcement shows the vendor's public 60GHz roadmap had shifted to newer chip families; linux-hardware suggests some surviving fielded devices. That combination points to obsolete hardware with low current deployment, but enough active upstream traffic to keep the driver rather than deprecate/remove it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06394234897537195, "commits_5y": 50, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1357333853, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768526375, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/atmel", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Atmel AT76C503/AT76C505/AT76C505A USB 802.11b", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260407151111.3187826-2-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still touches this driver in 2026 ('wifi: at76c50x: refactor endpoint lookup'), indicating maintenance rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250429161052.763807045@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver received a stable backport in 2025 for a use-after-free fix, showing real bug-fix traffic for supported kernels." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/at76c50x-usb.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless docs describe at76c50x-usb as supporting only Atmel at76c50x chipsets and only 802.11b." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AT76C50X_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the module still exists upstream and enumerates many early-2000s 802.11b USB dongles tied to this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/archived/resources-archived/atmel-rf-micro-to-provide-wireless-lan-reference-designs-2000-07/", "claim": "Contemporary reporting places the AT76C503 family in the 2000-era 802.11b market, supporting the conclusion that this hardware is long obsolete for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell read of at76c50x-usb.c and Kconfig shows a USB WLAN driver for Atmel AT76C503/505/505A. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline; recent lore URLs show 2025 stable fixes and 2026 cleanup/refactor patches, so there is no evidence here of an active removal push and the driver is still maintained. Deployment evidence came from web search results: wireless.docs.kernel.org and LKDDb both identify these as 802.11b-only legacy USB adapters across old retail brands, and the 2000 Electronics Weekly article anchors the chipset family to an early-2000s market window. That combination suggests hardware is not still sold new in 2025 and current deployments are low, but maintenance traffic argues against deprecation/removal now; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2416142650855272, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1447838347, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1743583436, "top_author": "Jakub Kicinski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM43xx SoftMAC 802.11g/early-802.11n", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250205110614.216958-1-carnil@debian.org/", "claim": "b43 still received a direct driver-specific patch in 2025 ('Replace outdated firmware URL'), indicating nonzero upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250615082312.619639-2-quic_rdevanat@quicinc.com/", "claim": "b43/main.c was touched by a 2025 wireless-core API series, showing the driver is still kept build/runtime-compatible with current mac80211 work." }, { "url": "https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS points to the b43 driver page for this directory, confirming the driver identity and supported family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/B43.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes b43 as Broadcom 43xx wireless support, i.e. legacy Broadcom Wi-Fi hardware rather than current product lines." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: multi_tool_use.parallel->lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/main.c showed activity through 2025-06-15, including generic wireless API work; lore_path_mentions(prefix query for the directory) timed out, and a follow-up lore_regex removal-scan also timed out, so I found no positive removal evidence. Local shell reads of MAINTAINERS and Kconfig showed the directory is real driver code, marked S: Orphan, and described as 'Broadcom 43xx' support. Deployment judgement: b43 targets pre-11ac Broadcom client/router-era parts that are long obsolete in new retail hardware; they still persist in old laptops, embedded boards, and hobbyist/OpenWrt salvage installs, so deployments are low rather than none. last_widely_available_year is an estimate based on the chipset generation and LKDDb/canonical-recall product era, not a vendor EOL date. Recommendation is keep-annotate: legacy/orphaned hardware, but recent upstream fixup traffic argues against deprecation or removal now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23907850082562201, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1447838436, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739271552, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43legacy", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM4301 / early BCM4306 SoftMAC 802.11b/g", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2006, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/B43LEGACY.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies b43legacy as support for BCM4301, BCM4303, and early BCM4306 v2-era Broadcom 43xx legacy devices, and shows it is still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/b43.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation says b43legacy is for BCM4301 and early BCM4306 versions, while newer supported Broadcom hardware uses b43 instead." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/b43/faq.html", "claim": "The FAQ states b43legacy is needed for 802.11b-only chipsets or BCM4306 rev 2; other devices, including BCM4306 rev 3, use b43." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250615082312.619639-2-quic_rdevanat@quicinc.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream integration churn through shared mac80211/cfg80211 changes in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260222074559.work.599-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver was still being mechanically updated in 2026 treewide work, so it continues to be kept buildable by upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a phase-1 early-exit case: this is a real wireless driver directory. `web.search_query` produced the LKDDb and Linux Wireless docs URLs, which identify the hardware as very old BCM4301/early-BCM4306-era 802.11b/g parts and imply b43 is the path for newer Broadcom SoftMAC devices, not a replacement for these exact chips. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43legacy/main.c` showed touches through 2025-06 and 2026-02, but the visible subjects are shared-stack/treewide maintenance rather than evidence of fresh product demand or an active removal series. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is obsolete and not plausibly sold new in 2025, deployments are likely residual legacy only, but upstream still carries and updates it and there is no clear same-hardware replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2788189663519762, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1447838649, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736943276, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom/Cypress/Infineon FullMAC WLAN (brcmfmac, CYW/BCM43xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/design-support/software/device-driver-libraries/airoc-wi-fi-bluetooth-linux-and-android-drivers/", "claim": "Infineon still publishes Linux support for current AIROC Wi-Fi/Bluetooth products and explicitly references the open-source FMAC driver model, indicating ongoing new-product relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/setup/raspberry-pi.html", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi documentation says flagship Raspberry Pi models since Pi 3, plus current keyboard/Zero/CM wireless variants, ship with built-in Wi-Fi, showing continued mainstream deployment of brcmfmac-class hardware in new devices." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/brcm80211.html?s%5B%5D=bcm43602", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation describes brcmfmac as the Broadcom FullMAC driver and lists supported device classes and maintainer/contact paths, confirming it is an active upstream driver family rather than legacy orphaned code." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BRCMFMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_BRCMFMAC present through current 6.x kernel series and tied to this directory, which is inconsistent with a deprecation/removal trajectory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. The directory is clearly a live hardware driver, and the prompt's static history is strong by itself: 248 substantive commits in 5 years, 112 authors, latest substantive touch on 2026-04-07. I attempted lore-first evidence via `lore_path_mentions` and `lore_regex`, but both timed out; I then tried `lei q`, but the sandbox blocked lei-daemon startup. With lore unavailable, I relied on the provided activity stats plus current deployment evidence. Sources were obtained by web search: Infineon AIROC Linux driver page from `turn0search1`, Raspberry Pi current setup/docs from `turn2search6`, Linux Wireless brcm80211/brcmfmac docs from `turn3search1`, and LKDDb from `turn3search0`. Those sources show current upstream presence and ongoing sale/deployment in Raspberry Pi and embedded AIROC/CYW products. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Broadcom FullMAC hardware set, so deprecate/remove would be unjustified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.00867498144013456, "commits_5y": 266, "substantive_commits_5y": 248, "first_touch_ts": 1447838662, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775558060, "top_author": "Hector Martin", "top_author_commits": 37, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/bca", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCA FullMAC AP chipsets", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20221129135446.151065-6-arend.vanspriel@broadcom.com", "claim": "The bca subtree was added in late 2022 specifically to support the Broadcom BCA firmware API inside brcmfmac." }, { "url": "https://msgid.link/20240106103835.269149-4-arend.vanspriel@broadcom.com", "claim": "The driver received substantive vendor-specific event-handling work in January 2024, indicating continued upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-announces-availability-worlds-first-wi-fi-7-ecosystem", "claim": "Broadcom publicly announced Wi‑Fi 7 chipset solutions for routers, residential gateways, and enterprise access points, showing this AP silicon class remained an active commercial product line." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-announces-industrys-first-enterprise-wi-fi-8-access", "claim": "Broadcom announced and sampled a new enterprise Wi‑Fi access-point platform in February 2026, implying ongoing new deployments of Broadcom AP silicon beyond 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection shows this is a real loadable brcmfmac vendor plugin (`module_init` in `module.c`) described as for 'Broadcom AP chipsets'. Local `git log` shows introduction in Dec 2022 and substantive follow-up in Jan 2024, with no local sign of retirement. Source 1 URL came from the `Link:` trailer in `git show b1d94be570c2`; source 2 URL came from the `Link:` trailer in `git show edec42821911`; sources 3 and 4 were obtained by web search on Broadcom investor pages. Conclusion: niche but current hardware family, no natural in-tree replacement beyond core `brcmfmac`, so keep it but annotate as vendor-/AP-specific and low-deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1670510647, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706718752, "top_author": "Arend van Spriel", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/cyw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Cypress/Infineon CYW FullMAC Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chipsets", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg264905.html", "claim": "April 25, 2025 linux-wireless patch series adds CYW external SAE support, showing active upstream feature work in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg268791.html", "claim": "July 23, 2025 linux-wireless patch fixes a CYW WPA3/EXTSAE regression, showing current bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/part/CYW43012", "claim": "Infineon lists CYW43012 as Active, with Linux support and stock/buying options, indicating new hardware sales in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.infineon.com/part/CYW43439", "claim": "Infineon lists CYW43439 as Active and preferred, Linux-supported, and aimed at current IoT/industrial applications." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this is a real brcmfmac vendor plugin (`module.c` says Cypress/Infineon chipsets) and local source tables tie CYW handling to CYW43012/CYW43439/CYW4373/CYW89359/CYW54591-class devices. `web.search_query` found 2025 linux-wireless patch traffic at the two spinics URLs, with no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in available lore-equivalent search results. The two Infineon product URLs were also obtained via `web.search_query` and show CYW parts still active/new-sale Linux-supported in 2025, so this is an actively maintained embedded/IoT driver family with no natural upstream replacement beyond the existing brcmfmac stack.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1670510647, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753272676, "top_author": "Arend van Spriel", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/wcc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom FullMAC WLAN (WCC / Broadcom mobility chipsets)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20221129135446.151065-4-arend.vanspriel@broadcom.com", "claim": "The WCC support was added in 2022 as the vendor-specific firmware-API path for brcmfmac, with the patch text stating the WCC variant was selected for all devices at that time." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240103095704.135651-5-arend.vanspriel@broadcom.com", "claim": "The WCC path received functional work in 2024 for SAE/WPA3 handling via the multi-vendor framework, indicating maintenance beyond initial bring-up." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 remained an actively sold product in 2025+, with optional 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi and an official production horizon through at least January 2034." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/?variant=raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is an official current product page for a Broadcom-based platform with integrated 802.11ac wireless, supporting the conclusion that Broadcom FullMAC Wi-Fi remains in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "exec_command on local git history showed the directory was introduced in late 2022 and saw real functional updates in 2024, with no removal/deprecation-oriented history found in local log grep. exec_command on module.c confirmed it is a plugin for 'Broadcom mobility chipsets'. The two lore URLs were obtained from commit Link tags in local git log output; the Raspberry Pi URLs were obtained via web search. Replacement driver is null because this directory is a brcmfmac vendor plugin, not a superseded standalone driver. Deployment level is inferred as medium: still present in current embedded/SBC products, but not a broad PC-class market.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1670510647, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706718752, "top_author": "Arend van Spriel", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmsmac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM4313/BCM43224/BCM43225 802.11n PCIe SoftMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/brcm80211/20260309215907.5789-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "brcmsmac still receives upstream changes in 2026; recent patch touched mac80211_if.c." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/brcm80211.html?s%5B%5D=bcm43602", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation lists brcmsmac as the driver for BCM4313, BCM43224, and BCM43225 PCIe/AXI chips, and notes BCM4313 is not fully supported." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/brcm80211", "claim": "A current distro wiki still documents these devices as Broadcom BCM4313/BCM43224/BCM43225 hardware requiring brcmsmac/brcm80211 support, consistent with legacy installed-base use." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/ODU4Mg", "claim": "Broadcom publicly introduced the open-source 802.11n driver for BCM4313/BCM43224/BCM43225 in 2010, indicating this is a 2010-era chipset family rather than current retail hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local Kconfig/sources inspected with shell (`rg`, `sed`) show `CONFIG_BRCMSMAC` = 'Broadcom IEEE802.11n PCIe SoftMAC WLAN driver' and code references BCM4313/43224/43225/43236. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `brcmsmac/mac80211_if.c`, which showed active 2025-2026 maintenance (e.g. 2026 FAM cleanup), so this is not abandoned and should not be removed. An attempted `lore_regex` search for removal/deprecation subjects timed out and `lore_nearest` lacked an embedding index; with no positive removal evidence and clear recent maintenance, I back off from deprecate/remove. Deployment looks low, not none: web search found current Linux Wireless and Debian documentation for these BCM4313/43224/43225 802.11n parts, which suggests a residual legacy laptop/embedded installed base. `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `last_widely_available_year=2014` are inference from the cited 2010 launch-era source plus the fact the documented chips are old 802.11n PCIe parts rather than current vendor offerings. No clean upstream replacement driver covers the same chips universally, so `replacement_driver` is null. URL provenance: lore URL from `lore_file_timeline`; Linux Wireless, Debian Wiki, and Phoronix URLs from `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01307445844079549, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1447838662, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775558043, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmsmac/phy", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM4313/BCM43224/BCM43225 802.11n PCIe SoftMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg914036.html", "claim": "brcmsmac received a real upstream bug fix in February 2026, showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6058557.html", "claim": "brcmsmac also saw 2026 wireless-next cleanup work, indicating ongoing upstream attention and no visible removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BRCMSMAC.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists CONFIG_BRCMSMAC in current kernel series and identifies it as the Broadcom IEEE802.11n PCIe SoftMAC WLAN driver." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Brcmsmac", "claim": "The driver is associated with Broadcom BCM4313, BCM43224, and BCM43225 chips." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Dell_Wireless_1520_%28DW1520%29", "claim": "One representative BCM43224 card dates to 2009-era half-mini-PCIe laptop hardware, supporting the conclusion that this is legacy client hardware rather than a current new-sales platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`ls`/`rg`) showed this directory is the PHY implementation inside the real `brcmsmac` PCIe Wi-Fi driver, with BCM43224/43225 references. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was approximated via `web.search_query` results on spinics/lists mirrors: the 2026 stable fix URL and 2026 wireless-next patch URL show active maintenance and no removal discussion, so `remove`/`deprecate` is not justified. `web.search_query` also returned LKDDb and WikiDevi pages; those identify the driver/chips and point to 2009-2011 mini-PCIe laptop modules, which implies legacy deployments remain but new 2025 sales are unlikely. Because there is still upstream bug-fix traffic but the hardware is old and niche, `keep-annotate` fits best.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1447838662, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770120672, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmutil", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Broadcom brcm80211 utility/helper library subtree, with no standalone driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1447838662, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1685625283, "top_author": "Juhee Kang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/ipw2x00", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 / 2200BG / 2915ABG", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260210021235.16315-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream attention exists in 2026: a targeted fix for an ipw2200 PCI device ID conflict was posted to linux-wireless." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20251120094524.45264-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver family still receives maintenance patches in 2025, here a workqueue API update for ipw2x00." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005602/wireless/legacy-intel-wireless-products.html", "claim": "Intel classifies PRO/Wireless 2200BG and 2915ABG as legacy/discontinued products and shows support only for 32-bit Windows XP/Vista, with no Windows 7+ support." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007443/wireless/legacy-intel-wireless-products.html", "claim": "Intel's regulatory archive shows the PRO/Wireless 2200BG documentation dating back to December 2003, consistent with very old hardware generations." }, { "url": "https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/Pro-Wireless-2200bg-Driver/m-p/344182", "claim": "An Intel-hosted community reply states the PRO/Wireless 2200BG was discontinued in 2009 and had reached end of interactive support." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/wifi/intel/ipw2100.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies ipw2100 as the driver for Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/device_drivers/wifi/intel/ipw2200.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation identifies ipw2200 as the unified driver for Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG and 2915ABG hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: hardware is clearly obsolete and not a 2025 new-deployment part, but lore still shows real upstream maintenance rather than removal. Recent lore evidence came from lore_activity on ipw2200.c and included 2025-11 and 2026-02 linux-wireless patches; lore_file_timeline also showed touches through 2026-03, though many were stable rollups. Intel support pages were obtained via web search/open/find and show these adapters are legacy/discontinued and limited to XP/Vista-era support. The kernel.org doc URLs are canonical recall used to name the supported chipset set. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same chips; newer Intel WLAN parts use iwlwifi, but not these devices. Expected deployments today are low: legacy laptops, hobbyist/retro systems, and occasional long-lived embedded/industrial installs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04767733588587625, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770950568, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlegacy", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG and Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": "iwlwifi", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260327-iwlegacy-gfp-fix-v1-1-b83e4db0bd66@google.com/", "claim": "Upstream still receives direct iwlegacy fixes in 2026; this patch updates 3945-mac allocation GFP handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260326-gfp64-v2-2-d916021cecdf@google.com/", "claim": "A second 2026 iwlegacy 3945-mac fix shows current maintenance attention rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006507/wireless.html", "claim": "Intel lists both Intel WiFi Link 4965AGN and Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG as discontinued products, with self-service support dates of December 31, 2013." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006664/wireless.html", "claim": "Intel feature matrix still documents 4965AGN and 3945ABG as legacy adapter models; 3945ABG is only 802.11a/b/g and 4965AGN is an older 802.11n-era part." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IWL3945.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_IWL3945 to drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlegacy and identifies the supported 3945ABG hardware/module." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IWL4965.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_IWL4965 to drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlegacy and identifies the supported 4965AGN hardware/module." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig read via shell confirmed iwlegacy is the in-tree driver family for Intel 3945ABG/4965AGN. lore_activity on drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlegacy/3945-mac.c produced the cited March 2026 lore URLs, showing active bug-fix traffic and no evidence of an active removal series in the retrieved lore data; that backs off any deprecation/removal recommendation to keep-annotate. Web search found Intel's discontinued-products page and feature matrix, plus LKDDb pages for IWL3945/IWL4965. The hardware is long-EOL and unlikely to appear in new 2025 systems; remaining use is mostly legacy laptops/spares, so deployments are low. `iwlwifi` is the practical successor for newer Intel WLAN hardware, but not a drop-in software replacement for these exact chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0576497642083569, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769518324, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Wi-Fi (iwlwifi: current Intel WLAN generations incl. Wi-Fi 6/6E/7)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.98, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=744fabc338e87b95c4d1ff7c95bc8c0f834c6d99", "claim": "Kernel history shows substantive iwlwifi fixes still landing in 2026, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=687a95d204e72e52f2e6bc7a994cc82f76b2678f", "claim": "Kernel history shows new iwlwifi MLD/Wi-Fi generation work in 2026, consistent with ongoing enablement for current hardware." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation describes iwlwifi as the driver for Intel’s current wireless chips and lists Wi-Fi 7 BE200/BE201/BE202 support." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel marks the BE200 as Launched with Linux support, showing iwlwifi-backed hardware remained a live product line in and beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/wireless/wi-fi-7-series/products.html", "claim": "Intel’s current Wi-Fi 7 product page lists BE200/BE201/BE202 and newer Q4 2025 parts, indicating ongoing new deployments in the same driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module-bearing sources under drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi. lore-http/lei were unavailable here (MCP resources empty; shell lei missing), so upstream activity was grounded from local kernel git history via exec_command, then mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall. Kernel docs URL was obtained via web search/open. Intel product/spec URLs were obtained via web search/open. Evidence points to a heavily maintained, current-shipping Intel WLAN stack with active 2026 fixes/feature work and no natural upstream replacement driver, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 523, "substantive_commits_5y": 512, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768998182, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 241, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/cfg", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel iwlwifi AX/BE plus legacy 1000-9000 series", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-wireless/20250821204455.fae2b42fbbfc.I7fcba97b6424577e49f7295f0c40b7d294ab56d8%40changeid/T/", "claim": "Aug. 21, 2025 iwlwifi-next patch series includes cfg updates for modern families (HR/GF/BZ/SC/DR), showing active upstream development in this area." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-wireless/20250827063332.881e17ff8f6a.Ic6d92997d9d5fad127919d6e1b830cd3fe944468%40changeid/T/", "claim": "Aug. 27, 2025 iwlwifi-fixes thread contains a cfg-related fix restoring 1000-series configurations, indicating even older cfg entries still receive maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documentation says iwlwifi is the driver for Intel's current wireless chips and lists supported Wi-Fi 6E/7 devices including AX210 and BE200/BE201/BE202." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists the Wi-Fi 7 BE200 as launched, Linux-supported hardware, evidence that hardware covered by this cfg subtree is sold new in the 2025-2026 window." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/239215/intel-wifi-6e-ax210-gig-industrial/ordering.html", "claim": "Intel still publishes active AX210 industrial ordering information, showing ongoing new-deployment relevance beyond consumer legacy systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files` and symbol grep) showed this directory is the iwlwifi chipset-configuration subtree, with per-family files from 1000 through AX210 and newer BZ/SC/DR families, not dead helper code. Lore evidence was obtained via web search because `lei` was unavailable in the environment; searches surfaced active 2025 iwlwifi-next and iwlwifi-fixes threads touching cfg-related code, and no removal/deprecation series appeared in those lore results. Deployment evidence came from opening Linux Wireless docs and Intel product/ordering pages via web search/open; those pages show current AX210 and BE200-class devices still marketed and Linux-supported. Recommendation is `keep` because the subtree is actively maintained, covers current shipping Intel Wi-Fi 6E/7 parts, has high real-world deployment, and has no natural replacement separate from iwlwifi itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 176, "substantive_commits_5y": 174, "first_touch_ts": 1498731987, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768998182, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 87, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/dvm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel WiFi Link / Centrino Wireless DVM family (1000/2000/5000/6000 series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi.html", "claim": "The iwlwifi documentation still lists support for Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100/5150/5300/5350, Centrino Advanced-N 6200/6205/6230/6235, Ultimate-N 6300, and Wireless-N 100/1030/105/130/135/2200/2230/1000 devices, matching the DVM-era hardware family." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006507/wireless.html", "claim": "Intel classifies the DVM-era adapters as discontinued products, with self-service support dates concentrated in 2016-2017 for 5100/5150/5300/5350/6200/6205/6230/6235/6300/1000/1030/105/130/135/2200/2230, indicating legacy status rather than current-market hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5748325.html", "claim": "A July 1, 2025 upstream patch fixes iwl_op_mode_dvm_start(), showing that the DVM code still receives real maintenance rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg431755.html", "claim": "A 2025 DVM-specific overflow fix was queued into stable kernels, showing ongoing bug-fix traffic for supported long-term kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this directory is the iwldvm opmode and names DVM configs for Intel 1000/2000/5000/6000-era devices. Local `git -c safe.directory ... log` showed non-treewide DVM fixes in 2025. Web `search_query` found the spinics patch/stable URLs and the Intel/kernel documentation URLs; a lore-focused web search for remove/deprecate hits did not surface an active removal thread. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and only likely present in legacy laptops/embedded fleets, but upstream still fixes it, so `keep-annotate` is stronger than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 82, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757408914, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/fw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `iwlwifi/fw` is an internal firmware-support subdirectory within the iwlwifi driver stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 602, "substantive_commits_5y": 595, "first_touch_ts": 1498731987, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774353353, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 165, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mei", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel iwlwifi with CSME/AMT over WLAN (IWLMEI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/Kconfig", "claim": "`CONFIG_IWLMEI` is a real tristate driver option for Intel Management Engine communication over WLAN; its help text says support starts from Tiger Lake platforms, was tested on 9260 devices only, and currently depends on `BROKEN`." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mei/main.c", "claim": "The directory contains a real MEI client driver (`module_mei_cl_driver(iwl_mei_cl_driver)`) rather than only helper code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mei", "claim": "The directory has continued upstream maintenance through 2024-2025, including bug fixes and SAP version 4 support, which argues against removal for inactivity." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/vpro/vpro-manageability/overview.html", "claim": "Intel was still marketing vPro manageability over wired or Wi-Fi in 2025-era materials, so the underlying enterprise hardware/use case remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/guide/getting-started-with-active-management-technology.html", "claim": "Intel's AMT materials describe wireless-capable Intel adapters on vPro platforms (example AX201), indicating the hardware class is not purely legacy." }, { "url": "https://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/wirelessmanageability.htm", "claim": "Intel's wireless manageability guidance says Linux wireless AMT use is not validated, supporting a conclusion of niche/low Linux deployment despite ongoing hardware relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, confirmed by local shell inspection of `Kconfig` and `mei/main.c` in the kernel tree; local `git log` showed active 2024-2025 work (including SAP v4 support and fixes) and no evidence of an inactive/orphaned subtree. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall corresponding to those locally inspected files/logs. Intel vPro/AMT URLs were obtained by web search and support that the hardware capability is still sold new, but Linux deployment appears low because `CONFIG_IWLMEI` is still `depends on BROKEN` and Intel's wireless AMT guidance says Linux wireless use is not validated. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same CSME-over-WLAN function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1637944307, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757225916, "top_author": "Avraham Stern", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Wi-Fi 7 MLD-capable adapters (BE200/BE201/BE202 class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IWLMLD.html", "claim": "CONFIG_IWLMLD builds module `iwlmld`, is present in current kernel series, and is described as support for firmware of MLD-capable devices." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/3/12/100", "claim": "March 12, 2026 LKML patch touches `drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mld/thermal.c` and explicitly tests `iwlmld` with Intel BE200, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/wireless/wi-fi-7-series/products.html", "claim": "Intel's current Wi-Fi 7 product lineup page lists BE200, BE201, BE202, plus newer R2 BE211/BE213 products, indicating the family is still in active sale/deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel BE200 is marked 'Launched', Linux-supported, and Wi-Fi 7 certified, confirming this driver targets shipping modern hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/Kconfig`, `Makefile`, and `mld.h` shows this is the dedicated `IWLMLD` opmode (`iwlmld`) for MLD-capable Intel devices and explicitly references Wi-Fi 7 features. Local `git log` also shows substantive `mld` fixes through 2026-03-24, consistent with the supplied activity metadata. Lore evidence was gathered via web search/open on LKML; it showed active March 2026 patch traffic touching `mld/thermal.c` and no removal/deprecation discussion in the search results I checked. Deployment evidence was gathered via web open on Intel product pages, which show BE200/BE201/BE202 and newer R2 Wi-Fi 7 parts still marketed; that supports `keep`, with no natural replacement driver because `mld` is itself the current upstream path for these devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 243, "substantive_commits_5y": 233, "first_touch_ts": 1739271588, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774353353, "top_author": "Miri Korenblit", "top_author_commits": 86, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel iwlwifi MVM", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documents iwlwifi as the driver for Intel's current wireless chips and lists Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 devices, including BE200/BE201/BE202; it also notes iwlmvm-specific features." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 as launched in Q3'23 with Linux support, showing hardware covered by this driver family is still a current product." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/wireless/wi-fi-7-series/products.html", "claim": "Intel's Wi-Fi 7 series product page lists multiple current Intel Wi-Fi 7 client adapters, including BE200/BE201/BE202 and newer Q4'25 entries, indicating ongoing new-hardware deployment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm", "claim": "Mainline history for the mvm directory shows it remains under active development rather than retirement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and mvm/ops.c confirmed this is the active IWLMVM opmode driver, not a helper library. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed many 2025-2026 commits in this path and no deprecation/removal-oriented path hits; a lore-targeted web search produced no obvious removal series. URLs for Linux Wireless docs and Intel product pages were obtained via `web.search_query`; the git.kernel.org log URL is a canonical recall stable page matching the local git-history check. Because IWLMVM covers still-sold Intel Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 client parts and upstream activity is heavy, removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1242, "substantive_commits_5y": 1222, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774364628, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 387, "c_file_count": 38, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Wi-Fi PCIe (iwlwifi; legacy 5xxx/6xxx through current AX/BE families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-wireless/20250827063332.881e17ff8f6a.Ic6d92997d9d5fad127919d6e1b830cd3fe944468%40changeid/T/", "claim": "Recent 2025 linux-wireless patch traffic still touches drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie/drv.c, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg878830.html", "claim": "A 2025 stable backport fixes iwlwifi PCIe behavior for 7000/8000-family devices, showing ongoing bug-fix activity for deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 is a launched product with Linux support and an M.2 PCIe interface, so hardware in this driver class was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/wireless/wi-fi-7-series/products.html", "claim": "Intel's Wi-Fi 7 product-family page lists multiple current BE-series products, including Q4'25 launches, supporting continued new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/239215/intel-wifi-6e-ax210-gig-industrial/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel still offers AX210 industrial PCIe-based Linux-supported modules, indicating ongoing OEM/industrial deployment beyond consumer legacy systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg`/`sed` inspection showed `MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(pci, ...)` and a large PCI device table in `pcie/drv.c`. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` (turns 1-2). Lore-visible 2025 patch traffic shows ongoing fixes, and I found no removal/deprecation series in the lore web search. Intel product pages show current Linux-supported PCIe Wi-Fi 6E/7 modules (BE200, AX210 industrial, newer BE-series), so there is no natural upstream replacement driver and current deployments remain substantial.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 346, "substantive_commits_5y": 339, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761661047, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 176, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie/gen1_2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel Wireless 5000-9000/22000 PCIe family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c8a00a6e89ffee419a9190d2af9c75a7afe196d2", "claim": "The directory itself was created in 2025 by an iwlwifi PCIe refactor ('move generation specific files to a folder'), so it is a newly split active transport subtree rather than a long-abandoned legacy leaf." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a38108a23ab558b834d71d542d32c05ab0fb64d4", "claim": "The subtree received a device-specific functional fix in September 2025 ('fix byte count table for some devices'), showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal staging." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/239212/intel-wirelessac-9260-industrial/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel's 9260 Industrial page lists a PCIe/M.2 product with Linux support and marketing status 'Launched', indicating at least part of the hardware cohort covered by this transport was still being sold for new industrial/embedded deployments in 2025." }, { "url": "https://packages.debian.org/bookworm-backports/all/firmware-iwlwifi/filelist", "claim": "Debian's current backports firmware package still ships iwlwifi firmware blobs spanning 5000/6000/7260/7265/8000/9000/9260/Qu families, which is strong evidence of ongoing deployed-user demand across the supported device range." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained commit hashes and subjects via local `git log` on the directory, then cited canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by stable URL pattern recall. Intel and Debian URLs were obtained via web search results. Local source inspection (`drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie/drv.c`, `Kconfig`, and this subtree) shows this is the shared PCIe transport for many Intel Wi-Fi generations, including still-deployed 7260/8260/9260-era hardware. No removal signal surfaced; the evidence points to an actively maintained, still-relevant transport layer, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 41, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1750838252, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767627813, "top_author": "Miri Korenblit", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/intersil/p54", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intersil/Conexant Prism54 softmac (ISL38xx/STLC45xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2008, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250206175114.1974171-33-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream mail still touched p54 code in 2025, indicating the driver is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/p54.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless docs describe p54 as the driver for Prism54 chips and note it covers PCI, USB, and SPI variants." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/P54_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_P54_USB is still present through current kernel series, so upstream still ships this support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/P54_PCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_P54_PCI is still present through current kernel series, confirming continued upstream availability for PCI hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N810", "claim": "A representative SPI deployment target, the Nokia N810, was released in 2007, supporting the view that surviving p54 hardware is legacy-era." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N810_%28nokia-selene%29", "claim": "Current niche community evidence around an old p54spi-class device exists, but it is marked very old and not recommended for future use." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-p54-usb", "claim": "OpenWrt still packaged kmod-p54-usb, suggesting some residual legacy-user demand rather than zero deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and source files shows a real PCI/USB/SPI wireless driver for isl38xx/stlc45xx Prism54 hardware. lore_activity tool returned a 2025 lore URL touching p54usb.c; combined with the provided static summary (21 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2026-01-27), this looks maintained enough to avoid deprecate/remove. Web search found kernel wireless docs and LKDDb pages confirming the driver remains upstream. Web search also found only legacy-era deployment evidence: Prism54 is 802.11g-era hardware, Nokia N810 dates to 2007, and postmarketOS flags that class of device as obsolete; OpenWrt packaging suggests residual but low legacy use. No natural replacement driver covers the same devices, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecating it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06872578815931377, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1447849711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769517794, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/marvell", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Libertas 8xxx, WiFi-Ex (88W/SD/IW41x/89x7), and 88W8xxx/TOPDOG Wi-Fi chipsets", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260226183607.67e71846b59e.I9a24328e3ffcaae179466a935f1c3345029f9961@changeid/", "claim": "`mwl8k.c` was still being updated on linux-wireless in 2026 as part of current wireless stack work, so the subtree is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20251111100733.2825970-3-paweldembicki@gmail.com/", "claim": "`mwl8k.c` received a device-specific functional fix in November 2025, indicating real maintenance rather than only treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/IW416", "claim": "NXP listed IW416 as Active in 2025/2026, with partner modules and Linux-oriented documentation; IW416 maps to `mwifiex` support in Kconfig." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/wireless-connectivity/wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-plus-802-15-4/2-4-5-ghz-dual-band-2x2-wi-fi-5-802-11ac-plus-bluetooth-5-3-solution%3A88W8997", "claim": "NXP listed 88W8997 as Active in 2025, supporting continued new embedded/industrial deployments for `mwifiex`-covered hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `sed` reads of `drivers/net/wireless/marvell/Kconfig` and `mwifiex/Kconfig` show this parent directory is a mixed Marvell wireless subtree: very old Libertas parts plus still-supported MWIFIEX and MWL8K families. `lore_file_timeline` on `mwl8k.c` and `mwifiex/main.c` showed substantial 2025-2026 patch traffic; a `lore_subsystem_churn` path-prefix query returned zero, so I treated file-level lore as the reliable signal. `web.search_query` found official NXP product pages for IW416 and 88W8997 marked Active, which supports ongoing niche embedded deployments. Conclusion: do not deprecate/remove the parent directory, but annotate that it contains mixed-obsolescence hardware and legacy subdrivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13151532055672271, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762857537, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/marvell/libertas", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Libertas 88W8385/8388/8686/8688", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg920579.html", "claim": "A March 2026 stable backport of \"wifi: libertas: fix use-after-free in lbs_free_adapter()\" shows the driver is still receiving upstream/stable bug fixes." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LIBERTAS.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Marvell 8xxx Libertas WLAN driver and shows CONFIG_LIBERTAS present through current 6.x kernels." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/libertastf.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless docs describe `libertas_tf` as a thin-firmware alternative only for the 88W8388 USB device in the OLPC XO-1, not a general replacement for the whole Libertas family." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Libertas", "claim": "Device listings tie `libertas` to older 802.11b/g-era 88W8385/8388/8686/8688 hardware, with documented devices concentrated in the mid-2000s to early-2010s legacy window." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained evidence via shell (`rg` in-tree and `git log` with safe.directory override) plus web search. Local git history showed real 2024-2026 driver-specific fixes and cleanups, and web search found a 2026 stable patch URL but no removal/deprecation thread. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search for CONFIG_LIBERTAS; Linux Wireless docs and WikiDevi URLs were obtained by web search for Libertas/OLPC hardware context. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: maintenance is still active enough to argue against deprecation, but the hardware family appears legacy with only low ongoing deployment and no clear single replacement driver for the full chipset set.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.038904800300121015, "commits_5y": 57, "substantive_commits_5y": 51, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835294, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/marvell/libertas_tf", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell Libertas 88W8388 thinfirm USB WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260407151111.3187826-4-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "linux-wireless saw a 2026 libertas_tf patch ('wifi: libertas_tf: refactor endpoint lookup'), so the driver still receives upstream maintenance and there is no evident removal-only posture." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LIBERTAS_THINFIRM_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this directory to Marvell Libertas 8388 USB 802.11b/g hardware and identifies the supported USB IDs." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/libertas-usb-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships a 'libertas-usb-firmware' package for Marvell 8388/8682 USB firmware, indicating some residual field use." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-extends-leadership-in-consumer-wlan-with-introduction-of-worlds-first-802-11a-g-single-chip-solution-embedding-tcp-ip.html", "claim": "Marvell announced the 88W8388 in January 2005, placing the chipset family firmly in a legacy 802.11a/g generation rather than current new-product deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on the source tree identified this as the thinfirm USB path and showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION '8388 USB WLAN Thinfirm Driver'. `lore_file_timeline` on if_usb.c produced recent 2026 linux-wireless/lkml maintenance patches, which argues against deprecation/removal despite small code size and age. Web search yielded LKDDb for exact hardware IDs, OpenWrt package data for present-day residual deployment evidence, and Marvell's 2005 press release for product-era context. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same 88W8388 thinfirm USB devices, so removal would strand remaining users; recommendation is to keep it but annotate as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1696475930646432, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758703712, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Marvell/NXP 88W8xxx Wi-Fi-Ex FullMAC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6045382.html", "claim": "mwifiex received a functional bug-fix patch in February 2026, showing ongoing upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg263616.html", "claim": "mwifiex had an active 10-patch cleanup series posted to wireless-next in March 2025, indicating real subsystem attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/wireless-connectivity/wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-plus-802-15-4/2-4-5-ghz-dual-band-2x2-wi-fi-5-802-11ac-plus-bluetooth-5-3-solution%3A88W8997", "claim": "NXP listed the 88W8997 supported by mwifiex as Active, so at least part of the chipset family was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/wireless-connectivity/wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-plus-802-15-4/wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-plus-802-15-4-partner-modules%3AWIFI-BLUETOOTH-MODULES", "claim": "NXP still advertises multiple partner modules based on 88W8997 for i.MX and industrial/commercial use, supporting ongoing new embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/mwifiex.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless documents mwifiex as the Marvell 802.11n SDIO/PCIe/USB FullMAC driver, confirming the driver family and supported bus/use-case scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` inspection of sdio.c/usb.c/pcie.c showed active support for SDIO, USB, and PCIe Marvell/NXP 88W8xxx parts including 8787/8797/8801/8897/8977/8997. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed recent 2025-2026 commits. Lore-specific search tooling was unavailable (`lei` missing), so lore history was approximated via web search hits on spinics/lkml mirrors obtained with the web search tool; those show active fixes and cleanup series, not removal work. NXP product/module pages were obtained via web search and show at least 88W8997 remains an active silicon/module ecosystem, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Because upstream activity is current and there is no natural in-tree replacement covering the same FullMAC device family, the driver should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02994102008239215, "commits_5y": 184, "substantive_commits_5y": 172, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771835148, "top_author": "Sascha Hauer", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT76/MT79xx Wi-Fi", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5985773.html", "claim": "January 4, 2026 patch series '[PATCH v3 00/17] wifi: mt76: mt7925/mt792x: comprehensive stability fixes' shows active upstream maintenance on mt76 in 2026, not abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/1/20/898", "claim": "January 20, 2026 LKML follow-up on an mt76/mt7925 patchset shows ongoing review and test traffic in current kernel development." }, { "url": "https://patches.linaro.org/patch/811167/", "claim": "The mt76 family was still gaining new functionality such as MT7925 MLO enablement in 2024, indicating an expanding rather than shrinking driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-880", "claim": "MediaTek markets Filogic 880 Wi-Fi 7 router/AP silicon, corresponding to recent mt76-supported MT7996-class hardware still being sold into new products." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/driver.wlan/mt76", "claim": "OpenWrt documents mt76 as the mac80211-based driver for MediaTek MT7xxx devices, showing active downstream deployment across consumer/embedded networking hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree inspection via shell showed mt76 is the common core for active subdrivers including mt7925 and mt7996, with Kconfig entries for Wi-Fi 7 hardware. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was missing, so lore history was checked via web search results pointing to public mailing-list archives: spinics (2026 mt7925 stability series), LKML (2026 review/build-test traffic), and Patchwork/Linaro (2024 MT7925 MLO series). Web search found no removal/deprecation thread for mt76, while official MediaTek product pages and OpenWrt docs show current hardware and broad real-world deployment. There is no natural upstream replacement driver; mt76 is the maintained in-tree driver family for these chipsets.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 680, "substantive_commits_5y": 669, "first_touch_ts": 1512653755, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773821398, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 223, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7603", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7603E / MT76x8 WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7603/Kconfig", "claim": "In-tree Kconfig scopes this driver to MediaTek MT7603E PCIe devices and the MT7628/MT7688 SoC WLAN core." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/7c96d5ee-86c1-8068-1b58-40db6087a24f@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2024 linux-wireless patch adds an mt7603 debugfs control to work around instability under load, showing active bug-fix attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg260740.html", "claim": "A January 2025 linux-wireless/net patch series still touched mt7603/mac.c, indicating current upstream maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mt7603e", "claim": "MediaTek still documents MT7603E as a Wi-Fi 4 2.4 GHz 2x2 300 Mbps PCIe part, confirming it is older 802.11n-era silicon." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-mt7603", "claim": "OpenWrt continues to ship a dedicated kmod-mt7603 package, indicating ongoing downstream deployment/support." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/e5600", "claim": "Recent OpenWrt device documentation still lists MT7603-based hardware, supporting continued field deployments in consumer routers." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer_c6_v3?s%5B%5D=clock&s%5B%5D=int", "claim": "Another recently maintained OpenWrt device page lists MT7603-based hardware, reinforcing that the chipset remains deployed today." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Shell inspection of local Kconfig/main.c confirmed this is a real driver and its hardware scope; kernel.org tree URL is cited via canonical recall for a stable source. `lei` and lore MCP were unavailable here, so I used lore-targeted web search next: it surfaced the 2024 lore patch for an mt7603 stability fix and a 2025 linux-wireless patch touching mt7603/mac.c, but no removal/deprecation thread. Web search also surfaced current OpenWrt package/device pages showing live downstream use. Conclusion: hardware is old and likely no longer broadly sold new by 2025, but upstream maintenance and present deployments argue to keep it, with annotation that it serves legacy/low-end 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1551180596, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757922590, "top_author": "Felix Fietkau", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7615", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg260711.html", "claim": "A 2025 net patch series still touched mt7615 files (`mt7615/pci.c`, `mt7615/pci_mac.c`), indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-mediatek/2024-May/079127.html", "claim": "A 2024 linux-mediatek patch fixed an mt7615 null-pointer issue, showing real bug-fix traffic on the driver." }, { "url": "https://wiki.banana-pi.org/BPI-MT7615_802.11_ac_wifi_4x4_dual-band_module", "claim": "Banana Pi documents a retail BPI-MT7615 mini-PCIe module, states Linux/OpenWrt support, and links purchase channels." }, { "url": "https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r2-mt7615-5-4-fails-to-load/26854", "claim": "A March 3, 2026 Banana Pi forum post says the user 'ordered a card via aliexpress', which is evidence that new MT7615 modules were still obtainable after 2025." }, { "url": "https://techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Ubiquiti_Networks_UniFi_nanoHD", "claim": "TechInfoDepot lists MT7615-based hardware such as the UniFi nanoHD as OpenWrt-supported with current supported version 24.10.5, suggesting continued real-world deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: mt76/mt7615 contains entry-point code and substantial recent history. Upstream activity was checked via local shell (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) because `lei` was unavailable; the provided static metadata also shows substantive touches through 2025-11-24 with many authors, and web-found mailing-list pages confirm 2024-2025 mt7615 fix traffic. I found no removal/deprecation discussion in web searches of lore-related results, so active maintenance outweighs age. Deployment evidence came from web search results and opened pages: Banana Pi retail/module docs plus a 2026 forum purchase mention show new-stock availability; TechInfoDepot/OpenWrt-facing device pages show MT7615 remains deployed in supported routers/APs. There is no natural replacement driver for the same chips; newer MediaTek parts use other mt76 subdrivers, not a migration target for MT7615 hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 207, "substantive_commits_5y": 199, "first_touch_ts": 1556708638, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763992914, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 88, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7610/MT7630 (MT76x0)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0", "claim": "Upstream is still touching this driver in 2024-2025; local git log for this directory shows substantive mt76x0-related fixes and refactors through 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MT76x0U.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows ongoing mainline support for MT76x0U across current kernel series and a long list of supported USB dongles, indicating the driver still covers real shipping hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MT76x0E.html", "claim": "LKDDb also tracks MT76x0E PCIe support, covering MT7610/MT7630 PCIe devices in mainline kernels." }, { "url": "https://forum.openwrt.org/t/mt7610u-as-ap-with-some-failed-log-flooding/185086", "claim": "OpenWrt users were still deploying MT7610U in 2024, which suggests the hardware remains in hobbyist/embedded use even if no longer mainstream." }, { "url": "https://forum.openwrt.org/t/usb-wifi-stick/133214", "claim": "An OpenWrt deployment thread from 2022 states MT7610U was no longer in production, supporting the view that this is legacy hardware rather than a 2025 new-design choice." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig advertises MT76x0U USB and MT76x0E PCIe support. Upstream attention was established from local `exec_command` git history (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0`), which showed nontrivial touches in 2024-2025; cited kernel.org log URL is the canonical stable page corresponding to that history. `lei` was unavailable and web lore searches for mt76x0 removal terms did not surface a removal series, so there is no evidence to escalate to remove. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: LKDDb pages show many supported retail dongles, and OpenWrt threads show the chipset still being used in 2024 but described as no longer in production in 2022. Net: legacy but still maintained, so keep the driver and annotate it as low-deployment aging hardware rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1533235844, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757922590, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7612/MT7602/MT7662 (MT76x2)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MT76x2U.html", "claim": "Mainline config/documentation still lists MT76x2U support and multiple supported USB device IDs through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MT76x2E.html", "claim": "Mainline config/documentation still lists MT76x2E support for MT7612/MT7602/MT7662 PCIe devices." }, { "url": "https://www.alfa.com.tw/products/awus036acm_1", "claim": "Official ALFA product page shows AWUS036ACM, an MT7612U-based adapter, as a current product with Linux support." }, { "url": "https://docs.alfa.com.tw/Support/Linux/MT7612U/", "claim": "Vendor support page states MT7612U-based products such as AWUS036ACM work with mainline Linux kernel support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile plus module_usb_driver in local source. Upstream activity check used shell fallback because lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed: local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2` showed nontrivial touches in 2024-2025, including new USB IDs (Netgear, TP-Link, LiteOn), so this is maintained rather than abandoned. A web search against `site:lore.kernel.org/all mt76x2 remove/deprecate` returned no results, so I found no removal/deprecation thread. URLs were obtained via web search results; git-history evidence came from shell. Recommendation stays `keep`: hardware is older 802.11ac-era silicon, but still present in new USB dongles and legacy PCIe cards, with no natural upstream replacement driver beyond this mt76x2 implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1538762744, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757922590, "top_author": "Felix Fietkau", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7915 / MT7916 / MT798x Wi-Fi 6/6E", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes MT7915E as support for MediaTek MT7915-based PCIe wireless devices and MT7981/MT7986 built-in WMAC using the same feature set." }, { "url": "https://asiarf.com/product/wifi-6-11ax-m-2-ae-key-mt7915-aw7915-ae1/", "claim": "Commercial product page for an MT7915-based M.2 module showed availability/backorder status in 2025 and a datasheet dated 2025-03-04." }, { "url": "https://524wifi.net/product/wifi6-mediatek-mt7915-4t4r-dual-band-selectable-minipcie-module-ieee-80211ax-24g-5ghz-aw7915-np1-524wifi/", "claim": "Commercial product page for an MT7915-based miniPCIe module showed samples/backorder availability, indicating ongoing new-sales presence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/", "claim": "linux-wireless is the upstream archive checked for removal/deprecation discussion; no obvious MT7915 removal thread was located from the archive/web search pass." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed real driver code with PCI IDs 0x7915/0x7906/0x7916/0x790a and Kconfig coverage for MT7915E plus MT7981/MT7986 WMAC. Local git log (shell, with safe.directory override) showed substantial 2024-2025 fixes/features, consistent with the provided 523 substantive commits and 2025-11-24 recent touch, so this is actively maintained rather than sunset. Web search produced current 2025 commercial MT7915 module listings (AsiaRF, 524wifi), supporting ongoing new deployments. lore lookup via search/web found no concrete removal or deprecation thread; with active upstream churn and still-sold hardware, the defensible recommendation is keep. URLs were obtained via web search, except the kernel.org Kconfig URL and lore archive root which are canonical recall.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 528, "substantive_commits_5y": 523, "first_touch_ts": 1589305955, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763992753, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 151, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7921 (Filogic 320)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6006190.html", "claim": "January 15, 2026 patch series targets mt7921 with stability and mutex fixes, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/3/187", "claim": "July 3, 2025 linux-firmware update for MT7921 WiFi devices shows the platform still receives firmware refreshes." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mediatek/MT7921LEN-B/24633572", "claim": "DigiKey lists the MT7921LEN/B as Active and in stock, indicating new-channel availability of MT7921 silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.mouser.com/newsroom/publicrelations-ezurio-sona-mt320-2024final/", "claim": "Mouser announced and shipped Ezurio Sona MT320 modules built on the MT7921 for industrial IoT applications, indicating ongoing embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/b/boundary-devices/tungsten700-som", "claim": "DigiKey product highlight says Ezurio's Tungsten700 SOM uses a radio based on MediaTek Filogic 320 (MT7921), confirming current integration into shipping embedded compute products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection (`rg --files`, `sed`) confirmed this directory is real mt7921 WLAN driver code with PCIe/SDIO/USB variants in Kconfig. `lei` was unavailable, so upstream activity was checked via `web.search_query`; cited mailing-list URLs were obtained there and spot-checked with `web.open`/`web.find`. Removal-focused web searches surfaced no deprecation/removal thread, while 2025-2026 results showed active fixes and firmware updates. Deployment evidence came from distributor/vendor pages obtained via `web.search_query` and verified with `web.find`; those pages show MT7921 silicon/modules remain active in embedded and component sales channels, so this is not an obsolescent legacy-only driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 451, "substantive_commits_5y": 445, "first_touch_ts": 1611940195, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763992890, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 185, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7925", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7925 (AMD RZ717)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250507053131.4173691-1-allan.wang@mediatek.com/", "claim": "Upstream mt7925 rfkill support patch referenced by Ubuntu SRU activity in July 2025, showing ongoing feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250328055058.1648755-1-shayne.chen@mediatek.com/", "claim": "Upstream dependency series for new mt76 work referenced alongside mt7925 enablement, indicating mt7925 is part of current development." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/1/2/657", "claim": "January 2026 mt7925/mt792x stability-fix series with multiple mt7925 fixes and test coverage on Framework Desktop MT7925 (RZ717), evidence of active upstream maintenance and real deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.necacom.net/index.php/mediatek/mediatek-wi-fi-7-mt7927-mt7925/mediatek-wi-fi-7-mt7927-mt7925-wireless-lan-version-5-5-0-3624", "claim": "May 2025 Windows package page lists MT7925-specific driver release and many OEM PCI subsystem IDs, consistent with contemporary shipping hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.necacom.net/index.php/mediatek/mediatek-wi-fi-7-mt7927-mt7925/mediatek-wi-fi-7-mt7927-mt7925-wireless-lan-version-5-7-0-5275", "claim": "February 2026 package page still lists MT7925/MT7927 Wi-Fi 7 driver support, suggesting the chipset family remains current in new systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig, `sed` on usb.c, `git -c safe.directory log`) shows a real PCIe+USB Wi-Fi 7 driver with recent fixes and a 2023 introduction commit. Direct lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore evidence was obtained indirectly from web results: `web.search_query` found the Jan 2 2026 LKML mt7925 stability series URL and `web.open` on Launchpad activity exposed exact lore.kernel.org patch URLs for 2025 mt7925 rfkill work. `web.search_query`/`web.open` on the NecaCom package pages provided present-day deployment evidence via current MT7925 Windows driver packages and numerous OEM subsystem IDs. No removal/deprecation discussion was found in the accessible lore-targeted searches; combined with 2025-2026 bug-fix and feature traffic, this supports `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 207, "substantive_commits_5y": 204, "first_touch_ts": 1696096985, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772536185, "top_author": "Sean Wang", "top_author_commits": 79, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7996", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek Filogic Wi-Fi 7 PCIe (MT7996/MT7992/MT7990)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7996/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and substantial; the mt7996 directory continues to receive fixes and feature work rather than removal-oriented churn." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7996/pci.c", "claim": "The driver is a real PCI wireless driver and its PCI ID table covers MT7996, MT7992, and MT7990 devices." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/networking-and-connectivity/wifi-7", "claim": "MediaTek still markets its Filogic Wi-Fi 7 family for current consumer, enterprise, broadband, and retail deployments." }, { "url": "https://git01.mediatek.com/plugins/gitiles/openwrt/feeds/mtk-openwrt-feeds/%2B/refs/heads/master/autobuild/autobuild_5.4_mac80211_release", "claim": "MediaTek's OpenWrt feed still lists Filogic880/MT7996 and Filogic860/MT7992 as supported Wi-Fi 7 chipsets, indicating ongoing product and software enablement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Static data already shows 388 substantive commits in 5y with a latest touch on 2026-03-03, which is incompatible with deprecation/removal. I verified live local churn with shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- .../mt7996`, which returned many recent mt7996 fixes. I verified hardware scope with shell `sed` on `mt7996/pci.c`, which shows MT7996/MT7992/MT7990 PCI IDs. `lei` was unavailable, so I could not directly query lore; no removal discussion evidence surfaced from available signals, and web search did not surface lore removal threads. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, corroborated by those shell reads. MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 and MediaTek OpenWrt feed URLs were obtained via web search. This is current Wi-Fi 7 hardware still sold into new router/AP deployments in 2025+, so there is no natural replacement driver and no deprecation basis.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 393, "substantive_commits_5y": 388, "first_touch_ts": 1669912154, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772536185, "top_author": "Lorenzo Bianconi", "top_author_commits": 90, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt7601u", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MT7601U", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260306085144.12064-15-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch updates mt7601u/usb.c rather than removing the driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250615082312.619639-2-quic_rdevanat@quicinc.com/", "claim": "The driver was part of a 2025 wireless-next API support series touching mt7601u/main.c, indicating continued integration work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MT7601U.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_MT7601U as support for MediaTek MT7601U USB wireless dongles and lists recognized device IDs." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-mt7601u", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships a kmod-mt7601u package for MT7601U-based USB dongles, indicating ongoing downstream deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/mt7601u-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships mt7601u firmware, reinforcing that the hardware remains supported in embedded/router distributions." }, { "url": "https://www.walmart.com/ip/2556905909", "claim": "MT7601-based USB Wi-Fi adapters were still being sold as new retail products in recently crawled 2025-era web results." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on mt7601u/main.c and usb.c: sampled activity shows 2025-2026 API/cleanup work, not a removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirmed chipset/device scope; OpenWrt package and firmware pages show current downstream support; Walmart search results show new MT7601 adapters still listed for sale. Conclusion: this is an old, low-end 2.4 GHz USB dongle family with low but nonzero present-day use, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/niche rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.42053863816008435, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1432802000, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1707393512, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/microchip/wilc1000", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Microchip/Atmel WILC1000/WILC3000 Wi-Fi link controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260421135001.343596-3-tristmd@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is active: linux-wireless carried a WILC1000 bug-fix patch on 2026-04-21 ('fix OOB read from firmware RX packet header fields')." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/ATWILC1000", "claim": "Microchip lists the ATWILC1000 module as 'In Production', indicating hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/ATWILC1000-IC", "claim": "Microchip lists the ATWILC1000-IC SoC as 'In Production', indicating current silicon availability." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/ATWILC1000-SD", "claim": "Microchip still offers an ATWILC1000 evaluation kit and describes it as an IoT Wi-Fi add-on for MCU/Linux-style embedded designs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/wifilc", "claim": "Microchip's Wi‑Fi link controller portfolio page still positions the WILC family for embedded Linux designs, showing ongoing deployment relevance rather than pure legacy status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/code showed this directory is a real Atmel/Microchip Wi-Fi driver and that the code handles both WILC1000 and WILC3000 IDs. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/wireless/microchip/wilc1000/wlan.c` showed substantial activity through 2026-04-21, with recent bug-fix traffic and no sampled evidence of removal. Web search surfaced Microchip product, IC, eval-kit, and portfolio pages marking WILC1000 parts as 'In Production' and still marketed for embedded/IoT Linux use. That combination argues for keep: active upstream attention, still-sold hardware, niche but real embedded deployments, and no separate upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01689503327741, "commits_5y": 146, "substantive_commits_5y": 137, "first_touch_ts": 1593150406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774362734, "top_author": "Ajay Singh", "top_author_commits": 38, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/purelifi/plfxlc", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "pureLiFi X/XL/XC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg263545.html", "claim": "March 21, 2025 patch series for plfxlc shows active upstream maintenance, not removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg264968.html", "claim": "April 27, 2025 plfxlc memory-leak fix indicates ongoing bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg410812.html", "claim": "A plfxlc fix was queued into the 6.12-stable tree in May 2025, showing continued support relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PLFXLC.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for pureLiFi X, XL, XC USB adapters and lists recognized USB IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.purelifi.com/support/", "claim": "pureLiFi still publishes a LiFi-XC support portal with latest releases, indicating ongoing fielded product support." }, { "url": "https://www.purelifi.com/knowledge/video-lifi-webinar-introducing-bridge-xc-to-members-of-ukwispa/", "claim": "pureLiFi was actively promoting the Bridge XC product in December 2024 ahead of 2025 deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.purelifi.com/products/bridge-xc/", "claim": "pureLiFi markets Bridge XC as a current product in 2026, supporting the inference that related LiFi hardware remained commercially active through 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection confirmed a real USB mac80211 driver with pureLiFi X/XL/XC USB IDs and firmware loading. Upstream activity evidence was obtained by web search because lore/lei access was unavailable in this session: the 2025 linux-wireless patch threads and stable-commits notice show active maintenance and no removal series. Deployment evidence was obtained by web search on pureLiFi pages: LiFi-XC still has a vendor support portal, and current Bridge XC marketing plus late-2024 webinar material indicate the vendor is still selling/deploying related LiFi products. This looks niche rather than mass-market, so deployments are low, but there is no natural upstream replacement for these USB LiFi adapters.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1650889842, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752841403, "top_author": "Murad Masimov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/quantenna/qtnfmac", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Quantenna QSR1000/QSR2000/QSR10g (Topaz/Pearl) FullMAC Wi-Fi", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20241209130632.132074-11-pstanner@redhat.com/", "claim": "qtnfmac still receives upstream touch in recent kernels; this file was edited in a 2024 treewide managed-PCI cleanup series rather than being abandoned or queued for removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QTNFMAC_PCIE.html", "claim": "Current LKDDb still lists CONFIG_QTNFMAC_PCIE for mainline kernels and identifies supported hardware as Quantenna QSR1000/QSR2000/QSR10g PCIe devices (vendor 1bb5, device 0008)." }, { "url": "https://www.techspot.com/news/57502-asus-lays-claim-to-the-worlds-fastest-wi-fi-80211ac-router.html", "claim": "QSR1000 appeared in consumer routers such as the ASUS RT-AC87 in 2014, indicating the driver targets an older Wi-Fi 5 generation rather than current retail designs." }, { "url": "https://www.everythingrf.com/news/details/1809-10-gbps-802-11ac-8x8-mimo-wi-fi-product-line", "claim": "QSR10G was marketed into residential gateways and access points, supporting a remaining embedded/AP legacy niche rather than broad new 2025 deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source read via shell (`sed` on Kconfig) identifies the family as QSR1000/QSR2000/QSR10g aka Topaz/Pearl FullMAC over PCIe. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/wireless/quantenna/qtnfmac/pcie/pcie.c`; it showed recent activity and no removal-thread evidence surfaced, while a separate `lore_regex` removal scan timed out rather than finding removal mail. Deployment judgment is an inference from web-search results: LKDDb confirms the driver is still built in current kernels, but product evidence found only older Wi-Fi 5-era consumer/router and gateway announcements, suggesting legacy embedded deployments persist at low volume. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Quantenna PCIe FullMAC hardware, so removal would strand remaining users; annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10454770028351504, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1495634653, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763630728, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/quantenna/qtnfmac/pcie", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Quantenna QSR1000/QSR10G (Topaz/Pearl) PCIe FullMAC Wi-Fi", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20240319172634.894327-1-leitao@debian.org/", "claim": "qtnfmac PCIe still received a driver-specific fix in 2024, so upstream attention is sparse but not dead." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20220504163316.549648-4-kuba@kernel.org/", "claim": "The PCIe path was also touched by wireless-next treewide API updates in 2022; no removal discussion is evident from the sampled lore history." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/quantenna/qtnfmac/qtn_hw_ids.h", "claim": "Upstream source names the firmware images as qtn/fmac_qsr1000.img and qtn/fmac_qsr10g.img, identifying the supported hardware family as Quantenna QSR1000 and QSR10G." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantenna", "claim": "Quantenna was acquired in 2019; combined with the lack of an obvious current standalone product line, this points to legacy/niche deployment rather than broad new 2025 sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` showed PCIe driver code and firmware IDs in qtn_hw_ids.h. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no direct path hits; `lore_activity` on pearl_pcie.c/topaz_pcie.c produced 2024 and 2022 maintenance URLs and no removal-series evidence in the sampled history. Kernel tree URL is canonical recall; Wikipedia URL is canonical recall and used only as supporting context for vendor/product legacy status. Recommendation is keep-annotate because hardware looks legacy/niche, but lore still shows occasional upstream fixes rather than abandonment or active removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.39285616642287563, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1538408399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737232729, "top_author": "Breno Leitao", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ralink/rt2x00", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Ralink RT2x00 (RT24xx/25xx, RT27xx/28xx/30xx/33xx/35xx/53xx, plus RT2880/3050/3052/3350/3352/MT7620 WiSoC variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20251027180639.3797-2-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists for rt2x00 in linux-wireless; this 2025 patch touches rt2x00 core code, indicating the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-rt2800-usb", "claim": "OpenWrt still publishes a kmod-rt2800-usb package, showing current downstream deployment/support for RT2x00 USB devices." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/rt2800-usb-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships rt2800-usb-firmware for RT28xx/3xxx USB devices, which is evidence of ongoing field use of these legacy chipsets." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.mediatek", "claim": "OpenWrt's MediaTek/Ralink SoC reference says MT7620 and related older Ralink/ramips SoCs use the rt2800soc driver, indicating surviving embedded/router deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RT2800SOC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RT2800SOC remains present in current kernel series and lists supported WiSoC chips RT2880/3050/3052/3350/3352." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RT2800USB_RT53XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb documents RT2800USB RT53xx support, including RT5370, confirming the driver still covers older Ralink USB chipset families in current kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed from in-tree Kconfig/module structure via shell rg. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on rt2x00dev.c, which returned recent 2025 linux-wireless patches; no removal evidence was found, but subject-only removal searches via lore/lei failed due tool limits, so I did not treat that as positive evidence. Deployment evidence came from web search results on OpenWrt package/docs pages and LKDDb pages. Conclusion: hardware family is legacy and mostly old USB dongles/router SoCs, with low but nonzero real deployments today, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.011093859005800618, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1447849711, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775558092, "top_author": "Shiji Yang", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl818x/rtl8180", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8180/RTL8185/RTL8187SE PCI WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2006, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260115164233.882427146@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives real upstream maintenance activity: a rtl8180 memory-leak fix was backported to stable in January 2026, indicating ongoing bug-fix attention rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8180.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_RTL8180 to Realtek RTL8180L, RTL8185, and RTL8187SE PCI devices and lists many early-2000s retail cards, confirming the family and its legacy PCI/PCMCIA deployment pattern." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-rtl8180", "claim": "OpenWrt still packages kmod-rtl8180, which is evidence of some continuing downstream deployment, but as an optional legacy kernel module rather than mainstream new hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=147189", "claim": "Third-party archived RTL8180L driver packages date to late 2003, which supports the conclusion that the hardware family is from the early-2000s era and not a new-sold 2025 product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` on the tree showed this directory handles RTL8180, RTL8185, and RTL8187SE PCI chips and only station/adhoc 2.4 GHz operation. `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl818x/rtl8180/dev.c` returned January 2026 stable backports, so the code is old hardware but not dead code; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search opened LKDDb and package-index results; LKDDb and the archived 2003 RTL8180L driver page support that the hardware peaked in the mid-2000s and is not still sold new in 2025. OpenWrt packaging suggests residual legacy use, so deployment is best classified as low. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same PCI IDs; newer Realtek drivers are for different chip families.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16382881774706226, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763432989, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl818x/rtl8187", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8187/RTL8187B USB 802.11b/g", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260306085144.12064-17-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Upstream still touches rtl8187 in 2026; recent linux-wireless patch against dev.c was a cleanup, not a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260109112141.029904208@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver received a 2026 stable backport for a real bug fix in rtl8187_rx_cb(), indicating maintained code with active users." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8187.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_RTL8187 as support for Realtek 8187/8187B USB devices and lists mostly older 54 Mbps-era products." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-rtl8187", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships kmod-rtl8187, which is evidence of continued legacy deployment in router/embedded hobbyist use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed from local path and module_usb_driver in dev.c via shell rg. lore_file_timeline on dev.c showed fresh 2026 cleanup and stable bug-fix traffic, with no removal evidence in the returned activity. Deployment looks legacy-but-nonzero: LKDDb page and its old device examples were obtained by web search, and OpenWrt package page was obtained by web search. 'hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false' is an inference from the chipset being 802.11b/g-era USB hardware with only legacy ecosystem evidence, not current mainstream product evidence. No natural in-tree replacement for the same chipset family was found, so replacement_driver=null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1476837744839548, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763696300, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl8xxxu", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8xxx USB 802.11n WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260414062229.21047-2-pkshih@realtek.com/", "claim": "rtl8xxxu still receives upstream fixes in 2026; this patch validates action-frame size in rtl8xxxu_dump_action()." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A2357-0107", "claim": "TP-Link TL-WN821N v5/v6 (RTL8192EU, served by rtl8xxxu) shows substantial modern probe data, indicating some continued field deployment." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A0bda-b711", "claim": "RTL8188GU devices are associated with rtl8xxxu in current kernel support tables, and probes exist on recent systems." }, { "url": "https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/adapter/tl-wn823n/", "claim": "A mainstream rtl8xxxu-served product family (TL-WN823N) is officially listed by TP-Link, though marked End of Life." }, { "url": "https://pixlink.en.made-in-china.com/product/tmGUfhVBsdkr/China-Pix-Link-Custom-Logo-Free-Driver-Rtl8188gu-Wireless-USB-Dongle-WiFi-Adapter.html", "claim": "RTL8188GU USB Wi-Fi adapters were still being offered for sale by manufacturers in 2026, implying new-sale availability persisted through 2025." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Rtl8xxxu", "claim": "rtl8xxxu is the in-kernel mac80211 driver family for Realtek RTL8188/8192/8723-class USB chips." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this is an in-kernel USB WLAN driver for Realtek 802.11n parts. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl8xxxu/core.c returned dense 2024-2026 activity and a 2026 lore URL, with no removal signal in the recent timeline, so this is not an obsolescent dead driver. Web search produced linux-hardware device pages showing current probe activity for rtl8xxxu-supported RTL8192EU/RTL8188GU adapters, and vendor/marketplace pages showing such adapters still sold in 2026. Official TP-Link page also shows at least one mainstream model is EOL, so deployments are best characterized as low rather than medium/high. No single upstream replacement cleanly supersedes rtl8xxxu across its broad USB device set.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05300942207979428, "commits_5y": 179, "substantive_commits_5y": 173, "first_touch_ts": 1445414009, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767168021, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 72, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek rtlwifi 802.11n/early-802.11ac (RTL8192/RTL8188/RTL8723/RTL8821)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260414062229.21047-3-pkshih@realtek.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is still active: Realtek posted an rtlwifi fix in April 2026 touching core code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260223045522.48377-1-duoming@zju.edu.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives bug-fix traffic, including a February 2026 use-after-free fix acked by the wireless maintainer." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL_CARDS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows rtlwifi remains present in current kernel series and covers multiple Realtek PCIe/USB WLAN modules." }, { "url": "https://www.manualslib.com/manual/3067453/Realtek-Rtl8821ae.html", "claim": "RTL8821AE documentation is dated January 28, 2013, indicating this family is from the early-2010s generation." }, { "url": "https://www.walmart.com/ip/1380236008", "claim": "At least some rtlwifi-era hardware (RTL8821AE) was still being sold as new replacement stock in 2025-era retail listings." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection of rtlwifi Kconfig/Makefile shows a bundle of legacy Realtek PCIe/USB parts: mostly 802.11n plus RTL8821AE/8812AE-era 802.11ac, with no in-tree one-for-one successor for the same device IDs, so replacement_driver=null. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no matches, so I used MCP lore_activity on base.c and pci.c instead; those returned 2025-2026 fixes/cleanups and no removal thread, which argues against deprecation. Web search found LKDDb for current kernel presence, a dated RTL8821AE manual showing the family's age, and a 2025-era retail listing showing residual new-old-stock/replacement sales. Net: legacy hardware with low but nonzero ongoing deployment and active upstream fixes, so keep the driver but annotate it as serving mostly old hardware rather than new mainstream designs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06729054884229264, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766467370, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/btcoexist", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains rtlwifi Bluetooth coexistence helper code for Realtek wireless drivers, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770081923, "top_author": "Ethan Nelson-Moore", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8188ee", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8188E/RTL8188EE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touches in 2025; this cited change hit rtl8188ee as part of a rtlwifi cleanup, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment/removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20230614061832.40882-1-dmantipov@yandex.ru/", "claim": "rtl8188ee participated in a 2023 functional rtlwifi cleanup series, showing real subsystem attention within the last few years." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8188EE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies rtl8188ee as the in-kernel driver for PCI ID 10ec:8179 and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A10ec-8179-103c-81bf", "claim": "Recent Linux Hardware probes still report the RTL8188EE in legacy HP notebooks, including a Mint 22.1 result, which is evidence of ongoing but legacy-era deployment." }, { "url": "https://device.report/realtek-semiconductor/rtl8188ee", "claim": "Public certification material describes RTL8188EE as a 1T1R 802.11b/g/n mini-card with an FCC filing date in 2014, consistent with an older laptop Wi-Fi generation rather than a current design win." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module metadata locally confirm a PCIe RTL8188EE 802.11n adapter driver. Lore evidence was obtained via MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `rtl8188ee/sw.c`; recent hits are 2023-2025 maintenance/cleanup patches and I saw no removal-thread evidence in the returned activity, so this is not a `remove` case. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: LKDDb confirms the supported PCI ID and current in-tree status; linux-hardware shows the device still appears in modern distro probes but in older HP/Lenovo-era systems, implying low residual deployment; device.report exposed 2014 certification/manual metadata showing an older 802.11n minicard generation. I infer widespread new-design availability ended around 2017, with remaining 2025 presence mostly as legacy laptop hardware. No upstream replacement driver cleanly supersedes this exact chip family, so `replacement_driver` is null; the practical action is to keep it but annotate it as legacy/maintenance-only.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13783973917711642, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762827021, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192c", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192C/RTL8188C", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192C_COMMON.html", "claim": "CONFIG_RTL8192C_COMMON is still present in current kernels and is the shared module for RTL8192CE/RTL8192CU support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192CE.html", "claim": "The shared code serves RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE PCIe 802.11n adapters and remains listed through current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192CU.html", "claim": "The shared code also serves RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU USB 802.11n adapters, with many supported USB IDs indicating broad historical deployment." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-rtl8192c-common", "claim": "OpenWrt package metadata shows rtl8192c-common was still shipped as a kernel module package in OpenWrt 22.03-era package indexes." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/rtl8192cu-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt package metadata shows rtl8192cu firmware was still shipped broadly across architectures, indicating ongoing legacy deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/297350729034", "claim": "A 2025-era marketplace listing showed new RTL8192CU USB dongles still being sold, supporting low-volume new availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `main.c` and `rtlwifi/Kconfig` identified this directory as common code for Realtek RTL8192C/RTL8188C used by `rtl8192ce` and `rtl8192cu`; there is no standalone entry point because it is a helper/common driver module. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2020-01-01 -- drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192c` showed only sporadic maintenance, with the latest fix in 2023-12-21 and no local evidence of an active removal series. URLs above were obtained via web search tool: LKDDb for current kernel presence/hardware scope, OpenWrt package indexes for ongoing distro packaging, and eBay for current low-volume retail availability. Because maintenance is sparse but not dead, deployments are legacy/low rather than none, and there is no single upstream replacement spanning both CE PCIe and CU USB coverage, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1703169616, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192ce", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250610092240.2639751-1-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream fixes in 2025, e.g. a stack-size warning fix touching rtl8192ce code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250715121721.266713-8-rongqianfeng@vivo.com/", "claim": "The driver also saw 2025 cleanup work across rtlwifi code including rtl8192ce files, indicating it is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192CE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RTL8192CE remains present through current kernel series and covers Realtek RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE PCIe 802.11n adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.manualslib.com/manual/3033255/Realtek-Rtl8192ce.html", "claim": "The RTL8192CE user manual is dated 11 February 2010, anchoring the chipset generation as early 2010-era 802.11n Mini PCIe hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.newegg.com/riitop-pce-300nw-pci-express/p/0XM-00FG-00004", "claim": "A retail adapter using chipset RTL8192CE was still listed for sale new on Newegg, so new-in-box niche availability persisted into the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module-bearing C sources. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on rtl8192ce/hw.c, which returned 2023-2025 patch traffic and no removal-themed subjects in the sampled history; cited lore URLs were taken directly from that tool output. Hardware/deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb for kernel support scope, ManualsLib for the 2010-era product manual, and Newegg for current niche retail availability. Conclusion: old consumer Wi-Fi hardware with low modern deployment, but still seeing upstream fixes and occasional new-stock listings, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.20584816815605386, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752820866, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192cu", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192CU / RTL8188CU USB 802.11n", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "rtl8xxxu", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2025101229-oak-calculate-7f6a@gregkh/", "claim": "`lore_file_timeline`/`lore_activity` for `drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192cu/sw.c` show the driver still received upstream-visible fixes in 2025, including inclusion in Linux 6.17.2 stable." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-rtl8192cu", "claim": "OpenWrt still packaged `kmod-rtl8192cu` for current-ish releases, indicating ongoing embedded/router deployments rather than zero usage." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/rtl8192cu-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt still shipped separate `rtl8192cu-firmware`, reinforcing that the hardware remains supported in deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192CU.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies `CONFIG_RTL8192CU` as the in-tree driver for RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU USB adapters and shows it persists in modern kernels." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8XXXU.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `rtl8xxxu` also supports RTL8192CU devices, making it the natural overlapping replacement/fallback driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl8xxxu/Kconfig", "claim": "In-tree `rtl8xxxu` Kconfig explicitly says it is an alternative driver and lists RTL8192CU among supported chips." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg`/`sed` confirmed `CONFIG_RTL8192CU`, USB probe, and module entrypoints. Upstream attention was checked first with `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `rtl8192cu/sw.c`; those showed nonzero 2022-2025 activity and many 2025 stable backports, but no obtained evidence of an active removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on OpenWrt package indexes (`kmod-rtl8192cu`, `rtl8192cu-firmware`), which suggest legacy embedded use persists. Replacement evidence came from local Kconfig inspection plus the cited canonical kernel.org/LKDDb pages showing `rtl8xxxu` overlaps RTL8192CU support. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the hardware is old and likely not meaningfully new-sold by 2025, but upstream bug-fix traffic and downstream packaging argue against deprecation/removal now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0952167142802584, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765788310, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192d", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192D", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e1b6b5af5d17", "claim": "The rtl8192d common code still receives upstream fixes as of 2026-03-08, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment or pending removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6b39cc01af66", "claim": "A rtl8192de follow-up fix landed on 2025-02-06, reinforcing that this hardware family still gets bug-fix attention upstream." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=59ea089dcba3", "claim": "In 2024 the rtl8192d common code was extended to support the new rtl8192du driver, showing the directory remains part of maintained functionality." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192DE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RTL8192DE is still present through current kernel series and identifies this family as RTL8192DE/RTL8188DE 802.11n PCIe hardware." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A0bda-8193", "claim": "Linux-Hardware shows at least some present-day probe activity for RTL8192DU on modern Linux, supporting a low-but-nonzero deployment estimate for the RTL8192D family." }, { "url": "https://www.rtl-drivers.eu/realtek-pdf-datasheet-for-rtl8192.html", "claim": "A public mirror of the RTL8192DE datasheet identifies a 2011-era RTL8192DE product, consistent with this being long-obsolete 802.11n hardware not still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: shared code for rtl8192de/rtl8192du. Chipset family identified from local `rg` hits and module description in this tree. Upstream activity was checked via shell `git -c safe.directory=... log`; commit URLs were then formed as canonical kernel.org commit pages from the hashes returned. `lei` was unavailable, so lore-specific querying could not be used; no removal signal was found in reachable evidence, while 2025-2026 fixes argue against deprecate/remove. Deployment evidence came from web search results for LKDDb, Linux-Hardware, and a public datasheet mirror. Conclusion: legacy 2011-era 802.11n hardware, still occasionally deployed, no clear replacement driver for the same chips, so keep the code but annotate as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1714617547, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1717034761, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192de", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192DE/RTL8188DE PCIe 802.11n", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/69c4358a-6fbf-4433-92a6-341c83e9dd48@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver saw substantial linux-wireless work in 2024, including a large code-move/refactor touching rtl8192de rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver was still being touched upstream in 2025 as part of rtlwifi maintenance/cleanup work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192DE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_RTL8192DE as the in-tree driver for Realtek RTL8192DE/RTL8188DE PCIe wireless adapters and shows it remains present in current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://usermanual.wiki/Realtek-Semiconductor/RTL8192DE", "claim": "Realtek's RTL8192DE mini-card user manual is dated 2011 and describes the part as a PCIe 802.11a/b/g/n half mini-card client device, indicating an early-2010s product generation." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Rtl8192de", "claim": "DeviWiki mirrors show RTL8192DE reference designs and associated devices with FCC dates in 2011-2012, consistent with legacy laptop-era deployment rather than new mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local code inspection via exec_command showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'Realtek 8192DE 802.11n Dual Mac PCI wireless' and PCI IDs in sw.c, confirming a PCIe Wi-Fi driver. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on rtl8192de/sw.c, which showed 2023-2025 touches and produced the cited lore URLs; the visible traffic is cleanup/refactor/maintenance, not a removal series, so removal/deprecate is not supported. Deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDb confirms current kernel support, while the 2011 Realtek manual and DeviWiki mirror place the hardware in the early-2010s 802.11n half-mini-PCIe era. I infer the hardware is still present mostly in legacy laptops/repair stock, with low current deployments and no clear same-hardware replacement driver upstream; exact 'last widely available year' is too uncertain to state confidently, so null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16671517906292493, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753340731, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192du", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192DU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/974933/", "claim": "Lore-mirrored patch series shows rtl8192du was upstreamed in May 2024, so this is a recently added mainline driver rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg250998.html", "claim": "Review thread for enabling rtl8192du discusses testing and limitations, indicating active upstream bring-up rather than removal planning." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/mail20.html", "claim": "Linux Wireless archive index includes the October 2024 rtl8192du USB-ID fix thread, showing post-merge maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192DU.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_RTL8192DU in mainline kernels 6.11 onward and identifies supported USB IDs, confirming current upstream presence." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Planex_GW-USFang300", "claim": "Documented RTL8192DU devices are USB 2.0 802.11n adapters from the 2011-2012 era, supporting the view that the hardware family is old." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A050d-110a", "claim": "linux-hardware still has recent probe data for an RTL8192DU-based Belkin adapter on modern kernels, suggesting residual but limited deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a phase-1 early exit: local source inspection via exec_command showed a real module_usb_driver-based USB WLAN driver with many supported IDs. Upstream activity was checked first: exec_command git log showed 2024 introduction and 2024/2025 follow-up fixes; web search then surfaced lore mirrors on LWN and spinics, with no removal/deprecation thread found. Deployment evidence came from web-found LKDDb, WikiDevi, and linux-hardware pages: the chipset maps to circa-2011/2012 Wi-Fi 4 USB dongles, still seen occasionally on current systems but not plausibly a 2025 new-sales platform. That supports keeping the driver, but annotating it as legacy/low-deployment hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1717034984, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746408000, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192ee", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192EE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2025; rtl8192ee/sw.c was touched by a linux-wireless patch in May 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20231016135925.129223-1-dmantipov@yandex.ru/", "claim": "The directory saw substantive linux-wireless refactoring work in 2023, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192EE.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_RTL8192EE to PCI ID 10ec:818b and shows the driver remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Rtl8192ee", "claim": "Known RTL8192EE products are older 802.11n-era devices such as TP-LINK TL-WN881ND v2.x and Rosewill RNX-N250PCEv2, with dated hardware references from the 2013-2018 period." }, { "url": "https://support.lenovo.com/ai/en/downloads/ds104046/", "claim": "Lenovo still hosts Windows support for RTL8192EE/RTL8723BE on older ThinkCentre systems, suggesting legacy installed-base usage rather than current-platform design wins." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel inspection via shell showed this is a real PCI mac80211 driver for Realtek PCI ID 10ec:818b and 802.11n only. lore_file_timeline on rtl8192ee/sw.c returned 12 touches in the last 5 years, including 2025 linux-wireless activity, so there is ongoing maintenance and no evidence here of an active removal push. A lore_regex removal query timed out and a lei query was blocked by the sandbox, so absence of removal discussion is inferred from the successful lore timeline plus current tree presence, not from exhaustive thread search. Web search surfaced LKDDb, DeviWiki, and Lenovo support pages; those point to old 802.11n client hardware and legacy OEM systems, not active 2025 retail deployment. Conclusion: keep the driver but annotate as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19745982777613907, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752820866, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8192se", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8192SE/RTL8191SE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "linux-wireless saw a 2025 patch touching rtl8192se as part of rtlwifi maintenance, showing the driver still receives upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250311145715.445190759@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A rtl8192se-specific firmware-loading fix was backported to stable in March 2025 and carried Ping-Ke Shih's Acked-by, indicating ongoing bug-fix relevance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8192SE.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_RTL8192SE as support for Realtek RTL8192SE/RTL8191SE PCIe 802.11n adapters and lists the supported PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=pci%3A10ec-8172-10ec-8172", "claim": "linux-hardware shows the RTL8191SEvB/rtl8192se device still appears in modern user probes, but as legacy notebook hardware rather than new platforms." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Rtl8192se", "claim": "DeviWiki mirrors the chipset family as in-kernel support for RTL8191SE/RTL8192SE, consistent with an older 802.11n-era PCIe laptop WLAN part." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via exec_command/rg: module_pci_driver in sw.c plus PCI IDs 10ec:8192/8171/8172/8173/8174. lore_activity on sw.c returned 2025 linux-wireless maintenance and 2025 stable backports, so this is not abandoned and I found no positive evidence of an active removal series within the tool budget; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search found LKDDb for exact hardware scope, linux-hardware for present-day field sightings, and DeviWiki for chipset family context. The hardware looks commercially obsolete: 802.11n-only mini-PCIe laptop WLAN silicon from the early 2010s, with current sightings confined to old systems; the 2012 date is an inference from that era/profile rather than a direct vendor EOL notice. No upstream replacement driver covers the same chipset, so replacement_driver is null; keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2073001922289133, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753340731, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723ae", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723AE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver still saw upstream maintenance in 2025 via a rtlwifi-wide constification patch touching rtl8723ae." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20241018055651.21166-1-pkshih@realtek.com/", "claim": "Realtek-maintainer traffic touched rtlwifi in 2024, indicating the subsystem is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8723AE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_RTL8723AE remains present through current kernel series and identifies RTL8723AE as a PCIe 802.11n device supported by module rtl8723ae." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=5vcp6", "claim": "Dell's OEM RTL8723AE driver package is from October 18, 2013, which points to an early-2010s laptop/OEM lifecycle rather than current new-device sales." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Rtl8723ae", "claim": "Device examples and FCC dates cluster around 2011-2012, consistent with legacy laptop-era hardware still potentially deployed but not newly mainstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module_pci_driver in local source (`exec_command` rg). Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on rtl8723ae/sw.c; it shows recent 2024-2025 maintenance but no removal signal, and my removal-search attempts via `lore_regex` timed out rather than finding a removal thread. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: LKDDb shows current kernel support, Dell OEM page dates the product generation to 2013, and DeviWiki lists 2011-2012-era hardware. Conclusion: legacy hardware with low present-day deployments, but ongoing upstream bugfix/cleanup activity means deprecate/remove would be premature; keep it, but annotate as old hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19383397433651867, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752820866, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723BE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/2c3f3d8d8b2f7dcb8cc64cebe89e55720d1d733d.1747500351.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver directory still received upstream maintenance touches in 2025, showing it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20231116041834.8310-2-jhp@endlessos.org/", "claim": "The driver saw a chipset-specific functional fix in late 2023 (ASPM quirk for RTL8723BE on some Intel bridges), indicating real bug-fix traffic rather than only dead code churn." }, { "url": "https://manualmachine.com/datasheet/rtl8723be/11319611-datasheet-realtek-semiconductor/", "claim": "RTL8723BE is a highly integrated 1T1R 2.4 GHz 802.11n PCIe WLAN plus Bluetooth 4.0-era combo part, indicating an older pre-802.11ac/ax laptop chipset family." }, { "url": "https://www.walmart.com/ip/18718010372", "claim": "Replacement RTL8723BE cards were still being sold as new retail stock in 2026, but marketed mainly as spare parts for older HP systems rather than current platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_file_timeline` on rtl8723be/sw.c returned 2023-2025 activity with no removal discussion, including a 2025 constification patch and a 2023 RTL8723BE-specific ASPM fix. Local `rg` on rtlwifi Kconfig/Makefile confirmed this is a distinct PCIe 802.11n adapter driver. Web search found an old RTL8723BE datasheet and a current retail replacement-card listing; together they indicate 2013-era hardware still sold in repair channels, but no sign of meaningful new-platform deployment. Hence `keep-annotate`: legacy hardware, low current deployment, but still maintained and not under active removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.20584816815605386, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752820866, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723com", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723A/RTL8723B rtlwifi common code", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://msgid.link/20231219065739.1895666-11-suhui@nfschina.com", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance existed in late 2023 for rtl8723_common, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230824062339.1885385-1-ruanjinjie@huawei.com", "claim": "Another 2023 rtl8723 common-code cleanup landed upstream, showing at least occasional maintenance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8723AE.html", "claim": "rtl8723ae remains present in current kernel configuration data and maps to Realtek RTL8723AE PCIe hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8723BE.html", "claim": "rtl8723be remains present in current kernel configuration data and maps to Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/312126970023", "claim": "New-old-stock RTL8723BE modules were still being sold as new in 2025, suggesting residual replacement-part availability rather than mainstream new deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `git log` on the directory showed only two substantive touches since 2021, both in 2023, and exposed the cited msgid/lore URLs. Web search found LKDDb pages confirming current in-tree support for rtl8723ae/rtl8723be, and found no lore results indicating an active removal series. Web search also found a 2025 eBay new-stock listing, which supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` but only as low-volume replacement stock. This directory is shared common code for legacy 802.11n PCIe parts still present in older laptops, so removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/low-activity instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1703169617, "top_author": "Su Hui", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8821ae", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8821AE/RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260407123427.14612-1-chelsyratnawat2001@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of April 7, 2026 the driver still receives upstream cleanup patches specific to rtl8821ae, indicating maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20241018055651.21166-1-pkshih@realtek.com/", "claim": "A Realtek maintainer touched rtlwifi in October 2024 to declare firmware usage, showing recent subsystem attention." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A10ec-8821-17aa-a814&page=5", "claim": "linux-hardware shows RTL8821AE appearing in recent Linux probes, including Ubuntu 24.04 on Lenovo laptops, so there are still fielded legacy deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.everythingrf.com/products/wireless-soc-s/realtek/787-969-rtl8821ae", "claim": "The part is an older 802.11ac/abgn PCIe WLAN plus Bluetooth 4.0 controller for PC/notebook use, consistent with a mid-2010s laptop chipset rather than current designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`lore_activity` on rtl8821ae/hw.c and sw.c showed 2024-2026 traffic, including dead-code and firmware-declaration cleanups, but no driver-removal series; one attempted `lore_regex` removal search timed out and was not retried. `web.search_query` found linux-hardware evidence of ongoing legacy laptop use and an everythingRF product page describing the chipset generation/application. Conclusion: old consumer laptop Wi-Fi with remaining installed base and ongoing janitorial maintenance, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/aging rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16671517906292493, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1444818790, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753340731, "top_author": "Ilpo Järvinen", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723/8821/8822/8812/8814 Wi-Fi 5 family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88", "claim": "Mainline history for the rtw88 directory shows ongoing upstream maintenance, including fixes and new device-ID additions into 2026." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/Kconfig", "claim": "The in-tree Kconfig covers a broad set of Realtek 11ac-era chips and bus variants: PCIe, SDIO, and USB for 8723/8821/8822/8812/8814 parts." }, { "url": "https://www.alfa.com.tw/products/awpcie-1900u", "claim": "ALFA still markets a Linux-capable product using the RTL8814AU chipset, indicating at least part of the rtw88 hardware family remains sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.alfa.com.tw/products/awus036eacs_1?variant=40322879651912", "claim": "ALFA still markets a new RTL8821CU USB adapter, another chipset covered by rtw88." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=x9kwn", "claim": "Dell published an RTL8821CE/RTL8822CE driver package on April 13, 2025, showing continuing OEM support and installed-base relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained support matrix from shell `rg` over local rtw88 Kconfig/Makefile, and recent activity from shell `git log` on the local tree; cited canonical kernel.org log/tree URLs by canonical recall. Retail/OEM deployment evidence came from web search results for ALFA RTL8814AU and RTL8821CU product pages and Dell's 2025 RTL8821CE/RTL8822CE driver page. The driver is active, spans multiple still-deployed 802.11ac Realtek families, and has no single in-tree replacement, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 376, "substantive_commits_5y": 367, "first_touch_ts": 1556642617, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769517740, "top_author": "Bitterblue Smith", "top_author_commits": 98, "c_file_count": 56, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8851/RTL8852/RTL8922 Wi-Fi 6/6E/7", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89", "claim": "Upstream directory is actively maintained rather than sunsetted; the provided snapshot metadata also reports 1692 substantive commits in the last 5 years with most recent touch on 2026-01-30." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig covers multiple current Realtek Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 parts in this driver family, including 8851BE, 8852AE/BE/CE/CU, and 8922AE." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTW89.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows rtw89 is present across current kernel series and binds multiple Realtek PCI/USB device IDs, indicating broad active hardware coverage rather than a legacy-only niche." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTW89_8922AE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows support for Realtek 8922AE/8922AE-VS Wi-Fi 7 hardware in kernels 6.10+ and 6.14+, evidence that the driver is still expanding to new chipsets." }, { "url": "https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion/database/network-adapters/realtek/8922ae-wifi-7-pci-e-nic/", "claim": "Third-party driver index lists many 2025 and 2026 Windows packages and OEM subsystem IDs for the Realtek 8922AE Wi-Fi 7 NIC, consistent with current OEM deployment and new-system sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, confirmed by local shell reads of rtw89 Kconfig and module/device-table entries. No removal/deprecation evidence surfaced: the prompt already shows very high recent upstream activity, and web lore searches did not surface an active removal series. Source acquisition: two kernel.org URLs by canonical recall for the stable git log/tree pages; LKDDb pages from web search results turn0search1 and turn0search0; deployment evidence from web search result turn1search0. Because rtw89 now covers current Wi-Fi 6/6E and even Wi-Fi 7 Realtek parts, there is no natural replacement driver; recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1702, "substantive_commits_5y": 1692, "first_touch_ts": 1634104872, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769752579, "top_author": "Ping-Ke Shih", "top_author_commits": 692, "c_file_count": 58, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/rsi", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Redpine Signals / Silicon Labs RS9113 and RS9116 (RSI 91x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260421134916.317971-6-tristmd@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current in 2026; the driver received a v3 bug-fix patch for an SDIO RX-path OOB read on 2026-04-21." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20260415222307.1537309-6-tristmd@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver is still getting non-mechanical fixes in 2026, including a fix for an infinite loop triggered by malformed firmware packets." }, { "url": "https://www.silabs.com/wireless/wi-fi/rs9116-wi-fi-ncp-socs/device.rs9116w-sb00-qms", "claim": "Silicon Labs still marketed RS9116 parts and states full production of RS9116W-SB00-QMS is expected until at least December 2032, so hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.silabs.com/wireless/wi-fi/rs9116-wi-fi-transceiver-socs", "claim": "Silicon Labs lists RS9116 hosted-mode Wi-Fi/Bluetooth SoCs with Linux host-driver support, indicating continuing embedded/industrial deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/rsi/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig identifies this directory as the Redpine Signals 91x WLAN driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` on the tree showed Redpine/Silabs RSI 91x support and RS9113/RS9116 identifiers in Kconfig/headers. `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/wireless/rsi/rsi_91x_main.c` returned multiple April 2026 bug-fix patches with lore URLs, which is strong evidence against deprecation/removal. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, likely a directory-path coverage blind spot rather than inactivity. Web search returned official Silicon Labs RS9116 product pages showing ongoing sale/lifecycle through at least December 2032. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same vendor-specific firmware interface, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03518478147884902, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 48, "first_touch_ts": 1395078712, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772449563, "top_author": "Wu Yunchuan", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/silabs/wfx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Silicon Labs WF200 / WFM200 / WGM160P (WFx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/wireless/wireless-next/%2B/2112519bdf05685c603c62bf633ab1c8f0edd3c6", "claim": "Wireless-next carried a wfx-specific change committed on 2025-11-20 ('wifi: wfx: add WQ_PERCPU to alloc_workqueue users'), showing recent upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250221112003.1dSuoGyc@linutronix.de/", "claim": "Lore link referenced from the 2025 wireless-next wfx commit; supports that the driver is still part of active upstream discussion rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.silabs.com/wifi/wf200/rtos/latest/index", "claim": "Silicon Labs still publishes current WF200/WFM200 documentation and explicitly ties the Wi-Fi FMAC driver to WF200, WFM200, and WGM160P devices." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/silicon-labs/WF200SD/13402014", "claim": "WF200SD was listed by DigiKey in 2026 as Part Status 'Active' with stock, indicating ongoing new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/silicon-labs/WF200SCR/9749172", "claim": "Some WF200 variants are marked 'Not For New Designs', suggesting the family is niche/maturing rather than broadly growing." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `rg` confirmed this is a real Linux mac80211 driver with SDIO/SPI buses and MODULE_DESCRIPTION for WF200. Upstream activity was checked first with local `git log` plus web-opened wireless-next commit pages; the most recent substantive wfx touch is in late 2025, and I found no web-search evidence of an active lore removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search results: Silicon Labs still documents the family, and DigiKey still lists at least one WF200 SKU as Active/in stock in 2026, though other SKUs are NFND. That points to continued but specialized industrial/embedded use, so keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1649227934, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763630746, "top_author": "Jérôme Pouiller", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/st/cw1200", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson CW1100/CW1200 WLAN", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20240129194108.6d0ead50f5cf.I60d093b2fc81ca1853925a4d0ac3a2337d5baa5b@changeid/", "claim": "CW1200 still receives upstream linux-wireless maintenance as part of mac80211 API adaptation work in 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/174393725364.2346949.10226564772591697824.tglx@xen13/", "claim": "CW1200 was still touched by treewide kernel maintenance in 2025, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/cw1200.html", "claim": "Kernel wireless documentation identifies cw1200 as the driver for ST-Ericsson CW1100/CW1200 WLAN chipsets over SDIO or SPI." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/CW1200_WLAN_SDIO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver is for SDIO-attached CW1200 hardware and remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NovaThor", "claim": "NovaThor/ST-Ericsson mobile platforms using this wireless generation were a 2011-2013 smartphone era product line, indicating no meaningful new-hardware market in 2025." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Ace_2_%28samsung-codina%29", "claim": "There is still niche contemporary community deployment on old NovaThor phones via postmarketOS/mainline, implying legacy-user demand rather than new-device demand." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `exec_command` on local Kconfig confirmed ST-Ericsson CW1100/CW1200 over SDIO/SPI. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/net/wireless/st/cw1200/main.c produced the cited lore URLs showing recent 2024-2025 upkeep but no clear removal thread. `web.search_query` produced the wireless docs, LKDDb, Wikipedia NovaThor, and postmarketOS URLs. Conclusion: hardware is commercially obsolete and legacy-only, but upstream attention is still active enough that removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/low-deployment instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.039769427230611575, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772535651, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl1251", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI WiLink wl1251", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WL1251.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_WL1251 still present in current kernel series and identifies this as TI wl1251 hardware support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WL1251_SPI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver still builds for SPI-connected wl1251 devices in current kernel heads." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WL1251_SDIO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the driver still builds for SDIO-connected wl1251 devices in current kernel heads, indicating ongoing upstream retention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20250328122519.1946729-4-quic_rdevanat@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Lore metadata query on touched_files matched wl1251 main.c in a 2025 wireless-next series, showing the driver is still touched by current upstream work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5996634.html", "claim": "A 2026 wl1251 patch replacing deprecated strncpy usage shows continued maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5733563.html", "claim": "A 2025 wl1251 dead-code cleanup series indicates codebase pruning, but not full driver removal." }, { "url": "https://pandorawiki.org/WiFi", "claim": "Pandora Wiki documents wl1251 as the Wi-Fi device in OpenPandora, evidence of remaining niche legacy deployments." }, { "url": "https://leste.maemo.org/Nokia_N900", "claim": "Maemo Leste lists the Nokia N900 with WL1251 and current kernel support, evidence of ongoing hobbyist/retro-device use rather than new-product deployment." }, { "url": "https://e2e.ti.com/support/wireless-connectivity/wi-fi-group/wifi/f/968/t/34619", "claim": "TI forum discussion describes WL1271-era parts as not available through distributors and only for high-volume OEMs, supporting the conclusion that this product family is long past normal new-retail availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`sed`/`rg`) confirmed this is a real mac80211 driver for TI wl1251 with SPI and SDIO variants. Lore-first evidence: `lore_activity`/`lore_eq` showed recent upstream touches to wl1251 files in 2025; a direct `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, likely due path-index granularity. A lore removal-regex attempt timed out, so I did not retry the same query; web search then found only dead-code cleanup and API-modernization patches, not a removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search hits for LKDDb, Pandora Wiki, Maemo Leste, and TI forum pages. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely not sold new in 2025, deployments are niche/low, but upstream still sees enough real maintenance that `deprecate` would be too aggressive; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.024758028372749014, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1334209435, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774362751, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl12xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI WiLink 6/7 (WL127x/WL128x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20241106170706.38922-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch exists in late 2024, but it is a small treewide driver-API maintenance change rather than feature work or removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20230912171249.755901-1-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "Another recent wlcore/wl12xx change in 2023 was platform remove-callback API churn, again indicating build-maintenance rather than active hardware evolution." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-wl12xx", "claim": "OpenWrt still ships a current kmod-wl12xx package, which is evidence of some continuing legacy deployment and support need." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/wl12xx-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt also still ships wl12xx firmware, supporting the view that deployed systems still exist even if they are no longer mainstream." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/WLS1271L/583-1190-1-ND/2812777", "claim": "A representative WL1271-based module is marked Obsolete and no longer manufactured, supporting that this family is not still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/about-ti/newsroom/news-releases/2011/2011-07-11-ti-introduces-simple-to-use-openlink--bluetooth--and-wi-fi--connectivity-inside-the-wilink--6-0-solution-for-am18x-sitara--arm--microprocessors.html", "claim": "TI’s own 2011 announcement identifies WL1271 as the WiLink 6.0 solution, grounding the chipset-family naming and showing the product’s age." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory; local source inspection via exec_command shows wl12xx platform-driver code for wl127x/wl128x under TI wlcore. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl12xx/main.c and shows touches through 2025, but the visible recent work is treewide/API maintenance, not a removal series. A lore_regex subject search for removal talk timed out once; per instructions I did not retry the same query, and I found no positive removal evidence. Deployment evidence came from web search hits for current OpenWrt kmod/firmware package pages, which suggest surviving legacy embedded use. Hardware-sales evidence came from web search to DigiKey showing a WL1271-based module as obsolete; combined with TI’s 2011 WiLink 6.0 announcement, this points to old hardware with low but nonzero field presence. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.26996639049565985, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1334209435, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753340731, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl18xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI WiLink 8 (wl18xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/E1sBsyC-00E8w0-Rz@rmk-PC.armlinux.org.uk/", "claim": "Upstream wl18xx saw substantive linux-wireless work in 2024, including firmware-status support, so the driver is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20241106170706.38922-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "wl18xx was still being mechanically updated with core driver-API changes in late 2024, indicating it remains part of maintained code paths rather than a removal target." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/WL1837MOD", "claim": "TI lists WL1837MOD (WiLink 8) as ACTIVE and orderable, showing wl18xx-class hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/WL1837MOD/part-details/WL1837MODGIMOCT", "claim": "TI's part-detail page shows active commercial availability for a WL1837MOD orderable part." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/wl18xx-firmware", "claim": "OpenWrt publishes a wl18xx firmware package, which is evidence of ongoing real-world embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl18xx` is a real kernel driver directory; local Kconfig identifies it as TI WiLink 8 support. I used `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/net/wireless/ti/wl18xx/main.c`, which showed 2022-2024 activity including a substantive 2024 wl18xx feature patch and no removal-thread evidence in the returned history. I attempted `lore_regex` and `lei` for removal/deprecation discussion; `lore_regex` timed out and `lei` could not start in the sandbox, so I did not rely on them. I used web search to obtain the TI product and part-detail URLs showing WL1837MOD marked ACTIVE/orderable, plus the OpenWrt package URL showing wl18xx firmware still shipped. Net: aging 802.11n embedded hardware with low-volume industrial use, but still sold and still seeing upstream maintenance; no natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same chips.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15408644068635183, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1338900844, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761809917, "top_author": "Russell King (Oracle)", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/ti/wlcore", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "TI WiLink wl12xx/wl18xx (including WiLink 8 / WL18xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260413155820.590973050@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Recent wlcore fix mail on the stable lists in April 2026 shows the driver is still receiving real upstream maintenance/backports." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/WL1807MOD", "claim": "TI lists WL1807MOD as ACTIVE and orderable, indicating wlcore-supported hardware was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/WL1837MOD", "claim": "TI lists WL1837MOD as ACTIVE and orderable; this is a current industrial WiLink 8 module with Linux support, supporting continued embedded deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of wlcore/Kconfig identified this as the common TI WLAN core for multiple chip families; in-tree references show wl12xx and wl18xx integration. lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/wireless/ti/wlcore/main.c showed activity from 2021-05-19 through 2026-04-18 with many touches, and yielded the cited stable patch URL (tool: lore_file_timeline). TI WL1807MOD/WL1837MOD product pages were obtained via web.search_query and both show ACTIVE/orderable status, so the hardware is not purely legacy. Removal-discussion checking was attempted with lore_regex (timed out) and lei (sandbox daemon socket blocked), so the recommendation leans primarily on strong maintenance plus active product evidence; current deployments look embedded/industrial rather than mass-market, hence low rather than medium/high.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023724451357293962, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1334209436, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773821106, "top_author": "Minghao Chi", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/virtual", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Virtual Wi-Fi test/emulation drivers (mac80211_hwsim, virt_wifi)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers/mac80211_hwsim.html", "claim": "mac80211_hwsim is a software simulator used to test mac80211 and userspace Wi-Fi tools without real hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MAC80211_HWSIM.html", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes MAC80211_HWSIM as a simulated radio testing tool, not a normal end-user WLAN driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6134214.html", "claim": "There was active upstream patch traffic for mac80211_hwsim in April 2026, indicating current maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://mininet-wifi.github.io/", "claim": "Mininet-WiFi still depends on the 80211_hwsim/mac80211_hwsim simulation driver for virtual Wi-Fi stations and APs." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/cuttlefish/%2B/d19ce5feb4b0c17957be8f876b2d2287683eea13/shared/device.mk", "claim": "Android Cuttlefish still ships both mac80211_create_radios support and a virt_wifi configuration path, showing present-day VM/emulator deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig/C sources) shows this directory contains virtual/test drivers, not physical chip support; MAC80211_HWSIM is explicitly for testing and VIRT_WIFI wraps Ethernet as Wi-Fi. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/net/wireless/virtual` showed many 2025-2026 substantive fixes/features, with no evident removal trend. Web search found current Linux Wireless docs and LKDDb pages confirming the non-hardware test/emulation role, a recent mailing-list patch mirror (spinics; lore search fallback) confirming ongoing upstream attention, plus Mininet-WiFi and Android Cuttlefish pages showing ongoing deployments in testbeds/emulators. Result: keep the code, but annotate clearly that it serves active virtual/test environments rather than shipping hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 84, "substantive_commits_5y": 80, "first_touch_ts": 1678714934, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774468017, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wireless/zydas/zd1211rw", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB 802.11b/g", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/20251028174341.139134-1-nihaal@cse.iitm.ac.in/", "claim": "Upstream still sees non-treewide fixes in 2025 for zd1211rw, so the driver is not abandoned in kernel maintenance terms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ZD1211RW.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB wireless adapters and shows it remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-zd1211rw", "claim": "OpenWrt still packaged kmod-zd1211rw in its package index, indicating some ongoing downstream usefulness for legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/HField_Wi-Fire_v3_%28HFWFG200%29", "claim": "Representative ZD1211B USB product documentation shows the hardware family is from the late-2000s era (example device with 2009 approval date), supporting an assessment of legacy-only deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module code. lore_file_timeline on zd_usb.c showed activity through 2025-10-28, including a memory-leak fix, so removal/deprecation would be premature; this supports keep-annotate rather than deprecate. cateee LKDDb page was obtained via web search and confirms chipset scope plus continued kernel presence. OpenWrt package page was obtained via web search and suggests residual downstream use, but likely only for old USB 802.11b/g adapters. WikiDevi device page was obtained via web search and anchors the family in late-2000s products; combined with the chipset being 802.11b/g-only, new 2025 sales look implausible and present-day deployment is low, mostly legacy/embedded/old-adapter niches.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13949554924952376, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1447849710, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761810070, "top_author": "Johannes Berg", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wwan", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "WWAN modem framework and drivers (Qualcomm MHI/RPMSG/BAM, Intel IOSM, MediaTek T7xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wwan/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is an active WWAN subsystem containing core support plus Qualcomm, Intel IOSM, and MediaTek T7xx modem drivers, not a single obsolete driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260126062158.308598-6-slark_xiao@163.com/", "claim": "WWAN core saw new feature work in 2026 ('add NMEA port support'), indicating ongoing upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251027115022.390997-4-sakari.ailus@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Older Qualcomm-related WWAN code still receives maintenance cleanups in 2025, with no evidence here of removal planning." }, { "url": "https://www.quectel.com/product/5g-rm520n-series/", "claim": "New M.2 5G WWAN modules based on Qualcomm platforms were still marketed recently for Linux/PCIe deployments, so the covered use case remains live in new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/net/wwan` is a live subsystem directory, not a dead leaf: local tree inspection showed core code plus multiple active vendor drivers and subdirs. `git.kernel.org` URL is canonical recall for the in-tree Kconfig. The two lore URLs were obtained via `lore_activity` on `drivers/net/wwan/wwan_core.c` and `drivers/net/wwan/qcom_bam_dmux.c`; they show feature work in 2026 and maintenance in 2025, with no removal/deprecation signal. The Quectel URL was obtained via web search and supports that WWAN M.2 modem hardware for this stack is still sold for new deployments. Because the directory is both framework and current drivers, there is no single upstream replacement; recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.045172736768950415, "commits_5y": 101, "substantive_commits_5y": 97, "first_touch_ts": 1618612262, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769826420, "top_author": "Sergey Ryazanov", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wwan/iosm", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Intel XMM 7360/7560 M.2 PCIe WWAN modems", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.16/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists `drivers/net/wwan/iosm/` as `INTEL WWAN IOSM DRIVER` with status `Maintained`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IOSM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_IOSM still present through current kernel series and maps the driver to PCI IDs 8086:7360 and 8086:7560." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.15/networking/device_drivers/wwan/iosm.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes iosm as the host driver for Intel M.2 PCIe modems exposing MBIM WWAN interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/35/intel-completes-sale-of-smartphone-modem-business-to-apple", "claim": "Intel sold the majority of its smartphone modem business to Apple in 2019, indicating the supported Intel modem family is legacy rather than a growth line." }, { "url": "https://www.fibocom.com/en/myproducts/LTECat-L850-GL.html", "claim": "A current vendor product page for Fibocom L850-GL shows an actively marketed M.2 LTE module in this device class, implying some new-sales tail remains in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `iosm_ipc_pcie.c` found PCI IDs 7360/7560, tying the driver to Intel XMM7360/XMM7560-class modems. `web.search_query` found no lore.kernel removal/deprecation hits for iosm, while a local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed fixes/treewide touches in 2024-2025 and the prompt already reports a substantive touch on 2026-01-04, so this is not abandonment/removal territory. The cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: MAINTAINERS for maintained status, LKDDb for ongoing kernel presence and PCI IDs, docs.kernel for current functionality, Intel's 2019 press release for legacy-family context, and Fibocom's product page for evidence of residual new-sales. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because upstream activity is real, but deployments appear niche and declining rather than broad-growth.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 111, "substantive_commits_5y": 108, "first_touch_ts": 1623617378, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767552398, "top_author": "M Chetan Kumar", "top_author_commits": 60, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/wwan/t7xx", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "MediaTek T700/T7xx 5G modem", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wwan/Kconfig", "claim": "`CONFIG_MTK_T7XX` is the in-tree driver option for a \"MediaTek PCIe 5G WWAN modem T7xx device\", confirming the directory targets real T7xx hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/net/wwan/t7xx", "claim": "The `drivers/net/wwan/t7xx` directory has ongoing upstream history rather than abandonment, consistent with the provided recent substantive touches into 2026 and no evident removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://www.fibocom.com/en/newscenter/info_itemid_2325.html", "claim": "Fibocom's FM350 module is based on the MediaTek T700 chipset platform, tying this driver to shipping commercial modules rather than a one-off prototype." }, { "url": "https://www.fibocom.com/en/downloadcenter/index_lcid__series__key_FM350_page_1.html", "claim": "Fibocom still exposes FM350 documentation/download entries, supporting that T700-based modules remain supported in the market timeframe around 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/5g-broadband/mediatek-t800", "claim": "MediaTek positions T800 as a later 5G modem platform for similar device classes, implying T700/T7xx is older-generation silicon but not itself replaced by another Linux driver for the same hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in the kernel tree) identified this as the MediaTek PCIe 5G WWAN modem driver (`MODULE_DESCRIPTION` in `t7xx_pci.c` and `CONFIG_MTK_T7XX` in `drivers/net/wwan/Kconfig`). Canonical-recall kernel.org tree/log URLs were cited for identity and ongoing upstream activity because the provided static history already shows 57 substantive commits in 5 years and a latest touch on 2026-01-25, which argues strongly against deprecation. Web search obtained the Fibocom and MediaTek URLs: Fibocom ties T700 to the FM350 commercial module and still publishes FM350 support artifacts, which indicates continued low-volume real-world deployment rather than dead legacy stock. No natural replacement driver exists for the same hardware; newer MediaTek modem families would use different support paths, not replace `t7xx` for T700 devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 59, "substantive_commits_5y": 57, "first_touch_ts": 1652089918, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769381012, "top_author": "Haijun Liu", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/net/xen-netback", "subsystem": "net", "chipset_family": "Xen netback virtual NIC backend (xenvif)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/xen-netback", "claim": "Upstream Linux still carries this as a real driver directory for the Xen backend network device." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260304131514.84409.84409-2-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 stable backport traffic was returned for xen-netback source via lore history, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/177281094449.800593.4671659230362381120@demetrius/", "claim": "Recent 2026 -rt/lkml traffic also touched xen-netback code in lore history, further supporting active upkeep." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xen", "claim": "Xen remains a current virtualization platform; xen-netback serves a Xen host/backend deployment niche rather than discrete physical hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` in the tree showed `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Xen backend network device module\")` and `MODULE_ALIAS(\"xen-backend:vif\")`, so this is a Xen host-side virtual NIC backend, not a physical chipset driver. `lore_activity(file=drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c,since=5y)` returned 2026 stable and -rt mails (URLs cited), which is strong evidence of continued upstream maintenance and no obvious obsolescence. The kernel.org tree URL is canonical recall for the upstream driver path; the Xen Wikipedia URL is canonical recall for platform context. Because this is virtualization infrastructure still used in Xen host deployments, not sold hardware, I marked `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false`, `last_widely_available_year=null`, and recommend `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04529350204632882, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1300243083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771325877, "top_author": "Juergen Gross", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "Near Field Communication (NFC) controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/nfc.html", "claim": "The Linux NFC subsystem is a maintained in-kernel subsystem with a standardized userspace interface, indicating this directory is subsystem driver code rather than a dead one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/PN7160", "claim": "NXP lists PN7160 as an active NFC controller with Linux support, showing at least some NFC controller hardware in this ecosystem is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st21nfcl.html", "claim": "ST lists ST21NFCL as active and in volume production, showing ST21-family NFC controller deployments are still current." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/nfc", "claim": "Canonical kernel log location for drivers/nfc; local git history in this workspace shows multiple non-removal fixes/refactors in 2026 across pn533, s3fwrn5, port100, nfcmrvl, nxp-nci, and microread." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommend keep-annotate because drivers/nfc is an active umbrella subsystem containing multiple NFC controller drivers plus simulator drivers, not a single obsolete chipset. Local `exec_command` reads of `drivers/nfc/Kconfig` showed many enabled chip families and active simulator entries; local `git log --all --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/nfc` showed fresh 2026 bug-fix/refactor traffic rather than removal work. `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_maintainer_profile` on the directory prefix returned no matches, indicating a tooling/path coverage blind spot rather than inactivity; `lore_path_mentions` timed out. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` (kernel docs, NXP, ST) plus canonical recall for the kernel.org log URL, with the kernel log claim grounded by the local git-log tool output. Because some subdrivers are likely legacy while the subsystem is clearly alive and still maps to currently sold NFC silicon, annotate per-subdriver for future cleanup rather than deprecating or removing the parent directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06753040043762049, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1294934599, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768701770, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/fdp", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "Intel Fields Peak NFC controller (INT339A)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.75, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230616122218.1036256-1-juerg.haefliger@canonical.com/", "claim": "Upstream still took functional maintenance in 2023 for this driver ('nfc: fdp: Add MODULE_FIRMWARE macros'), so it is not abandoned enough for immediate removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFC_FDP.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Intel FDP driver and maps it to ACPI ID INT339A across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFC_FDP_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the transport-specific module fdp_i2c for the same INT339A hardware, indicating a narrow ACPI-enumerated laptop/tablet deployment pattern rather than broad modern designs." }, { "url": "https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipse/oniro-core/linux/-/blob/v4.4.146/drivers/nfc/Makefile", "claim": "The original 2015 merge text describes Intel Fields Peak as an ACPI-enumerated NFC solution (INT339A), pointing to a specific mid-2010s platform generation." }, { "url": "https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion/database/proximity-devices/intel/near-field-communication-device/", "claim": "Third-party Windows driver catalog ties ACPI\\INT339A to Intel Near Field Communication Device drivers dated 2015, consistent with legacy Cherry Trail-era client hardware rather than new 2025 products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Identity came from local source inspection via shell (`Kconfig`, `i2c.c`) showing Intel Fields Peak / ACPI INT339A. Upstream activity came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/nfc/fdp/fdp.c`, which showed bug-fix/stable traffic through 2023 and no removal thread surfaced in the timeline. LKDDb pages were obtained via web search and confirm current kernel support plus the narrow INT339A ACPI binding. The 2015 merge page was obtained via web search and anchors the hardware to a 2015-era Intel client platform. The Treexy page was obtained via web search and is weaker evidence, but its 2015 INT339A Windows driver date supports the inference that new-system sales ended long ago. Overall: legacy client NFC hardware with low present deployments, still worth keeping but annotate as legacy/low-use rather than deprecating for removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.46663944441668603, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1445801356, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1687083592, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/microread", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "Inside Secure Microread NFC controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-nfc/20210825142459.226168-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@canonical.com/", "claim": "Lore history shows the driver still received upstream maintenance in the last several years, but the visible traffic is cleanup-level rather than feature growth." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.8/driver-api/mei/nfc.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says Microread can sit behind Intel MEI on Intel 8 and 9 Series chipsets, indicating surviving deployment on older PC platforms rather than current mainstream hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFC_MICROREAD_I2C.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Microread I2C support remains present in current kernels, confirming the driver is still shipped upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.nfcw.com/2012/06/18/316267/nfc-forum-certifies-inside-secures-nfc-controller-chip/", "claim": "MicroRead was a commercially relevant NFC controller family in the early-2010s, with certification and shipment claims anchored to that era." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and module entry points cover Inside Secure Microread NFC over I2C and MEI. Local source/Kconfig inspection via shell showed legacy-oriented I2C plus Intel MEI bindings. lore_file_timeline on drivers/nfc/microread/microread.c returned 2021 cleanup traffic and no removal evidence surfaced in lore within this pass; static metadata supplied by the user says substantive touches continued through 2024-06-21, so this is not abandoned. Web search found current kernel docs limiting MEI use to Intel 8/9 Series-era platforms and LKDDb confirming upstream presence; web search also found only early-2010s commercial references for the hardware. Conclusion: hardware is effectively legacy and likely only in old embedded/industrial or aging Intel-client deployments, but upstream still carries it and recent activity argues against deprecate/remove. URL acquisition: lore URL from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline; docs.kernel.org and cateee/NFCW URLs from web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4073992251411985, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1359920262, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718936911, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/nfcmrvl", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "Marvell Avastar 88W8897 NFC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/DD684946FD7EE161+20260307030623.3495092-4-xujialu@vimux.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream work touched nfcmrvl in March 2026 ('nfc: nfcmrvl: convert to gpio descriptors'), indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/wireless-connectivity/wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-plus-802-15-4/2-4-5-ghz-dual-band-2x2-wi-fi-5-802-11ac-plus-bluetooth-5-0-solution%3A88W8897", "claim": "NXP still lists 88W8897 as Active, showing the silicon family is still commercially live in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nxp-usa-inc/88W8897-B1-NMJC-AK/18712656", "claim": "A distributor listing shows 88W8897 orderable with active part status and lead time, supporting continued new-sales availability." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/nfc/nfcmrvl/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig documents nfcmrvl as the driver for Marvell NFC device 8897, tying the directory to that chipset family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection shows a real multi-bus NFC driver (USB/I2C/SPI/UART) and Kconfig names Marvell NFC device 8897. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/nfc/nfcmrvl/main.c returned March 2026 patch traffic with no removal signal; I cite the lore URL it returned directly. Web search returned NXP's current 88W8897 product page marked Active and a DigiKey listing marked Active/Available To Order, which together suggest the silicon is still sold new, but as an older niche combo-radio/NFC part rather than a mainstream new-platform choice. No natural upstream replacement exists for the Marvell-specific NFC function, so removal/deprecation is not supported by the evidence; deployments today are likely low and mostly embedded/legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24509106465428784, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1389054760, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737249005, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/nxp-nci", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "NXP PN71xx NCI NFC controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/nfc/nxp-nci", "claim": "Upstream path is still seeing non-removal maintenance; local git history for this directory shows substantive fixes and cleanups through 2026-03-17, with no deletion history found." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/PN7160", "claim": "NXP lists PN7160 as Active, with I2C/SPI host interface and Linux support, indicating the NXP-NCI class is still in current production." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and-designs/PN7160-EVK", "claim": "NXP still sells PN7160 development kits marked Active, with Linux support and current stock, indicating ongoing new-design and evaluation use." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/wireless-connectivity/nfc-hf/nfc-readers/high-performance-nfc-controller-with-integrated-firmware-for-smart-devices%3APN7150", "claim": "Older PN7150-family parts are now Not Recommended for New Designs and NXP recommends PN7160 instead, suggesting this driver spans both legacy and still-current family members rather than being wholly obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: core.c/firmware.c/i2c.c plus module_i2c_driver and ACPI IDs NXP1001/NXP1002/NXP7471 were confirmed via local shell `rg`. No lore MCP endpoint was available in this environment, so upstream activity was checked with local `git -c safe.directory=... log` on the directory; the git.kernel.org URL is canonical recall for the same path. NXP product/development-kit pages were obtained via web search and show current PN7160-family availability and Linux support. Because upstream maintenance is recent and current hardware exists, removal/deprecation is not justified; annotate only because part of the covered PN71xx family (notably PN7150) is already NRND and vendor guidance shifts new designs to PN7160, but there is no distinct upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03436147110814662, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1427364470, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773879651, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/pn533", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "NXP PN53x NFC controllers (PN533/PN532)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/nfc/pn533", "claim": "Upstream activity is current rather than abandoned; local git history for this directory shows substantive fixes in 2025-2026, with the latest on 2026-04-05 and no evident removal trend." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/nfc/pn533/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is a real in-tree driver stack covering NXP PN533 core plus PN533 USB, PN533 I2C, and PN532 UART transports." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/rfid-nfc/nfc-hf/nfc-readers/nfc-integrated-solution%3APN5321A3HN", "claim": "The closely related PN532 family is marked by NXP as 'Not Recommended for New Designs', with PN7160 recommended for new designs, indicating the silicon family is legacy/aging rather than growth hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.acs.com.hk/en/products/3/acr122u-usb", "claim": "A major USB device supported by this driver family, the ACS ACR122U, is end-of-life and not recommended for new deployments; ACS points buyers to newer hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/364", "claim": "PN532-based breakout hardware was still being sold as new retail hardware around 2025-2026, supporting the conclusion that the family still appears in hobbyist/embedded deployments even if it is aging." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Upstream evidence came from `exec_command` local git history scans because `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; those results were mapped to canonical kernel.org log/tree URLs by canonical recall. Vendor/deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` and `web.open` on NXP, ACS, and Adafruit pages. Conclusion: keep the driver, but annotate it as servicing legacy/low-volume PN53x hardware with some continuing field presence and ongoing bug-fix traffic, not as a removal candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012627051835201178, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1460238795, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775735677, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/pn544", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "NXP PN544 NFC controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "nxp_nci_i2c", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260301121254.174354-1-tomasz.unger@yahoo.pl/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance still exists for this driver family; a pn544 I2C patch was posted in 2026, so the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/brochure/75017000.pdf", "claim": "PN544 was marketed for mobile phones and portable equipment, indicating an older handset-era NFC controller rather than a current embedded-design part." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/PN7160", "claim": "NXP's current active NFC controller line is PN7160/PN7161, showing new designs have moved to newer NCI-based parts." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/nfc/nxp-nci/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream nxp-nci covers newer NXP NFC chips such as PN547/PN548/PN7150 families, making it the natural replacement path for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: pn544.c plus I2C/MEI transport glue. `exec_command` on local Kconfig/Makefile identified NXP PN544 and showed MEI/I2C bindings. `lore_file_timeline` on pn544.c and i2c.c showed continued low-volume maintenance through 2025-2026 and no sampled removal thread, so removal/deprecation is not justified. `web.search_query` surfaced NXP's PN544 brochure URL and active PN7160 product page; kernel.org Kconfig URL was added via canonical recall to identify the upstream successor family. Conclusion: legacy hardware with low present-day deployment, but upstream still fixes it occasionally, so keep the driver with obsolescence annotation rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3634990375926012, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1351268806, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722206958, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/s3fwrn5", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "Samsung S3FWRN5 / S3FWRN82 NFC controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/12/367", "claim": "Upstream still accepts non-trivial maintenance for this driver in 2025 (`nfc: s3fwrn5: Use SHA-1 library instead of crypto_shash`)." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFC_S3FWRN5.html", "claim": "The core driver is still present through current kernel heads and maps to `drivers/nfc/s3fwrn5`." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NFC_S3FWRN82_UART.html", "claim": "The directory also covers the related S3FWRN82 UART transport, present in current kernel heads." }, { "url": "https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-new-nfc-chip-with-embedded-flash-offers-increased-rf-performance-in-a-small-package/1000", "claim": "Samsung introduced S3FWRN5 in 2014 and positioned it for then-current flagship phones, indicating an older mobile NFC generation." }, { "url": "https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-addresses-imaging-and-connectivity-trends-for-advanced-mobile-devices-with-new-image-sensor-and-nfc-ic", "claim": "Samsung announced the newer S3FWRN5P in 2015, supporting the inference that original S3FWRN5 family was already being succeeded by 2015." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Grand_Prime_%28samsung-fortuna%29", "claim": "Current hobbyist/mainline-phone usage still exists on legacy Samsung devices; postmarketOS documents variants using `s3fwrn5`." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/i2c/uart/core files and module driver macros. Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) identified Samsung S3FWRN5/S3FWRN82 NFC transports. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/nfc/s3fwrn5` showed substantive fixes through 2026-04-03, so this is not abandoned. `web.search_query` for lore removal discussion returned no lore hits, while `web.search_query` found a 2025 LKML patch URL showing continued maintenance. `web.search_query` also found Samsung's 2014 launch page and 2015 successor S3FWRN5P page; from that timeline I infer the original family stopped being widely available by 2015 and is not a new-2025 design win. `web.search_query` found LKDDb pages confirming the driver remains in current kernel heads and a postmarketOS device page showing residual legacy deployments. Because upstream activity is still real but present-day use looks legacy/low-volume and there is no direct replacement driver for the same chips, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.018705504798634368, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1440098619, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775257066, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/st-nci", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics ST21NFC / ST-NCI family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240619195631.2545407-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in 2024, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20230520172104.359597-1-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The driver saw additional upstream API-adaptation work in 2023." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st21nfcb.html", "claim": "ST lists ST21NFCB as an active product in volume production, showing the family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st21nfcd.html", "claim": "ST lists ST21NFCD as an active product in volume production, reinforcing that newer ST21NFC family parts remain current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is a real I2C/SPI NFC chipset driver for STMicroelectronics ST21NFC parts. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on `drivers/nfc/st-nci/i2c.c` and `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/nfc/st-nci/core.c`; both showed maintenance traffic and no removal signal. Vendor availability evidence came from `web.search_query`, which returned ST product pages marking ST21NFCB and ST21NFCD active/in-volume-production. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the same hardware family; current use is likely embedded/mobile rather than broad PC deployment, so deployments are low rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.33806018407185967, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1433933504, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718936911, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/st21nfca", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics ST21NFCA NFC controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250414102301.332225-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver directory was still being touched upstream in 2025; the visible recent lore hit is a treewide timers cleanup, not a removal/deprecation series." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st21nfcd.html", "claim": "STMicroelectronics still had later ST21 NFC controller family devices marked active and in volume production in 2025, showing the broader product family/use-case remains current even if the exact ST21NFCA part appears older." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/secure-mcus/st21nfcj.html", "claim": "Another later ST21 NFC controller family product was active in 2025, reinforcing that the family is not obsolete as a whole." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command on Kconfig identifies this as the STMicroelectronics ST21NFCA core plus I2C NFC driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/nfc/st21nfca/core.c showed activity through 2025 and no evident removal traffic; recent hits are mostly treewide maintenance. web search returned official ST product pages for later ST21 NFC controllers (ST21NFCD/ST21NFCJ) as active in 2025, but I found no direct evidence that the exact ST21NFCA SKU is still sold new. That supports low ongoing deployments and legacy status for this exact driver, but not removal: upstream still carries it, there is no natural in-tree replacement for the same silicon, and the family/use-case is still relevant.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24779578250481646, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1398119845, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737248939, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nfc/st95hf", "subsystem": "nfc", "chipset_family": "ST95HF", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2024, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/ZsPtCPwnXAyHG2Jq@google.com/", "claim": "The driver still received a targeted functional cleanup in 2024 ('switch to using sleeping variants of gpiod API'), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240326175836.1418718-1-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver saw additional non-mechanical 2024 maintenance ('Switch to using gpiod API'), consistent with active bug-fix/API adaptation traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/nfc/st95hf.html", "claim": "ST lists ST95HF as NRND ('Not recommended for New Design'), still in volume production for ongoing customers, with no distributor availability reported on the product page." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/eval-st95hf.html", "claim": "The matching ST evaluation kit EVAL-ST95HF is also marked NRND, reinforcing that the platform is legacy rather than a growth design." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: lore_file_timeline on drivers/nfc/st95hf/core.c showed 2024 maintenance patches, and no removal evidence was found in the returned history. Deployment looks legacy/industrial-low-volume: web search plus direct page open/find on ST product and eval pages showed NRND status; the product page still says volume production/Buy Direct, so sold-new-in-2025 is kept true, but 'widely available' is inferred to have ended by about 2024 because ST reports no distributor stock. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the exact same ST95HF SPI NFC transceiver use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.48732395105792753, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1451412371, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1711740771, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "PCIe Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20260118135440.1958279-13-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "`drivers/ntb/core.c` saw upstream feature work in January 2026 ('NTB: core: Add driver_override support for NTB devices'), so the subsystem is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/ntb.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes NTB as a current PCIe bridge class and `ntb` as the core framework used by hardware-specific NTB drivers and clients, confirming this directory is the active generic core for the subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches", "claim": "Microchip's current Switchtec PCIe switch portfolio page lists Gen 5 and Gen 6 products and explicitly advertises up to 48 Non-Transparent Bridges (NTBs), showing NTB-capable hardware was still sold new in and after 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/ntb` is the generic NTB core/framework, with vendor backends under `drivers/ntb/hw/` (Intel, AMD, IDT, Microchip Switchtec). Recent lore activity on `core.c` from `lore_file_timeline` shows live upstream development in 2026, which argues strongly against deprecation/removal. Deployment is niche rather than mass-market, so I marked it `low`, but current Microchip Switchtec products indicate NTB remains relevant for specialized server/storage/embedded multi-host designs. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the NTB core API. Source acquisition: lore URL via `lore_file_timeline`; docs.kernel.org URL identified from local `Documentation/driver-api/ntb.rst` and confirmed via `web.search_query`; Microchip product URL obtained via `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04401570657521986, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1358478674, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771626715, "top_author": "Dave Jiang", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb/hw/amd", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "AMD EPYC / EPYC Embedded PCIe NTB (Zeppelin, Starship/Matisse and later)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20250918073448.1070104-2-Basavaraj.Natikar@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: AMD posted a 2025 ntb_hw_amd patch to support latest-generation secondary-topology handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20260208164902.349805-1-alok.a.tiwari@oracle.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives routine upstream fixes in 2026, indicating it is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NTB_AMD.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NTB_AMD is still present in current kernels and maps the driver to Zeppelin and Starship/Matisse NTB PCI IDs plus newer AMD IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/products/embedded/epyc/epyc-embedded-9005-series-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "AMD's 2025 EPYC Embedded 9005 product brief lists NTB as a current embedded feature and describes HA multi-host networking/storage use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/embedded/epyc/epyc-7002-series.html", "claim": "AMD's EPYC Embedded 7002 product page advertises NTB as an embedded-market feature with extended availability, supporting ongoing deployed use in embedded/server niches." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI driver confirmed by local shell inspection of drivers/ntb/hw/amd/ntb_hw_amd.c, including pci_driver registration and AMD/HYGON PCI IDs. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on the .c file; it showed active 2025-2026 patch traffic and no visible removal thread in recent subjects. Deployment evidence came from web search plus open/find on AMD product pages and LKDDb. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the hardware is still sold for niche HA embedded/server platforms, but deployment is specialized rather than broad mainstream.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1861332183359429, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1453423864, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758548120, "top_author": "Basavaraj Natikar", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb/hw/epf", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "Generic PCIe Endpoint Function NTB (TI J721E/Jacinto 7 class, plus NXP and Renesas endpoint variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20260408055002.436349-1-alok.a.tiwari@oracle.com/", "claim": "The driver received a bug-fix patch in April 2026, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20260323031544.2598111-11-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "The driver was part of an actively reviewed March 2026 feature/fix series for doorbell handling, with Reviewed-by tags from subsystem participants." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/latest/exports/docs/psdk_rtos/docs/user_guide/index.html", "claim": "TI's current J721E SDK documentation still targets J721E devices (TDA4VM, DRA829V), supporting the conclusion that at least one supported hardware family remains in active deployment and vendor support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of the local source showed this is a real PCI NTB host-side endpoint driver (`Generic EPF Non-Transparent Bridge support`) with PCI IDs for TI J721E and additional Freescale/Renesas variants. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_activity` on `drivers/ntb/hw/epf/ntb_hw_epf.c`; cited lore URLs show fresh 2026 fixes/features and no removal signal. Deployment evidence came from a `web.search_query` result on TI's official J721E SDK docs; this is niche embedded/industrial/automotive hardware, so deployments are low rather than medium/high. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same generic EPF NTB role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07699707918658534, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1614111173, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771626715, "top_author": "Jerome Brunet", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb/hw/idt", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "IDT 89HPESxxNTxxG2 PCIe Gen2 switch NTB family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20251217151609.3162665-5-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream API-adjustment work as part of active NTB core changes, so it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/89h24nt6ag2", "claim": "Renesas marks 89H24NT6AG2 as Obsolete; this is one of the exact 89HPES24NT6AG2-family devices supported by the driver." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/89h32nt24bg2/part-details/89h32nt24bg2zbhli8", "claim": "Another exact supported device variant, 89HPES32NT24BG2, is also marked Obsolete, indicating the supported family is no longer in new-sale status." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/document/dst/89hpes24nt6ag2-datasheet", "claim": "The datasheet identifies the part as an IDT PCIe Gen2 system interconnect switch with multiple Nontransparent Bridging functions, matching the Linux driver's scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell (`rg`, `sed`) on the kernel tree identified supported IDs 89HPES24NT6AG2/32NT8AG2/32NT8BG2/12NT12G2/16NT16G2/24NT24G2/32NT24AG2/32NT24BG2 and Kconfig describes this as an IDT PCIe-switch NTB driver. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/ntb/hw/idt/ntb_hw_idt.c` showed recent 2025 touches and no evident removal traffic in the returned history, so removal/deprecation is not justified by upstream activity. Web search found official Renesas product pages showing exact supported parts marked Obsolete, plus the datasheet describing NTB-capable PCIe Gen2 switch silicon. Conclusion: silicon is obsolete and likely limited to legacy embedded/server backplanes, but there is still some upstream maintenance; annotate as legacy/obsolete hardware rather than deprecate now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3227023382210155, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1499355007, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1742319299, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb/hw/intel", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "Intel NTB (Xeon/Atom, Gen1-Gen6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20260108212101.902595-1-dave.jiang@intel.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work added Intel Gen6 NTB support for Diamond Rapids, indicating ongoing enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/ntb/20251217151609.3162665-5-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "The driver family is still being refactored in shared NTB API work touching Intel NTB code in late 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/xeon/6.html", "claim": "Intel Xeon 6 was a current Intel server CPU family in 2025, supporting the conclusion that Intel server platforms in this class were still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kconfig and local source inspection via shell identified this as the Intel Non-Transparent Bridge driver for Xeon/Atom hardware. lore_file_timeline (MCP) on ntb_hw_gen1.c/gen3.c/gen4.c showed active 2025-2026 development, including a new Gen6/Diamond Rapids enablement patch and late-2025 API work; no removal signal surfaced in those timelines. Intel Xeon 6 product URL is a canonical Intel page recalled from stable vendor URL structure and used only to support 'still sold new in 2025'. NTB deployment is niche server/appliance/HA equipment rather than broad commodity hardware, so deployments_today is low, but active enough to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.062422645727031045, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1435846163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771626715, "top_author": "Dave Jiang", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ntb/hw/mscc", "subsystem": "ntb", "chipset_family": "Microsemi/Microchip Switchtec PCIe switch NTB", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260304131514.84409-2-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver file was still being carried into maintained stable kernels in March 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches", "claim": "Microchip still markets the Switchtec PCIe switch family, including PSX/PFX families with Non-Transparent Bridges (NTBs), for current data center, storage, automotive, communications, defense and industrial uses." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/news-releases/products/microchip-unveils-first-3-nm-pcie--gen-6-switch-to-power-modern", "claim": "Microchip announced new Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe switches on October 13, 2025, showing the product line remained active in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NTB_SWITCHTEC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_NTB_SWITCHTEC is still present in current kernel series and builds module ntb_hw_switchtec from drivers/ntb/hw/mscc." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on the tree showed Kconfig/MODULE_DESCRIPTION identify this as the Microsemi Switchtec NTB driver (`CONFIG_NTB_SWITCHTEC`, module `ntb_hw_switchtec`). `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/ntb/hw/mscc/ntb_hw_switchtec.c` showed continued 2024-2026 activity and produced the cited lore URL; no removal/deprecation signal was found, only ongoing carry/fix traffic. `web.search_query` produced the Microchip product and 2025 press-release URLs, which show the Switchtec family remained commercially active in 2025; this supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. Deployment is `low` because NTB-capable PCIe switch partitions are a niche enterprise/embedded feature, but the hardware is not obsolete. No upstream replacement covers the same Switchtec NTB use case, so `replacement_driver` is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.057747809389939, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1511055432, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771626715, "top_author": "Maciej Grochowski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nubus", "subsystem": "nubus", "chipset_family": "NuBus", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1995, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/478d5f080d74b6688c9e3f9132e3fe251e997ad7.1765610469.git.fthain@linux-m68k.org", "claim": "NuBus code still received a maintainer-authored bug fix in December 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/71ed7fb234a5f7381a50253b0d841a656d53e64c.1684200125.git.fthain@linux-m68k.org", "claim": "A 2023 patch changed default procfs behavior based on measured runtime and memory costs on a test machine with several NuBus cards installed, showing real-hardware use and maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/dd1b560bbe426b351cdbb3bbf89414753c3d0117.1679446472.git.fthain@linux-m68k.org", "claim": "A 2023 fix addressed malformed NuBus card ROMs causing procfs warnings, further indicating bug-fix traffic for existing legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NuBus", "claim": "NuBus was used mainly in Apple Macintosh systems and disappeared from mainstream systems after Apple switched to PCI in the mid-1990s, so it is not new-deployment hardware in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MAC.html", "claim": "Linux still carries Macintosh platform support on m68k, consistent with continued niche support for legacy Macintosh hardware that can host NuBus." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection showed this directory is real NuBus bus/scan code with initcalls, not a helper library. Upstream activity was checked via local `git log` on `drivers/nubus`; the cited 2023 and 2025 patch URLs came from commit `Link:` trailers returned by that command. No removal series was found in the inspected recent history, while multiple non-mechanical fixes exist, so `remove`/`deprecate` would overstate the case. Deployment evidence came from web search results for NuBus and Linux Macintosh support: Wikipedia indicates mainstream NuBus systems ended when Apple moved to PCI in the mid-1990s, and LKDDb shows Linux still supports Macintosh/m68k. Conclusion: hardware is long obsolete and only niche retro deployments remain, but upstream still fixes it, so `keep-annotate` is the best fit.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769426761, "top_author": "Finn Thain", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvdimm", "subsystem": "nvdimm", "chipset_family": "LIBNVDIMM persistent-memory / NVDIMM NFIT, virtio-pmem, and CXL PMEM bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240412161057.14099-29-Jonathan.Cameron@huawei.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance in 2024 touched drivers/nvdimm directly (\"drivers/nvdimm: Assign parent for event_source device\")." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/2026-02/20260228181127.1592657-165-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The subsystem still receives fixes in 2026, including virtio_pmem bugfix backports (\"nvdimm: virtio_pmem: serialize flush requests\")." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/nvdimm/nvdimm.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes LIBNVDIMM PMEM, regions, namespaces, BTT, and ongoing kernel-facing functionality for persistent-memory devices." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/driver-api/cxl/memory-devices.html", "claim": "Current kernel CXL documentation says the CXL PMEM infrastructure serves as a bridge to the LIBNVDIMM subsystem, so new CXL persistent-memory deployments still depend on this stack." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/virtio-pmem.html", "claim": "QEMU documents virtio-pmem as a current paravirtual persistent-memory device, indicating ongoing VM/guest deployments for the Linux nvdimm stack." }, { "url": "https://www.micron.com/products/memory/cxl-memory", "claim": "Micron currently markets CXL-based memory-expansion products, supporting the conclusion that new deployments in 2025 still exist in the broader persistent-memory/CXL space that feeds into libnvdimm." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: the directory is active kernel driver code with recent file-level lore activity, including a 2024 direct nvdimm change and a 2026 virtio_pmem stable backport. Web search found current kernel docs for LIBNVDIMM and CXL showing CXL PMEM bridges into LIBNVDIMM rather than replacing it, plus current QEMU virtio-pmem docs and a current Micron CXL memory product page. Sources obtained via lore_activity (first two URLs) and web search/open on kernel/QEMU/vendor docs (remaining URLs). No credible removal signal surfaced from the sampled lore evidence; this looks like a maintained core stack for legacy NFIT PMEM, VM virtio-pmem, and newer CXL-backed persistent-memory flows.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02356115311980605, "commits_5y": 173, "substantive_commits_5y": 164, "first_touch_ts": 1435195450, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773067102, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 33, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvme/common", "subsystem": "nvme", "chipset_family": "NVMe-oF authentication/TLS (DH-HMAC-CHAP, TLS PSK)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/985518/", "claim": "August 13, 2024 upstream patch series 'nvme: implement secure concatenation' touches drivers/nvme/common/auth.c and keyring.c, showing active feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://nvmexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/NVM-Express-NVMe-over-TCP-Transport-Specification-Revision-1.2-2025.08.01-Ratified.pdf", "claim": "The ratified 2025 NVMe/TCP spec still requires/supports PSK with (EC)DHE and describes configured/generated TLS PSKs derived from NVMe authentication, so this functionality remains current in the standard." }, { "url": "https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/tls-and-nvmetcp", "claim": "Oracle's July 11, 2025 article describes shipping kernel support for NVMe in-band authentication and NVMe-TLS for NVMe/TCP, indicating contemporary deployment interest." }, { "url": "https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap/nvme/set-up-tls-secure-channel-nvme-task.html", "claim": "NetApp ONTAP documentation dated December 16, 2025 documents configuring TLS secure channels for NVMe/TCP, showing current commercial product support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver/module directory: Kconfig/Makefile build nvme-auth and nvme-keyring from auth.c and keyring.c, and the files carry MODULE_DESCRIPTIONs. Local source inspection via shell showed active NVMe auth/keyring code; provided static history already shows 28 substantive commits in 5y and a latest touch on 2025-11-20, which is incompatible with deprecation. Lore-specific shell tooling was unavailable here (lei missing; no lore MCP server exposed), so I checked upstream discussion via web search: LWN mirrored a 2024 kernel mailing-list patchset adding secure-concatenation work directly in this directory, and I found no removal/deprecation thread. Deployment evidence came from web search on the ratified NVMe/TCP 1.2 spec plus current Oracle and NetApp docs. Conclusion: active upstream, tied to still-current NVMe/TCP security features, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1659482089, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763676223, "top_author": "Hannes Reinecke", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvme/host", "subsystem": "nvme", "chipset_family": "NVM Express host controllers (PCIe NVMe and NVMe-over-Fabrics transports, plus Apple ANS variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/nvme/index.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation treats NVMe as a current first-class subsystem, covering host-side functionality and policy." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-nvme/?t=20250702021843", "claim": "linux-nvme mailing-list archive shows active mid-2025 development threads for admin controllers, nvme-pci fixes, and nvme-fc work rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-nvme/?t=20250826143739", "claim": "linux-nvme mailing-list archive shows continued late-2025 feature work, including Apple ANS2 support and block/nvme changes, indicating expanding hardware coverage." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/ssd/datacenter-ssd/pm9a3/", "claim": "Samsung continued marketing PM9A3 data-center PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs, showing mainstream NVMe hardware remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.solidigm.com/products/data-center/d7/p5520.html", "claim": "Solidigm continued marketing D7-P5520 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs for enterprise and cloud deployments, supporting ongoing new deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with multiple transport and platform implementations (pci, tcp, rdma, fc, apple). Local shell check (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/nvme/host`) showed active upstream changes through 2026-03-13, including nvme-pci and core fixes. Web search found active linux-nvme archive pages (gnuweeb lore mirror) showing new feature and maintenance traffic in 2025, and no visible deprecation/removal series. Web search also found current vendor product pages for Samsung and Solidigm NVMe SSDs, so hardware is still sold and broadly deployed. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`, except the local-git activity observation which is summarized here without a URL.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1096, "substantive_commits_5y": 1084, "first_touch_ts": 1444408837, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773156029, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 223, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvme/target", "subsystem": "nvme", "chipset_family": "NVMe target / NVMe over Fabrics target", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm/%2B/2fa8961d3a6a1c2395d8d560ffed2c782681bade", "claim": "A 2026-01-13 upstream commit fixes `drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c`, showing current maintenance activity in the target stack rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/nvme/nvme-pci-endpoint-target.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes the NVMe PCI Endpoint Function Target built on the NVMe target core, with current setup and hardware requirements." }, { "url": "https://documentation.suse.com/sles/15-SP4/html/SLES-all/cha-nvmeof.html", "claim": "SUSE enterprise documentation describes NVMe-oF host and target support and states kernel modules are available for the NVMe-oF target and host." }, { "url": "https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/26/ladbi/creating-nvme-storage-target.html", "claim": "Oracle Database 26 documentation instructs configuring Linux NVMe-oF storage targets using `nvmet_tcp` and `nvmetcli`, indicating active real deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/mlnxofedv23105140lts/NVME-oF---NVM-Express-over-Fabrics", "claim": "NVIDIA networking documentation describes NVMe-oF target offload on ConnectX-5 and newer adapters and notes use of the inbox `nvme-tcp` kernel module, tying the stack to current shipping hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active in-kernel target driver directory, not a legacy leaf: local shell inspection of `drivers/nvme/target/Kconfig` and `Documentation/nvme/nvme-pci-endpoint-target.rst` shows current TCP/RDMA/FC/PCI-EPF/passthrough functionality, and local grep found it enabled in current defconfigs. URLs were obtained via web search. The 2026 googlesource commit page includes a lore link and demonstrates recent upstream fixes in `nvmet-tcp`; no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced in the web searches I ran, so there is no basis to escalate beyond `keep`. Deployment looks medium rather than high: this is enterprise/storage-appliance and specialized embedded/PCI-endpoint infrastructure, not consumer hardware, but it remains relevant for new 2025-era deployments and modern NIC/storage platforms. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same in-kernel NVMe target role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 480, "substantive_commits_5y": 469, "first_touch_ts": 1467739833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773156028, "top_author": "Hannes Reinecke", "top_author_commits": 54, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvmem", "subsystem": "nvmem", "chipset_family": "Generic NVMEM/EEPROM/eFuse/OTP providers across many SoC families", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260421140755.54222-1-marex@nabladev.com/", "claim": "A patch touching nvmem core was posted on 2026-04-21, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.16/driver-api/nvmem.html", "claim": "The kernel documents NVMEM as the active framework for EEPROM/eFuse/non-volatile device data, with provider and consumer APIs and a userspace ABI." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NVMEM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_NVMEM remains present through Linux 6.19/7.0 and the directory supports a wide spread of current SoC/device bindings, including newer entries such as Apple efuses, U-Boot env layouts, i.MX95, RK3588, and AN8855." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/NVMEM_APPLE_SPMI.html", "claim": "A dedicated Apple SPMI NVMEM driver exists for Apple Silicon Macs in recent kernels, showing the subsystem is still being extended for new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is an active subsystem, not an obsolete single-device driver family. Static input already shows 229 substantive commits in 5 years, 89 authors, and most recent touch on 2026-04-02. `lore_activity` on drivers/nvmem/core.c returned a 2026-04-21 patch URL, showing live maintenance. `web.search_query` + `open` on docs.kernel.org confirmed NVMEM is the current generic framework used by kernel and userspace. `web.search_query` + `open` on LKDDb showed broad ongoing enablement across modern SoCs/devices, including recent Apple Silicon and late-model NXP/Rockchip parts. No natural replacement exists; this directory is itself the replacement/consolidation framework for NVMEM providers. Removal/deprecation evidence was not found in the gathered lore evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.011100807036969374, "commits_5y": 237, "substantive_commits_5y": 229, "first_touch_ts": 1438807392, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775141080, "top_author": "Rafał Miłecki", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 45, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/nvmem/layouts", "subsystem": "nvmem", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains NVMEM layout/parser helper code for EEPROM/flash data formats, not hardware-bound driver implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1680716471, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764003982, "top_author": "Miquel Raynal", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/of", "subsystem": "of", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Open Firmware / Device Tree core infrastructure and helpers, not a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.032470664336193826, "commits_5y": 459, "substantive_commits_5y": 451, "first_touch_ts": 1184902121, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770173892, "top_author": "Rob Herring", "top_author_commits": 46, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/opp", "subsystem": "opp", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the generic OPP (Operating Performance Points) core/framework code used by platform drivers, not a hardware device driver for a specific chipset or device class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.043493565685083876, "commits_5y": 145, "substantive_commits_5y": 142, "first_touch_ts": 1506991512, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769491730, "top_author": "Viresh Kumar", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/parisc", "subsystem": "parisc", "chipset_family": "HP PA-RISC platform buses and I/O ASICs (GSC/LASI/WAX/Dino/Elroy/CCIO/SBA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-parisc/20260415170515.3605095-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists in 2026: a bug fix for drivers/parisc/led.c was posted with a Fixes tag and Cc: stable." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-parisc/20250309210629.28798-1-deller@kernel.org/", "claim": "The subtree still gets maintainer-authored cleanups in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://parisc.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/qemu.html", "claim": "PA-RISC remains relevant in emulation: current documentation describes QEMU support for four PA-RISC machine types and Linux guests." }, { "url": "https://www.debian.org/ports/hppa/", "claim": "Debian still documents PA-RISC as a port, but notes it was dropped from stable after squeeze, consistent with niche rather than mainstream deployment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_9000", "claim": "HP 9000 PA-RISC systems ended new sales in 2008 with last ship dates in 2009, so the physical hardware family is long out of new-production circulation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection of Kconfig/Makefile shows this directory is PA-RISC platform support driver code for HP bus/I/O ASICs, not a generic helper library. The two lore URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` on `drivers/parisc/led.c`, showing real 2025-2026 bug-fix traffic rather than pure treewide churn. The QEMU, Debian, and HP 9000 URLs were obtained via web `search_query` plus `open/find`; together they indicate surviving use is mostly legacy physical HP systems plus emulator/ports niches. `lore_regex` timed out and `lei` was sandbox-blocked, so I found no positive evidence of an active upstream removal series; given recent maintenance, removal/deprecation would be premature, but annotating it as legacy hardware is justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.044781398630410627, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 71, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770421519, "top_author": "Helge Deller", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/parport", "subsystem": "parport", "chipset_family": "PC-style parallel-port / IEEE 1284 host adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/DB7PR02MB38021759513B50CAED9A939BC4D62@DB7PR02MB3802.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com/", "claim": "Upstream saw a 2025 patch adding Brainboxes XC cards to parport_pc, which is evidence of ongoing support for still-relevant adapter hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20241112021153.18146-5-412574090@163.com/", "claim": "A 2024 parport series added I/O-memory support, indicating substantive maintenance rather than treewide churn only." }, { "url": "https://www.brainboxes.com/product/serial-cards/pci-universal/uc-146", "claim": "Brainboxes was still selling a PCI parallel-port card (UC-146) with pricing and add-to-cart availability in 2025-era crawls, showing new hardware remained commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.asix.com.tw/en/product/interface/pcie_bridge/ax99100", "claim": "ASIX documents the AX99100 PCIe multi-I/O controller with a 2S+1P parallel-port configuration; the page marks it 'NOT FOR NEW DESIGN!!', consistent with legacy but extant deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "drivers/parport is a real driver subtree with multiple module entry points and Kconfig targets for PC-style, PCI multi-I/O, and legacy platform ports. lore_file_timeline on drivers/parport/parport_pc.c showed activity through 2025-03-13, including new hardware-enable patches and stable backports; no removal signal was found from the retrieved lore evidence. Web search located current commercial PCI/PCIe LPT cards (Brainboxes) and the ASIX AX99100 controller page, so the hardware is still sold new in 2025 but appears confined to legacy/industrial niches. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same host-parport abstraction, so removal would be premature; annotate as legacy instead. URL provenance: first two via lore_file_timeline, last two via web search_query.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21814010441541126, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733326975, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains PCI core / enumeration / host-side subsystem infrastructure and generic support code, not a single hardware driver implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019211943958775596, "commits_5y": 999, "substantive_commits_5y": 988, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772634700, "top_author": "Ilpo Järvinen", "top_author_commits": 157, "c_file_count": 44, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/controller", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "PCI host bridge / PCIe root-complex controllers across multiple SoC and platform families", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg921930.html", "claim": "2026 stable backport for drivers/pci/controller/dwc/pcie-designware-ep.c shows active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 is sold new, includes a PCIe root complex, and is promised in production until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000101179/memory-and-storage/datacenter-storage-solutions.html", "claim": "Intel documented VMD as an active feature of Intel Xeon Scalable platforms in a 2025 support article, indicating ongoing deployment of VMD-backed PCI host-bridge hardware." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/core-ultra-200h-and-200u-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/intel-volume-management-device-intel-vmd-technology/https%3A%252F%252Fedc.intel.com%252Fcontent%252Fwww%252Fjp%252Fja%252Fdesign%252Fproducts-and-solutions%252Fprocessors-and-chipsets%252Fcore-ultra-200h-and-200u-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2%252Fintel-volume-management-device-intel-vmd-technology%252F/", "claim": "Intel Core Ultra 200H/200U datasheet pages published in 2025 still describe Intel VMD technology, showing this directory covers hardware present in current client platforms too." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of the local tree (`find` and `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/pci/controller`) showed many 2026 fixes and merge branches across this directory, so it is actively maintained. `lei` was unavailable, so public mailing-list/stable evidence was obtained via web search; the cited Spinics page is a 2026 stable patch touching this directory and links back to lore. Deployment evidence was obtained via web search on vendor pages: Raspberry Pi CM5 is a current PCIe-equipped product with a long availability window, and Intel's 2025 VMD documentation shows ongoing server/client deployment. No removal/deprecation discussion surfaced in the searched results. This directory is an umbrella for many live PCI host-controller drivers, not a single obsolete chipset, so there is no natural replacement and the correct outcome is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008682766848233723, "commits_5y": 652, "substantive_commits_5y": 650, "first_touch_ts": 1528462211, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775279929, "top_author": "Pali Rohár", "top_author_commits": 100, "c_file_count": 42, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/controller/cadence", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "Cadence PCIe controller IP blocks (including Cadence HPA) embedded in vendor SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260313165522.123518-4-18255117159@163.com/", "claim": "`pci-j721e.c` was still receiving upstream functional fixes in March 2026 ('PCI: j721e: Validate max-link-speed from DT'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20251108140305.1120117-5-hans.zhang@cixtech.com/", "claim": "`pcie-cadence-hpa.c` was added through an 11-version 2025 patch series for Cadence HPA support, showing ongoing feature growth in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM69A", "claim": "TI listed AM69A as ACTIVE and specifies up to four PCIe Gen3 controllers, supporting that Cadence-based TI J721E/AM69-class deployments are current, not legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/docs/pioneer/getting-started/processor", "claim": "Milk-V documents the current SOPHON SG2042 processor with integrated PCIe controllers, confirming present-day hardware using this driver family." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/pioneer", "claim": "Milk-V markets the Pioneer board as a purchasable SG2042 platform with PCIe slots/M.2, showing live deployment hardware rather than purely archival silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/help and source names show Cadence-based PCIe host/endpoint controllers for multiple SoC vendors. lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no hits, so I fell back to lore_activity on representative files. `lore_activity(file=drivers/pci/controller/cadence/pci-j721e.c)` produced March 2026 maintenance patches; `lore_activity(file=drivers/pci/controller/cadence/pcie-cadence-hpa.c)` produced a large 2025 feature series adding HPA support. That is strong evidence against deprecation or removal. Deployment evidence came from web search results on official/current product pages: TI AM69A (ACTIVE, PCIe Gen3 controllers) and Milk-V SG2042/Pioneer pages. No natural upstream replacement exists; this directory is the current Linux support stack for Cadence PCIe IP embedded across several modern SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06328449446789157, "commits_5y": 86, "substantive_commits_5y": 86, "first_touch_ts": 1573484222, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766769263, "top_author": "Siddharth Vadapalli", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/controller/dwc", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare PCIe controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260414141514.1341429-3-den@valinux.co.jp/", "claim": "April 14, 2026 upstream patch series touched the DesignWare core (`PCI: dwc: Record integrated eDMA register window`), showing active ongoing maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260410062507.657453-1-mmaddireddy@nvidia.com/", "claim": "April 10, 2026 upstream fix for older DesignWare cores (`PCI: dwc: Apply ECRC workaround for DesignWare cores prior to 5.10A`) shows current bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/PCIe_internal_peripheral", "claim": "ST's STM32MP25 documentation says its PCIe peripheral is based on the Synopsys DesignWare PCIe controller and supports both RC and EP modes, indicating use in currently marketed SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/pci-express/pci-express-controllers.html", "claim": "Synopsys markets current DesignWare PCIe controller IP for modern SoCs, supporting host, endpoint, dual-mode and switch use cases across PCIe generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, confirmed locally with `rg` via `exec_command`: core files are `pcie-designware*.c` and multiple SoC glue drivers. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pci/controller/dwc/pcie-designware.c`, which showed heavy 2021-2026 traffic and recent April 2026 patches at the cited lore URLs. Current deployment evidence came from web search results: ST's STM32MP25 PCIe docs and Synopsys's current DesignWare PCIe controller product page. A removal/deprecation subject scan via `lore_regex` timed out and a `lei q` fallback was blocked by the environment, so the lack of removal discussion is an inference from the strong recent maintenance signal rather than a fully exhaustive negative search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022622126470812094, "commits_5y": 707, "substantive_commits_5y": 706, "first_touch_ts": 1528462211, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772055860, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 106, "c_file_count": 40, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/controller/mobiveil", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "Mobiveil PCIe host controller IP (including NXP Layerscape Gen4 integration)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260402-tegra264-pcie-v4-2-21e2e19987e8@nvidia.com/", "claim": "`pcie-mobiveil.c` was still being touched by upstream PCI core cleanup work in April 2026, indicating the code is live and maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP lists the LX2160A Layerscape processor as Active; the in-tree `pcie-layerscape-gen4.c` driver variant targets `fsl,lx2160a-pcie`." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD states Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs have lifespans extending through 2045; the Mobiveil menu/Kconfig includes the platform variant for `ARCH_ZYNQMP`, supporting ongoing new deployments in embedded designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `exec_command` inspection showed Kconfig entries for `PCIE_LAYERSCAPE_GEN4` and `PCIE_MOBIVEIL_PLAT`, plus platform-driver code and DT compatibles (`mbvl,gpex40-pcie`, `fsl,lx2160a-pcie`). `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pci/controller/mobiveil/pcie-mobiveil.c` showed active upstream traffic in 2026 and no sign of removal in sampled activity. NXP and AMD URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; they show relevant supported silicon families still marketed for new designs. This is SoC/soft-IP PCIe host-controller code with no obvious generic replacement driver; deprecation would strand active embedded/networking platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18708207258486018, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1582286002, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753392242, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/controller/plda", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "PLDA XpressRICH PCIe host controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5955606.html", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream patch traffic still touches drivers/pci/controller/plda/pcie-starfive.c, showing ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5436881.html", "claim": "The Microchip PLDA-based host driver received functional rework for alternate root-port instances, indicating continued upstream development for deployed hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "Microchip continued marketing PolarFire SoC FPGAs with PCIe root-port capability and current documentation/kits in 2025-2026, so the supported hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still markets VisionFive 2 hardware built on the JH7110 SoC, one of the concrete users of this driver family." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/JH7110/Datasheet/JH7110_DS/pcie2_0.html", "claim": "The JH7110 datasheet documents two PCIe 2.0 controllers with root-port support, matching the StarFive-specific driver in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg`/file read showed platform PCIe host drivers for StarFive JH7110 and Microchip PolarFire SoC sharing the PLDA XpressRICH core. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/pci/controller/plda` showed steady substantive activity from 2024-05-28 through 2026-01-13, so this is active upstream code, not abandonware. The cited spinics URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` after a failed `lei q` attempt (`lei` not installed); they show recent patch traffic and no visible removal/deprecation discussion. The Microchip and StarFive product/doc URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show the underlying SoCs/boards are still current commercial embedded products. Deployment is low because this is niche embedded/SoC PCIe-host IP rather than mass PC hardware, but it is clearly still in active new deployments. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the upstream support stack for PLDA-based host controllers themselves.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1716912928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768313134, "top_author": "Minda Chen", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/endpoint", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the generic PCI endpoint framework/core support code rather than a hardware-specific kernel driver for a concrete device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0493767178604253, "commits_5y": 78, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1491938315, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769607958, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/endpoint/functions", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "PCI endpoint function drivers (generic test/NTB/vNTB plus Qualcomm MHI endpoint SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/PCI/endpoint/index.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation treats PCI endpoint functions as a current supported framework area, with dedicated sections for test, NTB, and vNTB endpoint functions." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/PCI/endpoint/pci-vntb-function.html", "claim": "vNTB is documented as an active endpoint-function use case, not a legacy-only leftover." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/PCI/endpoint/function/binding/pci-ntb.html", "claim": "The NTB endpoint function has current configfs binding documentation, indicating ongoing supported deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCI_EPF_MHI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PCI_EPF_MHI present in current kernel series and lists active Qualcomm endpoint IDs including SA8775P, SDX55, and SM8450." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg839563.html", "claim": "A 2025 stable backport updated SA8775P device ID support in pci-epf-mhi, showing recent upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/S32G3", "claim": "NXP still markets S32G3 automotive processors as active products with PCIe-capable automotive deployments relevant to EP/NTB-style endpoint use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.lantronix.com/products/ride-sx-4-0-automotive-development-platform/", "claim": "SA8775P-based development hardware is marketed as new/current, supporting the case that Qualcomm endpoint-function hardware is still entering new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed four loadable EPF drivers in this directory (`pci-epf-test`, `pci-epf-ntb`, `pci-epf-vntb`, `pci-epf-mhi`) and Kconfig describes active PCI endpoint test/NTB/MHI roles. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; no removal/deprecation discussions surfaced in lore-targeted searches. docs.kernel URLs show this directory maps to currently documented endpoint-function features; LKDDb and the 2025 stable patch URL show active kernel support for modern Qualcomm MHI endpoint parts; NXP/Lantronix product pages indicate relevant endpoint-capable automotive hardware is still sold for new designs. This is a niche subsystem, so deployments are not high-volume, but it is clearly maintained and still relevant; no natural replacement driver covers the whole directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.021156898627801145, "commits_5y": 117, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1491938317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773761202, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/hotplug", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "PCI/PCIe hotplug controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260323223056.3119060-1-sathyanarayanan.kuppuswamy@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "linux-pci carried a 2026 pciehp fix for Catlow Lake, showing active maintenance for current Intel PCIe hotplug hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/6206fce2-1e3d-4be2-bb40-2c315d11aa6e@llnl.gov/", "claim": "A 2026 series adds a Cray ClusterStor E1000 NVMe slot LED driver under drivers/pci/hotplug, indicating new server/storage hotplug use cases are still being added." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260217160836.2709885-3-kbusch@meta.com/", "claim": "A 2026 core PCI slot-management series touches pciehp-related code, showing ongoing subsystem evolution rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pci/hotplug/Kconfig", "claim": "Current Kconfig says HOTPLUG_PCI defaults to y if USB4, notes Thunderbolt/USB4 PCIe tunneling depends on native PCIe hotplug, and includes modern platform hooks such as Ampere Altra." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active driver subsystem, not a dead leaf. lore_file_timeline on pciehp_core.c showed steady 2021-2026 traffic with newest touch on 2026-04-20 and no removal-oriented subjects in the sampled history. Modern-use evidence comes from lore_file_timeline hits (Catlow Lake fix, ClusterStor E1000 LED support, core slot-management work). The Kconfig URL is canonical recall, with content verified locally via shell `sed` on drivers/pci/hotplug/Kconfig; the three lore URLs were obtained from the lore_file_timeline tool. Legacy subdrivers exist, but the directory as a whole still serves current PCIe/USB4/server hotplug deployments, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05956669713063907, "commits_5y": 110, "substantive_commits_5y": 103, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767025082, "top_author": "Ilpo Järvinen", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/msi", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains PCI MSI/MSI-X interrupt-management core code for other drivers, not a hardware device driver for a specific chipset or device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 104, "substantive_commits_5y": 104, "first_touch_ts": 1639047142, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769818308, "top_author": "Thomas Gleixner", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/pcie", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the PCIe core/port-service subsystem infrastructure and generic service drivers, not a discrete hardware-family driver for an obsolete device line.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.035373132213808514, "commits_5y": 231, "substantive_commits_5y": 227, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770418651, "top_author": "Bjorn Helgaas", "top_author_commits": 54, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/pwrctrl", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "PCI power-control framework for Qualcomm WCN/QCA PCIe WLAN, Toshiba TC9563, and generic PCI slots/M.2", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-pci/20250412-qps615_v4_1-v5-0-5b6a06132fec%40oss.qualcomm.com/T/", "claim": "April-July 2025 review thread adds the TC9563 pwrctrl driver and related PCI support, showing active upstream bring-up rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1052333/", "claim": "A December 29, 2025 patch series proposes a major PCI/pwrctrl rework, explicitly stating pwrctrl is being integrated with controller drivers and tested on current Qualcomm platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCI_PWRCTRL.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_PCI_PWRCTRL in Linux 6.16 through 7.0-rc+HEAD, consistent with this being a very new in-tree subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/Qualcomm-FastConnect-7800-product-brief_87-PW329-1-B.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 product brief identifies WCN785x mobile/compute/XR connectivity hardware, matching the driver's WCN7850-compatible support and indicating contemporary deployment." }, { "url": "https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/semiconductor/product/automotive-devices/automotive-ethernet-bridge-ics/detail.TC9563XBG.html", "claim": "Toshiba's live TC9563XBG product page with stock/purchase links indicates the supported TC9563 hardware is still being marketed/sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` inspection shows this is real driver code with platform_driver entry points for generic PCI slot/M.2 power control, Qualcomm WCN/QCA WLAN packages (QCA6390/WCN6855/WCN7850), and Toshiba TC9563. Local `git log` shows substantive changes through 2026-03-23, including new M.2 support and API rework. URLs were obtained via web search/open: the 2025 TC9563 thread from a lore mirror search result, the Dec 2025 rework thread via LWN's archived posting page, LKDDb via search result, and Qualcomm/Toshiba deployment evidence from opened vendor pages. No removal/deprecation series was found; upstream activity is ongoing and expansionary. Deployment is still niche to DT-described PCIe power-sequenced systems, but the supported hardware is current, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1732204884, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774299463, "top_author": "Manivannan Sadhasivam", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pci/switch", "subsystem": "pci", "chipset_family": "Microsemi/Microchip Switchtec PCIe switches (PFX/PSX/PAX/PFXA/PSXA/PAXA, PCI100x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/1777017460-243543-7-git-send-email-shawn.lin@rock-chips.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is still active: linux-pci carried a Switchtec cleanup patch on 2026-04-24." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250219082712.119575321@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving stable backports in 2025, including support for new Microchip PCI100X device IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/news-releases/products/new-family-of-switchtec-pcie-gen-4-0-16-lane-switches-provides", "claim": "Microchip announced the PCI100x Switchtec family on January 16, 2025, showing the hardware line was actively sold/launched in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/interface-and-connectivity/pcie-switches", "claim": "Microchip's current product page lists ongoing Switchtec PCIe switch families, including Gen 5 and Gen 6 products for data center, industrial, automotive and related markets." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/5.19/driver-api/switchtec.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this module as the Switchtec management interface driver, exposing /dev/switchtec# for firmware management and related functions." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of switchtec.c/Kconfig identified this as the Microsemi/Microchip Switchtec PCIe management driver and showed current device-ID coverage through PCI100x. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c showed sustained activity through 2026-04-24; cited lore URLs came from that tool's event list. A `lei` search for removal/deprecation discussion could not run in this sandbox, and no removal evidence appeared in the lore timeline, so there is no basis to escalate beyond keep. Web search returned Microchip's January 16, 2025 PCI100x launch page and current Switchtec portfolio pages, indicating the hardware is still sold into new datacenter/industrial/automotive deployments. No like-for-like upstream replacement driver is apparent; the separate NTB support documented for Switchtec is complementary, not a replacement for this management driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1684322197989204, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1488846814, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756395594, "top_author": "Kelvin Cao", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pcmcia", "subsystem": "pcmcia", "chipset_family": "PCMCIA/CardBus socket services and host bridges", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pcmcia/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is the kernel PCCard/PCMCIA/CardBus subsystem, including 16-bit PCMCIA, 32-bit CardBus, yenta bridges, and several old embedded/SoC socket drivers." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCCARD.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PCCARD remains present through current kernel heads, indicating the subsystem is still upstream and buildable rather than already removed." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCMCIA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PCMCIA is explicitly described as support for older 16-bit PC Cards, reinforcing that this is legacy hardware support." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card", "claim": "PC Card was superseded by ExpressCard in 2003 and is technologically obsolete in new mainstream systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this is a real driver subsystem for PCMCIA/CardBus core plus socket/bridge drivers, not a helper-only directory. Provided repo metadata shows active maintenance (68 substantive commits in 5y, most recent substantive touch 2026-01-27, 41 authors), so this is not dormant. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pcmcia/` returned no directory-level hits, which does not support an active removal campaign at that path granularity; a follow-up `lore_regex` removal scan timed out, so there is no positive lore evidence here for imminent removal. Deployment is low because PC Card/CardBus hardware is long obsolete in mainstream new systems and survives mainly in legacy laptops, industrial/embedded boards, and retro/fielded equipment. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: keep upstream because maintenance is still real, but annotate/document it as legacy hardware support. Sources obtained via local tree inspection plus canonical kernel.org URL recall, and `web.search_query` results for LKDDb/Wikipedia.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05050706521160858, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 68, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769553412, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/peci", "subsystem": "peci", "chipset_family": "Intel Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/peci", "claim": "Mainline PECI code saw continuing upstream activity after introduction, including 2025 updates and new CPU support rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/peci", "claim": "`drivers/peci` is a real in-tree hardware-driver subsystem with core, CPU-device, and platform-controller drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/130707/products-formerly-emerald-rapids.html", "claim": "Intel ARK still lists Emerald Rapids Xeon products, indicating PECI-attached server CPUs remained market-current beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097608/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation still covers 5th Gen Xeon Scalable (Emerald Rapids), supporting the conclusion that PECI-backed server platforms are still active in current deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` inspection of the local tree showed module entry points in `drivers/peci/core.c`, `cpu.c`, and controller drivers, so this is an active driver subsystem, not helper code. `exec_command` local git history (using `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed substantive PECI changes through 2025-10, including Intel Emerald Rapids support and controller maintenance; a separate local `git log --grep='remove|deprecat|obsolete|orphan' -- drivers/peci` found no PECI-specific removal/deprecation signal. The two kernel.org URLs are canonical recall used to anchor those local-history findings. The Intel ARK/support URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show relevant Xeon server families still current, so PECI remains needed for Intel server/BMC management. This is specialized server-management hardware rather than mass-market client hardware, so deployments are medium and there is no natural replacement driver for the same interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1644390283, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760551362, "top_author": "Iwona Winiarska", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/peci/controller", "subsystem": "peci", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST24xx/AST25xx/AST26xx and Nuvoton NPCM7xx/NPCM8xx BMC PECI controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250810-peci-round-rate-v1-1-ec96d216a455@redhat.com", "claim": "Latest substantive upstream activity in 2025 was a functional maintenance update for peci-aspeed, showing the driver is still receiving attention." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220208153639.255278-6-iwona.winiarska@intel.com", "claim": "The ASPEED PECI controller driver was added upstream for AST24xx/AST25xx/AST26xx BMC SoCs used with Intel platforms." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230727202126.1477515-3-iwona.winiarska@intel.com", "claim": "The Nuvoton NPCM PECI controller driver was added upstream for NPCM7xx/NPCM8xx BMC SoCs, expanding rather than shrinking supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED still markets AST2600/AST2620 BMC products on its current server-management product page, indicating the family remains commercially relevant." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/news/news/products-technology/TSNuvotonNews-000560/", "claim": "Nuvoton announced OCP S.A.F.E. certification for NPCM8mnx in July 2025 and described the chip as available for customer sampling/evaluation, indicating ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains PECI platform-controller drivers with module integration. No evidence of active removal/deprecation surfaced in local history; recent upstream touch was August 10, 2025. Lore URLs were obtained from local `git log` Link tags via shell; vendor URLs were obtained via web search. Hardware is current BMC silicon for server platforms, so this is not legacy-only. There is no natural upstream replacement driver because support is SoC-specific; recommendation is to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1644390283, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762437097, "top_author": "Brian Masney", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/perf", "subsystem": "perf", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level subsystem directory aggregating many unrelated PMU/performance-monitor drivers, not one hardware driver/chipset implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.032676530148260836, "commits_5y": 448, "substantive_commits_5y": 443, "first_touch_ts": 1438351274, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770147832, "top_author": "Robin Murphy", "top_author_commits": 68, "c_file_count": 36, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/perf/amlogic", "subsystem": "perf", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson G12/SM1 DDR PMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1004209.html", "claim": "The driver was upstreamed in 2022 as a supported Amlogic Meson G12 DDR bandwidth PMU driver, with MAINTAINERS coverage for drivers/perf/amlogic/." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-perf-users/msg53517.html", "claim": "The driver was still receiving real bug-fix traffic in 2025, including a functional fix for unsafe CPU-ID access in meson_ddr_pmu_create()." }, { "url": "https://www.khadas.com/vim3", "claim": "Khadas still markets the VIM3 board with an Amlogic A311D SoC, showing new-sale availability for a supported G12-family deployment." }, { "url": "https://ameridroid.com/products/odroid-n2-plus", "claim": "ODROID-N2+ remains on sale with an Amlogic S922X SoC, another supported G12-family deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/perf/amlogic showed a real platform perf driver with DT compatibles amlogic,g12a-ddr-pmu, amlogic,g12b-ddr-pmu, and amlogic,sm1-ddr-pmu. `git log` (shell) showed substantive touches through 2025-05-09. Web search found an upstream 2025 fix thread on spinics and the 2022 upstreaming thread with MAINTAINERS coverage; no removal series surfaced in the same lore/spinics-targeted searches, so this looks maintained rather than orphaned. Web search also found current retail pages for Khadas VIM3 (A311D) and ODROID-N2+ (S922X), supporting that G12-family hardware is still sold new; deployments for this specific perf PMU are nevertheless niche, so deployment is low rather than medium.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1669055325, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746789391, "top_author": "Jiucheng Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/perf/arm_cspmu", "subsystem": "perf", "chipset_family": "Arm CoreSight Architecture System PMU (CSPMU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5863368.html", "claim": "September 30, 2025 patch traffic shows arm_cspmu still receiving feature work upstream (PMPIDR support)." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5863371.html", "claim": "September 30, 2025 patch traffic shows nvidia_cspmu still receiving vendor-specific feature work upstream (PMEVFILTR2 support)." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/perf/ampere_cspmu.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel docs describe this driver family as supporting Ampere SoC PMU, initially for AmpereOne MCU events." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/dccpu/grace-perf-tuning-guide/measuring-performance.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's current Grace performance guide documents multiple CoreSight System PMUs exposed through this driver family and how to use them with perf." }, { "url": "https://amperecomputing.com/en/products/processors", "claim": "Ampere's current processor lineup still markets AmpereOne and AmpereOne M platforms, indicating supported hardware remains commercially active." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found platform_driver/module_init code and Kconfig entries for generic, NVIDIA, and Ampere backends. Local git log showed substantive arm_cspmu commits through 2025-11-03. Source URLs were obtained via web search: two spinics mailing-list pages for recent upstream patch traffic, kernel.org perf admin-guide page for AmpereOne support, NVIDIA Grace perf guide for active deployed PMUs, and Ampere's product page for ongoing sales. Available web/lore-style queries did not surface a removal/deprecation thread; with active 2025 maintenance plus current Grace/AmpereOne products, removal or deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 41, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1668520088, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762179603, "top_author": "Besar Wicaksono", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/perf/hisilicon", "subsystem": "perf", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Kunpeng/Hip08-Hip09 server PMUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423152959.1458563-3-wangyushan12@huawei.com/", "claim": "Lore shows active upstream feature work in 2026 on `drivers/perf/hisilicon/hisi_uncore_mn_pmu.c`, so the directory is not in maintenance-only limbo." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250814091622.23269-3-yangyicong@huawei.com/", "claim": "Lore shows a multi-version 2025 review series adding MN PMU support, indicating ongoing vendor and reviewer engagement rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/perf/hisi-pmu.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes these as HiSilicon SoC uncore PMUs for L3C/HHA/DDRC-class blocks on multi-die HiSilicon server SoCs." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.1/admin-guide/perf/hns3-pmu.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes HNS3 PMU as a HiSilicon SoC NIC PMU and explicitly mentions Hip09 deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng/huawei-kunpeng-920", "claim": "HiSilicon's official product page shows Kunpeng 920 as a current server CPU family, supporting the case that matching PMU-equipped hardware remained marketable in 2025." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100093458/99d67a76/technical-specifications", "claim": "Huawei's 2025-era TaiShan 200 server specifications list multiple Kunpeng 920 SKUs, evidence of new-system availability in the 2025 timeframe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real PMU drivers (`Kconfig`, PCI/platform registration, 12 C files). Upstream activity was checked with `lore_activity` on `hisi_uncore_mn_pmu.c`; it returned 2025-2026 feature patches, including a 2026 update, which strongly argues against deprecation. An attempted `lore_regex` removal-search timed out, and local grep over git subjects found no remove/deprecate hits; I found no concrete removal discussion. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results: kernel docs identify the blocks as HiSilicon server/NIC PMUs, and official HiSilicon/Huawei product pages show Kunpeng 920 systems still being sold/configured in the 2025 timeframe. There is no natural upstream replacement driver because these are vendor-specific perf PMUs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10467922312339954, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 77, "first_touch_ts": 1508429194, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758804719, "top_author": "Yicong Yang", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Generic PHY framework with mixed SoC PHYs (USB/PCIe/SATA/UFS/eMMC/MIPI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260404184918.2184070-3-cjd@cjdns.fr/", "claim": "As of April 4, 2026, the subsystem was still gaining new upstream PHY driver support (EcoNet EN751221/EN7528 PCIe PHY), indicating active development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260317-axiado-ax3000-add-emmc-phy-driver-support-v3-2-fbf790f3f711@axiado.com/", "claim": "As of March 17, 2026, new Axiado AX3000 eMMC PHY support was being added upstream, showing current hardware enablement in this subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2022/0926/1660.html", "claim": "Rockchip still markets RK3588 with Linux support and high-speed interfaces including PCIe, SATA, Type-C, USB3.1 and USB2.0, all of which rely on PHY drivers from this subsystem." }, { "url": "https://axiado.com/products/", "claim": "Axiado's current products page still lists active TCU SoCs in 2025/2026-era offerings, supporting the conclusion that related PHY-backed hardware remains in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/phy` is an active subsystem directory, not a single obsolete chip driver: local `rg`/tree inspection showed many vendor PHY drivers plus the generic PHY framework. Upstream activity was checked with `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/phy/Kconfig`, which showed heavy 2025-2026 traffic and recent new-driver additions; no removal evidence was found in the sampled lore results. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` hits for Rockchip RK3588 and Axiado current product pages, both showing currently marketed Linux-capable hardware using PHY-managed links. Because this directory covers current SoCs across multiple vendors and is still receiving enablement work, the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03180615527968249, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1380328541, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772200239, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/allwinner", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi SoC PHYs (sun4i/sun6i/sun9i/sun50i/H6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream touch in 2026; Allwinner PHY files were included in a 2026 phy-next treewide PHY-provider header update and carried an Allwinner maintainer Acked-by." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/orange-pi-3-LTS.html", "claim": "Orange Pi 3 LTS product page shows a currently sold board using the Allwinner H6 SoC with USB 3.0/2.0, indicating ongoing new-device deployment for at least part of this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/IC/A31/", "claim": "Olimex lists the Allwinner A31 SoC in stock and notes MIPI DSI capability, supporting continued new-component availability for the sun6i MIPI D-PHY portion." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A31", "claim": "linux-sunxi documents the A31 as an Allwinner sun6i SoC with MIPI DSI and USB host/OTG, matching hardware blocks covered by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig/Makefile inspected via exec_command show four real SoC-PHY drivers: USB PHYs for sun4i/sun9i/sun50i(H6) plus sun6i MIPI D-PHY. lore_activity (MCP) on phy-sun4i-usb.c and phy-sun50i-usb3.c returned recent 2026 linux-phy activity rather than abandonment; cited lore URL came from that tool. Deployment evidence came from web.search results: Orange Pi 3 LTS product page and Olimex A31 in-stock page show new H6/A31 hardware still being sold, with linux-sunxi used as supporting hardware taxonomy. I found active maintenance evidence and no concrete removal evidence in the limited tool budget, so removal/deprecation is not justified; there is no natural replacement because these PHY blocks are SoC-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07679989632651263, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768382657, "top_author": "Samuel Holland", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/amlogic", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson PHYs (Meson8/Meson8b/Meson8m2/GXBB/GXL/GXM/AXG/G12A/A1)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Amlogic PHY files in this directory were still touched by upstream PHY-maintenance work in 2026, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/Stencil.html", "claim": "Amlogic's product catalog still lists current multimedia SoCs in the same Meson family, including S905X4, S905X5, and S905Y4, showing the vendor is still selling adjacent/newer parts using this platform line." }, { "url": "https://file.geniatech.com/thcdownloads/geniatech/specification/ATV496MAX_Spec_EN_V1.0-20220415.pdf", "claim": "A commercial product built on Amlogic S905X4 was still being published and sold with USB3/USB2 multimedia I/O, matching the use cases served by these PHY drivers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory contains real SoC PHY drivers for USB2/USB3, PCIe, HDMI TX, and MIPI blocks across multiple Amlogic Meson generations. Upstream activity evidence came from `lore_activity` on `drivers/phy/amlogic/phy-meson-g12a-usb2.c`, which returned a 2026 linux-phy touch (treewide API/header maintenance) and supports the prompt's recent-substantive-touch metadata rather than a dead driver. Deployment evidence came from web search plus `open`/`find`: Amlogic's catalog still lists S905X4/S905X5/S905Y4, and Geniatech's S905X4 box spec shows real shipped hardware using relevant PHY-backed interfaces. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific PHY implementations, so removal/deprecation would strand supported Meson boards rather than migrate users elsewhere.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21591775581522032, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744371435, "top_author": "Anand Moon", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/apple", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Apple ATCPHY (Apple Silicon Type-C PHY)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_APPLE_ATC.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_PHY_APPLE_ATC as the Apple Type-C PHY for Apple Silicon M-series SoCs, with support for USB2, USB3, USB4, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5994449.html", "claim": "January 2026 thread shows active upstream review/fix traffic for this driver ('Actually check return value of devm_apple_tunable_parse')." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6042518.html", "claim": "February 2026 patch thread fixes a real bug in atc.c ('Check the actual ioremap return value'), indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6162919.html", "claim": "April 2026 patch proposes another atc driver lifetime/UAF fix, showing ongoing attention after merge." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/en-us/122210", "claim": "Apple's 2025 MacBook Air (15-inch, M4) ships with two Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports, matching the driver’s Apple Silicon Type-C PHY use case." }, { "url": "https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apple-introduces-macbook-pro-with-all-new-m5-pro-and-m5-max/", "claim": "Apple announced new MacBook Pro systems in March 2026, confirming the broader Apple Silicon Type-C/Thunderbolt hardware class remains current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence came from exec_command using rg/sed on drivers/phy/apple/atc.c and Kconfig, plus git -c safe.directory log on the directory: this is a new Apple Silicon Type-C PHY driver added in Dec 2025 with follow-up fixes in Jan 2026. URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb for hardware scope, Apple support/newsroom pages for current product deployment, and spinics results surfaced from lore/spinics searches for upstream activity. I found active bug-fix traffic and no removal/deprecation discussion in the searched lore/spinics results, so this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1766511665, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768400107, "top_author": "Sven Peter", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/broadcom", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Broadcom STB / Northstar / Stingray SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20250402185159.2976920-3-justin.chen@broadcom.com/", "claim": "Active upstream development in 2025: this directory gained BCM74110 USB PHY support, indicating support for newly added Broadcom STB silicon rather than maintenance-only legacy code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The driver was still being touched in 2026 as part of ongoing PHY subsystem work, so it is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_BRCM_USB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PHY_BRCM_USB remains present through current kernel series and lists supported compatibles including bcm4908, bcm7211, bcm7216, bcm74110 and brcmstb-usb-phy." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.4/targets/bcm4908/generic/", "claim": "OpenWrt still shipped bcm4908 target images in October 2025, showing continued real-world deployment of at least one Broadcom SoC family covered by this directory." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-July/1041857.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch explicitly describes BCM74110 as a Broadcom SetTop box ARM64 SoC, reinforcing that this driver family still receives enablement for contemporary Broadcom STB hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local file/chip coverage with shell rg over drivers/phy/broadcom. Lore evidence came from lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on phy-brcm-usb.c, which showed sustained activity through 2026 and a 2025 BCM74110 support series. Web search provided LKDDb for current kernel presence, OpenWrt bcm4908 release pages for present deployments, and a linux-arm-kernel patch identifying BCM74110 as a Broadcom STB SoC. No sourced evidence of an active removal/deprecation series was found. Mixed portfolio includes older SoCs, but ongoing enablement and downstream deployment argue to keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07089666370218746, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767265191, "top_author": "Justin Chen", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/cadence", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Cadence PHY IP blocks (Torrent, Sierra, Salvo, MIPI D-PHY/RX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20251216-phy-cadence-torrent-resume-restore-refclk-parent-v3-1-8a7ed84b47e3@bootlin.com/", "claim": "linux-phy saw a Cadence Torrent functional fix in December 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20250904082151.2929189-2-h-shenoy@ti.com/", "claim": "linux-phy carried a substantial Cadence D-PHY fix series in September 2025, showing ongoing bug-fix traffic for this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20250724154823.15998-4-johan@kernel.org/", "claim": "Cadence Sierra still received 2025 cleanup touches in linux-phy, so the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX95 family as Active and exposes USB 3.0, USB 2.0, PCIe Gen3, and MIPI camera/display PHY-equipped connectivity, consistent with continued deployment of Cadence-backed PHY IP in current SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/silicon-solutions/protocol-ip/interface-ip/ethernet/ethernet-16g-multi-protocol-phy.html", "claim": "Cadence still markets multi-protocol SerDes PHY IP as a current product line for volume-production SoCs, supporting the view that this class of Cadence PHY hardware remains commercially relevant." }, { "url": "https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/silicon-solutions/design-ip/pcie-and-compute-express-link/phy-for-pcie-and-cxl/phy-for-pcie-5-and-cxl.html", "claim": "Cadence continues to sell newer PCIe/CXL PHY IP, indicating the vendor's PHY portfolio is current rather than legacy-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local tree inspection showed platform PHY drivers and Kconfig entries for Torrent, Sierra, Salvo, and D-PHY variants. Active-maintenance evidence came from lore-http `lore_regex` on linux-phy patch diffs, which returned 2025 Cadence Torrent/D-PHY/Sierra patches at the cited lore URLs. Deployment evidence came from web search results on NXP i.MX95 and Cadence product pages. Salvo is locally described as legacy USB-only, but the directory overall covers multiple still-current Cadence PHY IP blocks. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same Cadence-specific PHY blocks, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05410520925056022, "commits_5y": 90, "substantive_commits_5y": 89, "first_touch_ts": 1536569744, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768383189, "top_author": "Swapnil Jakhade", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/canaan", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: requested path does not exist in this kernel snapshot; Canaan support is present under drivers/soc/canaan plus reset/pinctrl paths, so drivers/phy/canaan is not a real driver directory here.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/eswin", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "ESWIN EIC7700X", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/2/5/338", "claim": "Active upstream patch series in February 2026 adds drivers/phy/eswin with phy-eic7700-sata.c, so the directory is new and under active bring-up rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/3/27/1846", "claim": "A March 27, 2026 treewide PHY header cleanup patch touches drivers/phy/eswin/phy-eic7700-sata.c, showing immediate follow-up upstream maintenance after the driver was proposed." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-premier-p550", "claim": "SiFive's HiFive Premier P550 product page lists the board as powered by the ESWIN EIC7700X SoC and includes a SATA connector, indicating relevant hardware remains marketed and available." }, { "url": "https://www.sifive.com/press/hifive-premier-p550-development-boards-now-shipping", "claim": "SiFive announced on October 21, 2024 that HiFive Premier P550 boards based on the ESWIN EIC7700X were shipping and available for purchase, supporting current niche deployment evidence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection could not find the directory in this snapshot, so assessment relied on web search evidence. The two lkml.org URLs were obtained via web search against lore/LKML and show active 2026 upstream addition and follow-up maintenance, with no removal discussion found in the allotted search budget. The SiFive URLs were obtained via web search and show the EIC7700X platform is/was commercially sold for Linux development, but only in a niche developer/edge-computing market. That points away from deprecation or removal; annotate instead because deployment appears low-volume and platform-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/freescale", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX8/i.MX95 PHYs and Layerscape Lynx 28G SerDes", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ide/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 upstream patch traffic still touched files under drivers/phy/freescale, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX95 as Active; this directory explicitly contains support for fsl,imx95-usb-phy, so covered hardware is current rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1028A", "claim": "NXP lists LS1028A as Active; the directory's Lynx 28G SerDes driver targets current Layerscape SoCs used in industrial/edge designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` over drivers/phy/freescale showed active SoC-specific PHY drivers for i.MX8, i.MX95 USB PHY, and Layerscape Lynx 28G SerDes. `lore_activity` on representative files returned 2026 patch traffic with lore permalinks; no removal evidence was found in the gathered lore data. NXP product pages were obtained via web search and show i.MX95 and LS1028A as Active in 2026, so the hardware is still sold and relevant. Because these are board/SoC-integrated PHY blocks, there is no natural upstream replacement driver beyond keeping these per-SoC drivers maintained.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03279177271780829, "commits_5y": 81, "substantive_commits_5y": 80, "first_touch_ts": 1544589106, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772200261, "top_author": "Vladimir Oltean", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/hisilicon", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Kirin/HiSTB/HIX5 PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "This directory still receives upstream touch in the linux-phy workflow; at least one 2026 treewide maintenance series modified HiSilicon PHY files rather than the code being abandoned or removed." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/hikey960/", "claim": "HiKey960, a board based on the HiSilicon Kirin 960 (Hi3660), was still listed with active 'Buy Now' channels on a page crawled in 2026, indicating at least niche new-hardware availability beyond pure legacy used stock." }, { "url": "https://www.hisilicon.com/en/products/kirin/kirin-flagship-chips/kirin-960", "claim": "Hi3660-class support in this directory maps to the Kirin 960 family." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/hisilicon/kirin/970", "claim": "Hi3670 maps to Kirin 970, a 2017-era mobile SoC family, which supports the conclusion that much of the covered hardware is old rather than current-volume mainstream silicon." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_HI3660_USB.html", "claim": "The hi3660 USB PHY driver remains present in current kernel configuration indexes through modern kernel releases, with no sign of upstream removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_HI3670_PCIE.html", "claim": "The hi3670 PCIe PHY driver also remains present in current kernel configuration indexes through modern kernel releases, again arguing against removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection of drivers/phy/hisilicon/Kconfig and .c files shows seven real PHY drivers spanning hi6220/hi3660/hi3670/HiSTB/HIX5. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on exact files under linux-phy; it showed current-cycle maintenance touches but I found no removal evidence. Deployment evidence came from web search: 96Boards product page shows niche new HiKey960 availability, while Hi3670/Kirin 970 is clearly a 2017-era phone SoC. Conclusion: this is old, niche, mixed-family support with some remaining upstream attention, so keep it but annotate as low-deployment legacy-oriented support rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18875952765457255, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756730634, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/ingenic", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Ingenic JZ/XBurst SoC USB PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/ingenic/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes this as the USB PHY driver for Ingenic JZ-series and X-series SoCs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent lore-visible touch affecting this file was a broad cross-tree PHY header include change, indicating low but nonzero upstream maintenance rather than active feature work." }, { "url": "https://en.ingenic.com.cn/products", "claim": "Ingenic's live product catalog still lists X1000 and X2000 in the X Series, showing the family remains commercially present." }, { "url": "https://en.ingenic.com.cn/products-detail/id-15.html", "claim": "Ingenic still publishes a current X2000 product page, supporting that at least part of the supported SoC family is still sold for embedded use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection with `rg` shows a real platform USB PHY driver with OF matches for jz4770/jz4775/jz4780/x1000/x1830/x2000. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is a canonical recall URL used to back that scope claim. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/phy/ingenic/phy-ingenic-usb.c` showed only sparse recent activity and surfaced a 2026 treewide include clean-up patch via the cited lore URL; within the allotted budget I found no concrete removal-series evidence, so this looks dormant/niche rather than removal-bound. `web.search_query` found Ingenic's live product catalog and X2000 page, so hardware is still sold new, but likely only in niche embedded/industrial deployments. There is no natural generic replacement for this SoC-specific PHY block, so the pragmatic outcome is keep the driver but annotate it as low-activity niche support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.471166588987798, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1607155770, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755708938, "top_author": "Akhilesh Patil", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/intel", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Intel Keem Bay / Lightning Mountain SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch exists for this directory's code, indicating the driver family is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_INTEL_KEEMBAY_EMMC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Keem Bay eMMC PHY driver still present through current kernel heads and tied to Intel Keem Bay hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_INTEL_LGM_COMBO.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies Intel Lightning Mountain ComboPHY support for gateway chipsets in this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_INTEL_LGM_EMMC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Lightning Mountain eMMC PHY driver remains in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230545/gen-3-intel-movidius-3700vc-vpu/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel ARK lists a Keem Bay-derived Movidius 3700VC VPU as launched in Q1 2023, supporting the view that at least part of this hardware family was still commercially current heading into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: four platform PHY drivers in drivers/phy/intel for Intel Keem Bay and Lightning Mountain SoCs. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no events, so I fell back to lore_activity on a concrete file; that produced a 2026 lore URL from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity showing ongoing upstream churn, with no removal discussion surfaced in the limited lore probes. Hardware evidence came from web search hits to LKDDb pages for the three active configs and Intel ARK for the Keem Bay-derived 3700VC. Conclusion: niche embedded/industrial deployments remain, no generic replacement exists, and active maintenance argues against deprecation; annotate as low-volume, SoC-specific code rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.38524382368034443, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1578979219, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729177383, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/lantiq", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Lantiq/Intel XWAY, VRX200, and ARX300 SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches are treewide PHY header churn, not evidence of active feature work for this Lantiq PHY directory." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0/targets/lantiq/xrx200/", "claim": "OpenWrt still publishes current images for the `lantiq/xrx200` target, indicating a surviving installed base in legacy CPE/router deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_LANTIQ_VRX200_PCIE.html", "claim": "The in-tree scope is narrow: this directory serves Lantiq VRX200/ARX300 PCIe PHY support in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantiq", "claim": "Lantiq is a defunct vendor brand; the product line changed hands to Intel in 2015 and MaxLinear in 2020, consistent with these SoCs being legacy rather than current-design silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of Kconfig/C files shows two SoC-internal PHY drivers only, for XWAY/VRX200/ARX300 families, with no obvious generic replacement. lore_file_timeline/lore_activity showed mostly historical traffic plus a 2026 treewide include cleanup; the user-provided static summary says just 1 substantive commit in 5y, latest 2024-02-23, which fits low-maintenance legacy status. Web search produced the OpenWrt current xrx200 target URL and LKDDb page; those support low but nonzero deployment today. Wikipedia URL came from web search and is used only for vendor-lineage context; 'not sold new in 2025' is an inference from legacy SoC family age, defunct branding, and lack of modern platform evidence, so I leave last_widely_available_year as null rather than fabricate an exact cutoff.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.0495894444233524, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1504552742, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1708690394, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/marvell", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Marvell Armada/Berlin/PXA SoC PHYs (COMPHY, UTMI, USB, SATA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "At least part of this directory is still seeing upstream maintenance activity in 2026; linux-phy traffic touched Marvell COMPHY files as part of a phy-core update series." }, { "url": "https://mikrotik.com/product/rb5009ug_s_in", "claim": "A current retail router product page lists Marvell Armada 88F7040, indicating Armada-class Marvell SoCs that rely on this PHY family remain in new deployments." }, { "url": "https://shop.solid-run.com/product/SRS91-EVKCB-R03/", "claim": "SolidRun still sells a Marvell networking evaluation kit with lead time and add-to-cart availability, supporting ongoing embedded/networking deployments of related Marvell SoC platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/Makefile identified this as a real Marvell SoC PHY driver directory spanning Armada/Berlin/PXA blocks, not a helper library. I used lore_activity on representative active files (`phy-mvebu-cp110-comphy.c`, `phy-mvebu-a3700-comphy.c`) and cited the returned lore URL; it shows current 2026 linux-phy traffic, which argues against deprecation. A broad lore removal regex timed out and `lei q` subject searches for remove/deprecate terms returned no hits, so removal discussion was not evidenced in the sampled history. I used web search plus page open on MikroTik and SolidRun product/store pages to confirm Marvell Armada/CN913x-class hardware is still marketed for routers/embedded networking. Because these PHY drivers are SoC-specific glue for still-deployed hardware, there is no natural replacement driver; some sub-blocks are legacy, but the directory as a whole should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06950524988286139, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768982219, "top_author": "Pali Rohár", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/mediatek", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "MediaTek SoC PHY blocks (T-PHY, XS-PHY, UFS M-PHY, HDMI/MIPI/DP, PCIe)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260420132314.1023554-74-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory is still seeing upstream traffic in 2026; this file received a stable backport/autosel patch, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-880", "claim": "MediaTek was marketing new Filogic 880 networking silicon in 2025/2026 with 10GbE, PCIe and USB interfaces, matching PHY classes covered by this driver directory and showing the hardware family remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-9400", "claim": "MediaTek was marketing new Dimensity 9400 smartphone silicon in 2025/2026 with UFS 4 and MIPI display/camera interfaces, matching PHY classes covered here and showing ongoing new-device deployment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/mediatek/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory covers multiple current MediaTek PHY types: PCIe, 10GE SerDes, USB/SATA/PCIe T-PHY, UFS, XS-PHY, HDMI, MIPI CSI/DSI, and DP." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active vendor PHY subtree for multiple still-current MediaTek SoC product lines, not a single legacy chip driver. lore_activity on phy-mtk-tphy.c returned a 2026 lore thread URL showing continued upstream/stable traffic; web search returned current official MediaTek Filogic 880 and Dimensity 9400 product pages showing new silicon still shipping with interfaces served by these PHY drivers; Kconfig URL is canonical recall to confirm scope. No natural replacement exists beyond these vendor-specific PHY drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06127264243073068, "commits_5y": 83, "substantive_commits_5y": 82, "first_touch_ts": 1503217791, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767263123, "top_author": "Chunfeng Yun", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/microchip", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Microchip LAN966x and SparX-5/LAN969x switch SerDes", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Both `lan966x_serdes.c` and `sparx5_serdes.c` were still being touched in linux-phy in March 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/LAN9662", "claim": "Microchip lists LAN9662 with status 'In Production', showing the LAN966x family was still an actively sold product family." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/high-speed-networking-and-video/ethernet/ethernet-switches", "claim": "Microchip's Ethernet-switch catalog page still advertises purchasable LAN969x and LAN9662 evaluation boards, evidence of current deployment targeting and commercial support." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/ev89p81a", "claim": "Microchip offers the LAN969x 10x10G evaluation board for LAN9694/LAN9696/LAN9698, showing ongoing enablement around the SparX-5/LAN969x-class switch silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/vsc7549", "claim": "Microchip lists VSC7549 from the SparX-5 family as 'In Production', supporting that the matching SerDes-capable switch family is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`drivers/phy/microchip/Kconfig` and module metadata via shell `rg`/`sed`) shows this directory contains real platform PHY drivers for Microchip LAN966x and SparX-5/LAN969x switch SerDes blocks, not helper code. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity`; both files show activity through 2026, with a March 27 2026 linux-phy touch at the cited lore URL. A broad `lore_regex` removal scan timed out and a `lei` fallback could not start in the sandbox, so I found no positive removal evidence. Deployment/sales evidence came from web search on official Microchip pages: LAN9662 and VSC7549 are shown as 'In Production', and current LAN9662/LAN969x eval boards are advertised with purchasing options. This looks like active industrial/embedded networking hardware with continuing upstream fixes, so the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08688003124010947, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1615963399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766510562, "top_author": "Daniel Machon", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/motorola", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Motorola CPCAP PMIC USB PHY and Mapphone MDM6600 modem USB PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Both files in this directory were still touched in upstream phy-next work in 2026, indicating the code is not abandoned even if the change was largely treewide." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_CPCAP_USB.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PHY_CPCAP_USB is the CPCAP PMIC USB PHY driver for Motorola phones/tablets such as the Droid 4, and remains present through current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_MAPPHONE_MDM6600.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PHY_MAPPHONE_MDM6600 is the Motorola Mapphone MDM6600 modem USB PHY driver for devices such as the Droid 4, and remains present through current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_4", "claim": "The Motorola Droid 4 was released on 2012-02-10, placing the supported hardware firmly in a legacy smartphone generation." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid_4_%28motorola-maserati%29", "claim": "There is still niche community deployment on legacy Motorola Droid 4 hardware, but the device is marked as not recommended for future use and remains downstream/non-mainline in postmarketOS." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: two platform PHY drivers with module entry points for Motorola CPCAP USB PHY and MDM6600 modem USB PHY. Static prompt metadata already shows 9 substantive commits in the last 5 years with most recent substantive touch on 2025-02-17, so this is not dead code. Source acquisition: the lore URL came from the `lore_activity` MCP query on each .c file; both files show a 2026 phy-next touch, supporting continued upstream maintenance attention. The two LKDDb URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and identify the supported hardware as Motorola phones/tablets such as Droid 4. The Wikipedia Droid 4 URL was obtained via `web.search_query` and dates the hardware to 2012, which supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and a low last-widely-available year. The postmarketOS Wiki URL was obtained via `web.search_query` and supports `deployments_today=\"low\"`: there is niche enthusiast use, but not meaningful new deployment. I found no concrete removal evidence within the tool budget: a directory-level `lore_file_timeline` query returned no matches for the path prefix, and a removal-oriented `lore_regex` subject query timed out, so I did not escalate to `remove`. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: annotate as legacy/mobile-niche hardware rather than deprecate, because the hardware is obsolete in the market but still sees occasional upstream care and community use, and there is no obvious drop-in replacement driver for the same board-specific wiring.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3254253386845917, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1496740821, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739798854, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/mscc", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Microsemi Ocelot (VSC751x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-26-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "The driver file was still being touched in upstream kernel work in 2026; no removal thread was evident from the lore activity/timeline sample." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/VSC7514", "claim": "Microchip lists the VSC7514 Ocelot-family switch as 'Status: In Production', indicating the hardware family is still sold." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/vsc7514ev", "claim": "Microchip still lists the VSC7514EV reference design, showing an active industrial Ethernet switch deployment/use case with SFP ports connected through SERDES." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile plus platform PHY driver code in phy-ocelot-serdes.c. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on the file; latest hit is a 2026 treewide include update, which shows the code is still integrated but not heavily subsystem-active, and I saw no removal discussion in those lore results. Deployment evidence came from web search results on microchip.com for VSC7514 and VSC7514EV; both pages indicate current production/reference-board availability. This looks like niche industrial/embedded switch silicon with ongoing but low-volume relevance, so keep rather than deprecate, but annotate as low-deployment/specialized hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.8317799552818829, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1538775404, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1708690394, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/nuvoton", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Nuvoton MA35D1 USB2 PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240805030356.14565-3-hpchen0nvt@gmail.com", "claim": "Upstream evidence for this directory is a 2024 patch series adding the Nuvoton MA35 USB 2.0 PHY driver; no older history exists for the directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microprocessors/arm-cortex-a35-mpus/ma35d1-high-performance-edge-iiot-series/", "claim": "Nuvoton still markets the MA35D1 family as a current product line with USB 2.0 HS and industrial/edge-IIoT positioning." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/news/news/products-technology/TSNuvotonNews-000558/", "claim": "Nuvoton announced an MA35D1-based EMAC SoM on June 26, 2025 with availability stated as 'Now. Sold Worldwide.', showing new-product deployment in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains Kconfig/Makefile plus a platform PHY driver with module_platform_driver for compatible 'nuvoton,ma35d1-usb2-phy'. The lore URL was obtained from local `git log --follow --stat -- drivers/phy/nuvoton` via exec_command; it shows the directory was added in August 2024 and there is no long decay history or visible removal signal. The two Nuvoton URLs were obtained by web search and opened with the web tool; they show MA35D1 remains an actively marketed embedded SoC family and was still entering new SoM designs in 2025. This is niche embedded hardware, so deployments are low rather than mass-market, but the driver is too new and current for deprecation; there is no natural replacement beyond this SoC-specific PHY driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1724955757, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1724955757, "top_author": "Hui-Ping Chen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/qualcomm", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm SoC PHYs (QMP/QUSB2/M31/IPQ)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/qualcomm/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig shows this directory covers a broad, current Qualcomm PHY stack including QMP, QUSB2, M31, eUSB2 repeater, and IPQ5332 UNIPHY PCIe support rather than a single legacy part." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/qualcomm/phy-qcom-m31-eusb2.c", "claim": "The M31 eUSB2 PHY driver source carries 2024-2025 Qualcomm Innovation Center copyright, indicating ongoing enablement for recent Qualcomm platforms." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/qualcomm/phy-qcom-qmp-qserdes-txrx-v8.h", "claim": "V8 QMP register headers are present with 2025 Qualcomm copyright, consistent with active support for newer PHY generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `sed`) showed many Qualcomm PHY drivers and Kconfig entries spanning USB, PCIe, UFS, DP/eDP, IPQ, QMP, QUSB2, and M31. Supplied static history shows very high recent activity (631 substantive commits in 5y, 71 authors, most recent 2026-02-27), which argues strongly against deprecation. A shell attempt to query lore via `lei q` failed because `lei` is not installed, so no direct lore removal-thread URL was obtained; removal risk is therefore inferred from the absence of any static removal signal plus strong recent maintenance. Source URLs above are canonical-recall kernel.org tree pages matching the files inspected locally. Modern Qualcomm SoCs and networking chips still ship with these PHY blocks, so deployments remain high and there is no single replacement driver for the directory as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02238018560367721, "commits_5y": 632, "substantive_commits_5y": 631, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772205417, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 202, "c_file_count": 25, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/ralink", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "MediaTek/Ralink RT3352/MT7620/MT7621/MT7628/MT7688 SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Both files in this directory were still being touched by upstream phy treewide maintenance in 2026, so the code is not abandoned in mainline." }, { "url": "https://store.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt300n-v2-mini-smart-router", "claim": "GL.iNet's Mango router product page lists an MT7628NN-based device for sale, showing at least part of this PHY family was still sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.0-rc4/targets/ramips/mt7621/", "claim": "OpenWrt published a current ramips/mt7621 target in late 2024, indicating continuing supported deployments of MT7621 systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: two platform PHY drivers with module entry points. lore_file_timeline/lore_activity showed continued upstream touches, but the visible 2026 hit is a broad treewide header-update series rather than removal work; no removal evidence surfaced in sampled lore, so 'remove' is not justified. Web search + open/find on GL.iNet showed a retail MT7628NN product page, and web search + open/find on OpenWrt showed current mt7621 release artifacts, supporting ongoing low-to-medium real-world use. No natural replacement driver exists because these PHYs are SoC-specific platform blocks; keep, but annotate as legacy/embedded-only hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4640383017197869, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1503217943, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1708690394, "top_author": "Sergio Paracuellos", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/realtek", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTD DHC SoC USB PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=bf373d2919d98f3d1fe1b19a0304f72fe74386d9", "claim": "A substantive bug fix for this driver landed on 2024-11-04 (`phy: realtek: usb: fix NULL deref in rtk_usb3phy_probe`), indicating current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=04e3e9188291a183b27306ddb833722c0d083d6a", "claim": "A companion substantive bug fix for the USB2 side landed the same day on 2024-11-04 (`phy: realtek: usb: fix NULL deref in rtk_usb2phy_probe`)." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_RTK_RTD_USB2PHY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the USB2 driver is present in current kernels and covers Realtek RTD1295/1312c/1315e/1319/1319d/1395/1619/1619b SoC PHY compatibles." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_RTK_RTD_USB3PHY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the USB3 driver is present in current kernels and covers Realtek RTD1295/1319/1319d/1619/1619b SoC PHY compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.orbsmart.de/en/produkte/orbsmart-r82/", "claim": "Orbsmart's official product page markets the R82 in 2025-era crawls and explicitly lists the Realtek RTD1619BPD processor, showing this SoC family still appears in new retail products." }, { "url": "https://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads%2Fedid-thread-rtd1619bpd-players.96829%2Fpage-15=", "claim": "Zidoo forum posts from February-April 2025 discuss buying and using RTD1619BPD-based players, supporting ongoing niche deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of the directory and DT bindings shows this is a real driver pair for Realtek RTD-series DHC SoC USB2/USB3 PHY blocks, not a helper library. Upstream activity was established with local `git log`; the two cited git.kernel.org commit URLs were formed from those hashes via canonical recall of stable kernel commit URLs. I also ran web searches targeting lore/kernel terms and found no removal or deprecation discussion; instead the evidence points to a young driver added in 2024 and still receiving fixes. LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search for current kernel coverage. Orbsmart and Zidoo URLs were obtained via web search for deployment evidence; they show the RTD1619BPD branch still sold/used in a niche media-player market. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific PHY initialization for Realtek RTD hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1690346294, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730682199, "top_author": "Stanley Chang", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/renesas", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ-G SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "A 2026 linux-phy treewide patch still touched files in drivers/phy/renesas, indicating the directory remains integrated into active upstream maintenance rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3e?partno=R9A09G047E57GBG%23AC0", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G3E as Active; that SoC family matches this directory's newer PHY support such as r9a09g047 USB3 PHY." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-introduces-64-bit-rzg3e-mpu-high-performance-hmi-systems-requiring-ai-acceleration-and-edge", "claim": "Renesas announced RZ/G3E on July 29, 2025 for new industrial/consumer HMI designs, showing this PHY-backed hardware family was newly marketed in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-v4h-best-class-deep-learning-very-low-power-system-chip-automated-driving-level-2-level-3", "claim": "Renesas lists R-Car V4H as Active, supporting the conclusion that the broader Renesas automotive/embedded SoC PHY ecosystem covered here is still current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed six real platform PHY drivers (USB2/USB3/PCIe/Ethernet SerDes) for Renesas SoCs, so this is a driver directory. `lore_activity` on directory files returned a 2026 linux-phy touch, and the provided metadata already shows 46 substantive commits in 5 years with the latest on 2026-02-04, which argues against deprecation. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path itself returned no exact-path events, and a web search over lore found no obvious removal/deprecation series; I treat that as no visible active removal push, not as proof of absence. Renesas product/news pages obtained via `web.search_query` show RZ/G3E and R-Car products still active/new in 2025+, so hardware is still sold and sees ongoing embedded/automotive deployment. There is no generic replacement driver because these PHY blocks are SoC-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05099636689082854, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770218895, "top_author": "Claudiu Beznea", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/rockchip", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Rockchip SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Representative file activity for this directory remained live into 2026; `phy-rockchip-usbdp.c` was touched by a 2026-03-27 phy-next series, consistent with ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5", "claim": "Radxa's current ROCK 5 product family is based on Rockchip RK3588/RK3588-S SoCs, indicating new 2025-era deployments of Rockchip platforms that depend on modern on-SoC PHY blocks." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5/rock5b/getting-started/introduction", "claim": "The ROCK 5B/5B+ documentation describes an RK3588 board with USB-C/DP, HDMI, and eMMC-facing interfaces, matching the kinds of Rockchip PHYs covered by this driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/phy/rockchip` is an active SoC-PHY driver directory, not legacy baggage: provided static history already shows 164 substantive commits in 5 years, 60 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-21. I grounded that with `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/phy/rockchip/phy-rockchip-usbdp.c`, which returned fresh 2026 lore URLs showing ongoing phy-next work. I also ran a web search for removal/deprecation discussions on lore and got no results, so there is no visible upstream removal signal in this quick pass. Deployment evidence came from web-search results on Radxa's current RK3588-based ROCK 5 product pages, which show Rockchip hardware still sold for new SBC/embedded/industrial use. There is no natural replacement driver: these are SoC-specific PHY implementations, so the right recommendation is to keep them upstream.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04479860986162721, "commits_5y": 166, "substantive_commits_5y": 164, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768984918, "top_author": "Cristian Ciocaltea", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/samsung", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos / Google Tensor Samsung-PHY blocks (USB2/USB3 DRD, UFS, PCIe, DP/video; includes ExynosAuto V920 and GS101)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260406135627.234835-1-kernel@lvkasz.us/", "claim": "Representative recent upstream maintenance: April 6, 2026 fix for exynos5-usbdrd, with Reviewed-by, Tested-by, Fixes, and Cc: stable, showing the code is still actively maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/emea/processor/automotive-processor/exynos-auto-v920/", "claim": "Samsung markets Exynos Auto V920 as a current automotive processor, indicating this PHY family still maps to hardware sold for new designs in 2025-era deployments." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/processor/mobile-processor/exynos-2200/", "claim": "Samsung still publishes an active product page for Exynos 2200, supporting that at least part of the covered Exynos PHY hardware remained commercially relevant in the 2025 window." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/samsung/phy-exynos5-usbdrd.c", "claim": "Mainline source file covers multiple modern compatibles including google,gs101-usb31drd-phy and samsung,exynos2200-usb32drd-phy plus exynosautov920 USB PHY variants." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/phy/samsung/phy-samsung-ufs.c", "claim": "Mainline source file covers samsung,exynosautov920-ufs-phy and google,gs101-ufs-phy, showing the directory spans newer Samsung/Google SoC generations, not only legacy Exynos parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via shell `rg` showed this is a real PHY-driver directory with active SoC coverage up through GS101, Exynos2200, and ExynosAutoV920. `lore_activity` on `drivers/phy/samsung/phy-exynos5-usbdrd.c` returned 2026 fix traffic with review/test/stable tags, which argues strongly against deprecation. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no aggregate hits, so I used per-file lore evidence instead; attempted broader removal-subject queries timed out, and I found no positive removal evidence. Samsung product pages were obtained by `web.search_query`; kernel.org tree URLs are canonical recall used to anchor the compatible-list claims. No natural replacement driver exists: these PHY drivers are the SoC-specific implementation for their hardware blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06860417980499058, "commits_5y": 67, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766511665, "top_author": "André Draszik", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/socionext", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Socionext UniPhier SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.66, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_UNIPHIER.html", "claim": "The directory serves the Socionext UniPhier SoC family, which remains supported in current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_UNIPHIER_PCIE.html", "claim": "The PCIe PHY driver is still present through current kernels and covers UniPhier LD20/PXs3/Pro5/NX1-compatible PHYs." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_UNIPHIER_AHCI.html", "claim": "The AHCI PHY driver is still present through current kernels and covers UniPhier Pro4/PXs2/PXs3 PHYs." }, { "url": "https://www.socionext.com/en/products/assp/radar-sensor/index.html", "claim": "Socionext's current public product lineup highlights newer radar/ASSP products rather than UniPhier application SoCs, suggesting UniPhier is not a current growth family." }, { "url": "https://www.socionext.com/en/about/", "claim": "Socionext's current business positioning emphasizes custom SoCs and newer markets rather than marketing UniPhier as a current flagship family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection of Kconfig and .c files showed module_platform_driver entries and UniPhier PHY compatibles. Chipset family derived from local source plus LKDDb pages. lore_file_timeline(path=\"drivers/phy/socionext/\") via lore-http returned no events and a follow-up lore regex for diff headers also returned no hits, so I found no direct lore evidence of an active removal series; given the user-provided substantive touch date in 2026, I treated the driver as maintained but quiet. Web search produced LKDDb URLs confirming the configs remain in current kernels, and current Socionext product/about pages do not surface UniPhier products, which supports 'low' present-day deployment and likely-not-sold-new inference. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific PHY blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10160234926056563, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1536569833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768400474, "top_author": "Kunihiko Hayashi", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/sophgo", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Sophgo CV18XX/SG200X USB 2.0 PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250708063038.497473-3-inochiama@gmail.com", "claim": "The driver was introduced upstream on 2025-07-08 as \"phy: sophgo: Add USB 2.0 PHY driver for Sophgo CV18XX/SG200X\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=42690b8ec861b502538e425c5a7feb7a38764f04", "claim": "A 2025-11-12 follow-up commit removed a deprecated unused header from this driver, showing minor ongoing maintenance rather than removal activity." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/duo", "claim": "Milk-V's current Duo product page lists CV1800B and SG2002 boards, Linux/RTOS support, USB capability, and active buy links, indicating current new-hardware availability for this SoC family." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/duo-s", "claim": "Milk-V's current Duo S product page lists an SG2000 board with USB 2.0 host support and active buy links, indicating current new-hardware availability for SG2000-based systems." }, { "url": "https://www.sophgo.com/", "claim": "Sophgo's current homepage still lists SG200X and CV180xB among its core products, indicating the silicon family is still actively marketed." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `sed` on the source showed a real platform PHY driver with compatible `sophgo,cv1800b-usb2-phy` and module entry-point. `lore-http` MCP was unavailable here and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was approximated with local `git log -- drivers/phy/sophgo`; that log directly exposed the lore patch URL for the add-series and the 2025-11-12 cleanup commit hash. The git.kernel.org cleanup URL is a canonical stable commit URL derived from that local hash. Milk-V and Sophgo pages were obtained via web search/open. Net result: this is a very new, SoC-specific driver for hardware still sold in 2025; deployment looks niche/embedded rather than broad, but there is no removal signal and no generic replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1757517762, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762959950, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/spacemit", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "SpacemiT K1 USB2 PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5884653.html", "claim": "Initial upstream patch series for the SpacemiT K1 USB2 PHY says K1 has three USB ports and introduces this PHY driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5983887.html", "claim": "Vinod Koul applied the v6 series on 2026-01-01, showing the driver was newly merged upstream rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6052113.html", "claim": "A February 2026 bug-fix patch adds disconnect support for the K1 USB2 PHY, indicating active post-merge maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6120284.html", "claim": "A March 2026 patch fixes an error path in spacemit_usb2phy_init(), further indicating ongoing maintenance and no removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/K1/lpi3a/1_intro.html", "claim": "The LicheePi 3A board uses the Spacemit K1 SoC and exposes USB ports, showing real hardware deployment on current SBCs." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/K1/lpi3a/3_burn_image.html", "claim": "Current image/install documentation lists multiple OS images for LicheePi 3A, suggesting the K1 platform remains in active use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local evidence came from exec_command reading drivers/phy/spacemit/* and git log, which showed a single SoC-specific USB2 PHY driver with only two commits because the directory is brand new. Lore evidence was obtained via web search on spinics/lore mirrors: turn8search3 showed the series being applied on 2026-01-01; turn7search0 and turn7search1 showed active bug-fix traffic in February and March 2026; no retrieved lore hit indicated deprecation or removal. Deployment evidence was obtained via web search results turn9search1 and turn9search4 on Sipeed docs, which show shipping K1-based boards and current OS images. Because the hardware is recent, upstream attention is active, and there is no generic replacement for this SoC PHY block, the correct hint is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1767264949, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772204220, "top_author": "Yixun Lan", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/st", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics SoC PHYs (STM32MP1/STM32MP25 USB/Combo PHY, plus older STiH407 and SPEAr MiPHY variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "At least the STM32 PHY files in this directory were still being touched in upstream PHY work in 2026, so the directory is not dormant and there is no visible removal signal from recent lore activity checked here." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32-arm-cortex-mpus/stm32mp1-series.html", "claim": "STM32MP1 is an actively marketed Linux-capable ST MPU family for industrial, IoT, medical, smart-home, and infrastructure use cases, which matches the in-tree STM32 USBPHYC support." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/partner-products-and-services/single-board-computer-dhsbc-stm32mp25.html", "claim": "STM32MP25-based products were being marketed in 2025/2026 with Linux support and long-term availability, matching the in-tree STM32MP25 COMBOPHY driver use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local `rg`/Kconfig inspection shows this directory mixes legacy STiH407/SPEAr PHYs with current STM32MP1 USBPHYC and STM32MP25 COMBOPHY drivers, so a blanket deprecation would hit still-relevant silicon. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned zero matches (directory-level blind spot), so I used `lore_activity` on `phy-stm32-combophy.c` and `phy-stm32-usbphyc.c`; both resolved to recent upstream PHY-series touches via the cited lore URL. Web search on `st.com` found current STM32MP1 and STM32MP25 product/partner pages showing new industrial Linux deployments. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: keep the directory overall, but annotate that SPEAr/STi-era pieces are legacy while STM32 entries remain active. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific PHY blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08888193850925344, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766507025, "top_author": "Dan Carpenter", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/starfive", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH7110 PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still markets the VisionFive 2 using the JH-7110 SoC, indicating the platform remained an active commercial product line in 2025." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/JH7110/Datasheet/JH7110_DS/pcie2_0.html", "claim": "The official JH7110 datasheet documents integrated PCIe 2.0 capabilities backed by a dedicated PHY interface, matching the PCIe PHY driver in this directory." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/JH7110/Datasheet/JH7110_DS/usb2_0.html", "claim": "The official JH7110 datasheet documents integrated USB2/USB3 support, including USB3 reuse of a PCIe lane, matching the USB/PCIe PHY split in this directory." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2Lite/VisionFive2LitePB/VisionFive_2/specification_pb_lite.html", "claim": "The VisionFive 2 Lite product brief published in 2025 shows a new JH7110S-based board family still shipping after the original VisionFive 2, supporting ongoing deployment relevance for this SoC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` with `rg` confirmed this is a real driver directory with 4 StarFive JH7110 platform PHY drivers (USB, PCIe, MIPI D-PHY TX/RX). `exec_command` with local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/phy/starfive` showed active upstream maintenance from 2023 through 2025-05-14, including functional USB fixes and added D-PHY support; no removal/deprecation signal was visible in local history. `lei`/lore MCP were unavailable in this environment, so lore-specific removal checking could not be run directly. `web.search_query` found official StarFive/JH7110/VisionFive pages showing the SoC and derivative boards remained current in 2025-2026. Because the code is young, still receiving fixes, and tied to currently sold JH7110-family hardware, the appropriate recommendation is to keep it; there is no natural upstream replacement for these SoC-specific PHY drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1689181064, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747212312, "top_author": "Changhuang Liang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/sunplus", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Sunplus SP7021 USB 2.0 PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_SUNPLUS_USB.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel config `CONFIG_PHY_SUNPLUS_USB` exists for Linux 6.1 through 6.19-rc/HEAD, with module `phy-sunplus-usb2` and DT compatible `sunplus,sp7021-usb2-phy`." }, { "url": "https://w3.sunplus.com/products/SP7021.asp", "claim": "Sunplus still markets SP7021 as a Linux SoC for IoT and industrial control, and lists USB among its interfaces." }, { "url": "https://sunplus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/doc/overview", "claim": "The public SP7021 documentation portal remained active into 2025 and includes purchasing/documentation links, indicating the platform is still supported and obtainable." }, { "url": "https://www.jyctec.com/pd.jsp?id=201", "claim": "A commercial Banana Pi BPI-F2S board based on Sunplus SP7021 was still listed for sale, supporting continued niche new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/phy/sunplus/phy-sunplus-usb2.c` identifies this as the Sunplus SP7021 USB2 PHY driver. Local `git log` (shell) shows the driver was added in 2022 and still received substantive fixes through 2023-11-20 from multiple authors; I found no evidence of an active removal push in the available environment, so this does not look orphaned enough for deprecate/remove. URLs were obtained via web search (`cateee.net` LKDDb page, Sunplus product page, Sunplus public docs portal, and an SP7021 board sale listing). The hardware appears to remain sold for niche industrial/IoT use rather than broad consumer deployment, so keep it upstream but annotate it as low-volume, SoC-specific hardware with limited deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1662132684, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1701090558, "top_author": "Su Hui", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/tegra", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra XUSB / P2U PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity still touches this directory in 2026; the lore timeline for both xusb.c and phy-tegra194-p2u.c shows a March 27, 2026 linux-phy patch touching these files." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-modules", "claim": "NVIDIA's current Jetson lineup page still lists Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, Orin Nano, and Jetson AGX Xavier/Xavier NX modules, indicating continued real-world platform relevance into 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-linux-r3643", "claim": "Jetson Linux 36.4.3 is a current product-quality release supporting Orin production modules, showing ongoing vendor software support for Tegra platforms using this PHY stack." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_TEGRA194_P2U.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PHY_TEGRA194_P2U remains present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and covers both nvidia,tegra194-p2u and nvidia,tegra234-p2u." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHY_TEGRA_XUSB.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PHY_TEGRA_XUSB remains present through 6.19/7.0-rc+HEAD and includes tegra124/210/186/194/234 XUSB padctl compatibles." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/module macros and platform_driver entry points confirmed by local shell inspection. Upstream activity evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/phy/tegra/xusb.c and phy-tegra194-p2u.c; both show 2026 touches and no removal signal surfaced in the limited lore pass. Deployment evidence came from web search + open on NVIDIA Jetson module and Jetson Linux pages. Capability/coverage evidence came from web search + open on LKDDb pages. Because this code now covers current Tegra234/Orin as well as older Tegra SoCs, there is no natural in-tree replacement and removal would break still-sold embedded platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051275036484693906, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1461941087, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770218923, "top_author": "Wayne Chang", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/ti", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "TI Sitara/K3 SoC PHYs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/phy/ti", "claim": "Upstream path remains active in mainline rather than abandoned; recent history includes multiple 2024-2026 fixes and feature work in this directory." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=584b457f4166293bdfa50f930228e9fb91a38392", "claim": "A real bug-fix landed on 2026-02-27 for phy-j721e-wiz, showing current maintenance attention." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM6442", "claim": "AM6442 is listed by TI as ACTIVE and orderable; this family uses Ethernet/USB/PCIe PHY blocks covered by drivers in this directory and is a current Linux-capable deployment target." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TDA4VM", "claim": "TDA4VM is listed by TI as ACTIVE; Jacinto/K3 deployments continue to need j721e-wiz and related TI PHY support." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-J721E", "claim": "TI published current J721E Linux/QNX/RTOS SDK releases in 2026, indicating ongoing vendor enablement for SoCs served by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active TI PHY driver directory spanning current K3/Jacinto/Sitara SoCs plus some legacy OMAP/DA8xx USB PHY pieces, and local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/phy/ti` showed substantive 2024-2026 fixes/features with a latest non-merge fix on 2026-02-27. No removal signal was found: lore-http MCP was unavailable in this session, and web search against lore.kernel.org returned no removal/deprecation hits. Kernel.org log/commit URLs were added by canonical recall to anchor the local git evidence; TI product/SDK URLs were obtained via web search results (`turn2search0`, `turn2search1`, `turn0search0`). No single upstream replacement exists because these drivers are SoC-specific PHY/control blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.031487340103545994, "commits_5y": 98, "substantive_commits_5y": 96, "first_touch_ts": 1496311113, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772205209, "top_author": "Siddharth Vadapalli", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/phy/xilinx", "subsystem": "phy", "chipset_family": "Xilinx/AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC GT/GTR PHY", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-phy/20260327184706.1600329-27-vladimir.oltean@nxp.com/", "claim": "`phy-zynqmp.c` was still being updated as part of a PHY subsystem refactor in March 2026, which is evidence the driver remains integrated with active upstream work rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs, states UltraScale+ adaptive SoCs are supported through 2045, and lists USB 3.0, SATA 3.1, DisplayPort, and Gigabit Ethernet capabilities that match this PHY driver's use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-xa-mpsoc.html", "claim": "Automotive-grade Zynq UltraScale+ XA MPSoCs are still actively marketed, supporting the conclusion that new niche deployments continue in 2025-era embedded/industrial/automotive designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via `exec_command` showed this directory contains only `phy-zynqmp.c`, a real PHY driver for ZynqMP high-speed transceivers handling USB/SGMII/SATA/DisplayPort on ZynqMP SoCs. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/phy/xilinx/phy-zynqmp.c` showed continued upstream touchpoints through 2026; the cited lore URL came from that tool. AMD product URLs were obtained by web search (`turn0search0` and `turn0search1`) and show the silicon family is still sold with long lifecycle commitments. This is specialized embedded hardware with ongoing but niche deployment, so keep rather than deprecate; there is no natural upstream replacement driver because the PHY is SoC-specific.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23057043273363673, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1593436680, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747212481, "top_author": "Sean Anderson", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the top-level pinctrl subsystem directory containing shared framework code plus many unrelated SoC pin controller drivers, not one deprecatable hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.007261789498693718, "commits_5y": 758, "substantive_commits_5y": 742, "first_touch_ts": 1318502957, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775554197, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 140, "c_file_count": 61, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/actions", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Actions Semi OWL (S500/S700/S900)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250624062220.21997-1-hanqi@vivo.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2025; this patch updates the Actions pinctrl code to use devm_clk_get_enabled()." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250424-gpiochip-set-rv-pinctrl-part2-v1-4-504f91120b99@linaro.org/", "claim": "The driver was part of a 2025 GPIO callback modernization series, indicating continued core API upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/actions-semiconductor-launches-high-performance-s900-open-source-platform-64-bit-soc-and-actduino-s900-reference-design-platform-300083321.html", "claim": "Actions announced the S900 and its reference platform in May 2015, showing this hardware family is from the mid-2010s." }, { "url": "https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/10/14/linux-quick-start-guide-for-roseapple-pi-board-based-on-actions-semi-s500-processor/", "claim": "The S500 family appeared in 2015 SBCs such as Roseapple Pi, indicating deployment was centered on older maker/dev-board products." }, { "url": "https://www.cnx-software.com/2016/03/05/89-bubblegum-96-96boards-development-board-is-powered-by-actions-semi-s900-64-bit-processor-with-2gb-ram/", "claim": "Bubblegum-96, a notable S900 board, only appears in period launch/sales coverage from 2016, supporting the view that broad availability peaked years ago." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via exec_command showed this is the Actions Semi OWL pinctrl driver for SoCs S500/S700/S900, so it is a real hardware driver. lore_activity on drivers/pinctrl/actions/pinctrl-owl.c returned 2025 maintenance patches (URLs above), which argues against deprecation/removal and supports keep-annotate. Web search found only mid-2010s launch and board-sale evidence (PRNewswire, CNX), with no sign of current-volume new products; that supports hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false, low present-day deployments, and an estimated widely-available peak ending around 2016. No natural replacement driver exists because pinctrl support is SoC-specific; the realistic replacement is newer hardware, not another upstream driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3305298177317081, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1525264568, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745915685, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/aspeed", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST2400/AST2500/AST2600 BMC pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260118-pinctrl-cleanup-guard-v2-1-bd36f681bdc0@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream maintenance in January 2026; recent work touched the Aspeed pinctrl code as part of an active cleanup series, which argues against obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250715034320.2553837-8-jacky_chou@aspeedtech.com/", "claim": "The AST2600-generation Aspeed pinctrl driver saw functional feature work in July 2025 ('Add PCIe RC PERST pin group'), indicating current hardware enablement rather than legacy-only maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED's current server-management product page still lists AST2500, AST2600, and newer AST2700-family BMC SoCs, showing the hardware family remains in active/new-market use." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 is marketed by ASPEED as its 7th-generation server-management processor/BMC, supporting the conclusion that this driver covers still-relevant shipping hardware." }, { "url": "https://gerrit.openbmc.org/plugins/gitiles/openbmc/openbmc/%2B/9634273c63db46417e5b0a6a0a2570a7cd6266ce/meta-evb/meta-evb-aspeed/meta-evb-ast2600/", "claim": "OpenBMC maintains an AST2600 evaluation-board layer, which is deployment evidence for ongoing Linux/OpenBMC use of this Aspeed BMC generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel static inspection via exec_command showed compatibles for aspeed,ast2400-pinctrl, aspeed,ast2500-pinctrl, and aspeed,ast2600-pinctrl, so this directory serves multiple Aspeed BMC generations. lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/aspeed/pinctrl-aspeed-g6.c returned recent 2025-2026 traffic, including cleanup and feature-addition patches, and did not surface removal/deprecation activity. Vendor deployment evidence came from web search results on aspeedtech.com plus an OpenBMC Gitiles page found via web search. Because the family is still sold and upstream work is active, the correct disposition is keep, with no obvious replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07185891401283677, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1473259702, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768781506, "top_author": "Billy Tsai", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/bcm", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM27xx/BCM63xx/iProc-NSP/STB pin controllers and GPIO blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250425-gpiochip-set-rv-pinctrl-bcm-v1-3-6b8883d79b66@linaro.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance in 2025 for this directory includes bcm2835 GPIO callback API updates, indicating active support rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250408104923.905062697@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A bcm2835 fix was backported to stable in April 2025, showing the code still matters to supported deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Compute Module 5 was on sale in 2025 and uses Broadcom BCM2712; the page also states production through at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/computemodule/getting-started.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documentation maps current Compute Module 5 to BCM2712 and Compute Module 4/4S to BCM2711, both covered by this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/5", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 was sold in 2025 and uses Broadcom BCM2712, one of the active SoC families served by this directory." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/bcm/pinctrl-bcm2835.c", "claim": "The directory contains live support for BCM2835/BCM2711/BCM7211-class GPIO/pinctrl hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/bcm/pinctrl-brcmstb-bcm2712.c", "claim": "The directory also contains BCM2712 support, tying it to current Raspberry Pi 5 / CM5-era hardware rather than only legacy Broadcom parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pinctrl/bcm/pinctrl-bcm2835.c`; it showed 2025 upstream and stable activity, with patches that are API adaptation and bug-fix work, not removal. Web evidence came from `web.search_query` results on official Raspberry Pi product/documentation pages showing BCM2711/BCM2712 systems sold in 2025 and CM5 longevity. Kernel.org file URLs are canonical recall used to anchor the covered SoC families. Because this directory serves current Raspberry Pi products plus older Broadcom embedded/router/STB SoCs, there is no natural replacement driver and the correct disposition is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11696795629387369, "commits_5y": 70, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1426640532, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757334260, "top_author": "Stefan Wahren", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/berlin", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Marvell Berlin / Synaptics AS370 pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250620015343.21494-1-chenyuan_fl@163.com/", "claim": "Upstream still saw real maintenance in 2025: a berlin pinctrl memory-leak fix was posted on linux-gpio on 2025-06-20." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250812174407.524158891@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "That 2025 berlin pinctrl fix was backported to stable, indicating the driver still matters for existing deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.synaptics.com/company/news/AS3xx", "claim": "Synaptics publicly launched the AS3xx family in 2019 for smart-home / voice-enabled devices; this matches the AS370 support in this directory and points to an embedded-IoT niche rather than a new mainstream platform in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-enables-the-launch-of-a-new-generation-of-google-tvs.html", "claim": "Marvell ARMADA 1500/Berlin-era SoCs were marketed for Google TV / connected-home devices as early as 2012, consistent with these being older consumer-media SoCs rather than current-volume new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.synaptics.com/homepage", "claim": "Current Synaptics public product navigation emphasizes newer processor families such as Astra Embedded Processors, with no obvious AS3xx family prominence on the main product surface." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real SoC pinctrl drivers (confirmed via local exec_command reading Kconfig and source filenames). lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/berlin/berlin.c showed ongoing activity through 2025, including a real bug fix and stable backports; a lore_regex query for removal/deprecation talk timed out, so I did not retry that same query. Web search produced the cited Synaptics 2019 AS3xx launch page, older Marvell ARMADA 1500/Berlin product pages, and the current Synaptics homepage. Conclusion: hardware family is old and likely low-volume/legacy by 2025, but upstream still sees bug-fix traffic and there is no concrete removal evidence, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/low-deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.25289198427852794, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1400796300, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750792631, "top_author": "Yuan Chen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/cirrus", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Cirrus Logic Madera / CS42L43 audio codec pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260325143555.451852-9-herve.codina@bootlin.com/", "claim": "March 25, 2026 patch traffic touched pinctrl-cs42l43.c and carried Reviewed-by/Acked-by from subsystem maintainers, indicating active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250609-pinctrl-madera-devm-pinctrl-register-mappings-v1-1-ba2c2822cf6c@bootlin.com/", "claim": "June 9, 2025 patch updated pinctrl-madera-core.c, showing recent non-removal work on the shared Cirrus pinctrl core." }, { "url": "https://cn.cirrus.com/products/cs42l43", "claim": "Cirrus still marketed CS42L43 in 2025, describing it as a PC codec approved for Intel Lunar Lake systems." }, { "url": "https://jp.cirrus.com/products/cs47l90", "claim": "Cirrus still listed CS47L90 as an active product page with datasheet and evaluation resources, supporting ongoing availability of the Madera-family hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via shell showed this directory covers Cirrus CS42L43, Lochnagar, and Madera-family CS47L15/35/85/90/92 pinctrl support. lore_file_timeline on pinctrl-madera-core.c and lore_activity on pinctrl-cs42l43.c showed active 2025-2026 upstream changes, including maintainer-reviewed patches, so this is not abandonment/removal territory. Web search on official cirrus.com product pages showed CS42L43 and CS47L90 still marketed in 2025-era pages, with CS42L43 tied to Intel Lunar Lake PCs; that implies new but niche deployments persist. URLs were obtained via lore MCP and web search tool.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.048470406478758936, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1528193723, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771926690, "top_author": "Charles Keepax", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/cix", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "CIX P1 (SKY1)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1030316/", "claim": "Kernel patch thread for bringing up CIX P1 (internal name SKY1) says it is a high-performance Armv9 SoC and ties it to the Radxa Orion O6 board, showing this driver supports a newly introduced platform rather than legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/orion/o6/", "claim": "Radxa markets the Orion O6 with a Buy page and identifies it as powered by the CIX P1 SoC, indicating the hardware family is commercially available in the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/orion/o6", "claim": "Radxa documentation describes Orion O6 as a motherboard based on the CIX P1 SoC with current specs and deployment targets such as AI workstations and edge nodes, supporting that present-day deployments exist but are niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell shows a real platform pinctrl driver with OF matches for \"cix,sky1-pinctrl*\" and module metadata. Local git log via shell shows fresh upstream activity from 2025-10-21 through 2026-02-16 with fixes by multiple maintainers, which argues against deprecation. Lore-focused web search found only bring-up/enablement traffic and no removal discussion. Source acquisition: LWN URL from web search of lore/patch traffic; Radxa product and docs URLs from web search. Because SKY1/CIX P1 is a new SoC family still being sold on Radxa boards, there is no natural replacement driver and the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1761644567, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771926689, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/freescale", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP i.MX, i.MX RT, i.MX95/SCMI, and Vybrid pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/freescale/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig for this directory covers a broad set of Freescale/NXP SoCs including i.MX1/2x/3x/5x/6x/7x/8x/9x, i.MX RT, i.MX95 SCMI, and VF610, indicating this is an active SoC-family pinctrl stack rather than a single obsolete chip." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20251217-imx952-pin-v1-2-2747f09144dd@nxp.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work added NXP i.MX952 support under drivers/pinctrl/freescale in December 2025, showing ongoing feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/pages/%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX93 as Active, indicating new-sale current-generation hardware covered by this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/iMX95", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX95 as Active, matching the in-tree i.MX95 SCMI pinctrl support and showing continued new-product relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: local Kconfig inspection via shell (`sed`) shows the directory serves many Freescale/NXP SoC generations including current i.MX93/i.MX95 and i.MXRT parts; mapped to the canonical kernel.org Kconfig URL by canonical recall. Upstream activity was checked first with `lore_file_timeline`, which returned late-2025 i.MX952 support patches and no sign of retirement. Current deployment/new-sale evidence came from `web.search_query` on official NXP product pages showing i.MX93 and i.MX95 marked Active. No natural replacement exists beyond these SoC-specific pinctrl drivers themselves.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06512127019862372, "commits_5y": 54, "substantive_commits_5y": 51, "first_touch_ts": 1409817928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767795293, "top_author": "Fabio Estevam", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 35, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/intel", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Intel x86 SoC/PCH pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260204080122.2300224-1-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "A 2026-02-04 patch touched 25 files under drivers/pinctrl/intel, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20240926-intel-pinctrl-platform-scoped-v1-1-5ee4c936eea3@gmail.com/", "claim": "The intel-platform driver received a 2024 fix tagged for stable, showing ongoing bug-fix traffic on current hardware support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_INTEL_PLATFORM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PINCTRL_INTEL_PLATFORM in kernels 6.8-6.19, covering Lunar Lake and Panther Lake." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_ALDERLAKE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PINCTRL_ALDERLAKE present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and covering Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Twin Lake." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/arrow-lake-s/core-ultra-200s-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/introduction/", "claim": "Intel's public Arrow Lake/Core Ultra 200S datasheet was updated on 2026-03-17, evidence that related platform families are current and sold in the 2025-2026 window." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active Intel pinctrl/GPIO driver family with recent lore activity and new-platform enablement, not an orphaned legacy block. No natural replacement exists because it is the platform-specific upstream driver for these Intel SoC/PCH pin controllers. URLs were obtained via lore_activity MCP (first two lore links) and web search (LKDDb and Intel datasheet pages).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017651276009495395, "commits_5y": 242, "substantive_commits_5y": 237, "first_touch_ts": 1414575320, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773903533, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 181, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/mediatek", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "MediaTek application/embedded SoC pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250902-pinctrl-gpio-pinfuncs-v7-6-bb091daedc52@linaro.org/", "claim": "Upstream work is active in 2025 on Mediatek pinctrl code, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://genio.mediatek.com/genio-1200", "claim": "MediaTek still markets Genio 1200/MT8395-class embedded SoCs with longevity through 2032, showing current/new deployments for this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-880", "claim": "MediaTek still markets new Filogic router/AP platforms, indicating ongoing new-networking-device deployments within the supported SoC family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_MT7988.html", "claim": "The in-tree driver directory covers current MT7988 hardware in mainline Linux, tying the directory to present-generation MediaTek SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local tree inspection via shell showed many SoC-specific source files including recent families such as mt7988 and mt8196. lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/mediatek/pinctrl-mt7981.c returned 2025-2026 patch traffic and the cited lore URL; a removal-focused lore_regex query timed out, and no removal discussion was surfaced within budget. Web search returned the cited MediaTek Genio and Filogic product pages plus LKDDb for CONFIG_PINCTRL_MT7988. Conclusion: this is an actively maintained, SoC-specific pinctrl family for MediaTek chips still shipping into routers, IoT, and embedded products, with no natural replacement driver beyond the per-SoC Mediatek pinctrl implementations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019046340986222682, "commits_5y": 154, "substantive_commits_5y": 148, "first_touch_ts": 1426640534, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773946342, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 41, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/meson", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260422-fix-pinconf-v1-1-abb4d2e0da55@amlogic.com/", "claim": "Upstream Meson pinctrl support is still receiving non-trivial fixes in 2026; this patch fixes a deadlock in the amlogic-a4 variant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/d6e8eba4c78b494750a7550001b20e2448e8d970.1773141555.git.sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "Meson pinctrl fixes are being backported to stable, indicating active maintenance and deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic still markets a broad current SoC lineup, including recent S905X5/S905X5M and other consumer/embedded parts, showing the vendor family is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-c5/", "claim": "A new retail Linux SBC, the ODROID-C5, is sold with an Amlogic S905X5M SoC, demonstrating ongoing new-device deployment of Amlogic hardware." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/meson", "claim": "The directory contains multiple Meson/Amlogic SoC-specific pinctrl drivers (for example Meson8/GXBB/GXL/G12A/A1/S4/C3/A4/T7 families), so it is the in-tree driver set for active Amlogic platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed this is a real platform driver directory for many Amlogic Meson SoCs, not a helper library. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pinctrl/meson/pinctrl-amlogic-a4.c`; it showed fresh 2026 fixes and stable backports, with no positive evidence of removal. A broader removal-subject `lore_regex` query timed out, and a fallback `lei` query was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so the recommendation relies on the strong positive maintenance signal rather than a corpus-wide negative proof. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results for Amlogic's current product catalog and Hardkernel's ODROID-C5 retail page. The kernel.org tree URL is a canonical recall source used to anchor the supported chipset family. No natural replacement driver exists; this code is the hardware-specific pinctrl implementation for Meson/Amlogic SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04148386019884247, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1422259980, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771926690, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/microchip", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Microchip PolarFire SoC / PIC64GX pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=488d704ed7b7e7afeef24ee846c8223b607357b7", "claim": "The directory contains a newly added upstream driver for PolarFire SoC MSSIO pin control, merged on 2026-01-21." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8f72335002db29fb593f8c2c25761feb3b947eb3", "claim": "The Microchip pinctrl code received a follow-up bug fix on 2026-03-03, indicating post-merge maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/MPFS-ICICLE-KIT", "claim": "Microchip still markets the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit as a Linux-capable development platform, supporting ongoing new hardware deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/CURIOSITY-PIC64GX1000-KIT", "claim": "Microchip still markets the PIC64GX Curiosity Kit as a Linux-capable board in 2025/2026, matching the PIC64GX-specific pinctrl driver in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained upstream history from local repo via exec_command using `git -c safe.directory ... log -- drivers/pinctrl/microchip`; lore-http MCP was unavailable in this session, so local kernel history was used as the closest upstream-activity proxy. Product/deployment evidence came from web search (`search_query`) on Microchip product pages. This directory is very new, has already seen a post-merge fix, maps to currently sold Microchip RISC-V platforms, and has no evident successor driver or removal signal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1768997617, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768997617, "top_author": "Conor Dooley", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/mvebu", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Marvell MVEBU / Armada-Orion-Dove pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250831084958.431913-2-rongqianfeng@vivo.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance exists in 2025 for this driver family; the path is still receiving non-removal fixes." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20250623130617.186242318@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The Armada 37xx portion was still being backported to stable in 2025, indicating ongoing real-world relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/infrastructure-processors/multi-core-processors/octeon-tx.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets ARMADA/OCTEON data-infrastructure processors for current networking equipment, supporting continued new-deployment relevance for newer MVEBU-derived SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/switching/marvell-switching-prestera-98dx3xxx-product-brief-2014-03.pdf", "claim": "Marvell continues to market Prestera switch families; this directory includes MVEBU pinctrl support for Prestera-related parts such as 98DX variants, extending the family beyond purely legacy NAS/router SoCs." }, { "url": "https://investor.marvell.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/299/marvell-introduces-carrier-optimized-ethernet-access-and-edge-switches", "claim": "Marvell announced newer Prestera DX switching devices for carrier/edge deployments, reinforcing that at least part of the supported hardware space remains contemporary rather than obsolete-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local rg inspection showed this directory spans multiple Marvell SoC generations, including older Orion/Kirkwood/Dove and newer Armada 37xx/AP806/CP110 plus AC5-related support, so it is a mixed-age platform driver rather than a single dead chip. lore_file_timeline MCP on pinctrl-armada-37xx.c returned the 2025 linux-gpio patch URL and stable backport URL; both indicate active maintenance and no evident removal trajectory. Web search returned Marvell ARMADA/OCTEON and Prestera product pages showing ongoing new-networking silicon families adjacent to devices covered here. Because there is still upstream fix traffic and some covered hardware remains in current networking deployments, deprecate/remove is not supported; keep is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13574925035809732, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1352657157, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757334057, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/nomadik", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson Nomadik / Ux500 (STn8815, DB8500, AB8500/AB8505 pinctrl)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250826-gpio-dbg-show-base-v1-2-7f27cd7f2256@linaro.org/", "claim": "Mainline still sees non-removal maintenance in 2025 for Nomadik GPIO/pinctrl-related code." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250220085001.860-1-vulab@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Nomadik pinctrl received a real bug-fix in 2025 with a Fixes tag and stable CC, indicating active support rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadik", "claim": "Nomadik/STn8815 is an old mobile SoC family tied to 2000s-era phones, and the family is described as discontinued." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST-Ericsson", "claim": "ST-Ericsson, the vendor behind later U8500/NovaThor parts in this family, was dissolved in 2013, supporting the conclusion that this hardware is long out of new production." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_%28single-board_computer%29", "claim": "A representative Ux500-era development board had support withdrawn long ago, consistent with legacy-only deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable: lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on drivers/pinctrl/nomadik/pinctrl-nomadik.c showed substantive 2025 activity, and no removal evidence surfaced; cited lore URLs came from lore-http MCP. Local tree reads (Kconfig, mach-ux500/mach-nomadik, DTS Makefile via shell) show this driver targets ST-Ericsson Nomadik/U8500-era ARM boards. Web search found Wikipedia pages for Nomadik, ST-Ericsson, and Snowball; these indicate discontinued vendor/platform history and old handset/dev-board deployments. Result: legacy hardware with low present-day use, but still seeing upstream fixes, so keep the driver with legacy/obsolete-hardware annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13099410647965717, "commits_5y": 41, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1405083695, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757334260, "top_author": "Théo Lebrun", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/nuvoton", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Nuvoton WPCM450 / NPCM7xx / NPCM8xx / MA35D1 pinctrl+GPIO", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250318105932.2090926-6-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work in 2025 touched the Nuvoton pinctrl driver family, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microprocessors/arm-cortex-a35-mpus/ma35d1-high-performance-edge-iiot-series/", "claim": "Nuvoton still markets the MA35D1 MPU family, one of the SoC families covered by this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/products/cloud-computing/ibmc/", "claim": "Nuvoton still markets the NPCM7xxR iBMC family, another SoC family covered by this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://www.nuvoton.com/news/news/products-technology/TSNuvotonNews-000560/", "claim": "Nuvoton announced NPCM8mnx BMC certification in 2025 and stated the chip is available for customer sampling/evaluation, showing current deployment relevance for the NPCM8xx line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command on drivers/pinctrl/nuvoton identified active driver code for WPCM450, NPCM7xx, NPCM8xx, and MA35D1. lore_file_timeline on pinctrl-ma35d1.c returned a 2025 linux-gpio patch URL showing recent upstream maintenance. Web search found current Nuvoton MA35D1 and NPCM7xx product pages plus a 2025 NPCM8mnx news page. No concrete removal-series evidence was found; attempted broader lore removal scans timed out. Because the directory covers still-marketed Nuvoton BMC/MPU families and upstream activity remains recent, deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08284466346857963, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1535531322, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764011747, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/nxp", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "NXP S32G2/S32G3 SIUL2 pin controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/11/23/357", "claim": "Linux 6.18-rc7 included two late-2025 fixes for this driver family: \"pinctrl: s32cc: fix uninitialized memory in s32_pinctrl_desc\" and \"pinctrl: s32cc: initialize gpio_pin_config::list after kmalloc().\"" }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/10/1150", "claim": "A 2025 upstream series reworked the SIUL2 support around a new MFD parent and explicitly deprecated the old DT binding, but it kept and updated the pinctrl driver rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_S32G2.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_PINCTRL_S32G2 in mainline kernels from 6.4 through current HEAD and ties it to compatible string \"nxp,s32g2-siul2-pinctrl\" in drivers/pinctrl/nxp/pinctrl-s32g2.c." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/S32G2", "claim": "NXP still marks S32G2 processors as Active and positions them for current vehicle networking, domain controller, and zonal processor use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/S32G3", "claim": "NXP still marks S32G3 processors as Active, and the upstream binding work added S32G3 compatibility on top of the S32G2 SIUL2 driver." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/s32-automotive-platform/s32g-vehicle-network-processors%3AS32G-PROCESSORS", "claim": "NXP states the S32G family has a minimum 15-year product-support window, consistent with ongoing embedded/automotive deployments rather than obsolescence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed real platform pinctrl driver code for NXP S32 Common Chassis/S32G SIUL2 hardware. Local shell read of Kconfig/C sources identified the family as S32G2 SIUL2 with shared s32cc core; local git log showed first merge in 2023 and substantive fixes through 2025-11-18. Web search found no removal discussion; instead lkml.org shows active 2025 maintenance plus a refactor/deprecation of the DT binding around a new MFD parent, so this is not a removal candidate. NXP product pages obtained via web search mark S32G2 and S32G3 Active, so hardware remains in current automotive deployments, though niche enough to rate deployments as low. Recommend keep-annotate because the only deprecation signal is binding/probe-topology evolution, not driver obsolescence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1678109235, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763506571, "top_author": "Chester Lin", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/pxa", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Marvell PXA25x/PXA27x (PXA2xx)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250212062513.2254767-10-raag.jadav@intel.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in February 2025, with a reviewed pinctrl: pxa2xx cleanup patch." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20220110012730.643927-1-chi.minghao@zte.com.cn/", "claim": "The directory also saw earlier maintenance in 2022, indicating occasional but continuing upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/digi/FS-377/955674", "claim": "A DigiKey module using PXA270 is marked Obsolete and no longer manufactured, indicating the platform is not a current new-design part." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/beacon-embeddedworks/SDK-PXA270-520-10-6432R/1236364", "claim": "A PXA270 evaluation board listing is also marked Obsolete, reinforcing that current commercial availability is legacy/surplus rather than mainstream." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale", "claim": "The PXA27x family dates back to 2004, placing this hardware firmly in a legacy embedded generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on the three .c files; it showed 2025 maintenance patches and only low-volume activity, with no successful evidence of removal discussion. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: DigiKey listings for PXA270-based modules/eval boards are explicitly obsolete, while Wikipedia (canonical recall page surfaced by web search) dates PXA27x to 2004. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and unlikely in new 2025 products, but upstream still performs occasional fixes/cleanups and there is no natural replacement driver for the same SoC block, so annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.43068802549935653, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1449760216, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740391732, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/qcom", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon/Dragonwing TLMM and related Qualcomm pinctrl blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260327171240.3222755-2-mukesh.ojha@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "March 27, 2026 upstream patch touched 57 Qualcomm pinctrl files, showing broad active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260202-topic-8750_tcsr-v1-4-cd7e6648c64f@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "February 2, 2026 RFC added new sm8750 pinctrl-related functionality, indicating ongoing enablement for new Qualcomm SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/09/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-5--the-world-s-fastest-mobile-system-on-a", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in September 2025 and said devices from major OEMs would launch in the coming days, evidencing continuing new-product sales in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-introduces-industrial-grade-iq-series-and-iot-solutions", "claim": "Qualcomm introduced new industrial-grade IQ series platforms spanning IQ9/IQ8/IQ6 in late 2024, showing the vendor is still shipping current embedded/industrial SoC families relevant to this pinctrl stack." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is real kernel driver code under drivers/pinctrl. Recent lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on `drivers/pinctrl/qcom/pinctrl-sm8750.c`, which returned Mar 2026 qcom-wide maintenance and Feb 2026 sm8750 enablement URLs. A directory-level `lore_file_timeline` query on `drivers/pinctrl/qcom/` returned no matches, so I treated that as a path-query limitation rather than inactivity. Qualcomm product evidence came from `web.search_query` restricted to `qualcomm.com`, which found the Sep 24 2025 Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 launch page and the Oct 2024 IQ-series launch page. Local tree inspection via `rg --files drivers/pinctrl/qcom` also showed support files for current families such as `sm8750`, `sm8650`, `x1e80100`, `qcs8300`, and `sa8775p`. No sampled lore evidence suggested an upstream removal series, and there is no natural replacement driver for Qualcomm TLMM/pinctrl blocks, so the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02179976075327998, "commits_5y": 233, "substantive_commits_5y": 228, "first_touch_ts": 1405080518, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773134512, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 80, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/realtek", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Realtek DHC RTD13xx/RTD16xx SoC pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230919101117.4097-2-tychang@realtek.com", "claim": "The driver was added upstream in September 2023 as a common pinctrl driver for Realtek DHC RTD SoCs, indicating this is a recently introduced platform driver rather than legacy carryover." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/20240704-pinctrl-const-regmap_config-v1-2-9d5570f0b9f3@gmail.com", "claim": "The directory continued receiving upstream maintenance in 2024, including code-quality fixes to the common Realtek pinctrl driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=369f772299821f93f872bf1b4d7d7ed2fc50243b", "claim": "A substantive fix landed on 2025-10-23 to select REGMAP_MMIO for the RTD pinctrl driver, showing active upkeep very recently." }, { "url": "https://www.zidoo.tv/Product/index/model/Z9X%20PRO/target/%5Bld%5DyN%2BvBjptVBKKmVViAFMcQ%3D%3D.html", "claim": "A current retail media-player product page advertises a Realtek RTD1619BPD-based device, showing this SoC family is still present in new hardware sales." }, { "url": "https://www.zidoo.tv/Support/release_apk.html?tdsourcetag=s_pcqq_aiomsg", "claim": "Vendor support pages list firmware/app releases dated 2025-04-18 for RTD1619BPD and RTD1619DR player lines, evidence of ongoing deployed-device support in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell showed real platform-driver code and Kconfig entries for RTD1315E/RTD1319D/RTD1619B. Upstream activity was established from shell `git log` on the directory; lore URLs were taken from commit Link tags, and the 2025 git.kernel.org commit URL was formed from the shell-retrieved commit id using canonical kernel.org commit URL structure. A shell grep of local git history for remove/deprecat on this path returned no hits, so there is no visible removal momentum. Web search provided Zidoo product/support pages showing RTD1619B-family boxes still sold and updated in 2025. Conclusion: niche consumer/STB deployments remain, but upstream maintenance is active, so this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1695208038, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761224941, "top_author": "Tzuyi Chang", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/renesas", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ-G / RZ-V / RZ-T / SH SoC pin controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/renesas/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig shows this directory supports a broad active family set, including newer Renesas RZ/G2L, RZ/V2M, and RZT2H parts, not just legacy SH/R-Car devices." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity through 2037 and positions it for new industrial/embedded Linux designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2m?partno=R9A09G011GBG%23ACC", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2M as Active, showing hardware in this driver's coverage remains commercially available in the mid-2020s." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `sed` on Kconfig) showed this is a real driver directory with broad Renesas SoC coverage and explicit support for current-generation RZ/G2L, RZ/V2M, and RZT2H parts. Lore evidence was checked first: `lore_subsystem_churn` on `path:drivers/pinctrl/renesas/` returned no patch-mail hits in the sampled window, and two narrower lore searches for removal/deprecation discussion timed out, so there is no positive lore evidence of an active removal series here. Combined with the user-provided static history (418 substantive commits in 5 years, most recent substantive touch 2026-03-10, 40 authors), this looks actively maintained. URLs were obtained via web search for Renesas product pages; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01962313002209019, "commits_5y": 427, "substantive_commits_5y": 418, "first_touch_ts": 1600157075, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773135227, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 218, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/samsung", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos / S3C64XX SoC pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250619-gs101-eint-mask-v1-2-89438cfd7499@linaro.org/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving feature work for recent Samsung/Google SoCs in 2025, not just janitorial fixes." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20251202093613.852109-6-youngmin.nam@samsung.com/", "claim": "The driver saw late-2025 upstream refactoring for active Exynos support, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20240729153631.24536-1-vishnu.reddy@samsung.com/", "claim": "Even the older S3C64XX-side file received functional work in 2024, showing the directory is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/processor/mobile-processor/exynos-2400/", "claim": "Samsung was still marketing the Exynos 2400 mobile SoC in 2025-era product material, so the family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/emea/processor/automotive-processor/exynos-auto-v920/", "claim": "Samsung was also marketing current Exynos Auto processors, supporting continued new deployments of Samsung pinctrl-capable SoCs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/samsung/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig presents this as the in-tree pinctrl driver for Samsung Exynos and S3C64XX SoCs; there is no separate replacement driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/samsung/pinctrl-exynos.c showed heavy 2025 activity including new GS101/Exynos work and no removal pattern in returned subjects; lore_file_timeline on pinctrl-s3c64xx.c showed functional updates in 2024 plus a 2025 treewide API rename, so even the legacy branch is still maintained. web search_query found current Samsung Semiconductor pages for Exynos 2400 and Exynos Auto V920, supporting that relevant hardware is still sold for mobile/automotive use. Kconfig scope/replacement claim uses canonical-recall kernel.org tree URL, cross-checked against local source read.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.060191915959537934, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1405080520, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768129829, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/sophgo", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Sophgo CV18xx / SG20xx SoC pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6132313.html", "claim": "April 1, 2026 patch against drivers/pinctrl/sophgo/pinctrl-sg2042.c shows current upstream maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-gpio/msg109342.html", "claim": "The SG2042/SG2044 pinctrl support series was under active review in February 2025, confirming recent upstream development of this directory." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/duo-module-01", "claim": "Milk-V markets the Duo Module 01 as a product built around the SG2000, indicating ongoing new-product availability for SG2000-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/pioneer", "claim": "Milk-V markets the Pioneer board powered by the SG2042, indicating ongoing availability of SG2042-based systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell (`exec_command`) inspection of Kconfig and git history shows this is a real SoC pinctrl driver family (CV1800B, CV1812H, SG2000, SG2002, SG2042, SG2044), first merged in 2024 and still touched in 2026. `web.search_query` found a recent April 1, 2026 spinics patch on `pinctrl-sg2042.c` plus the February 2025 review thread for SG2042/SG2044 support; I also searched for removal discussion and found no hits. `web.search_query` also found Milk-V product pages for SG2000 and SG2042 systems, so the hardware is still shipping new and seeing niche embedded/RISC-V developer deployments. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific pinctrl blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1724663396, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768781506, "top_author": "Inochi Amaoto", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/spacemit", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "SpacemiT K1/K3", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "http://devicetree.org/schemas/pinctrl/spacemit,k1-pinctrl.yaml#", "claim": "The upstream binding covers both `spacemit,k1-pinctrl` and `spacemit,k3-pinctrl`, matching this driver’s supported compatibles." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_SPACEMIT_K1.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PINCTRL_SPACEMIT_K1 in mainline kernels 6.13 through 6.19-rc/HEAD and lists both `spacemit,k1-pinctrl` and `spacemit,k3-pinctrl` compatibles." }, { "url": "https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-F3", "claim": "Banana Pi documents the BPI-F3 as a currently marketed board based on the SpacemiT K1 SoC." }, { "url": "https://www.bpi-shop.com/products/anana-pi-bpi-f3-design-with-spacemit-k1-8-core-risc-v-chip.html", "claim": "The BPI-F3 product page shows the SpacemiT K1 board available for purchase, supporting new-hardware availability." }, { "url": "https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/banana-pi-bpi-cm6-core-board-with-spacemit-k1-8-core-risc-v-chip-8g-ram-and-16g-emmc/22756", "claim": "Banana Pi announced a 2025 BPI-CM6 computer module based on SpacemiT K1, indicating continuing platform rollout beyond a single dev board." }, { "url": "https://forum.banana-pi.org/c/risc-v/bpi-f3/122", "claim": "The Banana Pi BPI-F3/BPI-CM6 forum category had activity into 2026, suggesting ongoing user/developer deployments rather than abandonment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an asset/helper dir. Local source inspection (`sed`, `rg`) shows a platform pinctrl driver with OF matches for K1 and K3, and local git history (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows substantive fixes/features from 2024-10 through 2026-01, including K3 support and I/O power-domain work; that is active upstream maintenance, not removal. I could not use the promised lore MCP because no such server was exposed here, and `lei` was unavailable; a targeted web search over `lore.kernel.org` returned no removal-discussion hits, so there is no evidence to escalate toward remove. Deployment looks niche but real: current Banana Pi board/shop/forum pages obtained via web search show K1-based SBC/SoM hardware on sale and discussed in 2025-2026. The devicetree schema URL came directly from the local binding file `$id`; LKDDb and Banana Pi pages came from web search. Because this is a recently upstreamed SoC pinctrl block with active follow-on enablement and no generic substitute, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1729361712, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768866634, "top_author": "Yixun Lan", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/spear", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics SPEAr (SPEAr3xx/SPEAr13xx) pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20240504-pinctrl-cleanup-v2-6-26c5f2dc1181@nxp.com/", "claim": "Upstream still touches the SPEAr pinctrl code in recent kernels; at least one 2024 maintenance cleanup patch targeted drivers/pinctrl/spear/pinctrl-spear.c." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/spear1310.html", "claim": "ST marks SPEAr1310 as 'Obsolete' and 'Out of Production', indicating the family is no longer sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stmicroelectronics-expands-its-spear-microprocessor-family-for-high-performance-applications-95002474.html", "claim": "SPEAr13xx was introduced around 2010 for networking/embedded appliances, reinforcing that this is an aging SoC family rather than a current platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: multiple platform_driver/arch_initcall entries in local source. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/spear/pinctrl-spear.c; it shows recent upstream maintenance but not an obvious removal thread in the limited lore checks. Product-market evidence came from web search: ST's SPEAr1310 product page says obsolete/out of production, and a 2010 ST press release shows the family era/use case. Given obsolete silicon, likely legacy/industrial deployments remain, but recent substantive touches in the user-provided metadata argue against deprecate/remove right now; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24006972142540842, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1335127763, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750248518, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/sprd", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Spreadtrum/Unisoc SC9860-family pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250912092351.162307-2-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org/", "claim": "Exact-file lore history shows the generic sprd pinctrl core was still touched in September 2025, indicating the driver is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/2023-10/20231027071426.17724-4-Linhua.xu@unisoc.com/", "claim": "Exact-file lore history shows Unisoc-authored functional work on the sprd pinctrl code in October 2023, not just removal churn." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_SPRD_SC9860.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Spreadtrum SC9860 pinctrl driver and shows it remains present through current kernel series with compatible \"sprd,sc9860-pinctrl\"." }, { "url": "https://www.unisoc.com/en/product/SmartPhoneUS/9863A", "claim": "UNISOC still markets the closely related SC9863A smartphone SoC, indicating the SC9860-family platform remains commercially relevant beyond legacy-only status." }, { "url": "https://us.shein.com/503-New-Smartphone%2C-Unisoc-SC9863A%2C-8-Core-CPU%2C-1.6Ghz-Main-Frequency%2C-4G-Network%2C-Memory-3%2B64GB%2C-6.6-Inches%2C-720%2A1612-Resolution%2C-60Hz-Display%2C-Camera-8MP%2B5-MP%2C-5000mAh%2C-10W-Charging-p-118956354.html", "claim": "A retail listing shows a new TCL 503 phone using Unisoc SC9863A with 2025 buyer reviews, supporting that this SoC family still appears in new low-end devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local Kconfig/source identified this as a real Spreadtrum SC9860 pinctrl driver. `lore_file_timeline` on both .c files found activity in 2023-2025, including a 2025 cleanup on the core file and 2023 functional refactoring on the SC9860 file; I found no removal discussion in the exact-file history I checked. `web.search_query` found the LKDDb page for current kernel presence, the official Unisoc SC9863A product page, and a current retailer listing for a new SC9863A phone. Result: still deployed in a small, low-end mobile niche, with no natural replacement other than keeping this driver for that hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.267729025766494, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1504164194, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757679571, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/starfive", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH7100/JH7110", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/06/11/290", "claim": "June 11, 2025 patch series adjusted StarFive pinctrl build integration for wider compile-testing, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-devicetree/202504251758.YghAqPPR-lkp%40intel.com/T/", "claim": "April 2025 lore-thread mirror shows a JH7110 pinctrl feature patch series ('support force inputs'), evidence of ongoing functional development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_STARFIVE_JH7110_SYS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the JH7110 SYS driver config present from kernel 6.3 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still marketed the VisionFive 2 JH7110 SBC on its hardware site as recently as the 2025 crawl." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=29&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still marketed the FET7110-C JH7110 core board, describing the JH7110 as in mass production and aimed at industrial deployments." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/Quick_Start_Guide/VisionFive_2/hardware.html", "claim": "VisionFive 2 quick-start documentation dated January 6, 2025 documents current JH7110 board hardware, supporting continued new-device availability into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real SoC-specific pinctrl/GPIO drivers for StarFive JH7100 and JH7110, with no natural generic replacement. Local repo evidence from `rg` and `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/pinctrl/starfive` showed active, non-removal maintenance through 2026-01-18 (API updates, bug fixes, compile-test enablement). URLs were obtained via web search: openwall result for a 2025 compile-test patch, lore-kernel mirror result for a 2025 JH7110 feature series, LKDDb for ongoing kernel presence, and StarFive/RVSpace product-doc pages for current JH7110 hardware availability. Overall this looks like a niche but live RISC-V/industrial platform, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1664872931, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768781506, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/stm32", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STM32 pin controllers (STM32F4/F7/H7 and STM32MP1/MP2)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260319105947.6237-16-wsa+renesas@sang-engineering.com/", "claim": "The core STM32 pinctrl code was still being touched by upstream patch traffic in March 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/pinctrl/st,stm32-pinctrl.yaml", "claim": "The binding covers current STM32 pinctrl compatibles including st,stm32mp135-pinctrl, st,stm32mp157-pinctrl, st,stm32mp257-pinctrl, and st,stm32h743-pinctrl." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp257f.html", "claim": "STM32MP257F is listed by ST as Active and in volume production, showing this driver supports currently sold silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32h743vg.html", "claim": "STM32H743VG is listed by ST as Active and in volume production, showing another supported family remains commercially current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with platform_driver/module entry points. lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/stm32/pinctrl-stm32.c showed substantial activity through 2026-03-19 and no removal signal in consulted lore results; a broader removal-subject lore query timed out rather than finding a deprecation thread. Local tree inspection via rg showed support for STM32MP135/157/257 and STM32H743; cited binding URL is a canonical git.kernel.org recall for that file. ST product pages were obtained via web search on st.com and show active, volume-production STM32MP257F and STM32H743VG parts. Because the directory supports current ST MCU/MPU families and still sees upstream churn, the correct disposition is keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02378884313732248, "commits_5y": 60, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1453900726, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773935085, "top_author": "Fabien Dessenne", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/sunplus", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Sunplus SP7021 / Tibbo Plus1", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/sunplus/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this as the \"Sunplus SP7021 PinMux and GPIO driver\" and ties it to CONFIG_SOC_SP7021." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pinctrl/sunplus", "claim": "The directory has continued upstream activity through 2025-2026 and shows no obvious removal/deprecation series in the path history." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=203a83112e097a501fbe12722b6342787497efe0", "claim": "A substantive pinctrl-related touch landed on 2025-09-08, indicating the driver is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.sunplus.com/products/SP7021.asp", "claim": "Sunplus markets SP7021 as a current Linux SoC for IoT and industrial control applications." }, { "url": "https://tibbo.com/store/plus1.html", "claim": "Tibbo was still marketing the Plus1/SP7021 platform with ordering language and a ten-year supply guarantee." }, { "url": "https://tibbo.com/store/tps/ltpp3g2.html", "claim": "A current Tibbo board product page lists an SP7021-based Linux PCB, showing ongoing real-world deployment in embedded/industrial products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection showed builtin_platform_driver plus OF match for \"sunplus,sp7021-pctl\". Kernel.org tree/log/commit URLs were added by canonical recall after shell inspection and local git history review; the path log shows recent maintenance and no removal discussion on the directory history. Sunplus and Tibbo URLs were obtained via web search and show the SP7021/Plus1 family still being sold for embedded industrial use in 2025-era materials. Deployment is therefore current but niche rather than broad-purpose, so keep rather than deprecate; there is no natural replacement driver for this SoC-specific pinctrl block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1643507741, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757334260, "top_author": "Wells Lu", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/sunxi", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi SoC pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260323110151.2352832-6-andre.przywara@arm.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work in March 2026 added/fixed A523 IRQ-bank support in this driver family, showing active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20260327113006.3135663-2-andre.przywara@arm.com/", "claim": "A follow-up March 2026 cleanup patch for the A523 pinctrl support shows ongoing review and refinement in the subsystem." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html", "claim": "Orange Pi Zero 3 is a currently marketed board using the Allwinner H618, one of the SoC families covered by this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/orangepiwiki/index.php/Orange_Pi_Zero_3", "claim": "The board vendor wiki documents Linux-capable Orange Pi Zero 3 hardware built around the Allwinner H618 and GPIO-capable expansion, indicating contemporary deployments." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allwinner_Technology", "claim": "Allwinner's sunxi family spans many SoC generations and remains relevant in open-source SBC/embedded ecosystems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep` because this is an active SoC pinctrl driver family with very recent 2026 lore activity and support for new chips (including A523), not a stranded legacy block. New Allwinner-based boards are still sold, so deployments are not just archival; they are mostly SBC/embedded and hobbyist/industrial, hence `medium` not `high`. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific pin controllers. URLs were obtained via `lore_file_timeline` for recent upstream evidence and `web.search_query` for current hardware-market evidence; the Wikipedia page came from the same web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022216444177257412, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 46, "first_touch_ts": 1399186783, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774272189, "top_author": "Andre Przywara", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 29, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/tegra", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra SoC pinctrl/pinmux (Tegra20/Tegra30/Tegra114/Tegra124/Tegra186/Tegra194/Tegra210/Tegra234)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20230605154230.2910847-3-thierry.reding@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream added Tegra234 pinmux support in 2023, showing the directory still grows to cover current-generation Tegra silicon." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20230716194959.628680444@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Tegra pinctrl fixes were backported to stable in 2023, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/develop/hardware", "claim": "NVIDIA's current Jetson hardware lineup page still lists Jetson AGX Orin and Orin NX modules, which are Tegra-based products sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-agx-xavier/", "claim": "NVIDIA still markets Jetson AGX Xavier modules, confirming continuing deployment of Tegra194-era hardware in embedded/industrial products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: multiple platform drivers and OF match tables for Tegra SoCs. Local tree inspection via shell showed per-SoC drivers up through Tegra234, so this is not legacy-only code. Upstream activity is active: provided static context reports 29 substantive commits in the last 5 years and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-19; lore_activity/lore_file_timeline also showed addition of Tegra234 support and later stable fixes. I attempted a removal-discussion subject scan with lore_regex and a lei query; lore_regex timed out and lei could not start in this sandbox, so I found no positive removal evidence and therefore did not escalate. Deployment is still meaningful but niche to embedded/industrial Tegra boards, so 'medium' fits better than 'high'. Source acquisition: first two URLs came from lore_activity/lore_file_timeline; NVIDIA URLs came from web search_query; no source URL was fabricated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06817825459330938, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1454681803, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768781507, "top_author": "Prathamesh Shete", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/ti", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Texas Instruments DRA7 / Jacinto 6 IODelay", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/ti/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this as the TI IODelay Module pinconf driver and limits it to the DRA7 SoC family." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pinctrl/ti/pinctrl-ti-iodelay.c", "claim": "The driver matches compatible string \"ti,dra7-iodelay\", confirming it targets DRA7-family hardware rather than a generic abstraction." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20241002125803.231168980@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver received a real bug-fix backport in October 2024 (\"Fix some error handling paths\"), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20241002125803.192550716@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver also received cleanup work in October 2024 (\"Use scope based of_node_put() cleanups\"), reinforcing continued upstream attention." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/DRA724", "claim": "TI listed a DRA7-family SoC product page as ACTIVE, supporting that at least some supported hardware was still sold new through 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an asset/helper dir. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and source identified this as the DRA7-only TI IODelay pinconf driver (compatible: ti,dra7-iodelay). lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/ti/pinctrl-ti-iodelay.c showed fresh 2024 traffic; cited lore URLs came from that MCP result and are maintenance/backport patches, not removal discussion. Web search found TI's DRA724 product page marked ACTIVE, so hardware is still commercially available but limited to older automotive/embedded DRA7 deployments. That makes present-day use niche/low-volume, but active enough to keep rather than deprecate; annotate as legacy DRA7-specific hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.40261255169890486, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1483987401, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722842553, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/uniphier", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Socionext UniPhier SoC family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20230922175006.work.421-kees@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver saw upstream maintenance in 2023 via a pinctrl/uniphier hardening annotation patch, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20221010201453.77401-31-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The driver also received a 2022 build-fix/header cleanup patch on linux-gpio, showing ongoing upkeep rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_UNIPHIER.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ARCH_UNIPHIER remains present through current kernel series and HEAD in LKDDb, so the broader SoC family is still supported upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.socionext.com/en/about/", "claim": "Socionext's current public business focus is custom SoCs for automotive, data center/networking, smart devices, and industrial markets." } ], "reasoning_notes": "UniPhier pinctrl is real SoC-specific driver code (local shell `rg` over the directory showed multiple `builtin_platform_driver()` instances and DT compatibles for SLD8/PRO5/PXS3-class parts). Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_activity` on `drivers/pinctrl/uniphier/pinctrl-uniphier-core.c`; it shows recent upstream maintenance patches and no removal/deprecation thread in the gathered evidence, so `remove`/`deprecate` is not justified. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and supports that ARCH_UNIPHIER is still in current kernels. Socionext's current official site, also found by web search, emphasizes newer custom-SoC markets rather than UniPhier-branded products; that supports treating UniPhier hardware as legacy with low ongoing deployments. Because the hardware appears legacy but upstream support is still alive and there is no natural drop-in replacement for a SoC pinctrl block, the best fit is `keep-annotate`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3068010100766923, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1437032378, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744704522, "top_author": "Kunihiko Hayashi", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/visconti", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "Toshiba Visconti TMPV7700/TMPV7708 (TMPV770 series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20200909204336.2558-3-nobuhiro1.iwamatsu@toshiba.co.jp/", "claim": "Latest lore hit for pinctrl-tmpv7700.c was September 9, 2020, in the initial 'Add Toshiba Visconti SoCs pinctrl support' series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20201217144338.3129140-3-nobuhiro1.iwamatsu@toshiba.co.jp/", "claim": "Latest lore hit for pinctrl-common.c was December 17, 2020, during initial Visconti GPIO support bring-up, with no newer driver-file activity seen in lore timelines." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_VISCONTI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PINCTRL_VISCONTI is still present in current upstream kernels and matches both tmpv7700-pinctrl and toshiba,tmpv7708-pinctrl." }, { "url": "https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/eu/company/news/2019/01/automotive-20190107-1.html", "claim": "Toshiba identifies Visconti 5 as the TMPV770 series and positions it for automotive driver-assistance systems." }, { "url": "https://www.avnet.com/americas/product/toshiba/tmpv7708xbg%28es%29/evolve-51771455/", "claim": "TMPV7708XBG(ES) had a live distributor listing with factory lead time, consistent with still-orderable new hardware in 2025-era channels." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5892449.html", "claim": "TMPV7708 platform maintenance was still visible in October 2025 through DT/pinctrl-related discussion, suggesting the SoC is not fully abandoned upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on drivers/pinctrl/visconti/pinctrl-tmpv7700.c and pinctrl-common.c; both timelines stop at 2020 bring-up, and no removal talk appeared in that history. LKDDb, Toshiba, Avnet, and the 2025 TMPV7708 DT thread URLs were obtained via web search. The driver is extremely quiet and clearly niche, but the hardware family still appears orderable and adjacent platform support still receives occasional upstream maintenance, so deprecation/removal is too aggressive; keep it, but annotate it as low-traffic niche automotive SoC support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 4, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1599906353, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pinctrl/vt8500", "subsystem": "pinctrl", "chipset_family": "VIA VT8500 / WonderMedia WM85xx/WM87xx/WM88xx SoC pinctrl", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20250612-gpiochip-set-rv-pinctrl-remaining-v1-5-556b0a530cd4@linaro.org/", "claim": "Upstream still touches this driver in 2025; recent work was API-maintenance for GPIO callbacks rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/20231017120431.68847-29-brgl@bgdev.pl/", "claim": "The vt8500 pinctrl code also saw 2023 helper-conversion work, indicating it is still being kept buildable." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PINCTRL_VT8500.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PINCTRL_VT8500 is still present in current kernel series, covering the via,vt8500-pinctrl binding." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WonderMedia", "claim": "WonderMedia was merged into VIA in 2016; the supported SoCs are old tablet/netbook-era parts rather than current production platforms." }, { "url": "https://linuxdevices.org/100-linux-client-uses-vias-first-arm-soc/", "claim": "VT8500-class hardware was already a low-cost thin-client/embedded platform in 2009, consistent with legacy-only deployments today." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: built-in platform pinctrl drivers for VIA/WonderMedia SoCs. Local shell `rg` showed SoC-specific compatibles and driver entrypoints. `lore_activity` on pinctrl-wmt.c returned 2023 and 2025 maintenance patches and no sampled removal discussion; URLs taken from lore tool output. Web search found LKDDb, WonderMedia Wikipedia, and LinuxDevices historical VT8500 coverage. Hardware appears long obsolete and not a 2025 new-design target, but upstream still performs occasional API upkeep, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.34366593586365085, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1365051602, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750248517, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/arm64", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM64 laptop embedded controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/arm64/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig defines this directory as ARM64 platform-specific EC-like drivers, and every concrete driver here depends on ARCH_QCOM for Snapdragon-based Acer, Huawei, and Lenovo systems." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=60b7ab6ce030", "claim": "The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s EC driver was added in September 2025, showing the directory is still expanding rather than being wound down." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3c79c2e28a24", "claim": "The ThinkPad T14s EC driver received functional suspend/backlight work in November 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance and no obvious removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/lenovo-thinkpad-t14s-gen-6-14-inch-snapdragon/len101t0099", "claim": "Lenovo's US product page lists the Snapdragon ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, showing at least one supported platform in this directory was still a current commercial product around 2025-2026." }, { "url": "https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_6_Snapdragon/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_6_Snapdragon_Spec.PDF?v=72f493e3-3b8e-4eb8-85b7-cbe086e220f3", "claim": "Lenovo's PSREF PDF for ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (Snapdragon) was published on February 27, 2026, supporting that this hardware family remained actively marketed/documented after 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local shell inspection (`ls`, `rg`, `sed`) showed 4 real EC drivers in this directory and Kconfig describes them as EC-like ARM64 device drivers for Snapdragon-based laptops/tablets. Local `git log` on the directory showed new hardware enablement in 2025 (T14s) plus follow-up bugfix/PM work in November 2025, so there is active upstream attention rather than deprecation/removal traffic; cited git.kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall equivalents of the locally observed files/commits. Web `search_query` found Lenovo's T14s Gen 6 Snapdragon product page and a February 27, 2026 PSREF PDF, so at least one supported platform was still sold/documented beyond 2025. Scope is narrow to a handful of specific Snapdragon laptops, so present-day deployment is low, but these drivers cover device-specific EC functionality with no generic upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1711378084, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764003957, "top_author": "Sebastian Reichel", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/chrome", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "ChromeOS platform / CrosEC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/chrome/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is the in-tree Linux platform-driver stack for Chrome hardware, explicitly covering Chromebooks/Chromeboxes and ChromeOS Embedded Controller support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20260415175707.3640225-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "Patch traffic in April 2026 shows active maintenance in this directory (`platform/chrome: cros_ec_lpc: fix reference leak on failed device registration`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20251106152602.11814-2-tzungbi@kernel.org/", "claim": "Core `cros_ec.c` continued to receive substantive upstream work in late 2025 (`Protect cros_ec_device lifecycle with revocable`), indicating ongoing subsystem investment rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/177889?hl=en", "claim": "Google's Chromebook support documentation states newer Chromebook models receive long update support windows, showing the platform is still current rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/next-generation-hybrid-ai-chromebook-plus-14-10/", "claim": "Lenovo announced a new Chromebook Plus model on June 23, 2025, confirming new ChromeOS hardware launches in the relevant period." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is an active vendor/platform subsystem for live ChromeOS hardware, not a legacy orphan. `drivers/platform/chrome/Kconfig` (kernel.org URL cited via canonical recall from local tree) names Chromebooks/Chromeboxes and multiple active ChromeOS platform functions. Lore evidence came from `lore_regex` on `^diff --git a/drivers/platform/chrome/` and `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/platform/chrome/cros_ec.c`, which showed frequent 2025-2026 fixes/refactors; no removal series was verified. A `lore_regex` removal-subject query timed out and a fallback `lei` query could not run in the sandbox, so I treat removal-discussion evidence as absent rather than disproven. Deployment evidence came from web search results on official Google Chromebook support and Lenovo's 2025 Chromebook launch page. No single upstream replacement covers the same ChromeOS EC/platform-device scope.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03625378454647526, "commits_5y": 329, "substantive_commits_5y": 319, "first_touch_ts": 1384991463, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769761801, "top_author": "Tzung-Bi Shih", "top_author_commits": 98, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/chrome/wilco_ec", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "ChromeOS Wilco Embedded Controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20250813094858.557742-1-liaoyuanhong@vivo.com/", "claim": "The driver still received upstream maintenance in 2025; this patch touched wilco_ec/telemetry.c on 2025-08-13." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20240329075630.2069474-19-tzungbi@kernel.org/", "claim": "The driver saw functional maintenance in 2024, including core matching changes, indicating active subsystem ownership rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/chrome-platform/20241028082611.431723-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "wilco_ec was included in a 2024 API-conversion series, showing routine upkeep instead of removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/latitude-5400-chromebook-enterprise/spd/latitude-14-5400-chrome-laptop/ss03lc540014us", "claim": "A Wilco-era enterprise Chromebook-class system remained listed for new sale in 2026, supporting the conclusion that covered hardware was still sold new in 2025, albeit as a niche product." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/chrome/wilco_ec/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies the hardware family as the 'ChromeOS Wilco Embedded Controller' and describes it as an eSPI-connected EC driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/core.c show module-backed ACPI/platform driver code. Lore evidence was obtained via lore_file_timeline on core.c and lore_activity on telemetry.c; both show 2024-2025 touches and no visible removal discussion, so removal/deprecation is not supported. Dell sale-page evidence was obtained by web search and suggests the hardware family still appears in niche new enterprise-Chromebook listings. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall for family identification. Recommendation is keep: niche deployments today, but still-maintained and with no natural replacement for Wilco-specific EC functionality.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.168858276227025, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1550781359, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755079041, "top_author": "Tzung-Bi Shih", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/cznic", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "CZ.NIC Turris Omnia MCU", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.turris.com/en/produkty/omnia/", "claim": "CZ.NIC still markets Turris Omnia variants and upgrade kits, indicating the hardware platform remained commercially available in 2025." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/turris/turris_omnia", "claim": "OpenWrt maintains device support documentation for Turris Omnia, consistent with ongoing real-world deployments." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=df94a2f1eb45", "claim": "The driver gained a new hardware-backed message-signing feature in 2025, showing active upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=992f1a3d4e88", "claim": "The directory entered mainline in 2024 as preliminary support for the Turris Omnia MCU, so it is a very new driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection (`rg` on Kconfig and .c files) shows an active I2C driver stack for the Turris Omnia router MCU plus GPIO/watchdog/TRNG/sys-off/keyctl helpers. Local `git log` on the directory showed substantial 2024-2025 development, including new features; no removal/deprecation commits were found in that path grep. The two kernel.org commit URLs were derived from those local commit IDs via canonical kernel.org commit URL recall. The Turris product page was obtained by web search and shows Omnia still being sold/marketed; the OpenWrt device page was obtained by web search and supports ongoing deployment evidence. This is niche hardware, but still current enough that deprecation or removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1719841596, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750317305, "top_author": "Marek Behún", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/goldfish", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Google Goldfish virtual platform / QEMU pipe", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20241026070150.3239819-1-zengheng4@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touches in 2024, but the visible work is minor maintenance rather than feature development." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240615-goldfish_pipe-md-v2-1-b4323a969594@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Recent mailing-list activity includes janitorial updates, indicating the code is not abandoned even if it is niche." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/GOLDFISH_PIPE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_GOLDFISH_PIPE remains present in current kernel series and is explicitly described as the Goldfish virtual device for QEMU pipes." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/qemu/%2B/master/docs/ANDROID-QEMU-PIPE.TXT", "claim": "The device is the Android emulator's fast guest-host pipe interface, confirming it is virtual emulator infrastructure rather than sold hardware." }, { "url": "https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator", "claim": "The Android Emulator and AVDs are still current developer-facing products in 2026, so Goldfish-style guest support remains relevant in a niche VM/emulator deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable on obsolescence grounds: this is an emulator-only virtual-device driver for Android Goldfish/AVD guests, not physical hardware, so 'still sold' is false and no sale year applies. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/platform/goldfish/goldfish_pipe.c showed touches through 2024 (and later treewide churn in 2025), with returned events dominated by small fixes/cleanups rather than active removal talk; the cited lore URLs came from that tool output. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirms the Kconfig symbol is still shipped; AOSP QEMU pipe docs identify the exact guest-host interface; Android Developers emulator docs confirm AVD/emulator deployments still exist today. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: niche but still live, with low present-day deployment outside emulator/AVD environments and no clear replacement driver for the same guest-host pipe ABI.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.46425086870456395, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1359064174, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730781226, "top_author": "Zeng Heng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/loongarch", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Loongson-3 LoongArch laptop platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/platform/loongarch", "claim": "Upstream activity is recent for this directory; local shell `git log` showed substantive commits on 2025-06-07 and initial merge on 2022-10-12." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LOONGSON_LAPTOP.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_LOONGSON_LAPTOP as the Generic Loongson-3 Laptop Driver, bound to ACPI HID LOON0000 and present from Linux 6.1 through current development kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=11", "claim": "Loongson continued marketing LoongArch client silicon (LS3A6000) for desktops and embedded/client systems into the current product generation." }, { "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/chinese-chipmaker-loongsons-new-laptop-and-industrial-chips-have-higher-core-counts-better-gpu", "claim": "As of 2025-04-04, Loongson was still announcing new mobile/laptop-oriented LoongArch silicon (3B6000M), indicating ongoing new-platform investment rather than legacy-only status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains `loongson-laptop.c`, Kconfig, Makefile, and a module entry point. Shell inspection showed this is an ACPI/input/backlight laptop platform driver for Loongson-3 systems. Shell `git log` found 7 substantive commits since 2022, including three fixes/features on 2025-06-06/07, so this is not dormant. Web search yielded no obvious lore removal/deprecation thread; absence of removal evidence plus fresh fixes argues against deprecate/remove. Deployment is likely niche and region-specific, so `deployments_today` is `low`, but current LoongArch client/mobile products in 2025 mean the hardware is still sold new. Source provenance: kernel.org log URL via canonical recall, dates verified by shell `git log`; LKDDb and Loongson/Tom's Hardware URLs obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1665563780, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749267435, "top_author": "Yao Zi", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/mellanox", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA BlueField / Spectrum platform controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20260128075939.2704019-2-oleksandrs@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream was still adding support in January 2026 for a new Nvidia DGX system in mlx-platform, indicating active maintenance and new-platform enablement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20250421092051.7687-3-vadimp@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream added Nvidia smart-switch support in April 2025 under drivers/platform/mellanox, showing expansion rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/sn2201switchesum/introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA documents the SN2201/SN2201_M Spectrum-based switch systems as current data-center management switch products." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/products/data-processing-unit/", "claim": "NVIDIA still markets BlueField-3 and BlueField-4 DPUs, showing the BlueField platform family covered by this directory remains commercially current." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/dgx-b200/", "claim": "NVIDIA DGX B200 product materials list BlueField-3 DPUs in the system networking configuration, evidencing current deployment in new 2025-era AI infrastructure." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep`: local tree inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) shows this directory contains real platform drivers for Mellanox/NVIDIA BlueField, mlxreg, and Spectrum/SN2201 systems. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/platform/mellanox/mlx-platform.c`; the sampled 2025-2026 history shows fixes and new DGX/smart-switch support, not wind-down. Vendor deployment evidence came from web search on NVIDIA official pages/docs: SN2201 manuals, BlueField product portfolio, and DGX B200 specs. Because the hardware family is still sold and seeing upstream enablement, there is no natural replacement driver and removal would be unjustified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.044787793625472964, "commits_5y": 120, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1517423808, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769603901, "top_author": "Vadim Pasternak", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/mips", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Loongson MIPS platform (Loongson-3 / LS2K1000 / RS780E)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mips/20240913-iocsr-v3-4-81a57f60350d@flygoat.com/", "claim": "cpu_hwmon.c still received upstream maintenance in September 2024 via a Loongson64 IOCSR header conversion touching this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mips/20231204115710.2247097-5-arnd@kernel.org/", "claim": "rs780e-acpi.c received upstream cleanup in December 2023, showing the code is not entirely dormant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mips/20220104133415.805209-1-yangyingliang@huawei.com/", "claim": "ls2k-reset.c saw a post-merge fix in January 2022, indicating real maintenance after its 2021 introduction." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/news/show?id=636", "claim": "Loongson said in May 2022 that LS2K1000LA marked its full transition to LoongArch and was a direct replacement for 2K1000, implying the original MIPS 2K1000 was being superseded." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=6", "claim": "Current official LS3A5000 product page says it is pin-compatible with the older 3A4000, showing current new sales are on LoongArch replacements rather than the older MIPS 3A4000 generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via exec_command showed three tiny, hardware-specific Loongson-era platform drivers: Loongson-3 hwmon, RS780E ACPI glue, and LS2K1000 reset. lore_activity on each file found only sporadic touches, but notably real maintenance in 2023-2024 rather than removal work; no clear removal series surfaced, and lore_file_timeline on the directory itself returned no aggregated hits. Official loongson.cn pages obtained via web search show Loongson had transitioned its product line to LoongArch by 2022, with LS2K1000LA directly replacing 2K1000 and LS3A5000 replacing/pin-matching 3A4000. That points to legacy-but-deployed hardware: likely still present in installed industrial/government systems, but not meaningfully sold new in 2025. Because upstream still carries occasional fixes/cleanups, this is better tagged legacy/annotated than actively deprecated for removal. No single upstream replacement driver exists because the directory covers several unrelated board/SoC-specific functions.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.4754734130614147, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1427901737, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718958130, "top_author": "Jiaxun Yang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/olpc", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "OLPC XO-1.75 Embedded Controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260413155828.823301717@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch fixes `platform/olpc: olpc-xo175-ec` and was queued for stable backport." }, { "url": "https://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-1.75", "claim": "The directory targets OLPC XO-1.75 laptop hardware; the platform page describes XO-1.75 as an ARM-based OLPC laptop and names its embedded controller as ENE IO3731." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child", "claim": "OLPC as an initiative operated from 2005 to 2014, supporting the conclusion that this hardware is legacy and not a new-volume 2025 product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local tree inspection via `rg` showed `platform_driver`/`spi_driver` code in `olpc-ec.c` and `olpc-xo175-ec.c`. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/platform/olpc/olpc-xo175-ec.c` showed fresh 2026 activity and yielded the cited lore URL, so removal would be premature. Web search returned the laptop.org XO-1.75 page and Wikipedia OLPC page; together they indicate niche legacy OLPC laptop hardware from the early-2010s, not hardware still sold new in 2025. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/OLPC-specific rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04422809426431226, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1343791649, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774270140, "top_author": "Alok Tiwari", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/raspberrypi/vchiq-interface", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM2835/BCM2836 VideoCore VCHIQ (Raspberry Pi)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM2835_VCHIQ.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_BCM2835_VCHIQ is present in current kernels under drivers/platform/raspberrypi, with brcm,bcm2835-vchiq and brcm,bcm2836-vchiq device matches." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/5", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 is a current product, available now, and its product page states production will continue until at least January 2036." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-5/", "claim": "Compute Module 5 is available now, showing the Raspberry Pi VideoCore-era platform family is still sold for new embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/linux/software/computers/os.html", "claim": "Current Raspberry Pi documentation still exposes VideoCore firmware-facing tooling, indicating ongoing firmware-mediated deployments rather than a dead legacy stack." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via exec_command showed this is the BCM2835 VCHIQ kernel/firmware messaging interface used by Raspberry Pi multimedia and firmware services, not a helper-only directory. Local git log via exec_command showed only a recent mechanical treewide touch and no substantive 5-year activity. Lore search attempts found no obvious removal discussion or active patch flow. URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb for current upstream presence; Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Module 5 product pages for present-day hardware availability; Raspberry Pi documentation for ongoing VideoCore firmware tooling. Sparse churn argues for annotation, but current hardware sales and lack of a natural replacement argue against deprecation/removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1762655060, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/raspberrypi/vchiq-mmal", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM2835/VideoCore VCHIQ MMAL", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5902195.html", "claim": "Upstream discussion in October 2025 was to destage/move the VCHIQ MMAL driver into drivers/platform/raspberrypi, indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/camera_software.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documents the legacy camera stack as deprecated for many years and now unsupported; newer camera support is through the libcamera/rpicam stack instead." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W was still sold with CSI camera support and an obsolescence statement extending production to at least January 2030." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/camera/libcamera-hello/", "claim": "Official Raspberry Pi camera documentation lists current camera modules and positions modern camera support around the newer libcamera-based stack." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an asset/helper-only dir: local `exec_command` inspection showed Kconfig+Makefile and MMAL/VCHIQ transport code for the BCM2835 V4L2 camera path. Local `git show`/`git log` found only a 2025 destaging commit plus two 2026 treewide allocator cleanups, so recent substantive churn is low; however the 2025 patch thread URL was obtained via `web.search_query` and shows upstream chose to keep/destage it, not remove it. Raspberry Pi camera-software and camera-hardware pages were obtained via `web.search_query`; they show the legacy MMAL-based stack is deprecated/unsupported while Raspberry Pi camera-capable boards remain on sale. Conclusion: keep in-tree but annotate as legacy/low-deployment rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1762655060, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/surface", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Surface / SSAM (Surface System Aggregator Module)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20240814-topic-sam-v3-3-a84588aad233@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Upstream work remained active in 2024, including substantial platform/surface changes adding OF support to the Surface aggregator stack." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20250116002721.75592-7-kuurtb@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance continued in 2025 with API modernization of surface_platform_profile to devm_platform_profile_register()." }, { "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/business", "claim": "Microsoft was still marketing current Surface Laptop and Surface Pro business models, indicating the hardware family was still sold new in 2025/2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active platform driver subtree for Microsoft Surface devices, not legacy abandonware. Local Kconfig inspection via shell showed support for 5th-generation-and-later Surface systems and current features like platform profile, hot-plug, tablet switch, and detachment. Lore evidence was obtained with mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/platform/surface/aggregator/core.c and drivers/platform/surface/surface_platform_profile.c; it showed substantive 2024-2025 work rather than removal prep. A lore removal-regex probe timed out, so absence of removal discussion is not proven, but the positive maintenance signal is strong. Market/deployment evidence came from web search on microsoft.com showing currently sold Surface Laptop and Surface Pro lines. No natural replacement driver covers the same Surface-specific EC/ACPI functionality, so deprecation/removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.054025252270185356, "commits_5y": 111, "substantive_commits_5y": 105, "first_touch_ts": 1603799463, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768043821, "top_author": "Maximilian Luz", "top_author_commits": 58, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/surface/aggregator", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Microsoft Surface System Aggregator Module (SSAM/SAM-over-SSH)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20240901160828.318198280@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Upstream/stable maintenance is active: a 2024 fix for the Surface aggregator controller was backported into stable kernels." }, { "url": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/models/surface-laptop-7th-edition-features", "claim": "Microsoft lists Surface Laptop (7th Edition) as available to purchase, showing the Surface hardware family covered by SSAM is still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of drivers/platform/surface/aggregator/Kconfig shows this is the core SSAM/SSH driver for 5th-gen-and-newer Microsoft Surface devices. User-provided static metadata shows 42 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 16 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2025-12-17, which is strong ongoing-maintenance evidence. The lore_activity MCP call for controller.c returned the cited stable-backport URL, supporting continued upstream bug-fix traffic. A lore_regex MCP query for removal/deprecation subjects timed out and yielded no removal evidence, so there is no sign of an active upstream retirement push. The Microsoft support URL was obtained via web search and indicates new Surface models were still on sale in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists for SSAM-backed Surface EC functionality, so removal or deprecation would strand supported hardware rather than consolidate onto another upstream driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07980525910063742, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1609973133, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765980499, "top_author": "Maximilian Luz", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/wmi", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the ACPI-WMI core/infrastructure layer (`ACPI-WMI support` / `ACPI-WMI driver core`) with helper code and KUnit tests, not a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1763457491, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769436198, "top_author": "Armin Wolf", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "x86 platform-specific ACPI/WMI OEM laptop and firmware drivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory is the kernel's 'X86 Platform Specific Device Drivers' menu and explicitly covers vendor-specific laptop extension drivers." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/adg6GzkykThAB_4u@djouze-zen/", "claim": "As of 2026-04-09 the subsystem was still receiving model-specific fixes, here for ASUS Zenbook S14 camera-key LED handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20260321104540.68643-1-incekarazuhtu04@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-21 new quirks were still being added for current ASUS laptop models, here Vivobook X7400PC." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/us/news/yarymph5rhszrpsb/", "claim": "ASUS announced U.S. availability of its latest 2026 Zenbook lineup, showing hardware families covered by platform/x86 ASUS drivers are still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/zenbook/asus-zenbook-s-14-ux5406/", "claim": "The Zenbook S14 product page shows a current ASUS laptop line that matches recent platform/x86 ASUS support activity." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active umbrella driver directory for current OEM x86 laptops and platform firmware features, not a stranded legacy driver. Evidence came from local shell reads of drivers/platform/x86/Kconfig and Makefile, mapped to the canonical kernel.org tree URL; lore_activity on drivers/platform/x86/asus-wmi.c yielded the two lore URLs showing March-April 2026 fixes/quirks for current ASUS machines; web search returned the two ASUS URLs showing those laptop lines are still marketed. I attempted removal-signal searches with lore_regex and lore_substr_subject for remove/deprecate/obsolete on platform-driver-x86, but they timed out rather than producing evidence of an active removal effort.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009156433177744963, "commits_5y": 1306, "substantive_commits_5y": 1290, "first_touch_ts": 1229679752, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774966948, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 244, "c_file_count": 73, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/amd", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "AMD Ryzen / EPYC platform management", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_PMC.html", "claim": "AMD PMC is a current upstream kernel option, present through 6.19/7.0, and explicitly targets AMD Ryzen notebook platforms for S2Idle/SMU power-management support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_PMF.html", "claim": "AMD PMF is current upstream support for AMD Platform Management Framework, with device IDs including Phoenix, Strix/Strix Halo, and Krackan root complexes." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_HFI.html", "claim": "AMD HFI is a recent upstream addition for heterogeneous-core hardware feedback on AMD systems, present in 6.17+." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AMD_HSMP_ACPI.html", "claim": "AMD HSMP ACPI support is current upstream support for EPYC and MI300A server system-management functionality." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-1-6-amd-announces-expanded-consumer-and-commercial-ai-.html", "claim": "AMD announced Ryzen AI 300 / PRO and Ryzen AI Max / PRO mobile PC processors for 2025 availability, showing this platform class was actively sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-1-5-amd-expands-ai-leadership-across-client-graphics-.html", "claim": "AMD announced Ryzen AI 400 / PRO 400 and new X3D client CPUs in January 2026, reinforcing that the client platform families covered by this directory remain current rather than legacy." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this is a real driver directory with active subdrivers (pmc, pmf, hfi, hsmp, x3d_vcache, wbrf, isp4). Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed many substantive 2025-2026 changes, including new quirks, ACPI IDs, HFI work, and current-platform enablement, which argues strongly against deprecation. `web.search_query` retrieved LKDDb pages for AMD_PMC/PMF/HFI/HSMP and AMD press releases for Ryzen AI 300/400. I did not find evidence of an active removal/deprecation series in the allotted lore lookup path; with fresh upstream activity and currently sold AMD client/server platforms, the correct outcome is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 80, "substantive_commits_5y": 78, "first_touch_ts": 1655891875, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769435192, "top_author": "Shyam Sundar S K", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/amd/hfi", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "AMD Heterogeneous Core / Hardware Feedback Interface (HFI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20250707-amd-hetero-core-v1-0-f5a99de4d6f4@amd.com/", "claim": "Initial 2025 upstream posting of the AMD heterogeneous-core/HFI driver series shows the driver is new and actively developed rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20250725-amd-hetero-core-v2-0-c1cd87dc4db6@amd.com/", "claim": "A v2 repost of the same 2025 series indicates active review iteration, not abandonment or removal planning." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen/ai-300-series.html", "claim": "AMD was marketing Ryzen AI 300 series client processors in 2025; these are current products in the timeframe relevant to heterogeneous-core scheduling support." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-3-11-amd-expands-embedded-x86-processor-portfolio-with-5th-gen-amd-epyc-embedded-processors-and-amd-ryzen-embedded-8000-series-processors.html", "claim": "AMD announced Ryzen Embedded 8000 series in 2026, supporting the inference that heterogeneous-core AMD client/embedded platforms remain in new deployments beyond 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/platform/x86/amd/hfi/{Kconfig,hfi.c} shows a 2025 AMD platform driver for ACPI ID AMDI0104, gated on AMD heterogeneous-core/workload-class CPU features. Lore evidence was obtained via web search and clicking through Phoronix-linked lore threads to the v1 and v2 patch series URLs; these show creation and active review in mid-2025, with no sign of removal discussion. AMD product/press URLs were obtained via web search and indicate relevant AMD heterogeneous-core client/embedded hardware is still being sold and introduced after 2025. This looks like a current enablement driver for new AMD platforms, with niche but real deployment, and no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1751909299, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760517508, "top_author": "Perry Yuan", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/amd/hsmp", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "AMD HSMP (Host System Management Port) for EPYC/MI300A", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260310125307.700108-1-alok.a.tiwari@oracle.com", "claim": "A driver-specific HSMP fix was still being merged in March 2026, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250506101542.200811-3-suma.hegde@amd.com", "claim": "HSMP gained new telemetry/sysfs functionality in May 2025, indicating feature growth and active development." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.14-rc5/arch/x86/amd_hsmp.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes HSMP as the Linux interface for AMD EPYC server CPUs and MI300A, with separate ACPI/platform drivers under drivers/platform/x86/amd/hsmp." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/9005-series.html", "claim": "AMD EPYC 9005 server CPUs were actively marketed and shipping in/after late 2024, so relevant HSMP-capable server hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/accelerators/instinct/mi300/mi300a.html", "claim": "AMD still markets MI300A as a server product; this is a current HSMP-supported platform rather than legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/2120614", "claim": "Ubuntu carried a 2025 request to support/backport AMD HSMP patches, which is evidence of downstream demand and ongoing deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. `exec_command` on local git history showed substantive HSMP-only commits through 2026-03-23 and exposed two upstream message URLs from commit trailers (patch.msgid.link and lore.kernel.org). `web.search_query` found kernel docs confirming scope (EPYC + MI300A) and AMD product pages showing the hardware family is still sold. Another web hit on Launchpad showed 2025 downstream backport demand. I also ran a lore-targeted web search for removal/deprecation talk and found no removal discussion in the limited search budget. Niche datacenter/server feature, but current and actively maintained, with no natural upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1729593406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774270142, "top_author": "Suma Hegde", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmc", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "AMD client SoC Power Management Controller (Ryzen mobile/client, incl. Ryzen AI 300-era platforms)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250422234830.2840784-5-superm1@kernel.org", "claim": "Recent upstream patch traffic in 2025 directly touched drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmc, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/tip/7094702a9e6d1256f1444ceff7be97414db51dbb", "claim": "A 2025 tip/x86-platform commit updated drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmc/pmc-quirks.c, confirming ongoing upstream integration." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-pm/?t=20231031071306", "claim": "linux-pm archive timeline shows a 2023 patch series entry for platform/x86/amd: pmc adding D3-policy support, consistent with feature development rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen/ai-300-series/amd-ryzen-ai-7-350.html", "claim": "AMD was still selling new Ryzen AI 300-series client processors in 2025; these are current-generation AMD client platforms of the kind this PMC driver services." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen/ai-300-series/amd-ryzen-ai-max-plus-392.html", "claim": "AMD also marketed Ryzen AI Max 300-series processors, showing the supported AMD client platform family remained current in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real platform driver confirmed locally via shell (`rg` found `module_platform_driver` and `MODULE_DESCRIPTION`). Local file inspection (`sed`) shows support spans multiple AMD client root-device IDs up to newer 1AH-era parts, so this is not a legacy-only niche. Lore evidence came from web search/open: a 2025 lore thread and linked tip commit show recent pmc work; a linux-pm archive mirror page shows earlier feature-development traffic. Additional local git history (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed first touch in 2023-08 and substantive touches through 2026-03, with no removal/deprecation discussion found in lore-targeted web queries. AMD product pages were obtained via web search and show matching client processor families sold new in 2025. No natural replacement exists; this is the in-tree driver for AMD client PMC functionality, so the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 65, "substantive_commits_5y": 63, "first_touch_ts": 1692804686, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774611075, "top_author": "Shyam Sundar S K", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmf", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "AMD Platform Management Framework (PMF) / APMF Smart PC features on AMD Ryzen mobile platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmf", "claim": "Canonical kernel log for this directory shows the driver is new (2022) and actively maintained rather than abandoned or under obvious removal pressure." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/amd/pmf/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the AMD Platform Management Framework driver for ACPI/TEE-backed power and Smart PC features on AMD PCs." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-10-amd-launches-new-ryzen-ai-pro-300-series-processo.html", "claim": "AMD announced Ryzen AI PRO 300 mobile processors with more than 100 Ryzen AI PRO PCs on track through 2025, indicating fresh commercial laptop deployments in the PMF era." }, { "url": "https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1232/amd-announces-expanded-consumer-and-commercial-ai-pc-portfolio-at-ces", "claim": "AMD expanded Ryzen AI Max / Ryzen AI 300 / Ryzen AI 200 mobile PC offerings at CES 2025, supporting that relevant AMD laptop platforms were still shipping new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/ai-pcs-powered-by-ryzen-ai.html", "claim": "AMD's current Ryzen AI product page shows ongoing AI-PC laptop/workstation offerings, implying the PMF-managed platform class remains in active market deployment in 2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Static signals already show heavy recent churn (143 substantive commits in 5y; latest 2026-01-26), and local source inspection via shell (`sed`/`rg`) shows a live `module_platform_driver`, ACPI APMF method use, Smart PC/CNQF/slider features, and no signs of stub or compatibility-only code. `lei` was unavailable in shell and lore web queries did not surface a removal series, so I relied on the canonical kernel.org directory log URL (canonical recall) as the upstream-attention anchor and on AMD product/press URLs obtained by web search for deployment evidence. This is a current AMD laptop platform-management driver with no natural in-tree replacement, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 143, "substantive_commits_5y": 143, "first_touch_ts": 1660562617, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769436019, "top_author": "Shyam Sundar S K", "top_author_commits": 86, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/dell", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Dell/Alienware WMI-SMBIOS platform management", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20260223-sysfs-const-dell-wmi-sysman-v1-1-8a690884044e@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "Dell WMI sysman code was still being actively cleaned up in February 2026, indicating maintained in-tree support rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260206231642.30051-1-git@danielhodges.dev/", "claim": "A 2026 fix for a dell-wmi-sysman kobject leak reached stable, showing real bug-fix traffic and downstream relevance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260129-m18-gmode-v1-1-48be521487b9@gmail.com/", "claim": "Alienware WMAX support gained G-Mode support for m18 laptops in 2026, showing enablement for current Dell/Alienware hardware rather than legacy-only maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000178000/dell-command-configure", "claim": "Dell Command | Configure was updated in March 2026, supports Linux, and requires WMI-ACPI BIOS platforms, matching the continued use of Dell WMI/BIOS management interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-computer-laptops/alienware-m18-r1-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-m18-r1-laptop/wnm18r1cto20", "claim": "Dell was still selling the Alienware m18 product line, confirming at least part of this driver family's target hardware remained in new-system sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg`/`sed` on the tree showed this directory is a live bundle of Dell/Alienware vendor-platform drivers (Dell WMI, SMBIOS, sysman, Alienware WMAX, laptop/PC extras), with Kconfig text explicitly covering Dell machines from 2018+ and current Alienware thermal/LED/platform features. `lore_file_timeline` on `dell-wmi-sysman/sysman.c` showed continuous 2021-2026 activity with rising churn through 2025; `lore_activity` on `dell-laptop.c` and `alienware-wmi-wmax.c` showed recent fixes and current-hardware feature work, not removal. A `lei` subject search could not be completed in this sandbox, but the sampled lore evidence contained no deprecation/removal series. Web search/open on official Dell pages showed ongoing Linux/WMI BIOS tooling and current Alienware sales. Because these are vendor-specific control paths, there is no general upstream replacement driver; removing them would strand active Dell/Alienware platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02932676310243071, "commits_5y": 195, "substantive_commits_5y": 187, "first_touch_ts": 1612441435, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771862535, "top_author": "Kurt Borja", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-sysman", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Dell WMI Sysman", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/dell/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes DELL_WMI_SYSMAN as a Dell WMI-based systems-management driver that can change BIOS settings on many Dell machines from 2018 and newer." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/20260331160310.608857-3-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream changes in March 2026 ('dell-wmi-sysman: Clean up security buffer helpers'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-af/command-monitor/dcm_ug_10_12_0/setting-bios-attributes-using-wsman?guid=guid-08359214-f9aa-432a-bd73-47c0cf7ded24&lang=en-us", "claim": "Current Dell Command | Monitor documentation still exposes BIOS management operations through the root/dcim/sysman namespace on Linux, matching the driver's system-management role." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/sf/latitude-laptops", "claim": "Dell was still selling Latitude commercial laptops in 2025/2026, a major class of systems likely to carry Dell's WMI/BIOS management interface." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/sf/precision-laptops", "claim": "Dell was still selling Precision mobile workstations in 2025/2026, further showing the supported platform family remains in new commercial deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local source inspection showed this is a real module-bound Dell platform driver with DMI checks for Dell/Alienware and Kconfig help text explicitly targeting many Dell machines from 2018+. Active upstream attention is evidenced by 2026 lore activity on sysman.c; the lore URL came from the lore_file_timeline tool. Deployment evidence came from web search results for Dell Command | Monitor and current Dell Latitude/Precision product pages, showing the management stack and covered commercial hardware are still current. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is a canonical-recall source matching the locally read file. No natural replacement driver exists for this vendor-specific BIOS/WMI management path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04673800842207743, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1612441435, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772541917, "top_author": "Kurt Borja", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/hp", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "HP laptop/platform WMI and BIOS configuration", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-wmi.c", "claim": "The directory contains the active HP WMI laptop driver, including support tables for modern OMEN and Victus boards and features such as thermal/fan/platform-profile handling." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg", "claim": "The directory also contains the HP BIOS configuration driver code, indicating current enterprise/manageability use rather than a legacy-only leftover." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=435da773966c", "claim": "Upstream was still adding new hardware support in 2026 via \"platform/x86: hp-wmi: Add support for Omen 16-k0xxx (8A4D)\"." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=84d29bfd1929", "claim": "Upstream was still adding new hardware support in 2025 via \"platform/x86: hp-wmi: Add support for Omen 16-wf1xxx (8C76)\"." }, { "url": "https://www.hp.com/us-en/gaming-pc/laptops/2025-omen-16-intel.html", "claim": "HP was selling OMEN 16 gaming laptops in 2025, matching product lines explicitly supported by hp-wmi." }, { "url": "https://www.hp.com/us-en/gaming-pc/laptops/2025-omen-16-amd-nvidia.html", "claim": "HP was also selling 2025 OMEN 16 AMD/NVIDIA models, reinforcing that supported HP gaming-laptop families remained current in market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local shell inspection showed real driver code (hp-wmi, hp_accel, tc1100-wmi, hp-bioscfg subtree), and local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed frequent substantive updates through 2026 with many authors, not a stagnant legacy driver. No removal/deprecation discussion was found from available lore-oriented search attempts; `lei` was unavailable in the environment, and web lore queries returned no hits for removal talk. kernel.org tree/commit URLs were formed from local file paths and commit hashes plus canonical recall of stable git.kernel.org URL patterns. HP OMEN sales pages were obtained via `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1668584899, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774270136, "top_author": "Krishna Chomal", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "HP Commercial BIOS (WMI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/2304.1/02712.html", "claim": "Initial upstream HP BIOSCFG documentation patch describes the driver as a native Linux interface for HP commercial notebooks' BIOS/WMI management and security features." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/HP_BIOSCFG.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_HP_BIOSCFG in mainline kernels 6.6 through current HEAD and says it supports many HP machines from 2018 and newer." }, { "url": "https://www.hp.com/us-en/newsroom/press-releases/2025/shaping-the-future-of-work-hp-amplify-2025.html", "claim": "HP announced new 2025 commercial HP EliteBook and EliteDesk systems, indicating the relevant business-PC family is still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.hp.com/us-en/laptops/business/probooks.html", "claim": "HP's current ProBook business-laptop product page shows the commercial platform family remains actively marketed." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found module_init in bioscfg.c and WMI driver registration in biosattr-interface.c. Lore-first check was via web search because `lei` was unavailable in shell; search hits found the 2023 LKML introduction patch and no removal/deprecation hits for hp-bioscfg. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg` showed active upstream maintenance in 2025-2026 with multiple bug fixes from several authors, so this is not an orphaned legacy driver. LKDDb/web sources indicate support for HP commercial systems from 2018+, and HP 2025/current product pages show those commercial notebook/desktop families are still in new deployments. No natural upstream replacement covers the same HP-specific BIOS/WMI management interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1688992887, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772190616, "top_author": "Jorge Lopez", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel x86 platform-specific devices (PMC/PMT/TPMI/VSEC, client and Xeon)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/710389/intel-platform-monitoring-technology-intel-pmt-technical-specification.html", "claim": "Intel PMT remained an actively published Intel architecture in 2026, with a public PMT technical specification dated 2026-03-10 describing use across Intel products including CPU and PCH." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095518/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel Speed Select Technology was still supported on 4th and 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors as of the article last reviewed on 2025-07-02." }, { "url": "https://download.intel.com/newsroom/2023/data-center-hpc/4th-Gen-Xeon-On-Demand-Fact-Sheet.pdf", "claim": "Intel On Demand (the kernel's SDSi user-facing feature area) was introduced with 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors, tying part of this directory to recent server platforms rather than legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_PMC_CORE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_INTEL_PMC_CORE is defined in drivers/platform/x86/intel/pmc/Kconfig and remains present through current kernel series listed by LKDDb, indicating continuing upstream support." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_TPMI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_INTEL_TPMI is defined in drivers/platform/x86/intel/Kconfig and is present in Linux 6.3 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD per LKDDb, showing this directory contains newly added/current platform enablement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This directory is a mixed Intel platform bucket: some legacy Bay Trail/Cherry Trail/Oaktrail pieces exist, but recent files and Kconfig entries show substantial current-platform coverage (PMC, PMT, TPMI, VSEC, ISST, SDSi). Upstream activity is plainly live from the provided static history: 206 substantive commits in 5y, 55 authors, most recent substantive touch 2026-03-23. I attempted lore-first checks via web searches against lore.kernel.org for remove/deprecate traffic, but found no removal discussion URLs; combined with the strong recent activity, that argues against deprecation. URLs were obtained by web search/open for Intel and LKDDb pages; local shell reads of Kconfig confirmed the directory composition. No single replacement driver exists because this directory aggregates multiple Intel platform feature drivers rather than one obsolete function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 212, "substantive_commits_5y": 206, "first_touch_ts": 1624354322, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774270146, "top_author": "David E. Box", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/atomisp2", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel AtomISP v2 on Bay Trail / Cherry Trail", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220710173658.221528-1-hdegoede@redhat.com", "claim": "Latest substantive upstream touch I found for this directory was a 2022 platform/x86 fix extending LED handling to Asus T100TAF, indicating occasional maintenance but no sustained activity." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210820110458.73018-15-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com", "claim": "The directory itself was created by a 2021 move into the Intel subdirectory, not by a major functional expansion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_ATOMISP2_PM.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes this as a dummy/power-management driver for Intel AtomISP v2 on Bay Trail and Cherry Trail, matching PCI IDs 8086:0f38 and 8086:22b8." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_ATOMISP2_LED.html", "claim": "LKDDb describes the companion LED quirk driver as applying only to known Bay Trail/Cherry Trail systems with camera-LED firmware issues." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/55844/products-formerly-bay-trail.html", "claim": "Intel ARK marks Bay Trail products as former products, consistent with no new 2025 sales." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/46629/products-formerly-cherry-trail.html", "claim": "Intel ARK marks Cherry Trail products as former products; newest listed launches are in 2015-2016, supporting a legacy-only deployment profile." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this is a real driver directory with one PCI PM driver and one LED quirk driver; Kconfig says the PM piece only forces the ISP into D3/S0ix-friendly state and the LED piece covers known Bay/Cherry Trail camera LED quirks. Lore evidence came from `git log` output, which exposed the two lore links above; I found no removal-series evidence in the limited budget, and the latest substantive change was a small 2022 device-match fix rather than ongoing active development. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results on LKDDb and Intel ARK former-product pages: hardware is long out of market, but legacy Bay/Cherry Trail tablets/2-in-1s likely still exist in small numbers. Because the code is low-churn, narrowly scoped, and has no obvious replacement for its specific power/LED quirk role, I recommend keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1629483083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1657475191, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/ifs", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Xeon (Sapphire Rapids, Emerald Rapids, Xeon 6)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000098402.html", "claim": "Intel documents In-field Scan as a current Xeon feature on 4th Gen, 5th Gen, and Xeon 6 CPUs, and explicitly describes a Linux device driver as part of the solution." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/xeon-6-product-brief.html", "claim": "Intel Xeon 6 processors were an actively marketed product family in 2025, showing the supported hardware class is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg54980.html", "claim": "In July 2025 the IFS driver was not slated for removal; maintainership was handed from Jithu Joseph to Tony Luck, indicating continued upstream ownership." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5477390.html", "claim": "A December 2024 patch added Clearwater Forest support to intel/ifs, showing ongoing enablement for new Intel server CPU generations." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg52240.html", "claim": "The v6.15-1 platform-drivers-x86 pull for March 2025 included an intel/ifs documentation update, showing recent upstream touch rather than abandonment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, confirmed by local exec_command inspection of core.c and Kconfig: module_init/module_exit, x86 CPU ID table, and misc devices for Intel In Field Scan. URLs were obtained via web search_query: turn0search1 (Intel support article), turn0search0 (Intel Xeon 6 product brief), turn3search2 (MAINTAINERS handoff), turn3search0 (new CPU support patch), turn4search2 (2025 pull request including intel/ifs change). Evidence points to active maintenance and shipping hardware, with a niche but real deployment footprint in data-center/server fleets. No natural replacement driver exists for the same CPU self-test function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1652362529, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746174227, "top_author": "Jithu Joseph", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/int1092", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Wireless CCD / Dynamic SAR (INTC1092)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2023/08/15/506", "claim": "Upstream patch traffic for int1092 was still landing in 2023, including a functional ACPI _DSM fix for this driver." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg36393.html", "claim": "The driver also saw platform/x86 maintenance cleanup in 2023, indicating it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_SAR_INT1092.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_SAR_INT1092 present from Linux 5.15 through current HEAD and bound to ACPI ID INTC1092 as module intel_sar." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.7/admin-guide/abi-testing.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation carries a testing ABI entry for /sys/bus/platform/devices/INTC1092:00/intc_reg and intc_data, showing an exposed userspace contract." }, { "url": "https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion/database/system/hewlett-packard-hp/wireless-ccd/", "claim": "ACPI\\INTC1092 appears in OEM Windows driver distribution as 'Wireless CCD' with 2025-dated HP packages, suggesting continuing OEM deployment on WWAN-capable laptops into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed a real platform driver with ACPI match INTC1092 and SAR/WWAN sysfs hooks, for Intel M.2 modem dynamic SAR control. Lore-oriented web searches surfaced maintenance/fix patches in 2023 but no removal discussion; that argues against deprecation. The LKDDb page was obtained by web search and confirms the driver remains enabled through current kernel HEAD. The kernel ABI page was obtained by web search and shows published sysfs ABI, so removal would risk userspace breakage. The HP Wireless CCD page was obtained by web search; it is weaker than a vendor product matrix but is useful deployment evidence that INTC1092-backed hardware was still shipping/supporting systems in 2025. Overall this looks niche but live: keep the driver, annotate it as low-deployment WWAN laptop support rather than broadly used platform code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1629454181, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729157972, "top_author": "Shravan S", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/int3472", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel INT3472 ACPI camera power-controller / MIPI laptop camera glue", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/intel/int3472/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes INT3472 as the camera power-controller support for Intel Skylake systems, covering TPS68470, uP6641Q, and discrete GPIO/power-gate designs." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/4/2/1672", "claim": "April 2026 review thread discusses adding INT3472 TPS68470 board data for Intel Nova Lake client platforms, showing current upstream enablement work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/10/28/543", "claim": "October 2025 fix thread addresses an INT3472 unregister bug seen on ThinkPad X9 Lunar Lake hardware, indicating real-world use on modern laptops and active bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg53860.html", "claim": "May 2025 patch adds INT3472 board data for the Dell 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet, showing ongoing addition of supported systems." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com/msg6234710.html", "claim": "January 2026 Ubuntu OEM bug report for Dell 16 Premium DA16250 on Meteor Lake explicitly shows the int3472-discrete driver gating webcam bring-up on recent shipping hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper-only subtree. Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows the driver was added in 2021 and still received substantive fixes/features through 2026-02-23, with recent changes for DOVDD, HPD, regulator timing, and board quirks. Lore MCP and `lei` were unavailable here, so lore-style evidence was obtained via web search to LKML/spinics pages; I found active maintenance and new-platform enablement, but no removal series. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall, cross-checked against the local tree. Because INT3472 is still needed for current Intel laptop camera designs and has no generic successor covering the same ACPI glue role, the correct outcome is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 75, "first_touch_ts": 1624354322, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771861776, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 41, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/pmc", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel PMC Core (client PCH/SoC power-management controller)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_PMC_CORE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_PMC_CORE is the in-tree driver for this directory and lists support continuing through current kernels, including newer shared-SSRAM IDs for Arrow Lake, Lunar Lake, and Panther Lake class platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099574/processors/intel-core-ultra-processors.html", "claim": "Intel documents Lunar Lake (Intel Core Ultra Series 2) as a current product family, indicating hardware covered by recent intel/pmc enablement was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/processors/core-ultra/core-ultra-desktop-processors-series-2-brief.html", "claim": "Intel markets Core Ultra Desktop Processors Series 2 (Arrow Lake generation) as current desktop parts, supporting ongoing new-system deployment for platforms touched by this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with active entry points and Kconfig. Local `exec_command` on git history showed sustained non-mechanical work through 2025-08-28, 2025-09-11, 2025-10-15, 2025-11-07, and 2026-01-13, including Bartlett Lake, Wildcat Lake, Panther Lake, Lunar Lake, and Arrow Lake support/telemetry updates; a local git grep/log check found no removal or deprecation pattern. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` (LKDDb and Intel product/support pages). `lei` was unavailable, so upstream-attention evidence came from local git history rather than lore URLs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 154, "substantive_commits_5y": 151, "first_touch_ts": 1629482421, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768314701, "top_author": "Xi Pardee", "top_author_commits": 67, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/pmt", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Platform Monitoring Technology (PMT)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/platform/x86/intel/pmt", "claim": "Mainline kernel history for this directory remains active, with substantive PMT fixes and feature work landing through late 2025 and treewide follow-up touches in early 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/710389/intel-platform-monitoring-technology-intel-pmt-technical-specification.html", "claim": "Intel documents PMT as a current telemetry framework spanning CPU, PCH, FPGA, accelerators, and other Intel products; the spec page is current as of 2026-03-10." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/821384/intel-platform-monitoring-technology-driver-and-tools-for-vmware-esxi.html", "claim": "Intel was still publishing PMT driver/tooling in December 2024 for VMware ESXi, showing ongoing productization rather than legacy-only support." }, { "url": "https://github.com/intel/Intel-PMT", "claim": "Intel's PMT repository describes PMT as used across client, server, and companion products and explicitly states Linux mainline support exists under drivers/platform/x86/intel/pmt." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via shell (`rg`, `find`, `sed`) with multiple module/auxiliary-driver entry points plus a KUnit test. Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` because `lei` was unavailable and no lore MCP endpoints were exposed; no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in web searches on lore, while local history showed late-2025 fixes and new hardware enablement (`support BMG crashlog`). `git.kernel.org` log URL is a canonical recall URL corresponding to that local history check. Intel PMT spec and ESXi download URLs were obtained with web search/open, and the Intel GitHub PMT repo URL was obtained with web open. Overall signal is active maintenance for still-current Intel platform telemetry hardware, with no natural replacement driver for the same in-kernel PMT discovery/telemetry/crashlog interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1628251483, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767021764, "top_author": "David E. Box", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/speed_select_if", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Xeon SST", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/admin-guide/pm/intel-speed-select.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation still describes active user-space control of Intel Speed Select features through the in-tree interface and toolchain." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_SPEED_SELECT_INTERFACE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_SPEED_SELECT_INTERFACE present continuously from Linux 5.15 through current HEAD, indicating the driver remains supported upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000095518/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation reviewed on July 2, 2025 describes managing Intel Speed Select on supported Xeon processors under Linux." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/processors/networking-and-edge/xeon6.html", "claim": "Intel Xeon 6 product material lists SKUs with Intel SST profiles, showing the feature remains present on new server processors." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/de/artificial-intelligence/new-intel-xeon-6-cpus-maximize-gpu-ai-performance", "claim": "Intel's May 22, 2025 Xeon 6 launch announcement explicitly mentions Intel Speed Select Technology - Turbo Frequency on new Xeon 6 CPUs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper-only directory: local `rg` and Kconfig show loadable MMIO/mailbox/TPMI driver modules for Intel Speed Select on specific Xeon servers. Lore-first attempt via `lei q` failed because `lei` is unavailable in this environment; a web search against lore.kernel.org returned no removal/deprecation hits. As fallback for upstream activity, local `git -c safe.directory=... log` shows substantive ISST fixes/features through 2026-03-27, so this is actively maintained rather than retiring. URLs were obtained via web search (`docs.kernel.org`, Intel pages, LKDDb); local shell inspection supplied the no-removal/active-maintenance context. Hardware remains current because Intel was still publishing 2025 support and Xeon 6 product material with SST, but deployments are niche to certain Xeon server platforms, so use `low` rather than broad-market `high`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 77, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1629483082, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774610150, "top_author": "Srinivas Pandruvada", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/telemetry", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Apollo Lake / Gemini Lake SoC telemetry", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2023, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_TELEMETRY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INTEL_TELEMETRY is still present in current kernels and describes it as an Intel SoC telemetry driver for Apollo Lake onwards." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/96485/intel-atom-x5e3940-processor-2m-cache-up-to-1-80-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "Representative Apollo Lake embedded SKU x5-E3940 is a Q4'16 product with embedded use conditions and 'End of Servicing Updates' dated September 30, 2023." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/197305/intel-celeron-processor-j4125-4m-cache-up-to-2-70-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "Representative Gemini Lake Refresh SKU J4125 is listed as discontinued, indicating the supported Goldmont Plus-era client hardware is no longer current." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251224061144.3925519-1-kaushlendra.kumar@intel.com", "claim": "The driver received a real functional fix in December 2025 for PSS event register mask handling, showing current upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg54171.html", "claim": "A 2025 'Remove deadcode' cleanup series for intel_telemetry was applied upstream; this was code pruning, not a driver removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig plus module/platform init code, and local source inspection shows x86 CPU matches only for INTEL_ATOM_GOLDMONT and GOLDMONT_PLUS (Apollo/Gemini-era SoCs). Upstream activity was checked via local `git log` shell output, which exposed the patch.msgid.link URL for a Dec 24, 2025 bug fix and showed no removal series; the Spinics URL was obtained by web search to confirm the June 2025 cleanup series was accepted and was dead-code removal only. Deployment looks legacy/embedded rather than broad: the Intel ARK pages were obtained by web search and show Apollo Lake embedded parts at EOSU in 2023 and representative Gemini Lake Refresh parts discontinued. Because the driver still sees substantive fixes on aging but still-deployed hardware, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1629482889, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769438563, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/uncore-frequency", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel x86 uncore-frequency control CPUs (Broadwell through Xeon 6-era server/workstation parts)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/platform/x86/intel/uncore-frequency", "claim": "The directory is actively maintained through 2025-2026 with feature additions and bug fixes, not dormant or under removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/platform/x86/intel/uncore-frequency/uncore-frequency.c", "claim": "The in-tree match table covers multiple Intel server and client CPU families, including Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids, so this is not tied to a single obsolete platform." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/processors/xeon.html", "claim": "Intel Xeon 6 processors were actively marketed and sold in 2025, showing that supported server/workstation hardware remains current." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.intel.com/data-center/intel-and-aws-drive-cloud-innovation-powered-by-xeon-6-processors", "claim": "Intel reported Xeon 6 availability on AWS in August 2025, indicating ongoing real-world deployment on new infrastructure." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed`) showed the driver's CPU ID table spans Broadwell/Skylake/Ice Lake through Sapphire/Emerald Rapids and newer client parts; attached canonical kernel.org tree URL by canonical recall for citation. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive activity through 2026-03-25 and no removal/deprecation series; attached canonical kernel.org log URL by canonical recall for citation. Web search (`search_query`) returned current Intel Xeon 6 product and deployment pages, supporting that relevant hardware was still sold and newly deployed in 2025. No natural upstream replacement driver is evident; TPMI support here extends the same driver rather than replacing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1645100430, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774610152, "top_author": "Srinivas Pandruvada", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/intel/wmi", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Thunderbolt / Slim Bootloader WMI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_WMI_THUNDERBOLT.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_INTEL_WMI_THUNDERBOLT` is still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and is described as the Intel Thunderbolt force-power driver for select systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INTEL_WMI_SBL_FW_UPDATE.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_INTEL_WMI_SBL_FW_UPDATE` is still present through 6.19 and described as the Slim Bootloader firmware-update signaling driver." }, { "url": "https://slimbootloader.github.io/supported-hardware/index.html", "claim": "Slim Bootloader currently documents support for recent Intel platforms including Arrow Lake, Meteor Lake, and Raptor Lake, indicating ongoing relevance on modern Intel hardware." }, { "url": "https://slimbootloader.github.io/security/firmware-update.html", "claim": "Slim Bootloader documents a Linux-triggered firmware-update flow that explicitly depends on `INTEL_WMI_SBL_FW_UPDATE` and the exported sysfs interface." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099003/software.html", "claim": "Intel support documentation reviewed on 2025-07-22 describes current Thunderbolt Share requirements for Thunderbolt 4/5 PCs and accessories, showing Thunderbolt remains a current shipping Intel platform feature." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e210986f52b6", "claim": "The thunderbolt half of this directory received a substantive upstream API-conversion commit on 2026-01-20, matching local tree history." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=534f685d8a95", "claim": "The Slim Bootloader half of this directory received a substantive upstream API-conversion commit on 2026-01-20, matching local tree history." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: two WMI drivers (`intel-wmi-thunderbolt`, `intel-wmi-sbl-fw-update`) confirmed by local file inspection via shell. Upstream activity was checked first from local kernel history with `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/platform/x86/intel/wmi`, which showed substantive touches through 2026-01-20 and no sign of removal churn; commit URLs are canonical kernel.org recall derived from those hashes. Deployment evidence came from web search/open: LKDDb pages confirm both Kconfig entries remain upstream; Slim Bootloader docs show active support on recent Intel platforms and explicitly reference the Linux WMI update path; Intel Thunderbolt support docs show Thunderbolt 4/5 is current shipping hardware. Conclusion: niche but current platform functionality, no natural replacement, and active maintenance argues for keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1629483083, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768916875, "top_author": "Armin Wolf", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/lenovo", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Lenovo platform/x86 firmware interfaces (ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Yoga, Legion WMI/ACPI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260313-lenovo-wmi-gamezone-remove-gz_chain_head-v1-1-ce5231f0c6fa@kernel.org", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists in 2026 for this directory; the wmi-gamezone driver received a fix in March 2026 rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.lenovo.com/us/msd/en/legion-gaming-pcs/", "claim": "Lenovo was still marketing current Legion gaming laptops and Legion Go handheld products in 2026, matching devices supported by the Lenovo Legion WMI drivers in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/game-consoles/gaming-consoles_gaming-consoles/78812966", "claim": "Lenovo listed Legion Go handheld products for sale/availability in 2026, consistent with active support for Legion Go quirks and GameZone interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-13-aura-edition-14-inch-intel/len101t0108?msockid=1cbcc9c51bcf6ada2370dec01a376b6f", "claim": "Lenovo continued selling current ThinkPad X1 Carbon systems in 2026, indicating the ThinkPad-related drivers here target non-obsolete hardware families." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `ls`) shows this is a real driver directory with multiple Lenovo laptop/handheld drivers including thinkpad_acpi, ideapad-laptop, think-lmi, wmi-gamezone, and Yoga components. Local `git log` on the directory shows active substantive maintenance through 2026-03-13 and no removal/deprecation series; the cited patch.msgid.link URL came from the commit Link in `git log`. Lenovo product URLs were obtained via web search and show ThinkPad/Legion hardware still sold in 2026. Because the directory is young, actively maintained, and targets current Lenovo product lines with broad deployment, the correct outcome is keep, with no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1749629732, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774270139, "top_author": "Rong Zhang", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/siemens", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Siemens SIMATIC IPC industrial PCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIEMENS_SIMATIC_IPC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SIEMENS_SIMATIC_IPC in mainline kernels 6.6–6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, so the driver is current upstream code rather than an abandoned relic." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIEMENS_SIMATIC_IPC_BATT.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the Siemens SIMATIC IPC battery support is also present in current mainline kernel ranges, matching the active subdrivers in this directory." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20230731071424.4663-1-xingtong._5Fwu%40163.com/", "claim": "The 2023 patch series added BX-56A/BX-59A model support, and Hans de Goede replied that patches were merged into the platform-drivers-x86-simatic-ipc branch, indicating active upstream enablement rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/mail31.html", "claim": "Mailing-list index entries for SIMATIC IPC changes show upstream discussion around additions and directory reorganization; this query surfaced no obvious removal or deprecation thread for the Siemens platform/x86 code." }, { "url": "https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid%3A6b83665d-d50c-409b-8e2e-05ccaa826c49/Fichas-tecnicas-MONTADA-AGO25_original.pdf", "claim": "A Siemens product PDF published about 5 months ago lists current SIMATIC IPC BX-39A orderable configurations and SKUs, showing at least part of the supported hardware family is still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and simatic-ipc.c, plus `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed this directory is a real Siemens SIMATIC IPC platform driver, supports multiple IPC/BX models including BX-39A/BX-56A/BX-59A, and had substantive upstream touches through 2024-10-17. URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb pages confirm current kernel presence; Patchew and Spinics provide mailing-list history and showed feature/addition traffic but no removal discussion in the searched results; the Siemens PDF shows new 2025-market availability for a supported SIMATIC IPC family member. Because the hardware is still sold into industrial niches and there is no natural generic replacement for these platform-specific hooks, the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1690800619, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1729157972, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/tuxedo/nb04", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "TUXEDO NB04 / Sirius 16 Gen1-Gen2 WMI platform", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1019077/", "claim": "Patch v9 on 2025-04-25 shows active upstream work for drivers/platform/x86/tuxedo/nb04 and creation of the NB04 driver files." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5644264.html", "claim": "Patch text states the driver targets TUXEDO Sirius 16 Gen1 and Gen2 devices and exposes their per-key RGB keyboard backlight via WMI/LampArray." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5680457.html", "claim": "A follow-up patch on 2025-05-12 fixes TUXEDO platform Kconfig, indicating immediate post-introduction maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/TUXEDO-Sirius-16-Gen1.tuxedo", "claim": "Vendor product page shows Sirius 16 Gen1 as archived and sold out." }, { "url": "https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/TUXEDO-Sirius-16-Gen2-Pre-built--48h-Shipping.tuxedo", "claim": "Vendor product page shows Sirius 16 Gen2 existed as a shipping product and is now archived, supporting recent real hardware deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on the directory showed real WMI/HID driver code for TUXEDO NB04 notebooks, not helper-only code. Web search found LWN/spinics patch traffic from Apr-May 2025, including the initial v9 upstreaming and a follow-up fix, so lore-visible activity is recent and constructive, with no removal evidence found in targeted web lore searches. Web search also found vendor pages for Sirius 16 Gen1/Gen2; both are archived by 2026, but Gen2 was clearly a current shipping product during 2024-2025, so hardware was still sold new in 2025. This is niche laptop hardware, so deployments today are low, but there is no obvious upstream replacement for this vendor-specific WMI keyboard/backlight path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1746709438, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747216888, "top_author": "Werner Sembach", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/uniwill", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Uniwill laptops", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20251102172942.17879-2-W_Armin@gmx.de", "claim": "Initial upstream submission adds the Uniwill laptop driver, describes it as supporting Uniwill/OEM laptops, and lists feature scope such as hwmon, battery charge limiting, lightbar, and keyboard controls." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260115154332.402873-1-wse@tuxedocomputers.com", "claim": "January 2026 upstream patch extends the driver with a device descriptor system for future device-specific additions, indicating active feature growth rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260218005101.73680-5-W_Armin@gmx.de", "claim": "February 2026 upstream patch handles FN lock events, showing current bug-fix/feature maintenance with review in platform/x86." }, { "url": "https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-Pro-15-Gen9-INTEL", "claim": "TUXEDO still marketed the InfinityBook Pro 15 Gen9 as a current configurable product, showing at least some supported Uniwill-based hardware remained sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/UNIWILL_LAPTOP.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_UNIWILL_LAPTOP in mainline kernels 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD with module name uniwill-laptop and matching ACPI/platform IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection showed a real platform driver with ACPI/WMI hooks and DMI matching for OEM laptops. Upstream activity was obtained via `git -c safe.directory=... log --stat --follow -- drivers/platform/x86/uniwill`; the cited patch.msgid URLs came directly from those commit messages and show initial merge plus feature/fix traffic in Jan-Feb 2026, with no removal series seen. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: TUXEDO product pages show supported models including a currently sold InfinityBook Pro 15 Gen9, while BA15 Gen10 appears archived, so present-day deployments look niche/boutique rather than mass-market. No natural in-tree replacement driver covers the same vendor EC/WMI interface, so removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1762769074, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771862804, "top_author": "Armin Wolf", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/platform/x86/x86-android-tablets", "subsystem": "platform", "chipset_family": "Intel Bay Trail / Cherry Trail x86 Android tablets", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/X86_ANDROID_TABLETS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_X86_ANDROID_TABLETS is current through 6.19/7.0-rc+HEAD, confirming the driver is upstream and actively buildable rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/platform-driver-x86/msg55527.html", "claim": "A 2025-08-31 patch from Hans de Goede restructures the directory to add more Acer support, which is direct evidence of ongoing upstream maintenance and no current removal push." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-5.17-Buggy-Tablet-Driver", "claim": "The driver exists to support quirky Intel-based Android tablets with broken ACPI/DSDT tables, i.e. a legacy compatibility niche rather than a current mainstream platform." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-5.18-More-x86-Tablets", "claim": "Coverage of early follow-up work describes the supported devices as aging consumer tablets and shows the use case is rehabilitation of old hardware, not new-volume deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local `exec_command` inspection showed DMI matches and BIOS dates concentrated in 2014-2017 (Acer Iconia, Asus ME176C/TF103C, Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2/Yoga Book, Nextbook Ares 8, Medion, etc.) and local `git log` showed substantive fixes/additions in 2024-2025, including Acer support. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: LKDDb for upstream presence, spinics for recent patch traffic, and Phoronix for device-class context. No removal discussion surfaced; the evidence points to a still-maintained but legacy/low-deployment quirk driver with no natural replacement beyond keeping these board-specific quirks in-tree.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 100, "substantive_commits_5y": 96, "first_touch_ts": 1678187310, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764324420, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 74, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains generic PM domain framework/helper code for power-management domains, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 74, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764093689, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 50, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/actions", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Actions Semi Owl SPS (S500/S700/S900)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20231006224614.444488-1-robh@kernel.org", "claim": "The most recent substantive upstream touch to this driver was a 2023 cleanup patch updating owl-sps.c to use device_get_match_data()." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OWL_PM_DOMAINS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_OWL_PM_DOMAINS covers Actions Semi SPS power domains for actions,s500-sps, actions,s700-sps, and actions,s900-sps, and remains present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/bubblegum-96/", "claim": "A current 96Boards product page still lists Bubblegum-96, based on the Actions S900 SoC, with a Buy link; this suggests at least niche new-hardware availability beyond initial launch." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/blog/bubblegum96-mainlining-update-part-1/", "claim": "96Boards described Bubblegum96 mainlining as community-driven and noted limited vendor support with a legacy 3.10 vendor kernel, indicating niche rather than broad ongoing deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed this is a real genpd driver with postcore_initcall and OF matches for Actions SPS blocks on S500/S700/S900. `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed only three touches in-tree for this path, with the latest 2023 patch linking to the cited lore URL; I also used a grep over git subjects and found no obvious removal-series signal. Web search found the LKDDb page confirming current kernel presence, the live 96Boards Bubblegum-96 product page indicating niche continued sale, and the 96Boards 2018 mainlining post showing limited vendor backing. Overall this looks low-volume but still relevant for a small existing board family, with no natural replacement beyond keeping the board-specific driver maintained and annotated as niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1697535911, "top_author": "Rob Herring", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/amlogic", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson power-domain controllers (EE and secure PWRC for Meson8/GXBB/G12A/SM1/T7/A4/A5/C3/S6/S7/S7D-class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250822-pm-s6-s7-s7d-v1-2-82e3f3aff327@amlogic.com", "claim": "Upstream added S6/S7/S7D power-domain support in August 2025, indicating active enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250303-fix-t7-pwrc-v1-1-b563612bcd86@amlogic.com", "claim": "A T7 functional fix was merged in March 2025, showing current bug-fix traffic on supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240730130227.712894-1-jbrunet@baylibre.com", "claim": "The only recent removal in this area was an obsolete superseded VPU subdriver; the remaining amlogic pmdomain drivers were kept as the active replacement." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's current product catalog still lists active TV/STB/AIoT SoCs, supporting the conclusion that this SoC family remains in new-product use." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/news/index.html", "claim": "Amlogic news items in 2025-2026 still announce new set-top-box products around current SoCs, supporting ongoing commercial deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed real platform drivers for Amlogic generic power domains, not helper code. The three lore URLs were obtained from `git log` on this directory, which exposed their lore.kernel.org links in commit metadata; they show active 2025 feature work/fixes and only removal of an older superseded subdriver. The two amlogic.com URLs were obtained by web search and indicate the vendor still markets and ships relevant SoC families. No natural replacement exists for the current directory as a whole; this is the in-tree implementation for these PM domains.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756981536, "top_author": "xianwei.zhao", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/apple", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Apple Silicon PMGR", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pmdomain/apple", "claim": "Upstream activity is recent rather than stale; the directory has commits in 2024 and 2025, including Apple-specific enablement in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pmdomain/apple/pmgr-pwrstate.c", "claim": "The driver is an Apple SoC PMGR power-state / reset controller for on-SoC devices, integrated with generic power domains." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/en-us/122209", "claim": "Apple was still shipping new Apple Silicon Macs in 2025; MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025) is an official Apple product page." }, { "url": "https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/03/apple-introduces-the-new-macbook-air-with-the-m4-chip-and-a-sky-blue-color/", "claim": "Apple publicly launched a new M4-based MacBook Air on March 5, 2025, confirming continued new-hardware sales for the platform this driver serves." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell read of drivers/pmdomain/apple showed a real platform driver/Kconfig entry for Apple SoC PMGR power domains and reset control. Local git log via shell showed touches through 2025-08-28, so this is active enough to keep. lore-http MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore removal-check could not be performed directly; no removal evidence was found via web search, and recent kernel-tree activity argues against deprecation. Apple hardware using this SoC family was still sold new in 2025, but Linux deployments on Apple Silicon remain relatively niche versus x86 PCs, so deployment is low. No natural replacement exists because this is the native upstream driver for this PMGR block.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758223856, "top_author": "Janne Grunau", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/arm", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "ARM SCMI/SCPI platform power domains", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/arm-scmi/?t=20250623162742", "claim": "2025 arm-scmi archive page shows active SCMI PM-domain discussion and patches, including cleanup and RFC work, indicating ongoing upstream attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-arm-kernel/?t=20250317144849", "claim": "2025 linux-arm-kernel archive page lists a scmi_pm_domain correctness patch ('Remove redundant state verification'), showing maintenance traffic in this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_SCMI_POWER_DOMAIN.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ARM_SCMI_POWER_DOMAIN present in current kernels and still built from drivers/pmdomain/arm, covering SCMI power-domain deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_SCMI_PERF_DOMAIN.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ARM_SCMI_PERF_DOMAIN present in current kernels and built from drivers/pmdomain/arm, covering SCMI performance-domain deployments." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Arm%20Developer%20Community/PDF/Arm_Power_and_Performance_Management_SCMI_White_Paper.pdf?revision=15e9d3dd-ecc6-40ab-a8c5-6bb4fa3fc060", "claim": "Arm's 2026 SCMI white paper describes SCMI as a standardized interface for power and performance management in modern SoCs, supporting the conclusion that SCMI-backed hardware remains current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains module_scmi_driver/platform power-domain providers for SCMI/SCPI. URLs were obtained via web search (`web.search_query`); local `exec_command` inspection of files and git log showed recent non-mechanical commits through 2025-10 and no signs of retirement. Lore archive hits show bug-fix/cleanup/RFC traffic, not removal discussion. SCMI remains a current Arm platform-management interface, so this directory should be kept; SCPI is older, but the directory as a whole is actively maintained for still-relevant ARM firmware-managed power domains.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1695310514, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761142574, "top_author": "Sudeep Holla", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/bcm", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM power-domain controllers (BCM27xx/Raspberry Pi, BCM63xx PMB)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg924676.html", "claim": "March 2026 patch traffic shows bcm2835-power still receives upstream bug-fix attention; not removal-oriented." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg934272.html", "claim": "April 2026 stable review for bcm2835-power confirms continued maintenance and backport interest." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5896958.html", "claim": "Late-2025 review thread for BCM2712 support shows ongoing enablement for newer Raspberry Pi silicon in this driver area." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/bcm2835/BCM2835-ARM-Peri", "claim": "Raspberry Pi documentation states BCM2712 is used in Raspberry Pi 5, 500, 500+, and Compute Module 5." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/5", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 with BCM2712 remained a current retail product page, supporting 'still sold new in 2025'." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.broadcom.bcm63xx?s%5B%5D=wrt", "claim": "BCM63xx deployments remain mostly legacy/embedded; OpenWrt documents the family but notes support attrition, indicating low ongoing new deployments there." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed real genpd driver code for BCM2835/Raspberry Pi firmware and BCM63xx PMB. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/pmdomain/bcm` showed substantive commits through 2026-03-18, matching the provided metadata. Mailing-list evidence was obtained via web search because lore MCP was unavailable here and `lei` was not installed: spinics stable threads in March/April 2026 show active fixes/backports, and a 2025 kernel-list review covers BCM2712 support rather than removal. Raspberry Pi product/docs pages found by web search show BCM2712 in currently sold products, so the directory still targets live hardware. No natural replacement driver exists for these SoC-specific PM domains.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773857734, "top_author": "Stefan Wahren", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/imx", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX application processors power-domain controllers (GPC/GPCv2, i.MX8M block control, i.MX93/i.MX9 block control, SCU PD)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e91d5f94acf6", "claim": "A substantive 2026-04-01 upstream fix touched this directory: \"pmdomain: imx8mp-blk-ctrl: Keep the NOC_HDCP clock enabled\", indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ae0a24c5a8dc", "claim": "Another recent bug fix in this directory, \"pmdomain: imx: gpcv2: Fix the imx8mm gpu hang due to wrong adb400 reset\", shows ongoing support for deployed i.MX8M hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M Plus family as Active and positions it for industrial/edge applications, so hardware covered by these PM-domain drivers is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/pages/%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 93 family as Active, with Linux-based edge/industrial positioning and longevity-program backing, confirming current-generation deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/pmdomain/imx/Kconfig and file list confirmed this is live kernel driver code for NXP i.MX PM domains, not helper data. Recent maintenance evidence came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/pmdomain/imx` output; commit URLs were then formed from the canonical stable kernel.org commit pattern (canonical recall). Current-market evidence came from web search results that opened NXP product pages for i.MX8M Plus and i.MX93. I found active fix traffic through 2026 and no concrete removal/deprecation signal in the checked evidence, so the correct disposition is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 45, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775041387, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/marvell", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Marvell PXA1908", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-launches-highly-integrated-quad-core-64-bit-armada-mobile-pxa1908-platform-for-the-fast-growing-5-mode-4g-lte-worldwide-mass-market.html", "claim": "Marvell announced the PXA1908 in November 2014 for mass-market LTE smartphones, implying legacy mobile silicon rather than current new-design hardware." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20250407-pxa1908-lkml-v15-0-e83ef101f944%40skole.hr/20250407-pxa1908-lkml-v15-1-e83ef101f944%40skole.hr/", "claim": "A 2025 upstream series added initial mainline support for Marvell PXA1908 and names Samsung Galaxy Core Prime VE LTE as a board using the SoC, showing fresh enablement work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PXA1908_PM_DOMAINS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PXA1908_PM_DOMAINS first appears only in Linux 6.18+, confirming this PM-domain driver is newly upstreamed." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Core_Prime_VE_LTE_%28samsung-coreprimevelte%29", "claim": "The Samsung Galaxy Core Prime VE LTE, a 2014 PXA1908 handset, still has community postmarketOS/mainline activity, indicating residual hobbyist deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real auxiliary PM-domain driver for five PXA1908 domains and local git history showed a single add-only commit in September 2025, with no in-tree sign of removal. URLs were obtained via web search: Marvell newsroom for launch date/market, Patchew for 2025 upstream activity, LKDDb for kernel presence, and postmarketOS wiki for present-day community use. Conclusion: hardware is obsolete and not a 2025 new-sales target, but upstream support is brand new and tied to remaining enthusiast/mainlining use, so deprecation would be premature; keep it but annotate as legacy/niche silicon.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1758118399, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758118399, "top_author": "Duje Mihanović", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/mediatek", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "MediaTek SCPSYS/MTCMOS power-domain controllers for MT67xx/MT81xx/MT68xx/MT69xx SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250623120154.109429-1-angelogioacchino.delregno@collabora.com/", "claim": "2025 patch series for this directory added MT8196 support and related new power-domain capabilities, showing active upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/10/22/1143", "claim": "Ulf Hansson replied \"The series applied for next\", and the thread states the code was tested on multiple MT8196 Chromebooks for months; this is positive upstream integration evidence, not removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones-2/mediatek-dimensity-9400", "claim": "MediaTek still marketed current Dimensity smartphone SoCs in 2025, indicating ongoing new deployments of MediaTek platforms using this power-domain infrastructure." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-720", "claim": "MediaTek still marketed Genio 720 for IoT/Linux/Ubuntu deployments in 2025, supporting continued new embedded Linux use of modern MediaTek SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains multiple C drivers plus Kconfig/Makefile, and local `rg --files`/`git log` via shell showed active work through 2026-03-12 with fixes and new MT8196 support. Upstream history was checked with `web.search_query`; the exact lore URL came from the openwall thread opened with `web.open`, which links the v1 lore series for this directory. That same openwall thread shows no removal talk and says the MT8196 series was applied for `next`. Product-deployment evidence came from official MediaTek pages found with `web.search_query`, showing 2025-era Dimensity and Genio SoCs still being sold for smartphones and Linux-capable IoT. No natural replacement driver exists; this is the in-tree controller implementation for these SoCs, so the recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773323512, "top_author": "AngeloGioacchino Del Regno", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/qcom", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm RPM/RPMh power domains and CPR", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pmdomain/qcom/rpmhpd.c", "claim": "Current upstream driver source includes power-domain tables for recent Qualcomm parts such as SA8775P and QCS8300, indicating active coverage of modern SoCs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3d25d46a255a", "claim": "Upstream added rpmhpd support for SM8750 on 2024-11-11, showing ongoing enablement for new Snapdragon silicon." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=72b0a7b34b40", "claim": "Upstream added RPMh power-domain support for Kaanapali on 2025-09-24, further showing current development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://aihub.qualcomm.com/automotive/models/ddcolor", "claim": "Qualcomm AI Hub lists SA8775P as a supported automotive chipset on a current hosted service page, supporting that at least part of this hardware family remains commercially active." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2025/02/mobile-powerhouse-how-xiaomi-and-qualcomm-teamed-up-to-offer-superior-connectivity", "claim": "Qualcomm's February 2025 article identifies SM8750 as part of the Snapdragon 8 Elite platform, supporting that hardware covered by this directory was in new-market use in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Upstream activity was checked first with local git history via exec_command because lore shell tooling was unavailable (`lei` missing); no removal/deprecation pattern appeared, while 2024-2026 history shows repeated new-SoC enablement and fixes. The kernel.org URLs are canonical recall constructed from commit hashes/path obtained via exec_command. Qualcomm URLs came from web search results. Directory covers still-current Qualcomm mobile/automotive/IoT PM-domain blocks, so there is no natural replacement and no obsolescence signal; keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769523204, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/renesas", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Mobile / R-Car / RZ SoC SYSC power-domain controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pmdomain/renesas", "claim": "Upstream file history shows this directory is actively maintained rather than abandoned; recent work includes functional PM-domain behavior changes and new SoC support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pmdomain/renesas", "claim": "Current upstream tree contains many Renesas SYSC implementations spanning older R-Mobile/R-Car parts through newer Gen4 devices, indicating ongoing platform coverage." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity through 2037, showing hardware in this driver family is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/automotive-products/automotive-system-chips-socs/r-car-v4h-best-class-deep-learning-very-low-power-system-chip-automated-driving-level-2-level-3", "claim": "Renesas lists R-Car V4H as an active automotive SoC, supporting continued relevance of newer R-Car SYSC support." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-r-car-v4h-adas-soc-selected-toyota-rav4-model", "claim": "A February 24, 2026 Renesas newsroom post says R-Car V4H was selected for a Toyota RAV4 ADAS control unit, evidencing contemporary deployment of supported SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not helpers/docs: local code inspection via shell `rg` showed SYSC generic-pm-domain provider code and many SoC-specific implementations. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive 2024-2025 maintenance/add-support commits; local `git log --grep='remove|deprecat'` found no removal/deprecation trend. I could not access lore MCP here, so upstream-activity URLs are kernel.org canonical-recall log/tree pages, with commit evidence cross-checked by local shell git. Renesas product/deployment URLs were obtained by web search. Because supported SoCs are still active in industrial/automotive lines and there is no natural replacement for these SoC-specific PM-domain providers, the right call is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757587015, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/rockchip", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Rockchip SoC power-domain controllers (RK30xx/RK33xx/RK35xx, PX30, RV1126)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-pm/20250211071523.fd6zss7jjtqivw6a%40thinkpad/T/", "claim": "Linux-pm patch series in February 2025 adds Rockchip PM-domain support needed for RK3576 UFS, showing active upstream enablement rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.sceen.net/linux/linux-stable.git/log/drivers/pmdomain?h=v5.7-rc7&id=aa918db707fba507e85217961643281ee8dfb2ed&showmsg=1", "claim": "Stable-tree history for drivers/pmdomain shows 2025 Rockchip PM-domain cleanups and fixes, with testing on Rock 5B and lore links, indicating active maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.sceen.net/linux/linux-stable.git/commit/drivers/pmdomain?h=v5.7-rc7&id=6b2690df3f032d91546841dcca44d5acdb7ace1e", "claim": "A 2025 stable commit fixes rockchip_pd_power error handling in this driver, further confirming ongoing bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://docs.radxa.com/en/rock5", "claim": "Radxa's current ROCK 5 series documentation lists multiple active RK3588/RK3588S-based products, including industrial variants, showing present-day deployments." }, { "url": "https://radxa.com/products/rock5/5bp/", "claim": "Radxa still markets the ROCK 5B+ as a current RK3588 product, evidence that supported hardware remains sold new." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ROCKCHIP_PM_DOMAINS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ROCKCHIP_PM_DOMAINS continues in current kernels and covers multiple Rockchip power-controller compatibles." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` on pm-domains.c and local git log with safe.directory override) shows a real platform driver covering many Rockchip SoCs, with recent 2025-2026 fixes including RK3588 work. URLs were obtained via web search results: lore mirror for an RK3576-enablement series, stable git log/commit pages for active maintenance, Radxa docs/product pages for current hardware sales, and LKDDb for current kernel presence. I found active maintenance evidence and no removal discussion; there is no natural replacement because this is the SoC-specific PM-domain driver for these Rockchip PMUs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772619756, "top_author": "Sebastian Reichel", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/samsung", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos PM domains (Exynos4210/Exynos5433)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EXYNOS_PM_DOMAINS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_EXYNOS_PM_DOMAINS is a current upstream kernel option for this directory and LKDDb associates it with samsung,exynos5433-pd and drivers/pmdomain/samsung/exynos-pm-domains.c." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category%3ASamsung_Exynos", "claim": "Exynos5433 remains at least somewhat supported in current mainline-oriented mobile Linux communities, indicating niche ongoing deployments rather than zero use." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/samsung/exynos/4210", "claim": "Exynos4210 is a mobile SoC introduced in 2011, placing one supported hardware target firmly in legacy-era products." }, { "url": "https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/samsung/exynos/5433", "claim": "Exynos5433 is a mobile SoC introduced in 2014, placing the other supported hardware target in older phone/tablet generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of exynos-pm-domains.c shows only two DT compatibles (samsung,exynos4210-pd and samsung,exynos5433-pd) and a real platform-driver/core_initcall implementation. Local shell git log on this path shows substantive maintenance in 2025 (July, October twice) plus a 2023 subsystem move, with no evident removal-oriented history; that backs off any deprecation despite old hardware. URLs were obtained via web search tool for LKDDb, postmarketOS, and WikiChip pages. Net: hardware is legacy and not new in 2025, but upstream still fixes it for niche/mainline-mobile use, so keep the driver and annotate it as legacy-specific rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762272965, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/st", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson Ux500 / NovaThor U8500 power domains", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/UX500_PM_DOMAIN.html", "claim": "CONFIG_UX500_PM_DOMAIN is still present in current kernels and matches the DT compatible \"stericsson,ux500-pm-domains\" and platform driver \"ux500_pm_domains\"." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NovaThor", "claim": "NovaThor U8500 was a smartphone/tablet SoC family with availability in 2011, used in handsets like Galaxy Ace 2, Galaxy Beam, Galaxy S Advance, Galaxy S III Mini, Xperia U, etc.; the ST-Ericsson venture was split up in 2013, indicating the platform is long out of mainstream production." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Beam_%28samsung-gavini%29", "claim": "A NovaThor U8500 device still has a postmarketOS page showing mainline-kernel use in 2025, which is evidence of residual enthusiast/aftermarket deployment rather than zero deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed this is a real platform driver for compatible \"stericsson,ux500-pm-domains\" and Kconfig ties it to ARCH_U8500. Local git history via `git log --follow` showed lineage back to 2014 ('ARM: ux500: Initial support for PM domains'), plus directory reshuffles in 2023 and only treewide touches in 2026; that looks like legacy maintenance, not active feature work. Targeted lore lookup was attempted first: `lei` was unavailable in this environment and web lore searches for the filename/compatible string returned no concrete thread hits, so I found no evidence of an active upstream removal series. URL acquisition: LKDDb URL from web search; NovaThor Wikipedia URL from web search/open; postmarketOS device URL from web search snippet. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the hardware is clearly obsolete and not sold new in 2025, deployments are only low-volume legacy/hobbyist/mainline-phone use, and there is no natural replacement driver for the same Ux500 power-domain binding.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1696455716, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/starfive", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH71xx PMU (notably JH7110)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pmdomain/starfive", "claim": "Upstream Linux contains a dedicated StarFive PM domain driver directory for JH71xx/JH7110 PMU support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pmdomain/starfive", "claim": "The directory is new and saw its substantive activity concentrated around bring-up in 2023, with no obvious long-term decay/removal pattern from the path history." }, { "url": "https://doc-en.rvspace.org/JH7110/Product_Brief/JH7110_DS/introduction.html", "claim": "StarFive's JH7110 product brief was updated on 2024-08-29 and describes the SoC as a current Linux-capable product family." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/StarFive_JH7110", "claim": "As of 2025-03-26, postmarketOS still tracks JH7110 devices such as the VisionFive 2 and PineTab-V, indicating ongoing hobbyist/board-level deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed by local file read via exec_command: the sole C file identifies itself as 'StarFive JH71XX PMU Controller Driver'. Upstream activity was checked with local path history via exec_command (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/pmdomain/starfive`), which shows bring-up/addition commits in 2023 and no removal-oriented churn; canonical kernel.org tree/log URLs are cited for stable source URLs. Deployment evidence came from web search + open on StarFive's official JH7110 product brief and the postmarketOS JH7110 wiki page. Net: this is a young SoC-support driver for hardware still sold/new in 2025, with low but real current deployment and no natural replacement driver, so deprecation/removal is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1696455717, "top_author": "Changhuang Liang", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/sunxi", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunxi SoC power-domain controllers (D1/V853/H6-H616/A523)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/%2B/76e4310115ca66d28166cf94bb1edf37a750363a%5E", "claim": "Upstream saw substantive maintenance in July 2025: commit 982aaa683d20 added A523 support in drivers/pmdomain/sunxi/sun20i-ppu.c, showing the directory is active rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-July/1044582.html", "claim": "July 2025 review thread for adding the Allwinner A523 PCK-600 driver shows active upstream development and no removal/deprecation direction." }, { "url": "https://www.allwinnertech.com/index.php?a=index&c=product&id=108", "claim": "Allwinner still markets the A523 family for tablets and display-class products, indicating relevant hardware remained in new-product circulation in and after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.allwinnertech.com/index.php?a=index&c=product&id=117&solveid=40", "claim": "Allwinner still markets the V853 family for AI vision/camera products, indicating ongoing embedded deployments for hardware covered by this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C5365284.html", "claim": "The Allwinner D1-H SoC was still listed by a major component distributor in 2026, supporting continued availability of at least one supported SoC." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed three real platform drivers in this directory with module_platform_driver entry points and sunxi-specific genpd logic. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed six substantive touches since 2023, including 2025-07-12/15 A523 work and 2025-04-16 H6 PRCM PPU support, so this is recently maintained. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` except the commit URL, which was opened from web search results and corroborates the local git history. I also searched for lore/list traffic around drivers/pmdomain/sunxi and found active add-support threads but no removal discussion. Because supported SoCs are still being marketed/sold for current embedded products and there is no generic replacement for these Allwinner-specific power-domain blocks, the correct recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752588295, "top_author": "Chen-Yu Tsai", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/tegra", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra BPMP power domains", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pmdomain/tegra/powergate-bpmp.c", "claim": "Canonical kernel log page for this file; local git history shows substantive maintenance through 2025-11-24 and no removal series signal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/arm64/boot/dts/nvidia/tegra234.dtsi", "claim": "Canonical kernel tree page; current DTs for Tegra234 reference BPMP-backed power-domains, showing active in-tree consumers." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/community/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA Jetson lifecycle page lists Jetson AGX Orin through January 2032 and Jetson AGX Xavier/Xavier NX through January 2028, indicating supported production hardware in 2025 and beyond." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/buy-jetson?product=jetson_agx_orin", "claim": "NVIDIA Jetson buy page shows Jetson AGX Orin and Jetson AGX Xavier family modules offered for purchase, supporting continued new-deployment availability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` inspection of `powergate-bpmp.c` shows a real generic PM-domain provider built around Tegra BPMP, not helper-only code. `exec_command` + `rg` found active DT consumers in `tegra186.dtsi`, `tegra194.dtsi`, `tegra234.dtsi`, and `tegra264.dtsi`, so the code still services current SoC families. `exec_command` local git log showed a substantive fix on 2025-11-24 (`Add GENPD_FLAG_NO_STAY_ON flag`) plus earlier API-following maintenance, with no observed removal discussion. Kernel.org URLs were included by canonical recall of stable upstream pages for the inspected file/path; NVIDIA URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Because supported Jetson/Xavier/Orin products remain on sale and upstream still touches the code, this directory does not fit deprecation or removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763979241, "top_author": "Jon Hunter", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/thead", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "T-Head TH1520", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/3/10/341", "claim": "March 2025 upstream patch series introduced TH1520 AON firmware and power-domain support, explicitly for the T-Head TH1520 SoC used on the LicheePi 4A board." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/3/12/774", "claim": "In review, pmdomain maintainer Ulf Hansson said he could pick up patches 1-4 via the pmdomain tree, indicating normal upstream acceptance rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-riscv/2025-June/072312.html", "claim": "June 2025 follow-on work added TH1520 GPU power sequencing and included a pmdomain/thead change, showing active feature development around this driver after initial merge." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lp4a.html", "claim": "Sipeed's official Lichee Pi 4A documentation identifies TH1520 as the SoC for a Linux development board and mentions an online store link." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lbook4a/lbook4a.html", "claim": "Sipeed's official Lichee Book 4A documentation describes a TH1520-based laptop product family, indicating the silicon remained in new-product documentation beyond initial 2023 bring-up." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection showed a real platform_driver implementing TH1520 SoC power domains, not helper-only code. Local git history shows five substantive commits from 2025-03-13 through 2025-09-26, including bug fixes and new auxiliary-device hookups, so the directory is newly added and still receiving upstream work. The cited LKML/Linux-RISC-V URLs were obtained via web.search_query for TH1520 power-domain lore activity; Sipeed product pages were also obtained via web.search_query. Those sources support 'keep': active upstream maintenance, no removal discussion surfaced in the lore-oriented searches, and hardware appears to persist in niche new deployments (developer boards/laptops), though at low volume rather than mass-market scale.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1741873326, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758891020, "top_author": "Michal Wilczynski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/ti", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP/AMx/K3 power-domain controllers (OMAP PRM and TI SCI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5767866.html", "claim": "July 15, 2025 patch thread shows active upstream maintenance of drivers/pmdomain/ti Kconfig for TI PM domains, and it was applied for next." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20250908-tisci-pd-boot-state-v2-1-a1a4173cf859%40ideasonboard.com/", "claim": "September 2025 RFC v2 discusses functional TI SCI power-domain behavior, indicating ongoing development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM625", "claim": "TI lists AM625 as ACTIVE and orderable, showing current K3/Sitara deployments still map to this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM3358", "claim": "TI lists AM3358 as ACTIVE, showing the older AM3/OMAP-derived PRM-backed side is still sold for embedded use." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/am5728", "claim": "TI lists AM5728 as ACTIVE, supporting continued DRA7/OMAP5-class deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local source showed this directory contains real platform/genpd drivers (`omap_prm.c`, `ti_sci_pm_domains.c`) covering `ti,omap4/5`, `ti,dra7`, `ti,am3/4`, and `ti,sci-pm-domain`; local `git log` also showed substantive fixes in 2024-2025 from many authors. Web `search_query` found 2025 Spinics and Patchew patch threads for this exact area, with active review/application and no removal discussion found in the searched results. Web `search_query` also found TI product pages marking AM625, AM3358, and AM5728 ACTIVE in 2025, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Mixed old+current embedded/industrial deployments justify `keep`, not deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757680035, "top_author": "Kevin Hilman", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pmdomain/xilinx", "subsystem": "pmdomain", "chipset_family": "Xilinx/AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC (ZynqMP) power-domain controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-July/1040796.html", "claim": "July 1, 2025 patch series updated this driver rather than proposing removal, showing active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-next/msg80998.html", "claim": "July 21, 2025 linux-next merge traffic references this Xilinx/pmdomain work, indicating the code is still on an active integration path." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD still markets Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs as current products with long lifecycle support, so the underlying hardware remains sold for new designs in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/pmdomain/xilinx/zynqmp-pm-domains.c", "claim": "Canonical kernel source path shows the directory contains the ZynqMP PM-domain driver, not ancillary documentation or test code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) identified a real platform driver in `zynqmp-pm-domains.c` for `xlnx,zynqmp-firmware`; local `git log` showed substantive touches through 2025-07-01 by multiple maintainers. Lore search via web found the 2025 patch at lists.infradead.org and a linux-next merge note at spinics; both point to ongoing maintenance, with no removal discussion found. AMD product page was obtained via web search and supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. Because ZynqMP remains a current embedded/industrial family and this driver is small, specific, and still maintained, the correct disposition is to keep it rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1694596161, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752060565, "top_author": "Ulf Hansson", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pnp", "subsystem": "pnp", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the Linux PnP core / enumeration and resource-management subsystem code (ACPI/BIOS/PNPACPI/ISAPnP plumbing), not a single kernel-bound hardware driver for a device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763483736, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pnp/isapnp", "subsystem": "pnp", "chipset_family": "ISA Plug and Play (ISA PnP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2000, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5821373.html", "claim": "August 25, 2025 review thread shows isapnp still receives upstream maintenance and patches are being applied." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ISAPNP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ISAPNP remains present in current kernels through 6.19 and HEAD, so the subsystem is still shipped upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/config_isapnp", "claim": "CONFIG_ISAPNP is still depended on by several legacy drivers, including ISA sound drivers, showing remaining in-tree consumers." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_and_play", "claim": "ISA Plug and Play was superseded by PCI during the mid-1990s, indicating the hardware class is long obsolete for mainstream new systems." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_Standard_Architecture", "claim": "ISA disappeared from consumer desktops many years ago and survives mainly in specialized industrial legacy niches." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/commit/drivers/pnp?h=devel&id=fa757a8446b15fc173e587f8d6d278fbc6a2d041", "claim": "A 2025 commit re-exported isapnp_read_byte because a staging GPIB driver needed it, showing live but niche dependency rather than abandonment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this directory is real ISA PnP bus support, not a helper-only folder; Kconfig still exposes CONFIG_ISAPNP and headers export APIs used by other legacy drivers. Local git log shows 2020-2025 traffic is mostly small fixes/treewide churn, but there are real 2025 touches including symbol export restoration for staging/gpib and an accepted cleanup patch; web search on spinics confirmed current upstream attention and no obvious removal thread. Web search on LKDDb/kernelconfig showed the option is still upstream and still has in-tree dependents, so outright removal would regress niche legacy users. Web search on Wikipedia indicates ISA PnP was superseded in the mid-1990s and ISA survives mainly in industrial legacy deployments, so new 2025 deployments are not meaningful while existing deployments are low but nonzero. Recommendation is keep-annotate: retain for legacy support, but mark/document it as obsolete ISA-era functionality with niche remaining users. URLs obtained via web search; maintenance evidence also cross-checked from local shell git log.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756135816, "top_author": "Anupama K Patil", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pnp/pnpacpi", "subsystem": "pnp", "chipset_family": "ACPI Plug and Play", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/pnp/pnpacpi", "claim": "Upstream still touches this directory in current-era kernels, with fixes landing through 2023 rather than the code being abandoned or already removed." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PNPACPI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PNPACPI remains present through current 6.x kernels, and LKDDb ties it to ACPI PNP IDs such as PNP0C09, PNP0C0F, PNP0100, and PNP0000 handled from this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PNP.html", "claim": "The parent PnP subsystem is still enabled in current kernels and explicitly supports ACPI-backed enumeration, indicating this code still serves a live kernel feature rather than a retired niche." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACPI", "claim": "ACPI is the standard firmware interface used by modern PCs for hardware discovery/configuration and superseded older PnP BIOS mechanisms, so ACPI-backed enumeration remains present on new systems." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_Plug_and_Play", "claim": "Legacy Plug and Play was superseded by ACPI, which explains why this driver is old infrastructure but still relevant as the ACPI-side bridge for motherboard/device resource enumeration." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`core.c`/`rsparser.c` inspected locally via shell `rg`/`sed`: this is real PnP-over-ACPI kernel infrastructure, not docs/helpers. Recent path activity was checked with local `git -c safe.directory=... log`; it shows five substantive touches since 2021, latest 2023-12-06, which argues against deprecation. No lore MCP was available and `lei` was unavailable in the sandbox, so removal-talk evidence was approximated from the lack of obvious recent removal hits in web search plus continuing kernel-path activity. URLs were obtained via web search (`cateee`, Wikipedia) or canonical recall (`git.kernel.org` path log URL). Recommendation is `keep` because this code bridges Linux PnP core to ACPI namespace objects that still exist on shipping ACPI PCs; there is no natural replacement driver for the same role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1701892947, "top_author": "Dmitry Antipov", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pnp/pnpbios", "subsystem": "pnp", "chipset_family": "PnP BIOS", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "drivers/pnp/pnpacpi", "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PNPBIOS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PNPBIOS is limited to ISA and X86_32, is based on the 1994 Plug and Play BIOS spec, and its own help text says ACPI is expected to supersede it; LKDDb shows no concrete hardware entries." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PNPACPI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PNPACPI is the upstream ACPI-based protocol serving the same built-in mainboard resource-discovery role and is available across current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACPI", "claim": "ACPI was introduced after PnP BIOS and is intended to replace the Plug and Play BIOS model for platform configuration and power management." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/commit/?id=1445f6e15f7ddd80311307475191e34c0b2312e8", "claim": "The most recent visible pnpbios touch in late 2023 was an incidental x86 descriptor cleanup touching bioscalls.c, consistent with low-maintenance legacy code rather than active feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20231219151200.2878271-4-vegard.nossum@oracle.com", "claim": "Mailing-list link for the latest pnpbios-adjacent patch cited by the local git history; evidence of continued build/cleanup compatibility work, not active user-facing development or a removal series." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real kernel protocol driver for legacy firmware-mediated ISA/x86_32 Plug-and-Play enumeration. Local source inspection via shell showed fs_initcall/device_initcall registration and a pnp_protocol implementation. Upstream activity check used local git history via shell because `lei` was unavailable; the latest linked patch URL was extracted from that git output, and I found no explicit removal-series evidence in limited web/lore search results. Deployment looks low: the web-searched LKDDb PNPBIOS page shows ISA+x86_32-only scope and no hardware entries, while the ACPI source found by web search and the PNPACPI page indicate the modern replacement path. I left `last_widely_available_year` null because the exact market cutoff for new PnP-BIOS-only systems is not well-supported by the available sources.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1703066258, "top_author": "Vegard Nossum", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/power/reset", "subsystem": "power", "chipset_family": "Assorted SoC/PMIC and virtual-platform power/reset controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20241014141236.400255575@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "At least one driver in this directory, brcmstb-reboot, received a functional fix in 2024 that was carried into stable trees, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/virt-ctlr.html", "claim": "QEMU documents the current virt-ctrl device as supporting power-control commands including reset and halt, matching the in-tree qemu-virt-ctrl driver and showing a live virtualization deployment niche." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/virt", "claim": "QEMU's current Arm virt machine documentation describes the virt platform as the recommended board type for Linux guests and includes reset/poweroff related virtual devices, supporting continued new deployments in VMs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/power/reset/Kconfig", "claim": "The directory's Kconfig still carries a broad set of enabled targets, including recent platform entries such as MACSMC, TH1520_AON, SPACEMIT_P1, and QEMU_VIRT_CTRL, showing the directory is a living multi-platform subsystem rather than a single obsolete driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: static metadata already shows 131 substantive commits in 5 years, 54 authors, and a latest substantive touch on 2026-01-30. I obtained the stable patch URL via `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/power/reset/brcmstb-reboot.c`; it showed 2024 stable backports and no removal thread. I checked for removal/deprecation talk with `lore_regex` over prose in the last 5 years and got no hits. I used local shell inspection of `drivers/power/reset/Kconfig` to confirm the directory spans many still-relevant SoC and VM reset/poweroff drivers; the kernel.org Kconfig URL is a canonical recall citation for that file. I obtained the QEMU URLs via web search; they show current virtual platforms and virt-ctrl power control, which means at least part of this directory serves ongoing new deployments. Because this directory is heterogeneous and actively maintained, there is no single upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04257432352555038, "commits_5y": 133, "substantive_commits_5y": 131, "first_touch_ts": 1353725798, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769801977, "top_author": "Andrew Davis", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/power/sequencing", "subsystem": "power", "chipset_family": "Generic power sequencing framework with Qualcomm WCN, PCIe M.2, and T-Head TH1520 providers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/power/sequencing", "claim": "This directory is a newly added, actively maintained kernel power-sequencing subsystem rather than a legacy orphaned driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/power/sequencing/pwrseq-qcom-wcn.c", "claim": "The Qualcomm provider supports multiple still-relevant wireless PMU compatibles including qcom,qca6390-pmu, qcom,wcn6855-pmu, qcom,wcn7850-pmu, and qcom,wcn6750-pmu." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/power/sequencing/pwrseq-pcie-m2.c", "claim": "The PCIe M.2 provider is generic board-level support for DT-described M.2 connectors, a current hardware category rather than a legacy niche." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/power/sequencing/pwrseq-thead-gpu.c", "claim": "The TH1520 GPU provider was added for recent T-Head TH1520 platforms, indicating contemporary enablement work." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/lkml/20250820-apr_14_for_sending-v12-4-4213ccefbd05%40samsung.com/T/", "claim": "Upstream discussion in 2025 was about adding and integrating TH1520 GPU power sequencing, not removing this subsystem." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/POWER_SEQUENCING_PCIE_M2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_POWER_SEQUENCING_PCIE_M2 first appearing in 7.0-rc+HEAD, confirming this is very recent upstream functionality." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lp4a.html", "claim": "Commercial TH1520-based Lichee Pi 4A hardware is documented with an online store link, supporting that TH1520 systems remained sold as new hardware into the 2025 era." }, { "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Power-Sequencing", "claim": "As of April 13, 2026, pwrseq-pcie-m2 was still gaining new functionality for M.2 Key E wireless connectors, showing active forward development." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Evidence came from shell inspection of local sources (`rg`, `sed`) and local git history (`git log`) showing 2025-2026 additions/fixes, plus web search results for lore/deployment URLs. No removal discussion was found; the only surfaced thread was an addition/integration series for TH1520 GPU. Because the subsystem was introduced in 2024 and is still gaining providers/features for current DT platforms and M.2 wireless/storage connectors, removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1718176813, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772612201, "top_author": "Bartosz Golaszewski", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/power/supply", "subsystem": "power", "chipset_family": "Battery chargers, fuel gauges, smart batteries, and AC/USB power-supply controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20260406205759.493288-9-vincent.cloutier@icloud.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 linux-pm patch touching the power-supply core shows ongoing upstream feature work rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20241210-power-supply-dev_to_psy-v2-11-9d8c9d24cfe4@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "Recent maintenance patches still touch in-tree power-supply device drivers such as surface_battery, indicating active upkeep." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/power/power_supply_class.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the power_supply class as the standard userspace-facing framework for batteries, UPS, AC, and DC supplies, confirming this directory is a live subsystem rather than a legacy one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/BQ24190", "claim": "TI lists BQ24190 as ACTIVE and orderable, showing Linux-supported charger IC families in this directory are still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/max17201.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists MAX17201 as PRODUCTION with sample-and-buy availability, showing Linux-supported fuel-gauge IC families in this directory are still in current production." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active driver subsystem, not a dead leaf: phase-1 already showed 873 substantive commits in 5 years, and tool evidence matches that. `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/power/supply/power_supply_core.c` returned a 2026 linux-pm patch adding battery-technology support; a second `lore_activity` call on `surface_battery.c` showed 2024 maintenance traffic; an earlier `lore_activity` call on `axp20x_battery.c` also showed late-2025 cross-subsystem updates acked for power-supply. Removal-search attempts (`lore_regex`, `lei`) did not yield usable removal evidence here; no active deprecation/removal series was surfaced in the allotted budget. Local file inspection via shell confirmed this directory contains many real charger/fuel-gauge/battery drivers plus the class core. Deployment is still high because batteries/chargers/fuel gauges remain ubiquitous in laptops, tablets, phones, handhelds, embedded systems, and some UPS/platform niches, and vendor product pages found by `web.search_query` show supported IC families still sold in 2025. No single replacement driver exists because this directory is the current upstream subsystem for the use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.030706904255677552, "commits_5y": 883, "substantive_commits_5y": 873, "first_touch_ts": 1470870663, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769809277, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 109, "c_file_count": 130, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/powercap", "subsystem": "powercap", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level powercap subsystem/framework directory containing multiple power-capping components rather than one hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03657941359344007, "commits_5y": 140, "substantive_commits_5y": 133, "first_touch_ts": 1381962966, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770904154, "top_author": "Zhang Rui", "top_author_commits": 38, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pps", "subsystem": "pps", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the LinuxPPS core framework (`pps_core`) plus client/generator subdirectories, rather than a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1836383117193889, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1245355444, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763551567, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pps/clients", "subsystem": "pps", "chipset_family": "LinuxPPS client sources", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/6944F146-8125-42DC-8A2B-C27F4A628005@by-online.de/", "claim": "`pps-gpio.c` had active upstream work in April 2026, with an Acked-by and Tested-by on a patch series, so this directory is not dormant." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/pps.html", "claim": "Kernel PPS documentation describes serial-port, parallel-port, and GPIO PPS sources, and documents `pps-ktimer` as a built-in testing client." }, { "url": "https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ultimate-gps-hat-for-raspberry-pi?view=all", "claim": "A Raspberry Pi GPS HAT updated in 2025 is sold for Pi 5-class boards and exposes a PPS signal on GPIO, showing current-market GPIO PPS hardware still exists." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/pps/clients/Kconfig` showed this directory mixes a debug client (`pps-ktimer`) with real GPIO/serial/parallel PPS clients. `lore_activity(file=drivers/pps/clients/pps-gpio.c)` showed fresh 2026 bug-fix traffic, so a deprecation/removal case is weak. Web search found the official kernel PPS docs (`turn1search0`) confirming these are still-valid PPS attachment modes, and Adafruit product docs (`turn0search4`) showing new GPIO PPS hardware still sold in 2025. Net: legacy pieces exist, especially parport, but the directory as a whole still serves niche embedded/time-sync deployments; keep it, but annotate the mixed legacy/debug nature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22025277124110876, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1268437963, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751365764, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pps/generators", "subsystem": "pps", "chipset_family": "PPS generators / Intel Timed I/O (TIO)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250219040618.70962-3-subramanian.mohan@intel.com", "claim": "The directory is actively developed: Intel's Timed I/O PPS generator driver was added in February 2025 as new functionality, not legacy-only maintenance." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20260123035607.22340-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com", "claim": "The only recent removal activity was deletion of the long-broken pps_gen_parport subdriver in January 2026; this is cleanup inside the directory, not a proposal to remove the remaining PPS generator support." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/pps.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation says Intel Timed I/O is present on 2019 and newer Intel CPUs and is used to generate precise PPS signals for synchronizing external devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PPS_GENERATOR_TIO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_PPS_GENERATOR_TIO in current kernel series and lists active ACPI IDs INTC1021-INTC1024 and module pps_gen_tio." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this is real driver code plus core infrastructure, with a dummy test generator and an Intel TIO platform driver. Local git history (shell) shows substantive activity in 2024-2026, including a new Intel TIO driver and follow-up fixes; the 2026 removal was only for the broken parport subdriver. URLs were obtained from `git show` commit Link fields (lore.kernel.org, patch.msgid.link) and one web search result each for kernel.org docs and LKDDb. Recommendation is keep-annotate because upstream attention is current, hardware is still shipping via modern Intel CPUs, but actual deployments are niche due to the need for specialized external timing hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08393466819372243, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1294934601, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525667, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ps3", "subsystem": "ps3", "chipset_family": "Sony PlayStation 3 / Cell Broadband Engine platform", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.71, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230209135509.7786-5-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "PS3 driver code in this directory still received targeted upstream maintenance in 2023, not just treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230209135509.7786-10-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Another 2023 fix touched drivers/ps3/ps3av.c, showing the code is still build-fixed and adjusted for current kernel APIs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/2024-09/20240930023234.7457-1-shenlichuan@vivo.com/", "claim": "The directory saw additional upstream attention in 2024, albeit minor comment cleanup rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3", "claim": "The hardware platform is a discontinued game console generation and not sold new in 2025; remaining use is legacy/hobbyist." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: multiple .c files with ps3_system_bus driver entry points. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on drivers/ps3/ps3av.c and drivers/ps3/{sys-manager-core.c,ps3-sys-manager.c}; those yielded the cited lore URLs. A lore_file_timeline probe on drivers/ps3/ returned no matches, so it was not useful for directory-level removal signals. A lore_regex removal-subject probe timed out, and a shell lei query was blocked by sandbox socket permissions, so removal-talk evidence is incomplete. Deployment/EOL evidence uses canonical recall of the stable Wikipedia PS3 page. Overall: hardware is clearly obsolete and not entering new deployments, but upstream still shows occasional maintenance rather than an active removal push, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.23558175881864643, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1165225257, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757158286, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ptp", "subsystem": "ptp", "chipset_family": "IEEE 1588 PTP hardware and virtual clocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251229173346.8899-1-tinsaetadesse2015@gmail.com/", "claim": "PTP core code in this directory was still receiving upstream fixes in late 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251203152418.730036689@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "PTP core fixes were being backported to stable trees in late 2025, indicating maintained relevance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/driver-api/ptp.html", "claim": "The kernel documents this as the common PTP hardware clock infrastructure supporting multiple concrete clock drivers, including modern hardware such as Renesas ClockMatrix." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/virt/kvm/arm/ptp_kvm.html", "claim": "PTP_KVM remains a documented virtual-clock feature for current KVM guests, showing ongoing deployment in virtualization use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.timebeat.app/timebeat-hardware/ocp-tap-timecard", "claim": "An OCP TimeCard class device supported by this directory is marketed as current hardware, supporting the conclusion that relevant hardware is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of drivers/ptp/Kconfig showed this is an active mixed subsystem directory, not one obsolete chip driver: core PTP infrastructure plus KVM, VMCLOCK, VMware, OCP TimeCard, QorIQ, Intel PCH, Renesas/IDT and others. `lore_activity` on drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c produced 2025 fix and stable-backport lore URLs, so upstream attention is current. A directory-level `lore_file_timeline` returned no matches for the path prefix, and a broad `lore_regex` removal/deprecation scan timed out; no positive removal evidence was found. Web search provided the kernel PTP/PTP_KVM docs and a current OCP-TAP Timecard product page. Because this directory underpins both present-day VM guest clocks and still-sold precision timing hardware, the correct recommendation is keep, not deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03453610832516747, "commits_5y": 296, "substantive_commits_5y": 283, "first_touch_ts": 1306180860, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770303466, "top_author": "Jonathan Lemon", "top_author_commits": 60, "c_file_count": 21, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/pwm", "subsystem": "pwm", "chipset_family": "PWM controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pwm/20260119151325.571857-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream PWM core work was still landing in 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20260128145345.785798692@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "PWM fixes were being backported to stable in 2026, which is strong evidence of ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/pwm.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes PWM as a generic framework for SoC/discrete PWM blocks used for LEDs, fans, backlights, regulators, and other current system functions." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 5 documentation shows a current-production board exposing a dedicated PWM fan connector, demonstrating new-hardware deployment in 2025-era products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore URLs via `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/pwm/core.c`; it showed heavy activity from 2021-2026 with recent fixes/features/backports and no removal trend in the sampled history. Obtained docs.kernel.org and Raspberry Pi URLs via `web.search_query`. Local `drivers/pwm/Kconfig` inspection via shell showed many current SoC/vendor drivers (Apple, Airoha, Broadcom/Raspberry Pi, etc.). This directory is an active subsystem for widely deployed modern PWM controller hardware, not a legacy orphan; there is no single replacement driver for the same use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.031204130513644436, "commits_5y": 819, "substantive_commits_5y": 811, "first_touch_ts": 1339757810, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769767484, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 565, "c_file_count": 77, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/rapidio", "subsystem": "rapidio", "chipset_family": "IDT/Renesas Serial RapidIO (TSI721 bridge, CPS/RXS switches)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260223103543.119278-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "Core RapidIO code in drivers/rapidio/rio.c still received upstream changes in 2026, indicating the subsystem is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230323113711.10523-1-cai.huoqing@linux.dev/", "claim": "The TSI721 device driver in drivers/rapidio/devices/tsi721.c received driver-specific cleanup work in 2023; lore timeline also shows touches through 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tsi721", "claim": "Renesas still listed TSI721 as an active RapidIO bridge product with ordering/evaluation materials available in 2025-era crawls." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/80hcps1848", "claim": "Renesas still listed a RapidIO switch (80HCPS1848/CPS family) as active, supporting the view that at least some RapidIO hardware remained commercially available in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a real driver subtree with module/device init paths and hardware Kconfig entries for TSI721 and IDT CPS/RXS switches. Lore evidence came from lore_file_timeline on drivers/rapidio/rio.c and drivers/rapidio/devices/tsi721.c; it shows real upstream traffic through 2025-2026, including core and device-specific work, and I found no concrete removal thread. Deployment looks niche rather than broad: Renesas product pages obtained via web search still mark TSI721 and RapidIO switch silicon active, which argues against deprecation/removal, but RapidIO is a specialized embedded/industrial interconnect rather than a mainstream new Linux deployment target. That supports keep-annotate instead of deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07111529618662929, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1131378826, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769904967, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/rapidio/devices", "subsystem": "rapidio", "chipset_family": "IDT/Renesas Tsi721 RapidIO PCIe-to-SRIO bridge plus RapidIO mport character-device support", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240403163617.20710-1-apais@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "`tsi721_dma.c` still received non-treewide maintenance in 2024 (`rapidio/tsi721: Convert from tasklet to BH workqueue`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260406014959.186669-1-james010kim@gmail.com/", "claim": "`rio_mport_cdev.c` still received real bug-fix traffic in 2026 (`fix sequential UAF in dma_req_free()`), indicating ongoing exposure/testing rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/interface/pci-express-solutions/pci-express-serial-rapidio-bridges/tsi721-rapidio-bridge", "claim": "Vendor product page lists Tsi721 as an active RapidIO bridge product, supporting the conclusion that hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/interface/pci-express-solutions/pci-express-serial-rapidio-bridges", "claim": "Renesas still markets PCIe-to-Serial-RapidIO bridges for defense, aerospace, video, imaging, and wireless markets, indicating a niche but extant deployment base." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`/`sed`) showed this directory is real driver code centered on `tsi721*.c` plus generic RapidIO mport cdev support. `lore_file_timeline` on the three `.c` files showed continuing upstream fixes, especially heavy `rio_mport_cdev.c` activity and a 2024 `tsi721_dma.c` maintenance patch; that argues against deprecation/removal and there was no removal signal in those timeline results. Web search found Renesas canonical product pages showing Tsi721 still marked active/orderable, so hardware was still sold new in 2025, but the marketed uses are narrow embedded/industrial/defense/wireless niches, so present-day deployments are low. No clear upstream replacement driver covers the same PCIe-to-SRIO bridge use case, so keep the code but annotate it as niche/legacy rather than deprecating it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24730101483403982, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1320275221, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747011249, "top_author": "Dr. David Alan Gilbert", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/rapidio/switches", "subsystem": "rapidio", "chipset_family": "IDT/Renesas CPS/Tsi Serial RapidIO switches", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260128114400.36585-1-navid.derakhshandeh1@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream still sees recent attention: a 2026 patch touched `drivers/rapidio/switches/idt_gen3.c`." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/80hcps1848", "claim": "At least one device covered by this directory, the IDT/Renesas 80HCPS1848 RapidIO switch, was still marketed as Active." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tsi578", "claim": "Older members of the family such as Tsi578 were marked Obsolete, indicating mixed lifecycle status within the directory's hardware coverage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed three real RapidIO switch drivers (`idtcps`, `idt_gen2`, `idt_gen3`) for IDT CPS/Tsi parts. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no aggregate hits, so I drilled down with `lore_activity` per file; that yielded the cited 2026 `idt_gen3` patch, which argues against deprecation/removal despite sparse long-term churn. Web search produced the Renesas product pages: `80HCPS1848` is Active while `TSI578` is Obsolete, so the family is niche and partly legacy but not wholly dead. Deployment is likely low and specialized (embedded/telecom/industrial RapidIO fabrics), with no separate upstream replacement driver for the same use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.5252227160625862, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1131378826, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1640078539, "top_author": "Tiezhu Yang", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ras", "subsystem": "ras", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: generic RAS subsystem support/helpers under drivers/ras, not kernel-bound hardware driver code for a distinct device family.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1403543539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768406609, "top_author": "Yazen Ghannam", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ras/amd", "subsystem": "ras", "chipset_family": "AMD EPYC 9004 / Instinct MI300 (Zen-based server RAS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/RAS/address-translation.html", "claim": "Official kernel docs describe AMD Address Translation Library (ATL) as the address-translation component for Zen-based systems' memory-error handling." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-edac/msg24046.html", "claim": "ATL received an upstream maintenance patch on 2026-03-07 ('Only load ATL when needed'), indicating current maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5628570.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch updated both ATL and FMPM for MI300 row-address masking, showing substantive post-merge fixes in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/accelerators/instinct/mi300.html", "claim": "AMD still markets the Instinct MI300 series accelerators, which align with the MI300-specific code paths present in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/9004-series.html", "claim": "AMD still markets EPYC 9004 server CPUs, matching the Zen 4 server platform scope called out by ATL documentation and Kconfig help." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection found loadable modules in drivers/ras/amd/fmpm.c and drivers/ras/amd/atl/core.c plus Kconfig entries and MAINTAINERS coverage. URLs were obtained via web search: kernel.org RAS docs (search_query) for scope, spinics msg24046 (search_query) for 2026 ATL maintenance activity, spinics msg5628570 (search_query) for 2025 ATL/FMPM bug-fix traffic, and AMD product pages (search_query) for current EPYC 9004 and Instinct MI300 market availability. No removal/deprecation thread was found; this code is new (2024+), maintained, and tied to currently sold server/HPC platforms, so removal/deprecation is not indicated. Deployment is low because it is limited to ECC/RAS-capable AMD server and accelerator systems rather than broad commodity hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1706096975, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744133458, "top_author": "Yazen Ghannam", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ras/amd/atl", "subsystem": "ras", "chipset_family": "AMD Zen Data Fabric / MI300 address translation", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/ras/amd/atl/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig says AMD_ATL is the AMD Address Translation Library for DRAM ECC on Zen-based systems with OS-based error handling." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/ras/amd/atl/core.c", "claim": "core.c matches Zen/SMCA-capable x86 CPUs and registers an address-decoder module, showing this is active platform support for modern AMD server/HPC systems." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=69acbdbbefbda7b7b32faa706a8f68c399c9e47b", "claim": "ATL received a substantive upstream fix in late 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=453f0ae797328e675840466c80e5b268d7feb9ba", "claim": "ATL gained explicit MI300 support in 2024, tying it to current-generation AMD datacenter/HPC hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/accelerators/instinct/mi300.html", "claim": "AMD still markets the Instinct MI300 series, so ATL-covered hardware was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local source inspection via shell showed a real loadable driver/module under drivers/ras/amd/atl. Lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` was blocked because `lei` is not installed in this environment, so activity was grounded with local git history (`git log`) and mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by full hash from `git rev-parse`; AMD product status came from a web search result on amd.com. Evidence points to a young driver (introduced 2024), multiple substantive updates through late 2025, and support for still-sold MI300/Zen server platforms. No natural replacement driver is apparent.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1706096975, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767018602, "top_author": "Yazen Ghannam", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/regulator", "subsystem": "regulator", "chipset_family": "PMIC and voltage/current regulator devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.11/driver-api/regulator.html", "claim": "The Linux kernel regulator API is an active generic framework for voltage/current regulators and PMIC-backed supplies, indicating this directory is core infrastructure for many current platforms rather than a single legacy device." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.jp/products/power-management/pmics-and-sbcs/pmics/power-management-ic-pmic-for-i-mx-8m-mini-nano-plus%3APCA9450", "claim": "NXP still markets the PCA9450 PMIC as active and positions it for current i.MX 8M systems; Linux source in this directory contains REGULATOR_PCA9450 support." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/PF09", "claim": "NXP lists PF09/PF0900 as an active PMIC for i.MX95-class applications; Linux source in this directory contains REGULATOR_PF0900 support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver directory, but it is a large active subsystem rather than one obsolete chipset family. Upstream health is strong from the supplied static evidence: 930 substantive commits in 5 years, 248 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-04-07. Local tree inspection via shell showed current Kconfig/Makefile entries for modern PMIC drivers such as MT6360, PCA9450, PF0900, and TPS68470. Lore-first checks were attempted: lore_file_timeline on drivers/regulator/ returned no matches for the directory prefix, lore_regex for removal/deprecation subjects timed out, and lore_nearest was unavailable because the embedding index was not built; with no positive removal signal and very strong recent activity, there is no basis for deprecate/remove. Sources were obtained by web search (kernel docs, NXP product pages).", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006944508017340214, "commits_5y": 943, "substantive_commits_5y": 930, "first_touch_ts": 1217409021, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775571851, "top_author": "Axel Lin", "top_author_commits": 70, "c_file_count": 219, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/remoteproc", "subsystem": "remoteproc", "chipset_family": "SoC remote processors (DSP/MCU/R5/M4/PRU/Hexagon)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-remoteproc/20260414152904.1679724-5-arnaud.pouliquen@foss.st.com/", "claim": "Upstream remoteproc core development is active in 2026; recent non-removal feature work touched core code." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/staging/remoteproc.html", "claim": "Remoteproc is a generic Linux framework for controlling heterogeneous remote processors in modern SoCs, with platform-specific drivers layered underneath." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MPLUS", "claim": "A current NXP i.MX 8M Plus product is marked active and includes Cortex-M7 and DSP-class auxiliary processors, indicating remoteproc-class hardware remains in new products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/remoteproc` is an active subsystem driver directory, not a dead single-device leaf: local `exec_command` inspection of Makefile/Kconfig shows current support for NXP i.MX, MediaTek SCP, Qualcomm ADSP/CDSP/MPSS/WCSS, STM32, TI K3/PRU, Xilinx R5, etc. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/remoteproc/remoteproc_core.c` showed sustained activity through 2021-2026 and a recent April 14, 2026 feature series, with no removal evidence surfaced in-budget. Kernel docs URL was obtained via `web.open`; NXP product URL via `web.search_query`. Because remoteproc covers still-current heterogeneous SoCs and has strong upstream churn, this should be kept rather than deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.020410765335841633, "commits_5y": 579, "substantive_commits_5y": 577, "first_touch_ts": 1328734376, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772731103, "top_author": "Peng Fan", "top_author_commits": 70, "c_file_count": 37, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/resctrl", "subsystem": "resctrl", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: resctrl is a kernel resource-control/filesystem subsystem interface, not a standalone hardware device driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1763577260, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773411450, "top_author": "James Morse", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "SoC reset controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260417154809.1984386-1-steven.price@arm.com/", "claim": "Core reset framework code was still receiving functional changes in April 2026 ('reset: use a shared SRCU domain for reset controls')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/87edde434e1760bbe9e2741856724301d02a4fc8.1776793163.git.geert+renesas@glider.be/", "claim": "The subsystem was still seeing API expansion RFC work in April 2026 ('reset: Add reset_controller_get_provider()')." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/reset.html", "claim": "The kernel documents reset controllers as a generic framework used by reset-controller providers and consumers across the kernel." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "A current Linux-capable SoC family (PolarFire SoC / MPFS, which has a driver in this directory) is still marketed with current product and kit offerings." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a real driver subsystem, not a helper library: local shell inspection showed 47 reset-controller driver .c files plus a maintained framework entry in MAINTAINERS. Both lore URLs came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/reset/core.c`, which showed heavy 2024-2026 activity and recent functional work rather than retirement. The kernel docs URL was obtained by web search to confirm the directory is an active generic reset-controller framework, not legacy one-off code. The Microchip URL was obtained by web search as present-day deployment evidence for shipping hardware covered by this directory (e.g. MPFS/PolarFire SoC via `reset-mpfs.c`). Given active upstream development, many maintained vendor-specific drivers, and ongoing new SoC deployments, this should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016399718142829308, "commits_5y": 196, "substantive_commits_5y": 190, "first_touch_ts": 1365755183, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774264721, "top_author": "Philipp Zabel", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 47, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/amlogic", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson reset controllers (Meson8b/GXBB/AXG/A1/S4/C3/T7 and A113/SM1 audio arbiter)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5289368.html", "claim": "A July 15, 2024 patch series added A4/A5 reset-driver support, showing active upstream feature work in this driver area rather than deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5297840.html", "claim": "The July 24, 2024 discussion around auxiliary reset-driver support states it is intended to replace reset logic embedded in a related clock driver, indicating ongoing consolidation into this driver directory." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1067206/", "claim": "An April 10, 2026 patch series adds A1 and T7 support in another Amlogic subsystem, showing those SoC families are still receiving new upstream enablement in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/", "claim": "Amlogic's current product catalog remains active in 2026 and lists multiple contemporary SoC lines, supporting that Amlogic SoCs are still sold into new products." }, { "url": "https://www.amlogic.com/Product/Stencil.html", "claim": "Amlogic's product pages show ongoing smart-TV, set-top-box, smart-audio, and AIoT SoC offerings, matching the deployment niches covered by Meson-family reset controllers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory ... log`) confirmed this is real reset-controller driver code with recent commits through 2025-01-15 and support for newer compatibles including A1/S4/C3/T7. Lore-style evidence was obtained via web search results landing on spinics/LWN mirrors: 2024 patch traffic adds/resetworks on this directory and related reset support, with no removal-thread evidence found in the allotted search budget. Deployment evidence came from Amlogic product pages found via web search, which show the vendor still marketing current SoCs in 2026. Because the hardware family is still shipping and upstream work is active, deprecate/remove is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1727772032, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736960371, "top_author": "Jerome Brunet", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/hisilicon", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Hi6220 / Hi3660 reset controllers (Kirin 620 / Kirin 960 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/kernel-janitors/20240607-md-drivers-reset-v1-1-5d317ff8e3bd@quicinc.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch exists in 2024, but it was a small janitorial change rather than feature work, indicating light maintenance rather than active expansion." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/hikey/", "claim": "HiKey is a Kirin 620 / Hi6220 board and was still listed with 'Buy Now' links on a current 96Boards product page, showing the platform remains obtainable in niche dev-board channels." }, { "url": "https://www.96boards.org/product/hikey960/", "claim": "HiKey960 is a Kirin 960 board and was still listed on a current 96Boards product page with purchase links, suggesting the covered SoC family is not fully extinct even if niche." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiSilicon", "claim": "Hi6220 (Kirin 620) dates to Q1 2015 and Hi3660 (Kirin 960) to Q4 2016, placing this driver on older mobile/dev-board silicon rather than current mainstream designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via rg shows this directory only serves Hi6220 and Hi3660 reset blocks used by in-tree HiSilicon DTS files. lore_activity on hi6220_reset.c found sparse 2024 activity (one janitorial patch plus stable backports) and no clear removal thread; a directory-level lore_file_timeline lookup returned no hits, likely an indexing/path blind spot rather than evidence of deletion. Web search found live 96Boards product pages for HiKey and HiKey960, so hardware is still obtainable new in 2025+, but the cited HiSilicon/Wikipedia release data shows the SoCs are 2015-2016 era parts with low modern deployment. No natural replacement driver covers the same reset-controller blocks, so removal/deprecation would risk niche boards for little gain; annotate as legacy/niche instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5368095953818421, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1448030505, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1718970565, "top_author": "Jeff Johnson", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/spacemit", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "SpacemiT K1/K3 SoC reset controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6012722.html", "claim": "January 20, 2026 patch series adds the SpacemiT K3 reset driver, showing active upstream enablement rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6012712.html", "claim": "January 20, 2026 patch extracts common SpacemiT reset code for K1/K3, indicating ongoing maintenance and architecture expansion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RESET_SPACEMIT.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_RESET_SPACEMIT in Linux 6.17-6.19, confirming this is a newly introduced upstream driver family." }, { "url": "https://canonical.com/blog/2026/02/05/spacemit-announces-availability-of-ubuntu-on-k3-k1-series/", "claim": "Canonical states Ubuntu is available on SpacemiT's new K3 SoC and existing K1 series platforms for developer and edge-AI use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.cnx-software.com/2025/11/27/banana-pi-bpi-cm6-a-spacemit-k1-risc-v-system-on-module-compatible-with-raspberry-pi-cm4-cm5-carrier-boards/", "claim": "A SpacemiT K1 compute module was commercially announced in November 2025, supporting evidence that K1 hardware was sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/30/3229216/0/en/chinese-risc-v-chipmaker-spacemit-launches-k3-ai-cpu-highlighting-the-rise-of-open-source-hardware-in-intelligent-computing.html", "claim": "SpacemiT announced K3 in January 2026 with initial deliveries planned from the end of April 2026, showing current-generation hardware rollout." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via `rg` showed reset controller drivers for SpacemiT K1 and K3, and local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed four substantive 2026 commits including a March 20 follow-up fix. `lei` was unavailable, so lore evidence was obtained via web search hits to spinics.net lore mirrors; those show recent addition/refactoring patches and no removal discussion. Deployment evidence came from web search results on Canonical, CNX Software, and GlobeNewswire showing K1 products sold in late 2025 and K3 launch/deliveries in 2026. This is a young upstream driver for actively launched SoCs, with niche but real current deployments, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1769269982, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774265147, "top_author": "Guodong Xu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/starfive", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "StarFive JH71x0 (JH7100/JH7110)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/reset/starfive", "claim": "Canonical kernel log location for this directory; local `git log` on the same path shows the driver was added in 2023 and still received a substantive fix on 2024-09-25, with no local sign of deprecation/removal activity." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RESET_STARFIVE_JH7110.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RESET_STARFIVE_JH7110 exists in mainline kernels 6.4 through 6.19, indicating current upstream presence rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.starfivetech.com/en/index.php?c=show&id=14&s=hardware", "claim": "StarFive still markets VisionFive 2 hardware built on the JH7110 SoC, supporting the view that this driver targets hardware still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://pine64.com/product/star64-model-a-4gb-single-board-computer/", "claim": "PINE64 lists the JH7110-based STAR64 SBC as in stock, giving current retail evidence of ongoing low-volume deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `sed` inspection confirmed this is real reset-controller driver code for StarFive JH7100/JH7110 SoCs, not helper-only code. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/reset/starfive` showed a young driver (introduced 2023) with a recent bug-fix on 2024-09-25; a local grep over git log found no remove/deprecate matches for this path. `web.search_query` obtained the cateee LKDDb page plus StarFive and PINE64 product pages. The kernel.org log URL was added by canonical recall as the stable upstream path anchor. Conclusion: hardware is still on sale, upstream support is current, deployments are niche rather than broad, and there is no natural replacement driver for the same reset blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1680705829, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727699077, "top_author": "Emil Renner Berthing", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/sti", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STiH407/STi consumer-electronics SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260320010517.31917-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/reset/sti/reset-syscfg.c` still received upstream maintenance in 2026, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20230210224332.98482-1-avolmat@me.com/", "claim": "The driver saw a functional cleanup in 2023 (`regmap_field_read_poll_timeout` ack wait change), not just historical bring-up traffic." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/STIH407_RESET.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this directory to `CONFIG_STIH407_RESET` and DT compatibles `st,stih407-powerdown`, `st,stih407-softreset`, and `st,stih407-picophyreset`, confirming the supported hardware scope." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/resource/en/data_brief/stih410.pdf", "claim": "ST's STiH407/STiH410 databook identifies the SoCs as IP set-top-box/server-box application processors from the 2013 Monaco generation." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/digital-set-top-box-ics/stih412.html", "claim": "A closely related STiH-family set-top-box SoC is marked by ST as `Obsolete / Out of Production`, supporting that this product class is legacy rather than current-design silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/stmicro-exits-tv-decoder-chips-in-the-midst-of-set-top-box-disruption/", "claim": "ST announced in January 2016 that it was discontinuing development of new set-top-box and home-gateway chip platforms, implying no new-generation rollout for this family after that period." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed `ARCH_STI` targets STMicroelectronics consumer-electronics SoCs and specifically mentions STiH407 set-top-box parts; lore_file_timeline showed only historical bring-up for `reset-stih407.c` but continuing maintenance for shared `reset-syscfg.c`, including a 2026 patch (MCP lore_file_timeline). Web search found LKDDb coverage for exact compatibles and ST vendor pages showing the STiH407/410 Monaco STB role plus obsolete status on a nearby STiH412 family part; an STB-business shutdown news item from 2016 supports treating new hardware sales as ended. Because upstream still accepts fixes, this backs off from deprecate/remove to keep-annotate: legacy hardware, low current deployment, but not dead code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5354047177618865, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1394534843, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719215431, "top_author": "Philipp Zabel", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/reset/tegra", "subsystem": "reset", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra BPMP-backed reset controller (Tegra186/Tegra194/Tegra234; Jetson Xavier/Orin class SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240625-reset-compile-bpmp-v1-1-647e846303d8@pengutronix.de", "claim": "A non-mechanical upstream maintenance patch for this driver was posted in June 2024 and merged for July 2024, indicating the code is still maintained rather than under removal." }, { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/log/drivers/reset?id=c85e1497dd10879f447d6a12f97762c581093e9b&showmsg=1", "claim": "The reset subsystem history includes the 2024-07-01 tegra-bpmp COMPILE_TEST change and shows normal subsystem maintenance activity, with no visible tegra-bpmp removal series in that log slice." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RESET_TEGRA_BPMP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_RESET_TEGRA_BPMP remains present in current kernels and is tracked from Linux 4.10 through current 6.x/7.0-rc heads, showing ongoing upstream inclusion." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA lists Jetson AGX Orin, Orin NX, Orin Nano, Xavier NX, and AGX Xavier variants as available through 2028-2033, so BPMP-based Tegra hardware is still sold for new deployments in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: one C file implements a reset_controller using Tegra BPMP MRQ_RESET. Local git history was obtained with exec_command (`git log`/`git show`), which produced the lore URL for the 2024 maintenance patch; that lore link was cited directly. The git.zx2c4 reset log URL and LKDDb/NVIDIA lifecycle pages were obtained via web search/open. Sparse churn suggests niche embedded usage, but current Jetson product-lifecycle data and a 2024 substantive touch argue against deprecation; annotate as niche/low-churn rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1479476096, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719820668, "top_author": "Philipp Zabel", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/rpmsg", "subsystem": "rpmsg", "chipset_family": "RPMsg remote-processor messaging transports (Qualcomm GLINK/SMD, MediaTek SCP, virtio-rpmsg)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-remoteproc/20260324005919.2408620-8-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream work touched rpmsg core/virtio code in March 2026 ('rpmsg: use generic driver_override infrastructure'), indicating active maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/staging/rpmsg.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes rpmsg as the framework for heterogeneous SoCs with remote processors and states that rpmsg is a virtio-based messaging bus." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/staging/remoteproc.html", "claim": "Kernel remoteproc documentation says remoteproc platforms add rpmsg virtio devices for remote processors, confirming rpmsg remains part of the current remote-processor stack." }, { "url": "https://genio.mediatek.com/genio-1200", "claim": "MediaTek's Genio 1200 page lists current AIoT/embedded SoC availability through 2032; this aligns with ongoing new deployments of MediaTek SCP/rpmsg-capable platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an active subsystem directory, not an obsolete single-device driver. lore_file_timeline showed sustained 2021-2026 traffic on rpmsg_core.c and virtio_rpmsg_bus.c, with recent feature cleanup work and no evidence of a removal series. docs.kernel.org pages (found via web search) show rpmsg remains the standard bus for heterogeneous remote processors and is coupled to remoteproc/virtio, so there is no natural replacement driver beyond the same subsystem. MediaTek Genio 1200 web result indicates relevant SoC-class hardware is still sold for new embedded deployments in 2025+, while Qualcomm/virtio transports broaden ongoing usage. URL provenance: lore URL from lore_file_timeline; docs/kernel and MediaTek URLs from web search results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06460141065603543, "commits_5y": 121, "substantive_commits_5y": 114, "first_touch_ts": 1328734438, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765762669, "top_author": "Bjorn Andersson", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/rtc", "subsystem": "rtc", "chipset_family": "Real-time clock (RTC) devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/admin-guide/rtc.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the RTC class framework as supporting a wide variety of RTCs, including SoC-integrated and discrete I2C/SPI chips, with /dev/rtcN interfaces across many systems." }, { "url": "https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/rtc-linux/list/?archive=both&order=state¶m=date&state=%2A&submitter=26276", "claim": "Patchwork shows accepted RTC subsystem pull requests and driver fixes in 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rtc/20260424223715.077288e8@pumpkin/", "claim": "The linux-rtc mailing list had fresh traffic on 2026-04-24, confirming the subsystem is still live upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/PCF85063A", "claim": "NXP lists the PCF85063A RTC as Active and shows a 2025 datasheet revision, evidence that new RTC hardware covered by this subsystem is still sold." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds3231.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists the DS3231 RTC in PRODUCTION with sample/buy availability, further showing ongoing new-hardware deployment for RTC devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is the maintained RTC subsystem, not a dead single-chip driver bucket. Local MAINTAINERS inspection shows drivers/rtc/ is under the REAL TIME CLOCK (RTC) SUBSYSTEM with Alexandre Belloni and linux-rtc@vger.kernel.org; local git grep over drivers/rtc since 2023 found no explicit remove/deprecate/obsolete subjects. URLs were obtained via web search for kernel docs, Patchwork, and vendor product pages, plus one lore URL from `lore_eq(list=linux-rtc)` on the linux-rtc list. The directory has heavy recent churn from the provided stats, upstream list traffic is current, and the hardware class remains broadly deployed in PCs, servers, industrial/embedded boards, and virtualized environments. No single replacement driver exists because this directory is the umbrella subsystem for many unrelated RTC chips and controllers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.023855736510488185, "commits_5y": 833, "substantive_commits_5y": 821, "first_touch_ts": 1143477890, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771625545, "top_author": "Alexandre Belloni", "top_author_commits": 149, "c_file_count": 190, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/block", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z DASD / SCM / DCSS block", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20251126160634.3446919-3-sth@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "`drivers/s390/block/dasd.c` still receives recent upstream maintenance in late 2025, with review on linux-block/linux-s390." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-z?topic=drivers-dasd", "claim": "IBM still documents the DASD driver for current Linux on IBM Z environments, including LPAR, z/VM guest, and KVM guest, and describes DASD as access to real or emulated IBM mainframe storage." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=dasds-preparing-eckd", "claim": "Current IBM docs still instruct users how to prepare ECKD DASDs and state the DASD driver components must be built in or loaded, indicating ongoing supported deployment." }, { "url": "https://newsroom.ibm.com/z17", "claim": "IBM announced the z17 mainframe on April 8, 2025, showing IBM Z hardware is still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local shell inspection showed real block-driver sources (`dasd*`, `dcssblk`, `scm_blk`) plus driver entry points and Kconfig options. `lore_activity` on `drivers/s390/block/dasd.c` returned recent 2025 patches via lore URL, so there is active upstream maintenance rather than removal. IBM docs URLs were obtained by web search and show current DASD/ECKD usage on Linux on IBM Z; IBM z17 newsroom URL was obtained by web search and supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. No natural upstream replacement covers the same channel-attached DASD/DCSS/SCM use case; `zfcp` is a different storage path, not a replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022894096599785738, "commits_5y": 178, "substantive_commits_5y": 171, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773154718, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 44, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/char", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z / LinuxONE s390 character devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-s390/20260226-vsie-alter-stfle-fac-v2-2-914974cb922c@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work touched `drivers/s390/char` via `s390/sclp: Detect ASTFLEIE 2 facility` on 2026-02-26." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-s390/20260125130636.2036258-1-lihaoxiang@isrc.iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance touched `drivers/s390/char` via `s390/raw3270: add unregister in raw3270_init()` on 2026-01-25." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-s390/20260125131413.2042746-1-lihaoxiang@isrc.iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance touched `drivers/s390/char` via `s390/con3215: add unregister in tty3215_init()` on 2026-01-25." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/z17?lnk=flatitem", "claim": "IBM was selling the current IBM z17 mainframe platform in 2025/2026, so the underlying IBM Z hardware family is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/ts7700", "claim": "IBM was also selling the TS7700/TS7780 virtual tape family for IBM Z workloads in 2025/2026, matching the in-tree s390 tape support use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, confirmed by local `Kconfig`/source inspection with `exec_command`: it contains IBM Z console/terminal (3215/3270/SCLP), z/VM, HMC, UV, and tape char drivers. Active upkeep is evidenced by lore URLs obtained with `mcp__lore_http__.lore_regex` (recent 2026 SCLP/raw3270/con3215 patches). Current deployment evidence comes from IBM product pages obtained with `web.search_query` and opened from results: IBM z17 and TS7700/TS7780 are current products, so this is still-deployed enterprise hardware rather than legacy-only gear. I did not obtain positive evidence of an active removal/deprecation series in the successful lore queries; given broad recent maintenance and current hardware availability, the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02925281447924466, "commits_5y": 275, "substantive_commits_5y": 263, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771511280, "top_author": "Sven Schnelle", "top_author_commits": 62, "c_file_count": 44, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/cio", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z / LinuxONE channel I/O subsystem (CCW/QDIO, s390)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20251023123015.2935403-1-vneethv@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "Recent non-treewide maintenance continued in 2025 for drivers/s390/cio (example: \"s390/cio: Update purge function to unregister the unused subchannels\")." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7257800", "claim": "IBM LinuxONE Emperor 5 (9175-ML1) shows General Availability on 2025-06-18, indicating this hardware family was sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/linuxone-5", "claim": "IBM markets LinuxONE 5 as a current enterprise platform for Linux workloads, supporting the conclusion that new deployments still exist." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is active platform support code for current IBM Z/LinuxONE systems, not a legacy orphan. `lore_activity` on drivers/s390/cio/device.c returned recent 2025 fixes/backports with IBM maintainers, so upstream attention is ongoing. Web search returned IBM lifecycle/product pages showing LinuxONE 5 / Emperor 5 current and GA in 2025, which means the underlying s390 channel-I/O hardware stack remains commercially live. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the core I/O subsystem for the platform. URLs obtained via `lore_activity` and `web.search_query` results.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03633686573566617, "commits_5y": 228, "substantive_commits_5y": 215, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770292968, "top_author": "Eric Farman", "top_author_commits": 42, "c_file_count": 38, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/crypto", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z Crypto Express (CEX/AP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-s390/20260324005919.2408620-11-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "The subsystem is still receiving upstream work in 2026; a March 24, 2026 patch touched ap_bus.c ('s390/ap: use generic driver_override infrastructure')." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/z16", "claim": "IBM z16 product material explicitly references the Crypto Express 8S card, showing Crypto Express hardware remained part of current IBM Z offerings in the z16 generation." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/help-ibm-hmc-z17?topic=configuration-cryptographic", "claim": "IBM z17 HMC documentation describes configuring and monitoring installed Crypto Express features as current system hardware, indicating ongoing availability/use in the z17 generation." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-z?topic=hw-crypto-express-features", "claim": "IBM Linux on Z documentation describes Crypto Express adapters, their accelerator/CCA/EP11 modes, and AP queues, matching this driver's hardware scope and showing it remains a supported Linux-on-IBM-Z feature." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains AP bus, zcrypt, pkey, and vfio_ap driver code. lore_file_timeline tool on drivers/s390/crypto/ap_bus.c showed sustained activity through 2026-03-24 with hundreds of touches in the last 5 years; that argues strongly against deprecation/removal. Web search found IBM z16 product material and IBM z17/HMC + Linux-on-Z docs showing Crypto Express is still present in current IBM Z generations, so hardware is still sold and deployed. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same AP/Crypto Express/HSM stack; CPACF is a different facility, not a drop-in replacement. Removal-talk absence is an inference from active lore traffic plus failed/empty targeted removal-search attempts, not a direct cited negative proof.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014474552266152478, "commits_5y": 316, "substantive_commits_5y": 303, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774382251, "top_author": "Harald Freudenberger", "top_author_commits": 126, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/net", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z networking (OSA-Express, HiperSockets, ISM, CTC/IUCV)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/20260304012717.201797-4-ynorov@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream patch traffic still touches drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_main.c, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=networking-qeth-osa-express-hipersockets", "claim": "IBM documents qeth as the current driver for OSA-Express, HiperSockets, guest LANs, and z/VM virtual switches, and the page includes support tables reaching IBM z17 and z16." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/help-ibm-hmc-z17?topic=adapters-select", "claim": "IBM z17 HMC documentation still exposes OSD, HiperSockets, and SMC-D/ISM adapters as configurable current-platform options." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=networking-ism-device-driver", "claim": "IBM documents the ISM device driver as the Linux driver for current Internal Shared Memory vPCI devices used for SMC-D on IBM Z/LinuxONE." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig lists CTCM, SMSGIUCV, QETH, and ISM. lore_file_timeline on drivers/s390/net/qeth_core_main.c returned 293 matches since 2021 with newest activity in 2026; cited lore URL came from that MCP tool. IBM deployment evidence came from web search hits on ibm.com: qeth docs show current OSA-Express/HiperSockets/z17-z16 support, z17 HMC docs show OSD/HiperSockets/SMC-D adapters still present, and IBM's ISM driver page shows current Linux support for ISM. A lore_regex removal query timed out and local lei was blocked by socket permissions, so removal-discussion coverage is incomplete, but gathered evidence points to an actively maintained, still-deployed niche enterprise driver family with no obvious upstream replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07144128567415953, "commits_5y": 163, "substantive_commits_5y": 152, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763438522, "top_author": "Julian Wiedmann", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/scsi", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "IBM Z zFCP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241205141932.1227039-3-niharp@linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "Recent subsystem-specific maintenance in late 2024 shows zfcp is still receiving upstream fixes/reviews from IBM maintainers, not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=drivers-scsi-over-fibre-channel", "claim": "IBM documents zfcp as the SCSI-over-Fibre Channel driver for Linux on IBM Z, supporting virtual QDIO-based FCP devices and attached LUNs." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=channel-features", "claim": "IBM's current Linux on IBM Z documentation lists supported FCP/FICON adapter generations through IBM z17 and says these adapters can be ordered as hardware features, indicating new-sale relevance in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ds8870/7.5.0?topic=attachment-configuring-linux-z-systems-hosts-zfcp", "claim": "IBM storage documentation still describes configuring Linux on z Systems hosts with zFCP attachment, indicating ongoing enterprise deployment use rather than purely historical support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: all files are zfcp driver sources and local code inspection of zfcp_ccw.c shows a ccw_driver named zfcp for FCP devices. lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on drivers/s390/scsi/zfcp_fc.c showed ongoing upstream attention, including a functional zfcp patch in 2024 and multiple touches in the last 3 years; cited lore URL was obtained via lore_activity. IBM docs URLs were obtained via web search and show zfcp is the current Linux-on-IBM-Z FCP path and that supported adapter features extend through IBM z17, so hardware is still sold and deployed, but in a niche mainframe market. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for Linux-on-IBM-Z FCP access, so removal/deprecation is not justified; keep rather than keep-annotate because the hardware family is still current, not merely legacy.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17976630720069336, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1749496729, "top_author": "Benjamin Block", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/s390/virtio", "subsystem": "s390", "chipset_family": "virtio-ccw on IBM Z/s390 KVM guests", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=overview-device-virtualization-techniques", "claim": "IBM documents that KVM on IBM Z virtualizes guest devices as virtio CCW devices, indicating the transport is still part of current IBM Z virtualization deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/linuxonibm/com.ibm.linux.z.lkdd/lkdd_c_ccwdd.html", "claim": "IBM's Linux on IBM Z documentation describes the virtio CCW transport driver as the guest transport for KVM-provided virtual CCW devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/S390_GUEST.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows current kernel support paths for s390 guest virtio/CCW support and maps `drivers/s390/virtio/virtio_ccw.c` to recent kernel series." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.5/virt/kvm/s390/s390-diag.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes virtio-ccw handling for s390 KVM guests, showing the transport remains part of the documented virtualization stack." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `sed` inspection showed this directory is the `virtio_ccw` transport driver for ccw-based virtio on s390/IBM Z guests. Local `git log` (with `-c safe.directory=...`) showed ongoing maintenance through 2025-2026 and no directory-specific deprecation/removal commits, so there is no evidence of active upstream removal talk. Web search found current IBM docs and LKDDb pages confirming virtio-ccw is still a live IBM Z KVM guest transport, but deployments are niche rather than broad. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: keep it upstream, but annotate as low-deployment, architecture-specific virtualization infrastructure rather than broadly deployed hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1436268426, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744193561, "top_author": "Halil Pasic", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/sbus/char", "subsystem": "sbus", "chipset_family": "Sun/Oracle SPARC platform service devices and Oracle DAX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2021, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250723040753.3231242-1-chenyuan0y@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/sbus/char/openprom.c` still received an upstream bug-fix patch in 2025, so the directory is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.oracle.com/servers/sparc/m8-8/features.html", "claim": "Oracle's SPARC server page still advertised SPARC M8/T8-era systems and explicitly mentioned data analytics accelerators, indicating at least some in-directory hardware remained commercially positioned in the 2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.oracle.com/assets/sparc-m8-processor-ds-3864282.pdf", "claim": "Oracle's SPARC M8 processor datasheet says the chip incorporates on-chip Data Analytics Accelerator (DAX) engines, directly matching `oradax.c`." }, { "url": "https://dogemicrosystems.ca/pub/Sun/System_Handbook/Sun_syshbk_V3.4/Devices/System_Board/SYSBD_SPARCengine_CP1400.html", "claim": "The CP1400 board named by `display7seg.c` is a legacy Sun CompactPCI board, supporting the conclusion that much of the directory targets old SPARC platform-management hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Mixed legacy SPARC service-driver directory: `openprom`, flash/envctrl/i2c, 7-seg, Tadpole microcontroller, plus Oracle DAX. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/sbus/char/openprom.c)`, which showed 2022-2025 activity and yielded the cited lore URL; I found no positive removal signal, only ongoing maintenance. Hardware evidence came from local source/Kconfig inspection plus web search URLs: Oracle M8/T8 pages and the M8 DAX datasheet tie `oradax.c` to relatively newer but niche enterprise SPARC systems, while the CP1400 handbook confirms other covered devices are long-legacy. Net: not a removal candidate, but strongly legacy overall, so keep with annotation rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.37852060060271686, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1720705323, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the top-level SCSI subsystem directory containing multiple distinct host/transport drivers plus shared core code, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012876643534498746, "commits_5y": 1590, "substantive_commits_5y": 1561, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773971842, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 360, "c_file_count": 116, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/aacraid", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Adaptec AACRAID / PMC Series 6-8 RAID controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": "smartpqi", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20250618192427.3845724-1-jmeneghi@redhat.com/", "claim": "aacraid still receives substantive upstream fixes in 2025, with review/testing from Microchip and Red Hat, indicating an active but niche installed base rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251014220323.3689699-1-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "aacraid had direct functional bug-fix traffic in late 2025, not just treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/media-center/blog/2020/smart-storage-platform-portfolio-entry-level-adaptec-raid-adapters", "claim": "Microchip positioned SmartRAID 3100E as a migration path from older Adaptec Series 8E hardware in 2020, showing the aacraid-era product line had already become legacy by then." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/storage/adaptec-smartraid-raid-adapters", "claim": "Microchip's current Adaptec RAID product page markets SmartRAID 3100/3200 families, not the older Series 6/7/8 generation handled by aacraid." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/scsi/smartpqi.html", "claim": "The upstream smartpqi driver covers newer Microchip/Adaptec Smart Storage RAID controllers, making it the natural replacement path for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection via exec_command (`rg`/`sed`) shows `SCSI_AACRAID` is a real PCI SCSI RAID driver and names Adaptec/Dell/HP/IBM/ICP products; `linit.c` enumerates older Adaptec AAC and PMC Series 6/7/8 devices. Lore evidence was obtained with `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/aacraid/linit.c`; it shows ongoing 2025-2026 bug-fix/API-adaptation traffic, so removal is not justified. Web search obtained the two Microchip URLs showing current SmartRAID offerings and the 2020 migration statement from Series 8E; together these indicate the hardware family behind aacraid is legacy and unlikely to be sold new in 2025. `https://docs.kernel.org/scsi/smartpqi.html` is a canonical recall URL for the upstream replacement family used by newer Adaptec/Microchip Smart Storage products. Net: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/maintenance-mode rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11259708962261647, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761274860, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/aic7xxx", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Adaptec AIC77xx/AIC78xx Fast-to-Ultra160 SCSI HBAs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20231201025955.1584260-3-suhui@nfschina.com/", "claim": "Upstream still sees non-mechanical maintenance for aic7xxx; this 2023 linux-scsi patch fixes return-value handling in the driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_AIC7XXX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX is still present in current kernels and covers Adaptec PCI plus EISA/VLB SCSI hardware, indicating the driver remains upstream-supported for legacy adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/storage/smart-storage-platform", "claim": "Microchip's current Adaptec-branded storage adapters are modern PCIe Gen4 tri-mode SAS/SATA/NVMe products, not parallel-SCSI AIC77xx/AIC78xx boards." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/corporate-overview/acquisitions/adaptec", "claim": "Microchip treats Adaptec as an acquired legacy product line and points users to newer equivalent products, reinforcing that the original AIC7xxx-era hardware is long obsolete in the new-sales market." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate: the hardware family is clearly legacy parallel-SCSI (Kconfig/docs in local tree and LKDDb), and current Microchip Adaptec offerings are newer SAS/SATA/NVMe adapters, so new 2025 sales for AIC77xx/AIC78xx are unlikely. But removal evidence was not found, and lore activity shows real upkeep rather than total abandonment; lore_file_timeline on drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx_osm_pci.c returned 2023 fix traffic and 2024 treewide touches. Source acquisition: lore URL from MCP lore_file_timeline; LKDDb URL from web search; Microchip URLs from web search. No natural in-tree replacement exists for the same exact controllers, so replacement_driver is null. Deployments today are likely low: mostly legacy servers, industrial/embedded holdouts, and retro hardware rather than new deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16454605160186725, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755068368, "top_author": "Hannes Reinecke", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aicasm", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the aicasm sequencer assembler/build helper for the aic7xxx subsystem, not kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1736549559, "top_author": "wangdicheng", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/aic94xx", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Adaptec AIC94xx SAS/SATA 3Gb/s PCI-X", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_AIC94XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as the Linux driver for Adaptec AIC94xx SAS/SATA 3Gb/s 64-bit PCI-X host adapters, including AIC-9410W-class devices." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/ME2PR01MB3156AB7DCACA206C845FC7E8AFFDA@ME2PR01MB3156.ausprd01.prod.outlook.com/", "claim": "A 2025 linux-scsi patch fixes a use-after-free in aic94xx and is CCed to stable, showing current upstream bug-fix attention." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/corporate-overview/acquisitions/adaptec", "claim": "Microchip's current Adaptec storage portfolio is presented as modern PCIe 12G/24G SAS/SATA/NVMe adapters rather than legacy 3Gb/s PCI-X HBAs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/content/dam/mchp/documents/DCS/ProductDocuments/Brochures/Adaptec-HBA-and-Smart-HBA-Series-DS00005852.pdf", "claim": "Recent Adaptec HBA literature covers 12 and 24 Gbps PCIe Gen3/Gen4 products, reinforcing that current-new deployments have moved far beyond AIC94xx-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://storage.microsemi.com/nr/rdonlyres/e7d45acd-8c90-4012-aa3f-7113b63de5ab/0/raid4000_jp.pdf", "claim": "An older Adaptec RAID 4000 datasheet ties the AIC-9410W controller to PCI-X-era storage products, consistent with legacy-server deployment rather than 2025-new design wins." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` of Kconfig/source identified the family as Adaptec AIC94xx/AIC-9410W 3Gb/s PCI-X. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits (likely path-level blind spot), but `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/aic94xx/aic94xx_init.c` surfaced a 2025 linux-scsi UAF fix, so this is not abandoned and should not be slated for removal. Web search found LKDDb plus Microchip's current Adaptec portfolio/brochure and an older AIC-9410W RAID-era datasheet; together they support 'legacy hardware, low ongoing deployments, not sold new in 2025'. No natural in-kernel replacement driver exists for the same chipset; replacement is hardware migration to newer SAS HBAs, so recommendation is `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11479962108827621, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1156863149, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762998643, "top_author": "John Garry", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/arcmsr", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Areca ARC11xx/12xx/16xx/18xx SAS/SATA/Tri-Mode RAID controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260115210357.2501991-6-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "arcmsr still receives upstream compatibility work in 2026 as part of SCSI API churn handling." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20250605075047.218827-1-lijun01@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "arcmsr saw driver-specific maintenance patches in 2025 rather than abandonment or removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.areca.com.tw/products/trimode-1886.html", "claim": "Areca lists ARC-1886 tri-mode RAID adapters as current products, with 2025/08/29 manual and 2026/02/09 firmware downloads, indicating ongoing sale/support beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.areca.us/products/nvme-1886.html", "claim": "Areca US product page shows ARC-1886 variants and current downloads, supporting that compatible hardware remained sold new around 2025-2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of driver files identified this as the Areca ARC11xx/12xx/16xx/188x RAID driver and showed supported SATA/SAS/NVMe generations. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/arcmsr/arcmsr_hba.c` showed steady 2025-2026 touch activity and no obvious removal series; cited lore URLs came from that tool's event list. Web search found current official Areca product pages with recent manuals/firmware, so the hardware family still appears commercially sold but as a niche enterprise/storage adapter line. Because upstream activity is real and hardware is still sold, removal/deprecation is not justified; annotate at most for low-volume legacy/niche deployment and vendor-specific scope.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15572554254993748, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1154114020, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755068368, "top_author": "ching Huang", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/arm", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Acorn Archimedes/Risc PC SCSI expansion cards using FAS216 / NCR53C9x-family controllers", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1998, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260115210357.2501991-6-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "The directory still receives upstream maintenance touches; `drivers/scsi/arm/fas216.c` was included in a 2026 linux-scsi API-conversion series, indicating code is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_ACORNSCSI_3.html", "claim": "One supported target is the 'Acorn SCSI card (aka30)', defined in `drivers/scsi/arm/Kconfig`, tying this directory to Acorn-specific legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_ARXESCSI.html", "claim": "Another supported target is 'ARXE SCSI support' for Acorn Archimedes-era hardware; LKDDb shows it remains buildable in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes", "claim": "Acorn Archimedes systems were introduced in 1987 and the family was sold only until the mid-1990s, placing the supported host platform firmly in legacy status." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Computers", "claim": "Acorn Computers was effectively dismantled in 1999, reinforcing that this ecosystem is long obsolete and not a source of new mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of `drivers/scsi/arm/Kconfig` shows all selectable drivers depend on `ARCH_ACORN` and target Acorn-specific cards (Acorn/ARXE/Cumana/EESOX/PowerTec/Oak). `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/arm/fas216.c` returned 32 hits in the last 5 years, with recent tree/API maintenance from linux-scsi but no evidence gathered of active new-feature demand. Web search produced LKDDb pages for `SCSI_ACORNSCSI_3` and `SCSI_ARXESCSI`, plus Wikipedia pages for Acorn Archimedes and Acorn Computers; together these show the hardware platform is legacy, not sold new in 2025, and likely survives only in retro/industrial hobbyist deployments. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Acorn host adapters, so deprecate is safer than immediate removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2247578753954607, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1739416855, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/be2iscsi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Emulex OneConnect BladeEngine 2/3", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260321191722.19235-3-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "be2iscsi still receives upstream code cleanup in 2026; not obviously abandoned or under active removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BE2ISCSI.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_BE2ISCSI to Emulex/ServerEngines BladeEngine2/3 and OneConnect iSCSI PCI IDs, and shows the driver still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12356161", "claim": "Broadcom-hosted Emulex datasheet identifies OCe11102-I as a 10Gb Ethernet iSCSI adapter in the OneConnect family, indicating an older 10GbE offload product line rather than a current mainstream platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kernel inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified Emulex/OneConnect/BladeEngine 2/3 PCI IDs and branding. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/be2iscsi/be_main.c`, which showed substantive 2026 maintenance and no removal signal in the returned activity; cited lore URL is from that tool output. LKDDb URL came from web search and confirms the exact hardware family plus continued Kconfig presence. Broadcom datasheet URL came from web search and anchors the product family as older 10GbE iSCSI-offload hardware. Conclusion: hardware looks legacy and unlikely to be sold new in 2025, but upstream activity is still real, so deprecation should be limited to annotation rather than removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07014260150353885, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1254495033, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769225947, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/bfa", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "QLogic BR-series Fibre Channel HBA / CNA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241023011809.63466-1-yebin@huaweicloud.com/", "claim": "A real bug-fix patch for bfa landed on linux-scsi in October 2024 ('fix use-after-free in bfad_im_module_exit()'), showing the driver still gets functional maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/efdec8425981e10fc398fa2ac599c9c45d930561.1737318548.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "bfad.c was still being touched on linux-scsi in January 2025, but for a treewide API cleanup ('Constify struct pci_error_handlers'), not a removal effort." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/fibre-channel-adapters-and-controllers.html", "claim": "Marvell's current QLogic Fibre Channel lineup advertises 2500, 2670, 2690, 2740/2760, 2770, 2870, 2600, 2700 and 2800 families; BR-series is absent from the current marketed portfolio." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/fibre-channel-adapters-and-controllers/2670-series.html", "claim": "Marvell's current 16GFC QLogic 2670 series covers the same FC HBA / converged-adapter deployment niche, indicating the use case persists but on newer hardware families rather than BR-series adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'QLogic BR-series Fibre Channel HBA Driver' and supported models spanning 4/8/10/16Gb FC/CNA variants. lore_activity on drivers/scsi/bfa/bfad.c returned 2024-2025 linux-scsi traffic with one real bug fix and otherwise mostly maintenance/treewide cleanups; lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no hits, so there is no lore evidence here of an active removal series. Web search plus direct open on Marvell product pages showed current QLogic FC offerings are newer families and do not list BR-series. Conclusion: hardware looks legacy and likely only remains in installed enterprise/blade/SAN fleets, but upstream still sees enough maintenance that outright deprecation/removal would be premature; keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/old-hardware support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07072000533421713, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1254494860, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767558488, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/bnx2fc", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom/QLogic NetXtreme II 57xx FCoE offload CNA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260312211636.3245119-13-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "Upstream still sees recent functional maintenance in 2026 (e.g. bnx2fc lock-context-analysis prep), so it is not abandoned or under obvious removal." }, { "url": "https://lenovopress.lenovo.com/tips0846-broadcom-netxtreme-10gbaset", "claim": "OEM product guide for Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM57810/BCM57712 adapters marks the family as withdrawn from marketing, indicating legacy rather than current-new hardware." }, { "url": "https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/340042/fcoe-configuration-and-basic-troubleshoo.html", "claim": "Broadcom still documents FCoE offload setup for NetXtreme II devices, showing the hardware remains in supported legacy enterprise use." }, { "url": "https://hcl.xenserver.com/networkadapters/77/Broadcom_Corporation_NetXtreme_II_BCM57810_10_Gigabit_Ethernet", "claim": "Citrix Hypervisor HCL still lists BCM57810 with FCoE support, suggesting some remaining deployed installed base in virtualization/storage environments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/docs identified this as the Broadcom/QLogic FCoE offload driver tied to NetXtreme II/CNIC hardware. `lore_file_timeline` on bnx2fc files showed continued 2025-2026 maintenance and no removal discussion. Web search results yielded Lenovo's withdrawn-product page plus Broadcom and Citrix support/HCL pages, which together point to old, no-longer-new hardware with a small but real legacy enterprise footprint. Chosen `keep-annotate` because hardware is obsolete for new purchases, but upstream and deployed-base signals are still nontrivial.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11478422522159838, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1298940027, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/bnx2i", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom/QLogic NetXtreme II iSCSI offload (BCM5706/5708/5709/57710/57711/57712)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": "iscsi_tcp", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241211154035.75565-5-frederic@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists on bnx2i in late 2024, indicating the driver is still build-maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_BNX2_ISCSI.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies bnx2i as the kernel's NetXtreme II iSCSI offload driver and shows it remains configurable in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1225/bcrm_1cs57712_pb00_r.pdf", "claim": "BCM57712 is an older Cisco UCS-focused NetXtreme II converged NIC with TOE/iSCSI/FCoE, tying bnx2i hardware to legacy server generations rather than current platforms." }, { "url": "https://texas.gs.shi.com/product/25438791/Broadcom-NetXtreme-II-57712", "claim": "A 2025 reseller page shows BCM57712 only as limited-stock legacy hardware for Cisco UCS C200/C210/C220/C240/C250/C260/C460 M2/M3 systems, suggesting residual replacement demand rather than broad new deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/bnx2i/bnx2i_init.c` returned recent linux-scsi/lkml patches, but they are generic maintenance/API churn rather than evidence of growth or removal. `web search` found LKDDb confirming the driver is still present and the Cisco/SHI pages tying supported silicon to early-2010s UCS generations. I infer the hardware is legacy, still possibly seen in installed base/spares, but not meaningfully sold into new 2025 deployments. That supports `keep-annotate`: retain for legacy users, annotate as old offload hardware, no evidence here for active removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2452538764398997, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1244560965, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1745440830, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/csiostor", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T5/T6 FCoE offload adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/csiostor/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the Chelsio FCoE driver and describes support for Chelsio converged network adapters." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/csiostor/csio_init.c", "claim": "Current source probes only T5/T6 cards and ships T5/T6 firmware names, indicating the maintained hardware scope is Chelsio T5/T6 FCoE offload adapters." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/efdec8425981e10fc398fa2ac599c9c45d930561.1737318548.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "The driver received a linux-scsi patch in January 2025, showing ongoing upstream touch rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/AS8PR02MB7237BA2BBAA646DFDB21C63B8B392@AS8PR02MB7237.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com/", "claim": "The driver received another linux-scsi fix/cleanup patch in March 2024, consistent with active maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio's current Unified Wire Adapters page markets T6 adapters and explicitly lists FCoE offload among supported functions." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/t6225-cr/", "claim": "A current Chelsio T6 adapter product page advertises FCoE capability on a sellable adapter family, supporting that compatible hardware remained commercially offered into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a dead driver: local shell inspection of Kconfig/source showed a real PCI SCSI/FCoE driver, with current code narrowed to T5/T6 hardware despite older Kconfig wording. lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on csio_init.c showed touches through 2025-01 and a stable inclusion in 2026-02; I also attempted a removal-subject search via lore_regex (timed out) and lei (blocked by local sandbox), so I found no positive evidence of an active removal series. Web search found Chelsio's current Unified Wire/T6 product pages still advertising FCoE offload, so the hardware looks niche but not extinct. Recommendation is keep-annotate because upstream activity exists, but deployments are likely limited to legacy/specialized datacenter storage environments and there is no clear upstream replacement driver for the same hardware-offload use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06742608732527854, "commits_5y": 27, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1353992439, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770176012, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/cxgbi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Chelsio T3 and T4-T6 Unified Wire iSCSI offload adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb3i/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes `SCSI_CXGB3_ISCSI` as Chelsio T3 iSCSI support." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb4i/cxgb4i.c", "claim": "Upstream source identifies `cxgb4i` as the Chelsio T4-T6 iSCSI driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/aB2X0jCKQO56WdMt@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb4i/cxgb4i.c` was still being touched in 2025 treewide work, with no removal/deprecation subject evidence surfaced from lore queries." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio's Unified Wire Adapters page advertises T6 adapters with iSCSI offload for storage/cloud/HPC deployments." }, { "url": "https://store.chelsio.com/collections/unified-wire-adapters", "claim": "Chelsio's online store listed T5/T6-era Unified Wire adapters for sale in 2026, including T580 and T62100/T6225 models." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/legacy-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio marks some T5/T6 adapter SKUs as legacy/EOL, showing the family is aging and only partly current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree: local inspection showed cxgb3i, cxgb4i, and shared libcxgbi code. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall used to corroborate local source/Kconfig inspection. Lore evidence came from MCP `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb4i/cxgb4i.c`; `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no matches and subject searches timed out, so there is no positive removal-thread evidence. Web evidence came from `web.search_query` plus `web.open` on Chelsio product, store, and legacy pages. Net: specialized but still-sold niche storage/offload hardware, low deployment volume, some recent upstream maintenance, so keep but annotate as aging/niche rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.37455218767241, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1283707715, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1726186814, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb3i", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator 3 (T3)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": "cxgb4i", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20230322195515.1267197-50-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "Last clearly non-treewide upstream touch affecting cxgb3i.c was a 2023 linux-scsi maintenance patch, indicating very low subsystem-specific activity." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250507175338.672442-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "Most recent 2025 touch on cxgb3i.c was part of a large treewide timer API rename, not evidence of active feature work or user-driven maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/category/asic-solutions/", "claim": "Chelsio's current ASIC/product lineup highlights newer Terminator generations (T5/T6/T7), with no current T3 offering shown." }, { "url": "https://service.chelsio.com/driver-archives.html", "claim": "Chelsio classifies Terminator 3 firmware and EEPROM packages under archive downloads with dates concentrated in 2007, consistent with legacy status." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/chelsio-delivers-new-t3-based-unified-wire-including-pci-express-gen-2-and-10gbase-t-adapters-1250629200/", "claim": "Chelsio was still announcing new T3-based adapters in 2009, which is a reasonable upper bound for broad new-market availability." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/chelsio-delivers-industrys-first-ethernet-silicon-for-unified-fabric-1159131600/", "claim": "Terminator 3 was introduced in 2006 as Chelsio's third-generation 10GbE/iSCSI offload silicon, confirming the hardware generation is very old." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Driver directory is a real kernel driver: Kconfig says 'Chelsio T3 iSCSI support' and cxgb3i.c identifies itself as the Chelsio T3 iSCSI driver. `lore_file_timeline` on cxgb3i.c showed only treewide/mechanical 2025 edits plus the last substantive linux-scsi maintenance in March 2023; the attempted `lore_regex` removal-subject scan timed out, so there is no positive evidence of an active removal series, only sparse maintenance. Web search found Chelsio's current ASIC page (T5/T6/T7 only), Chelsio's archive-download page for T3 firmware, and 2006/2009 T3 announcement pages; together they indicate T3 is long obsolete and not a 2025 new-sales platform. Present deployments are likely legacy storage/offload installations only. `cxgb4i` is the natural upstream successor for the same Chelsio iSCSI offload niche, but only for newer hardware generations, so deprecate is stronger than keep-annotate but weaker than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.8746649600782128, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1283707763, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1679699997, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb4i", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Chelsio T4-T6 Unified Wire iSCSI offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.66, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250507175338.672442-11-mingo@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2025 touch to cxgb4i was part of a large treewide timers rename series, indicating maintenance noise rather than device-specific feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/", "claim": "Chelsio still markets T6 Unified Wire and Server Offload adapters, including models with TOE/iSCSI offload capability, so the hardware family was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Adapter-Selector-Card.pdf", "claim": "Chelsio's current product selector lists T6 ASIC-based adapters and explicitly advertises iSCSI offload support on those products." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/storage-initiator-ecosystem/", "claim": "Chelsio continues to position T6 as an iSCSI storage-offload platform, suggesting the driver still serves a real but specialized deployment niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` identified this as the Chelsio T4-T6 iSCSI driver (`DRV_MODULE_DESC` says T4-T6). `lore_file_timeline` and `lore_activity` showed recent hits are mostly treewide cleanups, with no clear removal thread; `lore_regex` found no deprecation/removal discussion. Vendor evidence came from web search results on chelsio.com showing T6 adapters and iSCSI offload still marketed in 2025. That supports keeping the driver, but annotating it as low-activity, niche datacenter/storage-offload code with low present-day deployment and no obvious in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 1.0205035701662573, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1283707747, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1645582264, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/device_handler", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "SCSI multipath array handlers (ALUA/RDAC/EMC CLARiiON/HP MSA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260310114925.1222263-5-john.g.garry@oracle.com/", "claim": "March 2026 linux-scsi patch series proposed creating a core ALUA driver and touched scsi_dh_alua heavily, showing active upstream evolution rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260416165512.26497-2-brian@purestorage.com/", "claim": "April 2026 linux-scsi patch from Pure Storage adjusted ALUA timeout handling, indicating current vendor use and testing of the ALUA handler." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/10/html-single/configuring_device_mapper_multipath/index", "claim": "Current RHEL 10 multipath documentation still documents the emc, rdac, hp_sw, and alua hardware handlers, and notes kernels auto-attach handlers for known devices including SCSI-3 ALUA." }, { "url": "https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/e-series-family/", "claim": "NetApp still publishes current E-Series storage-family documentation, supporting that at least the RDAC-targeted family remains a live product line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` inspection of local Kconfig/source showed this is a real SCSI device-handler driver directory covering ALUA, RDAC, EMC CLARiiON, and HP/COMPAQ active-passive arrays. `lore_activity` on scsi_dh_alua.c returned multiple 2025-2026 linux-scsi patches from Oracle, SUSE, and Pure Storage, including refactoring toward a core ALUA implementation, which is strong keep evidence and not removal talk. `web.search_query` found current RHEL 10 docs still documenting these handlers and current NetApp E-Series docs, so the directory still maps to deployed enterprise SAN hardware; annotate because ALUA is clearly current but hp_sw/emc/rdac are more legacy vendor-specific tails within the same directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11783666057012383, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1212675820, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/elx/efct", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom/Emulex Lancer Gen6/Gen7 Fibre Channel HBA (LPe31000/LPe36000 series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_EFCT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SCSI_EFCT is the in-tree efct module for Emulex Fibre Channel Target, present through current kernel heads, and matches PCI IDs 10df:e307 and 10df:f407 used by this driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/Emulex-branded-FC-HBA-Product-Line", "claim": "Broadcom's current Emulex Fibre Channel HBA product guide still lists both LPe36000 and LPe31000 families, indicating ongoing product-line support and market presence." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/LPe35000-LPe36000-PB", "claim": "A 2025-published Broadcom product brief documents the LPe36000-series as current Gen 7 Fibre Channel HBAs." }, { "url": "https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-introduces-worlds-first-64g-fibre-channel-emulex-host", "claim": "Broadcom announced immediate availability of the Emulex Gen 7 LPe36000-series in 2021, aligning with the driver's LPE36000 device string." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/BC00-0365EN", "claim": "Broadcom product brief for LPe31004/LPe32000 documents LPe31004-M6 models, aligning with the driver's LPE31004 device string." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of efct_driver.c and efct_hw.h showed this is a real PCI FC target driver for Emulex/Broadcom devices e307/f407, with model strings LPE31004 and LPE36000. Local shell git log (git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/scsi/elx/efct) showed substantive upstream activity through 2025-06-27 and 2026-01-28 plus treewide touches in 2026, so maintenance is active rather than dormant. Web search on lore.kernel.org queries for efct/removal returned no hits, so I found no evidence of an active upstream removal series. URLs were obtained via web search; the kernel activity evidence came from local shell commands. Because Broadcom still publishes current product material covering both supported families and the driver is actively maintained, this is not a deprecation candidate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 50, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1623814771, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770174128, "top_author": "James Smart", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/elx/libefc", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `libefc` is an internal helper/library subdirectory under the elx SCSI subsystem, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1623814769, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1724375324, "top_author": "James Smart", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/elx/libefc_sli", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal Emulex/efc SLI helper library subdirectory under drivers/scsi/elx, with no standalone driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1623814768, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1744421296, "top_author": "James Smart", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/esas2r", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "ATTO ExpressSAS R6xx / 6Gb RAID", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/esas2r/Kconfig", "claim": "In-tree Kconfig describes this as the driver for ATTO Technology ExpressSAS R6xx SAS/SATA RAID controllers." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_main.c", "claim": "Driver source header and module metadata identify ATTO ExpressSAS R6xx RAID hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241216-sysfs-const-bin_attr-scsi-v1-4-f0a5e54b3437@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches still reach this driver, but the visible activity is treewide maintenance/API churn rather than product-specific enablement." }, { "url": "https://www.atto.com/support/software-downloads-discontinued-products/", "claim": "ATTO lists ExpressSAS RAID 6Gb HBAs under discontinued products, says these products are no longer actively supported, and Linux packages target old distributions/kernels." }, { "url": "https://www.atto.com/support/software-downloads", "claim": "ATTO's current download catalog focuses on newer ExpressSAS 12Gb/24Gb families rather than the older ExpressSAS RAID 6Gb line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of Kconfig/esas2r_main.c/esas2r.h identified ATTO ExpressSAS R6xx models (R680/R608/R60F/R6F0/R644/R648) plus related ATTO-branded variants. lore_activity on drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_main.c showed 2022-2026 upstream traffic, but it is mostly treewide SCSI API cleanups/constification, with no clear removal thread and little sign of feature work. Web search found ATTO's discontinued-products page explicitly marking ExpressSAS RAID 6Gb as no longer actively supported and only shipping legacy software, so new 2025 sales look effectively gone. That argues for deprecate, not remove: legacy deployments likely remain, upstream still keeps it buildable, but the hardware family is firmly in legacy territory and has no obvious upstream successor driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2951119138815527, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1378218478, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1735848465, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/fcoe", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251105150336.244079-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver directory was still receiving upstream fixes in late 2025, indicating it is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20250605062014.105302-1-hare@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent \"remove\" activity was limited to deleting an internal helper function, not proposing removal of the FCoE driver stack." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FCOE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FCOE remains in current kernels as the fcoe module, showing the in-tree driver is still built and shipped." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LIBFCOE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_LIBFCOE remains in current kernels as libfcoe, and other in-tree FCoE/offload drivers still depend on it." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/products/computing/servers-unified-computing-systems/fabric-interconnects-extenders/index.html", "claim": "Cisco's current UCS unified-fabric product line still advertises Fibre Channel over Ethernet support, indicating ongoing but niche new-hardware deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/fcoe/fcoe.c` showed steady 2025-2026 traffic; cited lore URLs came from that tool. A `lore_regex` removal scan timed out, so I did not reuse it; instead I relied on the timeline hits, including a helper-removal patch that is clearly not a driver-removal series. Local `rg` against `drivers/scsi/Kconfig`/`drivers/scsi/Makefile` confirmed this directory implements `CONFIG_FCOE`/`CONFIG_LIBFCOE` and is shared infrastructure for multiple FCoE drivers. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`/`web.open`: LKDDb pages show the options are still present in current kernels, and Cisco's current UCS unified-fabric page still markets FCoE-capable products. Overall: not dead, but clearly niche enterprise/storage infrastructure, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11593285596750084, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1230571473, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762622891, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/fnic", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Cisco UCS VIC FCoE HBA / CNA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251104100424.8215-5-hare@kernel.org/", "claim": "linux-scsi saw non-treewide fnic maintenance in late 2025 (e.g. interrupt-mode configurability patch series), indicating active upstream support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260217223943.7938-1-kartilak@cisco.com/", "claim": "fnic received further functional work in 2026 (mempool use for receive frames), which argues against deprecation/removal." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/unified-computing-system-adapters/datasheet-c78-741130.html", "claim": "Cisco's UCS VIC 1400/14000 Series datasheet lists VIC 1455/1457/1467/1495 adapters as supporting Ethernet or FCoE and presenting NICs or HBAs, showing the hardware class remained a current product family into 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FCOE_FNIC.html", "claim": "LKDDB identifies CONFIG_FCOE_FNIC as the Cisco FNIC driver for Cisco PCI-Express FCoE HBA hardware, including Cisco VIC FCoE HBA PCI ID 1137:0045." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/scsi/fnic` is a real hardware driver for Cisco VIC FCoE HBAs/CNAs. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/fnic/fnic_main.c` showed sustained activity with substantive linux-scsi patches in 2025 and 2026, so this is not dormant code. Cisco product-page evidence obtained via `web.search_query` shows FCoE-capable UCS VIC adapters still marketed around 2025, but this is a niche enterprise storage-network deployment rather than mass-market hardware, so deployments are `low` not `none`. LKDDB URL was also obtained via `web.search_query` and ties the driver to Cisco VIC FCoE HBA devices. I found no evidence of an active upstream removal push within the time budget; there is also no like-for-like in-tree replacement driver for Cisco VIC FCoE HBA support, so the recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07921795894062317, "commits_5y": 96, "substantive_commits_5y": 89, "first_touch_ts": 1242267189, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763551683, "top_author": "Karan Tilak Kumar", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/hisi_sas", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Hip05/Hip06/Hip07 SAS HBA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260323134541.392468704@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable backport in March 2026: \"scsi: hisi_sas: Fix NULL pointer exception during user_scan()\", evidence of ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260323134541.366492914@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Another March 2026 stable backport: \"scsi: hisi_sas: Use macro instead of magic number\", reinforcing active bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/de/doc/EDOC1100048075/d3788af1/logical-structure", "claim": "Huawei XR320 server-node guide says HiSilicon server CPUs on the mainboard provide SAS ports, showing real server deployment of HiSilicon-integrated SAS." }, { "url": "https://info.support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100452338/e9bd4ebe/feature-differences-between-arm-and-x86-servers", "claim": "Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5.1 documentation (published in 2025 per search snippet) still carries HiSilicon-specific ARM server guidance, indicating an ongoing deployed base even if this older SAS block is not clearly still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/hisi_sas/hisi_sas_main.c`, which showed heavy 2021-2026 activity and recent 2026 stable fixes; I used the two returned lore URLs above. Local tree inspection via `exec_command` found `hisilicon,hip05-sas-v1`, `hisilicon,hip06-sas-v2`, and `hisilicon,hip07-sas-v2` compatible strings plus v1/v2/v3 driver variants, supporting the chipset-family label. Removal-discussion probe via lore subject regex timed out and a fallback `lei` query was blocked by local daemon permissions, so I rely on the timeline: it shows maintenance traffic and no obvious removal wave. Huawei deployment URLs were obtained by web search; they support a conclusion of legacy-but-real field use. No clear natural replacement driver exists for the same on-SoC HBA, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.024476232749920446, "commits_5y": 167, "substantive_commits_5y": 164, "first_touch_ts": 1448507571, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772900194, "top_author": "John Garry", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/ibmvscsi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "IBM POWER Virtual SCSI (PowerVM/VIOS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260115210357.2501991-6-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance still touches ibmvscsi in 2026 via linux-scsi treewide API updates, indicating the driver remains live rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10/9028-21B?topic=adapters-virtual-scsi", "claim": "IBM Power10 documentation describes current Virtual SCSI adapters for partitions and VIOS, matching the ibmvscsi client-driver use case." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power11/9043-MRU?topic=partition-virtual-scsi-client-adapter", "claim": "IBM Power11 documentation still exposes a Virtual SCSI Client Adapter object in PowerVM APIs, showing the technology persists in current-generation systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source/Kconfig inspection via shell confirmed this is the IBM POWER Virtual SCSI client for PPC pSeries/PowerVM, not legacy physical HBA code. `lore_activity` on drivers/scsi/ibmvscsi/ibmvscsi.c returned recent linux-scsi activity through 2026-01 and no removal signal; attempted subject-only removal/deprecation searches timed out rather than finding hits. IBM Power10/Power11 pages were obtained by web search and show Virtual SCSI client/server adapters remain documented for current systems, so this is still relevant in new PowerVM deployments. Because it serves an active virtualization/storage path and has no clear like-for-like upstream replacement, the right call is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02488402105799605, "commits_5y": 52, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773970955, "top_author": "Tyrel Datwyler", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/ibmvscsi_tgt", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "IBM POWER / PowerVM Virtual SCSI (vSCSI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260312211636.3245119-19-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "The driver was still receiving upstream maintenance in March 2026, including a targeted ibmvscsi_tgt patch for lock-context analysis preparation." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251107150542.271229-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "The driver received a late-2025 maintenance patch updating its workqueue usage, indicating ongoing upkeep rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/products/ibm-powervm", "claim": "IBM markets PowerVM as a current product, explicitly saying it is enhanced for IBM Power11 and supports Linux workloads, so the underlying platform is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10/9786-42H?topic=adapters-virtual-scsi", "claim": "IBM Power10 documentation describes virtual SCSI adapters as a current feature and states that virtual SCSI server adapters exist in IBM i and VIOS partitions." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power11/9856-22H?topic=server-configuring", "claim": "IBM Power11 VIOS documentation still instructs users to configure virtual SCSI devices, showing the virtualization stack remains current in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory purpose was confirmed with exec_command against local Kconfig/source: this is the IBM POWER Virtual SCSI server driver on pSeries. Upstream activity was checked with lore_file_timeline on drivers/scsi/ibmvscsi_tgt/ibmvscsi_tgt.c, which showed real 2025-2026 maintenance patches and no evident removal series. Platform/deployment evidence came from web search results and an opened IBM PowerVM product page; IBM still sells PowerVM for Power11 and still documents vSCSI on current Power10/Power11 systems. That supports keeping the driver, but annotate it as a niche PowerVM/VIOS-era deployment rather than broad mainstream hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12782998125852263, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1469002543, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/isci", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Intel C600/C60x Series Chipset SAS Controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20250309145044.38586-1-linux@treblig.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream touch-ups in 2025, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20240610-md-drivers-scsi-v3-1-055da78d66b2@quicinc.com/", "claim": "The driver was included in 2024 SCSI tree maintenance work, showing continued build/metadata upkeep." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_ISCI.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SCSI_ISCI is the Intel C600 Series Chipset SAS Controller driver and matches C60x-era PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/63984/intel-c602-chipset/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel C602, part of the C600 Series Chipsets family targeted by isci, is marked Discontinued and launched in Q1 2012." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/63984/intel-c602-chipset/ordering.html", "claim": "Intel lists the C602 ordering page as retired/discontinued, supporting that new hardware sales ended long ago." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_activity` on drivers/scsi/isci/init.c returned 32 linux-scsi hits in 5y, including 2025 and 2024 patch traffic at the cited lore URLs; this argues against deprecate/remove. A `lore_regex` subject scan for isci timed out, so no positive removal-thread evidence was obtained. Hardware identity came from local tree Kconfig plus web-obtained LKDDb URL. Deployment judgment is based on web-obtained Intel ARK pages showing the C600/C602 family is a 2012 server chipset and discontinued/retired; that implies legacy installed-base use only, with low but nonzero deployments today. No natural replacement driver exists because isci is for this specific integrated SAS block rather than a generic interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11521226156468632, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1309672582, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760976011, "top_author": "John Garry", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/libfc", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: `drivers/scsi/libfc` builds `libfc.ko`, a shared Fibre Channel protocol/helper library exporting symbols for other FC/FCoE drivers rather than chipset-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1394178417836238, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1230571473, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759804048, "top_author": "Javed Hasan", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/libsas", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: libsas is the generic SAS transport/helper library ('SAS Domain Transport Attributes' / 'SAS Transport Layer') used by real SAS HBA drivers, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06698083882517493, "commits_5y": 124, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1156863149, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765249711, "top_author": "John Garry", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/lpfc", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel HBAs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/scsi/lpfc", "claim": "The lpfc directory is still seeing steady upstream commits, including substantive fixes and version updates in late 2025 and February 2026." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes CONFIG_SCSI_LPFC as support for Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel PCI host adapters." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/LPe35000-LPe36000-PB", "claim": "Broadcom published a recent product brief for Emulex Gen 7 LPe35000/LPe36000 Fibre Channel HBAs, indicating the hardware family remained an actively marketed product line into 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12399657", "claim": "A recent Broadcom product brief for Cisco UCS deployments lists Emulex LPe35000 Gen 7 Fibre Channel HBAs, supporting evidence of ongoing new-system deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`keep` because local shell inspection showed CONFIG_SCSI_LPFC is a normal PCI SCSI/FC host adapter driver and `git log` showed active maintenance through 2026-02. No replacement upstream driver covers the same Emulex/Broadcom FC HBA family. Broadcom product-brief URLs were obtained via web search; kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, with activity corroborated by local `git log` and identity corroborated by local `sed` of drivers/scsi/Kconfig. Fibre Channel HBAs are enterprise-specific rather than mass-market, so deployments_today is `medium`, not `high`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 550, "substantive_commits_5y": 538, "first_touch_ts": 1113850253, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771380629, "top_author": "Justin Tee", "top_author_commits": 221, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/megaraid", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom / LSI MegaRAID SAS and legacy MegaRAID mailbox RAID controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/9600-Series-PB", "claim": "Broadcom was still publishing MegaRAID 9600 series product material in 2026 for new Tri-Mode RAID adapters, so the MegaRAID family was still sold new in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/10/html/10.1_release_notes/device_drivers", "claim": "RHEL 10.1 lists `megaraid_sas` as a current Broadcom MegaRAID SAS driver, indicating present-day distro support and deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5967909.html", "claim": "A December 16, 2025 patch targets `megaraid_mbox`, showing there is still upstream maintenance traffic even for the legacy subdriver rather than an active removal push." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MEGARAID_LEGACY.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the legacy `megaraid` driver still exists in contemporary kernel series and documents the older supported controller set, confirming the directory mixes active and legacy hardware support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local `rg` found three module entry points in this path (`megaraid_sas`, `megaraid_mbox`, `megaraid_mm`). Upstream activity is clearly alive: local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive touches through 2026-02, including vendor version bumps and bug fixes for `megaraid_sas`. For external evidence, web search found Broadcom's 9600-series product brief (new hardware still sold), RHEL 10.1 release notes (`megaraid_sas` still shipped), a 2025 public patch for `megaraid_mbox`, and LKDDb for the legacy branch. I found no removal discussion via web search on lore-oriented queries, so this is not a `remove` case. `keep-annotate` fits because the directory contains both currently relevant `megaraid_sas` code and much older legacy/mailbox support that is still maintained but clearly aging.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 101, "substantive_commits_5y": 91, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769221954, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/mpi3mr", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom SAS4100/SAS5100 Tri-Mode MPI3 storage controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-scsi/20250627194539.48851-3-ranjan.kumar%40broadcom.com/T/", "claim": "linux-scsi carried an mpi3mr bug-fix series in June-July 2025, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/5/5/1659", "claim": "mpi3mr fixes were still being selected into stable in May 2025, indicating ongoing bug-fix traffic and downstream relevance." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/9600-Series-PB", "claim": "Broadcom's 9600-series product brief describes current 24G Tri-Mode RAID/HBA adapters built on 4000-series IOC and 4100-series ROC families for server/storage deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/SAS4116W-ROC-PB1XX", "claim": "Broadcom documents SAS4116W as an eighth-generation 24G Tri-Mode ROC for server and external storage, matching the mpi3mr PCI ID family and showing the hardware family remained market-relevant." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `sed`/`rg` on Kconfig and pci_id_table showed this is a Broadcom PCI SCSI driver for SAS4116/SAS5116 devices. Local shell `git log` showed substantive mpi3mr commits continuing into 2025-2026. `lei` was unavailable, so lore evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` and `web.open`: the 2025 linux-scsi patch thread and 2025 stable patch page show active fixes, and I found no removal/deprecation thread in those lore-focused searches. Broadcom product briefs were obtained via `web.search_query` + `web.open/find`; they show 4100-family/9600-series Tri-Mode server-storage products still being marketed, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same MPI3 controller family; older mpt3sas-class drivers target different generations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 295, "substantive_commits_5y": 287, "first_touch_ts": 1622609775, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772318425, "top_author": "Ranjan Kumar", "top_author_commits": 73, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/mpt3sas", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Broadcom / LSI Fusion-MPT SAS-2 / SAS-3 / Tri-Mode SAS3.5 storage controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "mpi3mr", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/scsi/mpt3sas", "claim": "Upstream activity is current, with substantive mpt3sas fixes and feature work still landing in 2025-2026 rather than only treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_MPT3SAS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SCSI_MPT3SAS remains present through current kernel series and covers many Broadcom/LSI SAS2, SAS3, and Tri-Mode PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12397939", "claim": "Broadcom's SAS3808 Fusion-MPT Tri-Mode IOC product brief documents current-family 12 Gb/s SAS/SATA/NVMe controllers used for server and storage HBAs." }, { "url": "https://www.gigabyte.com/Enterprise/Accessory/CSA4710-rev-1x/", "claim": "An OEM server add-in card using the Broadcom SAS3808 was still being marketed recently, indicating ongoing new-system availability of mpt3sas-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_MPI3MR.html", "claim": "Broadcom's newer MPI3/24G controllers use the separate mpi3mr driver, making mpi3mr the natural successor for new designs rather than a direct replacement for installed mpt3sas hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and device-ID tables shows a maintained PCI SCSI HBA/RAID driver spanning SAS2/SAS3/Tri-Mode Fusion-MPT chips. Upstream attention was checked first via local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/scsi/mpt3sas`, which showed multiple non-mechanical fixes/features in 2025-2026 (including new 22.5 Gbps SAS link-rate support and bug fixes); the cited kernel.org log URL is a canonical recall URL corresponding to that path. A direct lore web search did not surface any removal/deprecation thread, so there is no evidence of active retirement work. Deployment is not consumer-high but remains meaningful in enterprise servers, storage appliances, and OEM HBAs. Because the hardware family is still marketed and the driver is active, removal/deprecation is not justified. `mpi3mr` is listed only as the successor for newer MPI3/24G Broadcom controllers, not as a migration path for existing mpt3sas devices.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 143, "substantive_commits_5y": 136, "first_touch_ts": 1354356557, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768186992, "top_author": "Sreekanth Reddy", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/mvsas", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Marvell 88SE64xx/88SE94xx SAS/SATA controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260418133003.2462460-3-sangyun.kim@snu.ac.kr/", "claim": "Upstream still sees direct functional fixes in 2026 for mvsas, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20251017145147.666416195@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "mvsas fixes are being backported to stable trees in late 2025, a strong signal of ongoing deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/system-solutions/sas-controllers.html", "claim": "Marvell still lists 88SE9485/9445 SAS/SATA I/O controllers on a current product page, supporting the view that the family was not fully withdrawn from vendor catalogs by 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/storage/marvell-storage-88se94xx-product-brief-2011-04.pdf", "claim": "The 88SE94xx family is an older 6Gb/s PCIe 2.0 SAS/SATA controller generation, consistent with legacy/niche rather than mainstream new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-enters-serial-attached-scsi-sas-storage-controller-market.html", "claim": "The family originated in Marvell's 2007 SAS controller push, reinforcing that this driver targets long-lived but aging storage silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identified the supported IDs/family as Marvell 88SE64xx/88SE94xx plus rebadged cards. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/scsi/mvsas/mv_sas.c`, which showed fixes through 2026 and stable backports in 2025; sampled removal-discussion queries (`lore_regex`, `lore_path_mentions`) timed out and a `lei` fallback was blocked by sandbox socket restrictions, so absence of removal talk is inferred only weakly. Marvell URLs were obtained via web search results: current product-page presence suggests still-orderable/new silicon in 2025, but the PCIe 2.0 / SAS-2 era feature set and age imply low modern deployment volume. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/niche hardware rather than a growth platform.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.12112631210600469, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 39, "first_touch_ts": 1242858072, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759181180, "top_author": "John Garry", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/pcmcia", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "PCMCIA SCSI host adapters (Adaptec AHA152X, Future Domain, NinjaSCSI, QLogic FAS408, Symbios 53c500)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2006, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/57837fce.3209.188665c4d0d.Coremail.yxj790222@163.com/", "claim": "At least one driver in this directory (qlogic_cs) still received targeted functional fixes in 2023, so the code is not abandoned upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCMCIA_QLOGIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows this directory still builds the qlogic_cs module and binds legacy PCMCIA-to-SCSI hardware such as the Eiger Labs adapter." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PCMCIA_NINJA_SCSI.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists supported NinjaSCSI cards bundled with period devices like CD-RW drives, indicating a legacy late-1990s/early-2000s hardware class rather than current products." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Card", "claim": "PC Card/PCMCIA was superseded by ExpressCard in 2003, and many laptops had no such slots by 2011, implying very low modern deployment for PCMCIA SCSI adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a real kernel driver directory with PCMCIA SCSI host drivers. Upstream history was checked via lore_activity on drivers/scsi/pcmcia/qlogic_stub.c; it showed real non-treewide fixes in 2022-2023 and broader API churn touches, with no removal evidence found in the sampled lore results. Deployment evidence came from web search results for LKDDb pages and the canonical PC Card article: the supported devices are legacy PCMCIA adapters tied to an interface already superseded in 2003 and effectively absent from mainstream laptops by the 2010s. The 2006 date is an inference from the PC Card to ExpressCard transition period, not a vendor EOL date. Because the hardware is obsolete but the code still sees occasional maintenance, keep the driver but annotate it as legacy rather than deprecating or removing it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1798825892899668, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755068368, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/pm8001", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "PMC-Sierra PM8001/PM80xx (SPC/SPCv/SPCve) SAS/SATA controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260422185215.100929-8-atomlin@atomlin.com/", "claim": "The driver is still receiving current upstream maintenance in 2026, including nontrivial integration work touching pm8001_init.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260421212218.433963-1-sagar.biradar@microchip.com/", "claim": "Microchip is still directly sending pm8001 driver patches in 2026, indicating vendor involvement rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_PM8001.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_SCSI_PM8001 to PMC-Sierra/Adaptec/ATTO SAS/SATA HBAs, including ATTO ExpressSAS H1280/H1208/H1244/H12F0 families supported by this driver." }, { "url": "https://shop.atto.com/products/12gb-sas-gt-hba-8-external-ports", "claim": "ATTO was still offering the ExpressSAS H1280 GT for sale recently; LKDDb maps H1280 to pm8001-supported hardware, showing at least part of the supported hardware family remained commercially available beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.atto.com/products/sas-sata-host-bus-adapters/", "claim": "ATTO continues to market current ExpressSAS 12Gb SAS/SATA HBAs for enterprise/direct-attached storage use, consistent with ongoing niche deployments rather than pure legacy use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via shell showed this is a real PCI SAS/SATA HBA driver with supported IDs for PMC-Sierra/Adaptec/ATTO controllers and module description naming PM8001/8006/8081/8088/8089/8074/8076/8077/8070/8072. lore_activity on drivers/scsi/pm8001/pm8001_init.c returned April 2026 linux-scsi activity, including an active scsi-wide patch touching the driver and a Microchip-authored pm8001 patch; that argues against deprecation/removal. Web search found LKDDb and current ATTO product/store pages; LKDDb links ATTO ExpressSAS 12Gb models to this driver, and ATTO still markets/sells those HBAs, so hardware is not purely historical. Deployment looks niche enterprise/storage/tape rather than broad, so low. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same PCI IDs. URL acquisition: lore_activity for the two lore links; web search for LKDDb and ATTO pages.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0329263184352738, "commits_5y": 158, "substantive_commits_5y": 156, "first_touch_ts": 1259949640, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771382143, "top_author": "Damien Le Moal", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/qedf", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "QLogic/Marvell FastLinQ 41000/45000 FCoE offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251107152349.288190-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "Recent 2025 linux-scsi patch directly touched drivers/scsi/qedf/qedf_main.c, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-cna-adapters.html", "claim": "Current Marvell FastLinQ CNA page lists 41000/45000 series CNAs and explicitly advertises FCoE offload support, indicating the hardware family remained an active product line in/after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Current Marvell 41000-series product page shows QLogic-branded FastLinQ 41000 adapters still marketed, supporting continued new-hardware availability around 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local source inspection via exec_command found PCI IDs 0x165c/0x8080 and strings naming 'Marvell FastLinQ 41xxx/45xxx FCoE' and module description 'QLogic FastLinQ 4xxxx FCoE Module', identifying the device family. lore_file_timeline on the directory returned no matches for the directory path, so I used lore_activity on drivers/scsi/qedf/qedf_main.c; that produced the cited 2025 linux-scsi patch URL, which indicates live maintenance and no obvious removal series. Web search plus direct page open provided the two Marvell URLs; those pages show the 41000/45000 FastLinQ CNA family and FCoE offload still being marketed, so this is not legacy-only silicon. Deployment is still likely low because hardware FCoE offload is a niche enterprise-storage use case, but the combination of current vendor product pages and recent upstream work argues to keep the driver. No clear upstream successor driver for the same offloaded FCoE function was found; software FCoE on generic NICs is not a like-for-like replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09220001196895634, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1487808659, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/qedi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "QLogic/Marvell FastLinQ 41000 Series", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/scsi/qedi/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes qedi as the iSCSI offload driver for QLogic FastLinQ 41000 Series Converged Network Adapters." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260417230751.117836-3-michael.christie@oracle.com/", "claim": "qedi still receives targeted upstream fixes in 2026 ('Fix command overqueueing'), indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251224082542.1562004-1-lihaoxiang@isrc.iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "qedi received a 2025 bug-fix patch for a probe-path memory leak, showing recent functional maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/41000-ethernet-adapters.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets FastLinQ 41000 Series adapters as current products, supporting new-hardware availability in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-cna-adapters/8300-fastlinq-cna/documents.html", "claim": "Marvell's current FastLinQ CNA materials still list 41000-family converged adapters with iSCSI/FCoE offload capability." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig checked with exec_command to map qedi to FastLinQ 41000 iSCSI offload. git.kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall for a stable upstream reference. lore_file_timeline on drivers/scsi/qedi/qedi_main.c produced the cited 2025-2026 linux-scsi patches, showing ongoing fixes and no visible removal trend in recent activity. Marvell product pages were obtained via web search and indicate the 41000 family remained an actively marketed product line, but this is a specialized data-center CNA niche, so deployments today are low rather than broad. No clear upstream replacement driver covers the same hardware iSCSI-offload function.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09350882758876712, "commits_5y": 56, "substantive_commits_5y": 50, "first_touch_ts": 1481745388, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000906, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/qla2xxx", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "QLogic Fibre Channel HBAs (ISP21xx/22xx/23xx/24xx/25xx and newer Marvell/QLogic 16G/32G FC adapters)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260326094249.1366353-1-d.dulov@aladdin.ru/", "claim": "Recent 2026 qla2xxx bug-fix patch with Fixes and Cc: stable shows active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251210101604.431868-8-njavali@marvell.com/", "claim": "Marvell-authored 2025 qla2xxx patch series shows ongoing vendor involvement in the driver." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/fibre-channel-adapters-and-controllers.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets a current QLogic Fibre Channel adapter portfolio, including 2690, 2740/2760, and 2770 series adapters." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/fibre-channel-adapters-and-controllers/2770-series.html", "claim": "The QLogic 2770 Series product page shows new Marvell/QLogic Fibre Channel HBAs still being sold/marketed in the current period." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/headers shows this is the in-tree QLogic Fibre Channel PCI/PCIe HBA driver, spanning legacy ISP21xx-25xx firmware families and newer FC/NVMe-capable hardware. lore_activity on drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_os.c returned active 2025-2026 fix traffic, including stable-targeted fixes and Marvell-authored work; no removal/deprecation signal appeared in the sampled recent lore. The Marvell URLs were obtained via web search and show the vendor still advertises current QLogic FC adapter families, so this is not legacy-only hardware. Because the driver has heavy recent maintenance and serves still-sold enterprise SAN HBAs, there is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same hardware family; keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02084984634546949, "commits_5y": 417, "substantive_commits_5y": 402, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772899966, "top_author": "Quinn Tran", "top_author_commits": 127, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/qla4xxx", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "QLogic ISP4xxx / ISP82xx-84xx iSCSI HBA/CNA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2017, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-scsi/msg205508.html", "claim": "Public linux-scsi patch traffic for qla4xxx existed in June 2025, showing non-trivial maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-scsi/msg205689.html", "claim": "Martin K. Petersen replied that the June 2025 qla4xxx fix was applied to 6.16/scsi-fixes, confirming current upstream acceptance." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_QLA_ISCSI.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_SCSI_QLA_ISCSI/qla4xxx to QLogic ISP4010/4022/4032 and 8022/8032/8042 iSCSI devices, i.e. an older dedicated iSCSI HBA/CNA family still present in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://access.redhat.com/solutions/7064202", "claim": "Red Hat states qla4xxx was deprecated starting with RHEL 9.4 and will be removed in a future major RHEL release." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-cna-adapters/8300-fastlinq-cna/documents.html", "claim": "Marvell's current CNA marketing focuses on newer FastLinQ families, not the older ISP4xxx/82xx/83xx qla4xxx hardware, supporting the view that qla4xxx hardware is legacy rather than current-sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real PCI SCSI/iSCSI driver: local Kconfig/Makefile inspection via shell showed CONFIG_SCSI_QLA_ISCSI building qla4xxx for QLogic ISP4XXX/82XX/83XX. Upstream activity check used local git log (shell) plus web search results on public mailing-list archives: June 18 2025 patch and June 24 2025 applied reply, plus Jan 13 2026 workqueue patch, indicate active bug-fix/tree-adaptation traffic and no obvious removal series found. Deployment evidence came from web-search hits to LKDDb, Red Hat's deprecation notice, and Marvell current product pages; together they suggest legacy enterprise installs remain, but new deployments are rare and current new-sales focus has moved elsewhere. Chose keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove because upstream is still maintaining it despite distro-level deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 40, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1159986844, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769224998, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/smartpqi", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Microchip Smart Storage PQI / SmartRAID-SmartHBA-SmartIOC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg937434.html", "claim": "April 21, 2026 stable-bound smartpqi fix with Don Brace review shows current upstream maintenance and no removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/storage/smart-storage-platform", "claim": "Microchip still markets current Smart Storage Platform products including SmartRAID 3200, SmartHBA 2200, HBA 1200, SmartROC 3200, and SmartIOC 2200, indicating ongoing new-sales availability beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.1/scsi/smartpqi.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes smartpqi as the Microchip Smart Storage SCSI driver and states it replaces aacraid for Adaptec Series 9 controllers, so there is no newer in-tree successor to smartpqi itself." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_SMARTPQI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SCSI_SMARTPQI in mainline kernels and ties it to Smart Storage PQI SAS PCI hardware, confirming it is a real shipping hardware driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: static signals already show heavy recent churn (133 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-02-04), and a shell inspection of the directory confirmed an active PCI/SCSI host driver in smartpqi_init.c rather than helper-only code. I obtained the maintenance evidence by web-searching for lore/kernel-list traffic and used the Spinics archive URL because direct lore MCP/lei access was unavailable here; that search surfaced a reviewed April 2026 smartpqi fix. I obtained the deployment/new-sales evidence by web search, then opened Microchip's current Smart Storage Platform page showing present product families. I obtained functional-role/replacement context by web search plus opening docs.kernel.org, which says smartpqi replaces aacraid on older Series 9 hardware; therefore replacement_driver is null. I obtained hardware/config corroboration from LKDDb via web search. No active removal or deprecation discussion was found in the searched public archives.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 142, "substantive_commits_5y": 133, "first_touch_ts": 1471032009, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770175412, "top_author": "Don Brace", "top_author_commits": 28, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/snic", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "Cisco UCS VIC SCSI Controller (sNIC, PCI ID 1137:0046)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241022180839.2712439-4-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream attention in linux-scsi via recent 2024 treewide API-conversion work touching snic." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/fc61b1946488c1ea8f7a17a06cf40fbd05dcc6de.1733590049.git.christophe.jaillet@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "snic was included in a December 2024 SCSI-wide cleanup series, showing it is still build-maintained upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/os-install-guides/3-1/b_Cisco_VIC_Drivers_Installation_Guide/b_Cisco_VIC_Drivers_Installation_Guide_chapter_01.html", "claim": "Cisco documents sNIC as the SCSI NIC used for Cisco UCS M-Series shared local storage / virtual drives." }, { "url": "https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/GUI-User-Guides/Infrastructure-Mgmt/3-1/b_UCSM_GUI_Infrastructure_Management_Guide_3_1/b_UCSM_GUI_Infrastructure_Management_Guide_3_1_chapter_01010.html", "claim": "Cisco states UCS Manager Release 3.1(2) and later do not support UCS M-Series servers, indicating the platform is long out of current-product focus." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_SNIC.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_SCSI_SNIC to Cisco vendor 1137 device 0046, identifying the hardware as the Cisco VIC SCSI Controller." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kconfig/local-tree inspection via shell showed SNIC is a real PCI SCSI HBA driver for Cisco device 1137:0046. lore_activity on drivers/scsi/snic/snic_main.c returned recent 2024 linux-scsi patches (URLs above); I found no successful lore evidence of an active removal/deprecation series, only ongoing treewide upkeep. Web search on cisco.com identified sNIC as specific to UCS M-Series shared-local-storage virtual drives and separately showed UCS Manager 3.1(2)+ no longer supports M-Series, so new deployments in 2025 are unlikely. Because upstream still touches the code but the hardware appears legacy and niche, this fits keep-annotate rather than remove or immediate deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05057589736620871, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1434758271, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771382244, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/scsi/sym53c8xx_2", "subsystem": "scsi", "chipset_family": "NCR/Symbios/LSI 53C8XX / 53C10XX PCI SCSI", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260115210357.2501991-6-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream build/API maintenance in 2026, so it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251211065538.146629-1-enelsonmoore@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent 2025 work touched this driver for code cleanup, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2.html", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig still ships CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2 and the supported device IDs are old PCI SCSI controllers in the NCR/Symbios/LSI 53C8XX/53C10XX family." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/scsi/sym53c8xx_2.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes this as support for SYM53C8XX-family PCI SCSI controllers and a subset of LSI53C10XX controllers, i.e. legacy parallel SCSI hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/versatile.html", "claim": "QEMU still exposes an LSI53C895A PCI SCSI HBA and explicitly recommends CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2 for Linux guests, showing a continuing virtualization niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`sym_glue.c` header identifies the hardware family as SYMBIOS/LSI 53C8XX and 53C1010 PCI SCSI controllers (local shell read of driver file). `lore_activity` on `drivers/scsi/sym53c8xx_2/sym_glue.c` showed 2025-2026 traffic, including Bart Van Assche API updates and 2025 cleanup patches; that supports keep/annotate rather than deprecate. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned zero matches, so I treated that as a directory-granularity blind spot, not evidence of inactivity. Web search returned LKDDB and kernel docs confirming the supported hardware is old PCI parallel-SCSI silicon, and QEMU docs show an active guest-emulation use case via LSI53C895A. I found no concrete upstream removal discussion in the gathered evidence. Physical hardware appears long obsolete for new sales, but virtualization and legacy deployments likely persist at low volume.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3273381967564639, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733799592, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/sh", "subsystem": "sh", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains SuperH subsystem support code and helper libraries (interrupt controller, clock, PM runtime, Maple bus infrastructure), not a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1698245411, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/sh/clk", "subsystem": "sh", "chipset_family": "Renesas SuperH / SH-4 / SH-Mobile legacy clock framework", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": "drivers/clk/renesas (Common Clock Framework)", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/b53e6b557b4240579933b3359dda335ff94ed5af.1675354849.git.geert+renesas@glider.be", "claim": "Public lore thread for a real SH clock bug fix in 2023, showing some upstream maintenance rather than complete abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/include/linux/sh_clk.h", "claim": "The in-tree API is explicitly labeled with legacy SH clock/CPG interfaces such as CONFIG_SH_CLK_CPG_LEGACY, indicating this is an older framework." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperH", "claim": "SuperH SH-3/SH-4/SH-4A based SoCs were later replaced by Arm-based generations, while many existing models reportedly remained marketed only through March 2025 under Renesas longevity programs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/software-tool/hi77504-real-time-os-superh-family-discontinued-product", "claim": "Renesas marks a SuperH SH-4/SH-4A ecosystem product as discontinued and says listed target devices are obsolete or not recommended for new designs, supporting legacy-only market status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local evidence with shell: inspected drivers/sh/clk/{core,cpg}.c and include/linux/sh_clk.h, then used local git log and rg. Local tree shows this code is a legacy SH clock framework still referenced by multiple arch/sh clock files, so it cannot be removed blindly. Local git history showed only sparse recent touches, with one substantive 2023 bug-fix whose lore URL came from `git log`; no removal-thread evidence surfaced in the inspected history. The kernel.org include/linux/sh_clk.h URL is canonical recall to anchor the legacy-framework claim. Wikipedia and the Renesas discontinued SH-4 tool page were obtained via web search and support the market conclusion: SH-3/4-era hardware is largely legacy, with at most tail-end 2025 availability and low current deployments. That combination supports keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1287405178, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741686078, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/sh/intc", "subsystem": "sh", "chipset_family": "Renesas SuperH INTC (SH-3/SH-4/SH-4A/SH-X3 interrupt controllers)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b625f934ba1c4c7feb026a484564b1f922f254c2", "claim": "`drivers/sh/intc` received a substantive upstream update on 2025-05-16 (`sh: Switch to irq_domain_create_*()`)." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=63e72e551942642c48456a4134975136cdcb9b3c", "claim": "`drivers/sh/intc` also received a real bug fix on 2024-11-30 (`Fix use-after-free bug in register_intc_controller()`), showing non-trivial maintenance rather than pure treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperH", "claim": "SuperH SH-3/SH-4/SH-4A products were replaced by newer Arm-based generations, but many existing models continued to be marketed and sold until March 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/software-tool/discontinued-tools?field_board_kit_type_value=All&items_per_page=50&order=field_board_kit_type&page=0&sort=desc", "claim": "Renesas lists multiple SuperH-family software/tool offerings as discontinued, consistent with the platform being in legacy status rather than a growth line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is real kernel-bound interrupt-controller support, not a helper-only directory: local `Kconfig`/source inspection via `exec_command` shows SuperH CPU-specific IRQ controller code (`SH_INTC`, SH-4A/SH-X3 options). Upstream activity was checked with local `git log` via `exec_command`; commits in 2024-2025 are genuine maintenance/bug-fix work, so removal would be premature. A web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion found no clear active removal thread. Deployment evidence came from `web.search`/`web.open` on Wikipedia and Renesas pages: SH-3/SH-4/SH-4A are legacy and largely displaced, but some parts were still sold into March 2025, so current deployments are best classified as low, mainly legacy/industrial/embedded. No natural replacement driver exists because this code is the architecture-specific interrupt-controller implementation for remaining SuperH systems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1286284230, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747422371, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/sh/maple", "subsystem": "sh", "chipset_family": "Sega Dreamcast Maple bus", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2001, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MAPLE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MAPLE is Maple Bus support for SH_DREAMCAST and remains present in current kernel series listings." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast", "claim": "Dreamcast hardware was discontinued on March 31, 2001, and survives mainly as a retro/homebrew platform." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20211124115654.849735859%40linuxfoundation.org/20211124115655.882871191%40linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Maple received a real functional fix in 2021: wrong return value in maple_bus_init()." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e76933a9bfa9b7f28a387f2e13cb3e689adc200d", "claim": "Maple also saw a 2024 upstream maintenance touch: maple_bus_type was made static and const." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of drivers/sh/maple/maple.c showed this is the Dreamcast Maple bus core, not a helper-only directory. Shell git log on the path showed sparse activity in 2021/2023/2024 plus later 2026 treewide churn, with no evident removal-focused series; the 2021 fix URL was obtained by web search from the observed commit history. LKDDb and Wikipedia URLs were obtained by web search. The kernel.org commit URL is canonical recall built from the locally observed 2024 commit hash. Hardware is long out of production and new deployments are effectively limited to retro/homebrew users, but the bus still underpins other in-tree Dreamcast drivers and has no replacement, so removal is not well-supported; annotate/monitor is safer than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1190357755, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1704375437, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/siox", "subsystem": "siox", "chipset_family": "Eckelmann SIOX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-hardening/20260326044725.234216-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "The core driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026 ('siox: use kzalloc_flex')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/e3c598de536deadc7efef9c21ccb49d31eb240a9.1708328466.git.u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The GPIO bus side saw substantive cleanup work in 2024, indicating active stewardship rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.eckelmann.de/en/products/refrigeration-building-management-systems/expansion-modules/", "claim": "Eckelmann still markets 'SIOX Series' expansion modules for refrigeration/building-management systems, so the hardware family remained commercially offered in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SIOX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SIOX and CONFIG_SIOX_BUS_GPIO remain present in current kernel series and identifies the supported platform/OF binding." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed a bus core plus GPIO master driver and Kconfig describes a niche Eckelmann refrigeration/control bus. MCP `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/siox/siox-core.c` and `drivers/siox/siox-bus-gpio.c` showed recent non-removal traffic through 2025-2026, so this is not dead code. Web `search_query` found Eckelmann product pages still listing SIOX expansion modules and LKDDb coverage pages. Net: niche industrial deployment remains low but extant; no natural replacement driver for the same bus, so keep upstream but annotate as niche/special-purpose rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19707196328215426, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1513671960, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757167199, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/slimbus", "subsystem": "slimbus", "chipset_family": "MIPI SLIMbus / Qualcomm NGD controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20260331-slim-ngd-dev-v2-7-9441e9c8420e@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work is still landing for this code: Bjorn Andersson posted a 2026 fix to `slimbus: qcom-ngd-ctrl`." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2026040208-udder-finisher-364b@gregkh/", "claim": "That SLIMbus controller fix was backported into a 2026 stable release, indicating ongoing supported deployments rather than orphaned code." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/slimbus.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes SLIMbus as a live SoC-to-peripheral interconnect used mainly between application processors and codecs/peripherals." }, { "url": "https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/80-PV086-1_REV_E_QRB5165_Data_Sheet.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm's QRB5165 datasheet includes a dedicated SLIMbus interface section, showing the bus still appears in modern Qualcomm platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local tree inspection shows this is a real driver/bus subsystem (`slimbus.o` core plus `qcom-ngd-ctrl` platform driver), not helper-only code. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/slimbus/qcom-ngd-ctrl.c` returned 2026 patch and stable-backport URLs, with heavy activity through 2026, so upstream attention is current and there is no sign here of removal. Web search returned the docs.kernel.org SLIMbus API page and Qualcomm QRB5165 datasheet URL; together they show SLIMbus remains a documented kernel bus and is still present on contemporary Qualcomm hardware. Deployment is not broad across general-purpose PCs/servers, so I rate it `low`, but it is still relevant in embedded/mobile/Qualcomm audio designs. No direct drop-in replacement driver exists for the same hardware class, so `replacement_driver` is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02470983153607833, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 56, "first_touch_ts": 1513677662, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773775857, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/amlogic", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson (GX/MX and newer Meson derivatives)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-amlogic/20260421-clkmsr_a1_t7-v3-2-efc00b0f9e6b@amlogic.com/", "claim": "As of April 21, 2026, this directory still receives feature work: meson-clk-measure gained A1 and T7 support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-amlogic/20260113012527.40725-1-nick@khadas.com/", "claim": "As of January 13, 2026, meson-gx-socinfo was still being extended for newer SoCs, adding S905Y4 identification." }, { "url": "https://www.seirobotics.net/list_0005", "claim": "A current OEM product page advertises Google-certified Android TV dongles using Amlogic S905Y4, showing ongoing new-device deployment in this Meson family." }, { "url": "https://sdmc-website.sdmc.tv/product/android-tv_258.html", "claim": "A current commercial OTT box page advertises an Amlogic S905Y4 design, further indicating ongoing shipment of supported Meson-family hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command shows this is real driver code: canvas IP, debugfs clock-measure, and Meson SoC-identification drivers. lore_file_timeline MCP showed active upstream attention through 2026-04-21 (clk-measure A1/T7 support) and 2026-01-13 (new S905Y4 SoC ID), with no credible removal signal; a broader lore_subsystem_churn query returned a lore coverage blind spot, and one lore_regex removal scan timed out rather than producing evidence. Web sources were obtained via web search and show Meson-family parts still shipping in current TV/OTT products. No natural replacement exists because these files provide SoC-specific identification/debug/canvas plumbing rather than a superseded functional class.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0710797443098512, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1501259107, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768291138, "top_author": "Xianwei Zhao", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/apple", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Apple Silicon SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/soc/apple", "claim": "Upstream `drivers/soc/apple` is still seeing regular mainline activity rather than removal staging." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/APPLE_MAILBOX.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_APPLE_MAILBOX` is present in current kernel ranges and documents Apple SoC mailbox support used by coprocessors for peripherals such as NVMe and display." }, { "url": "https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/03/apple-introduces-the-new-macbook-air-with-the-m4-chip-and-a-sky-blue-color/", "claim": "Apple was still launching new Apple-silicon Macs in 2025, so the underlying hardware family was still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not a helper-only subtree: local `rg` found `module_platform_driver` entry points in `sart.c` and `mailbox.c`. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/soc/apple` showed substantive fixes/features through 2026-01-18 and only a 2023 move of `apple-pmgr-pwrstate.c`, not retirement. A lore-style public-inbox search was attempted via shell using `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable; a follow-up web search found no removal/deprecation discussion. Sources were obtained as follows: LKDDb and Apple newsroom via web search; kernel.org log URL by canonical recall, used to anchor the locally observed maintenance history. This is active enablement code for currently sold Apple Silicon systems, with no upstream replacement driver for the same role, so the correct hint is `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1638850393, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768764777, "top_author": "Hector Martin", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/aspeed", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST2x00/AST27xx BMC SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-aspeed/20260203-upstream_uart_routing-v1-2-6bd5dd75ee3b@aspeedtech.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and includes new-feature enablement: AST27xx dual-node support was added to aspeed-uart-routing in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-aspeed/20250703183508.2074735-1-robh@kernel.org/", "claim": "The directory still receives routine upstream maintenance in 2025, including API adaptation work in soc: aspeed code touching drivers in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED still marketed AST2700/AST2720/AST2750 BMC products as current in 2025-era product pages, with multiple AST27xx parts listed as 'Sample Ongoing'; AST2600/AST2620 remain listed as active products." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2700/", "claim": "AST2700 is a current-generation ASPEED server-management/BMC SoC, indicating the hardware family behind this driver directory is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server_ast2600/", "claim": "AST2600 remains an ASPEED server-management/BMC SoC product, supporting continued deployment of earlier supported ASPEED generations." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: four module_platform_driver implementations plus one socinfo helper in local source. lore_activity tool on representative files showed active 2025-2026 maintenance and new AST27xx support, not retirement. No removal thread surfaced in the sampled lore results used here. Vendor product pages were obtained via web search and show AST2600 plus AST27xx-family BMCs still marketed for server management, so the deployment base is ongoing and there is no natural replacement driver beyond newer ASPEED generations using the same in-tree drivers.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.046139991612511005, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1556555794, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771802001, "top_author": "Andrew Jeffery", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/atmel", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Microchip AT91/SAM9/SAMA5/SAMA7", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250220055302.284558-1-manikandan.m@microchip.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance remained active in 2025 with a functional fix for sam9x7 handling in drivers/soc/atmel." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/84b4a7ec0025741bc3ab647671fd4e880b2ed1d5.1739555984.git.Ryan.Wanner@microchip.com/", "claim": "The directory gained new SoC enablement in 2025 via SAMA7D65 support, which argues against obsolescence or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/SAM9X75", "claim": "Microchip listed SAM9X75 as 'Status: In Production', showing this family is still being sold for new designs in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/SAMA7D65", "claim": "Microchip listed SAMA7D65 as 'Status: In Production', confirming current-market hardware covered by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is real driver/subsystem code: soc.c identifies many AT91/SAM9/SAMA5/SAMA7 SoCs and sfr.c is a platform driver for SFR nvmem on SAMA5D2/4. lore_file_timeline(tool) on soc.c and sfr.c showed recent fix/enablement traffic, including 2025 sam9x7 fixes and 2025 SAMA7D65 support, plus a 2026 cleanup conversion; no removal-oriented subjects appeared in the timeline. Web search(tool) found official Microchip product pages for SAM9X75 and SAMA7D65 marked in production, so the covered hardware is still sold and used in embedded/industrial designs. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory provides SoC identification/SFR support for these Microchip MPU families.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3512079178298326, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1490985370, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740392188, "top_author": "Mihai Sain", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/bcm/brcmstb", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM7xxx STB SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.69, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1063126.html", "claim": "April 10, 2023 Broadcom SoC pull request carried a real brcmstb fix (of_iomap leak) and removed obsolete bare-metal ARM suspend/resume code, showing pruning plus maintenance rather than full-driver removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1012331.html", "claim": "September 18, 2022 Broadcom SoC pull request included a brcmstb BIU bug fix, indicating upstream attention within the last few years." }, { "url": "https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/broadcom-set-top-box-story", "claim": "Broadcom's STB group was still actively designing and building set-top-box SoCs in the January 22, 2020 case study, so the product area persisted even as this specific BCM7xxx support aged." }, { "url": "https://www.griffindistribution.com/products/p/broadband/set-top-box", "claim": "A current distributor page still markets Broadcom set-top-box SoC solutions, supporting ongoing niche/legacy deployment of Broadcom STB hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via exec_command shows early-init/syscore/PM support code for Broadcom STB SoCs, not mere docs/tests/helpers. Upstream activity evidence came from exec_command git history plus web search snippets on spinics URLs: last substantive fixes are 2022-09 and 2023-04, with no sign of a whole-directory removal campaign. Hardware-market evidence came from web open/search on Broadcom's STB case-study PDF and a distributor listing; that supports ongoing STB business but not that these older BCM7125/73xx/72xx-era chips are still broadly sold new. Chosen keep-annotate because the code is small, still receives occasional fixes, and serves legacy deployed boxes; annotate it as legacy Broadcom STB support rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1464717994, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1680554244, "top_author": "Florian Fainelli", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/bcm/brcmstb/pm", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Broadcom STB BMIPS SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BRCMSTB_PM.html", "claim": "CONFIG_BRCMSTB_PM still exists in current kernels, and the BMIPS MIPS-side `pm-mips.c` support is still present through current HEAD data." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SOC_BRCMSTB.html", "claim": "The broader Broadcom STB SoC support remains in-tree, with `pm-mips.c` bindings still listed while the ARM PM path is gone." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=69160dd0aa68", "claim": "Upstream removed the bare-metal ARM suspend/resume code in 2023, indicating maintainers are willing to prune dead BRCMSTB PM code, but they did not remove the MIPS PM path in this directory." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=157f9533f9ff", "claim": "This directory was still touched in 2025, though the latest change affecting it was a treewide MIPS assembler-header rename rather than feature work." }, { "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadcom-proliferates-ultrahd-set-top-box-availability-with-new-hevc-chipsets-223445551.html", "claim": "Broadcom's newer widely marketed STB generation by 2014 centered on ARM-based BCM7445/HEVC parts, implying the BMIPS generation targeted by this driver is older legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.sercomm.com/en/news/3/421", "claim": "Broadcom-based STB products are still being launched in 2025, but on much newer Broadcom STB SoCs, not the older BMIPS family handled by this MIPS PM driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `exec_command` showed real hardware-facing suspend/resume code plus MIPS assembly entry paths (`pm-mips.c`, `s2-mips.S`, `s3-mips.S`), so this is a true driver directory. Maintenance signal came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log` output, then mapped to canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by stable URL recall: 2023 ARM PM removal and a 2025 treewide MIPS header update. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: LKDDb confirms the BMIPS PM path is still built at HEAD, while Broadcom/Sercomm market pages show current STB sales have moved to newer Broadcom STB silicon. Conclusion: legacy but still deployed in field on operator boxes, no natural replacement driver, and not inactive enough for removal; annotate as legacy rather than deprecate immediately.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1506365208, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756499669, "top_author": "Thomas Huth", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/canaan", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Canaan Kendryte K210", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.58, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SOC_K210_SYSCTL.html", "claim": "CONFIG_SOC_K210_SYSCTL is the Canaan Kendryte K210 SoC system controller driver, defined in drivers/soc/canaan/Kconfig, and LKDDb shows it present through 7.0-rc+HEAD." }, { "url": "https://wiki.sipeed.com/soft/maixpy/en/develop_kit_board/core_k210.html", "claim": "Sipeed still publishes an active K210 module/core-board page, indicating an extant hardware ecosystem rather than purely historical hardware." }, { "url": "https://maixduino.sipeed.com/en/hardware/k210.html", "claim": "Current Maixduino hardware documentation still describes the Kendryte K210 SoC and board platform, consistent with ongoing niche deployments." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/wireless/wireless-testing/%2B/ebe4560ed5c8cbfe3759f16c23ca5a6df090c6b5/drivers/soc/canaan/Kconfig", "claim": "The in-tree Kconfig entry is a narrow SoC system-controller driver for the Canaan Kendryte K210 platform, not a generic subsystem driver with a drop-in replacement." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on drivers/soc/canaan/*.c and Kconfig) showed a single built-in platform driver, `k210-sysctl`, for compatible `canaan,k210-sysctl`. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/soc/canaan/k210-sysctl.c` returned no matches and `lore_regex` on the exact diff header also returned no hits, so I found no evidence of active removal discussion; combined with the user's static commit metadata, that looks like low-volume maintenance rather than abandonment. A follow-up local `git log` on the path only surfaced a linux-next bookkeeping commit, so I did not treat it as substantive activity evidence. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: LKDDb for continued kernel presence, Sipeed/Maixduino docs for ongoing K210 hardware/docs presence, and kernel.googlesource Kconfig for the driver's narrow scope. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the hardware appears niche but not obviously dead, current upstream still carries the driver, deployments are likely limited to hobbyist/embedded K210 boards, and there is no natural replacement driver for this SoC-specific system controller.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.6228450969633299, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1610665726, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712331770, "top_author": "Yangyu Chen", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/cirrus", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Cirrus Logic EP93xx", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.7, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5289532.html", "claim": "Patch v11 07/38 from July 15, 2024 introduced this exact driver, showing recent upstream development rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2024/7/15/548", "claim": "The broader 2024 EP93xx device-tree conversion series included this SoC driver and other EP93xx updates, indicating active maintenance for legacy EP93xx support." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ep93xx", "claim": "OpenWrt still lists ep93xx as a working target, which is evidence of present-day niche deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EP93XX_SOC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_EP93XX_SOC present in current kernels and maps it to EP9301/9302/9307/9312/9315 syscon compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/htmldatasheets/production/667743/0/0/1/ep93xx-guide.html", "claim": "The EP93xx user guide is a 2007-era document describing the family as an older ARM9 embedded SoC line for industrial/embedded products, supporting the view that this is legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.lisleapex.com/product-ep9315-cbz", "claim": "A component listing marks EP9315-CBZ as obsolete while showing inventory, consistent with new-old-stock rather than an actively marketed 2025 product family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real builtin platform driver (`soc-ep93xx.c`) for Cirrus EP93xx syscon/auxiliary-device bring-up, not a helper library. Upstream activity check used local `git log` plus web search because `lei` was unavailable and direct lore search returned no fetchable result; the 2024 patch-series URLs from Spinics/LKML show the driver was newly added as part of active EP93xx DT conversion work, and no removal discussion was found in the available search budget. Deployment evidence came from web search hits on OpenWrt and LKDDb, which suggest the hardware persists in low-volume legacy/industrial niches. Hardware sale status is inferred as not truly still sold new in 2025 because the family is documented as 2007-era and available listings look like obsolete/NOS inventory, not current-production silicon. That argues against deprecation or removal, but warrants annotation as legacy/niche support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1726151590, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727355498, "top_author": "Lukas Bulwahn", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/dove", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Marvell Dove / Armada 510", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a1a359e12a4226f3ade63ee1c08cf21ce896a07a", "claim": "The Dove PMU code was still touched in 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cc3b17cabe9fd2881eace5b7b1581914569d62e9", "claim": "The Dove PMU code received a real bug-fix in 2023 ('add missing of_node_put'), showing some continued care for existing users." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/arm/marvell/marvell,dove.yaml", "claim": "Mainline still carries DT bindings for Marvell Dove boards/SoCs, so the platform remains supported in-tree." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-launches-armada-new-application-processors-for-next-generation-mobile-computing-and-intelligent-connected-devices.html", "claim": "Marvell introduced ARMADA 510 in 2009 for smartbooks/tablets/embedded devices, placing the SoC family firmly in an older product generation." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-joins-citrix-system-on-chip-initiative-to-bring-citrix-hdx-technology-for-thin-clients-to-market.html", "claim": "Marvell was still marketing ARMADA 510 into thin-client designs in 2012, suggesting that as a rough last widely-available period for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/soc/soc.marvell", "claim": "OpenWrt's Marvell SoC reference lists ARMADA 510 as 'aka dove' among older Marvell SoCs, with current active device focus on newer Armada families rather than Dove." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: drivers/soc/dove/pmu.c implements Dove PMU power-domain/reset/IRQ support. Upstream activity was established first from local git via exec_command: recent commits include 2026 cleanup/API churn and a 2023 bug-fix, with no visible removal trend. DT presence was confirmed from local tree via exec_command and cited with a canonical kernel.org tree URL. Deployment evidence came from web search: Marvell press pages place Armada 510/Dove in the 2009-2012 market window, and OpenWrt's Marvell SoC page treats Dove as an older legacy SoC family. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific PMU/reset/power-domain support. Recommendation is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove because hardware is obsolete for new sales, but upstream still performs occasional maintenance for legacy users.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1438792609, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767621823, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/fsl", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale QorIQ Layerscape / DPAA2 SoC support", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20260223-soc-of-root-v2-5-b45da45903c8@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/fsl/guts.c` still received upstream maintenance in 2026 (`soc: fsl: guts: don't access of_root directly`)." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/2024-10/20241013-rcpm-of_node_put-v1-1-9a8e55a01eae@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/fsl/rcpm.c` saw a 2024 bug-fix with `Cc: stable`, showing real maintained deployments rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1028A", "claim": "NXP lists the LS1028A Layerscape processor as `Active`, indicating the family covered by this directory is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP lists the LX2160A Layerscape processor as `Active`; the page also highlights DPAA2-focused networking use cases and current hardware offerings." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of local Kconfig/source identified this directory as QorIQ/Layerscape SoC support (`guts`, `rcpm`, `dpaa2-console`) for parts including LS1012A/LS1021A/LS1028A/LS1043A/LS1046A/LS1088A/LS2080A/LX2160A. `lore_activity` was used on `guts.c` and `rcpm.c`; both showed recent non-removal maintenance, and no removal evidence appeared in the sampled lore results. NXP product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` on `nxp.com` and show current Layerscape parts still marked Active. Because the code serves still-shipping QorIQ/Layerscape platforms and continues to get bug-fix/cleanup traffic, removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2103108164782829, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1450825976, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747092852, "top_author": "Michael Walle", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/fsl/dpio", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale QorIQ DPAA2 DPIO (Layerscape/LS-series)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-doc/20241031002326.3426181-2-csander@purestorage.com/", "claim": "drivers/soc/fsl/dpio/dpio-service.c was still being touched by upstream code changes on 2024-10-31, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20230804092125.81901-1-lizetao1@huawei.com/", "claim": "drivers/soc/fsl/dpio/dpio-driver.c saw upstream cleanup in 2023, showing maintenance activity rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FSL_MC_DPIO.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FSL_MC_DPIO is the 'QorIQ DPAA2 DPIO driver' and remains present through current kernel series, confirming the directory is an in-tree hardware driver." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS2088A", "claim": "NXP lists LS2088A as 'Active' and documents a DPAA2 reference manual for it, showing relevant DPAA2 hardware remained commercially active into the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1088A", "claim": "NXP lists LS1088A as 'Active' and explicitly says the processor family uses DPAA2, supporting ongoing real-world deployment of DPAA2-based systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local code inspection via shell (`rg`) shows a real fsl-mc driver entry point and identifies this as DPAA2 DPIO service code. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on dpio-driver.c and dpio-service.c; the cited lore URLs show maintenance in 2023 and 2024. Driver identity/support window came from web search to LKDDb. Deployment evidence came from web search to official NXP product pages showing LS2088A and LS1088A still marked Active and tied to DPAA2. I did not find removal evidence in the sampled lore timeline; a dedicated `lore_regex` removal-subject scan timed out and `lei` was sandbox-blocked, so 'no removal discussion' is an inference with reduced confidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.3193780382736026, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1532467135, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730666214, "top_author": "Ioana Ciornei", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/fsl/qbman", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale QorIQ DPAA1 QBMan (BMan/QMan)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5977344.html", "claim": "Public patch traffic for qbman continued in late 2025 with a functional race-condition fix, indicating active upstream attention rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5287906.html", "claim": "The parent FREESCALE SOC DRIVERS area was changed from Orphan to Maintained in July 2024, which cuts against a removal/deprecation trajectory for qbman." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LS1043A", "claim": "NXP still listed the LS1043A product as Active, showing at least one DPAA1/QBMan-capable SoC was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/nxp/nxp_ls1043ardb", "claim": "OpenWrt still tracks LS1043A-RDB as available in 2024 and supported in current 24.10.5 releases, indicating ongoing real-world deployment in embedded/networking niches." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FSL_DPAA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FSL_DPAA remains present through current kernel series and binds to fsl,bman / fsl,qman compatibles, confirming this is still an upstream-supported hardware driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is real DPAA1 platform-driver code under drivers/soc/fsl/qbman (BMan/QMan portal and CCSR drivers), not a helper-only directory, and local git history showed substantive fixes through 2026-02. URLs were obtained via web search: spinics patch thread for current activity, spinics MAINTAINERS thread for maintainer status, NXP product page for market status, OpenWrt techdata for present deployments, and LKDDb for upstream config/device continuity. The 2024 orphan note was superseded by a maintained status and later bug-fix traffic, so removal/deprecation is not supported; annotate only because the hardware is older and niche, with no natural in-place replacement driver for the same DPAA1 blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051386421923970665, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1474789138, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771854567, "top_author": "Sean Anderson", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/fsl/qe", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Freescale/NXP QUICC Engine (QE)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QUICC_ENGINE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_QUICC_ENGINE is still present in current kernels and this directory still binds real QE/QMC/TSA/QE-IC/QE-GPIO platform and OF devices through 6.19 and 7.0." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/T1040", "claim": "NXP still listed T1040 as Active, and its product page explicitly says it includes QUICC Engine support for legacy protocols such as TDM, HDLC, UART and ISDN." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/P1025", "claim": "Older QE-based QorIQ P1025 is marked No Longer Manufactured / not recommended for new designs, indicating part of the QE install base is legacy even though some newer QE-capable parts remained on sale." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains module/builtin platform drivers and QE init code (checked via shell rg and Kconfig). Upstream activity is clearly alive: local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/soc/fsl/qe` showed substantive fixes/refactors in 2024-2026, including new qe_ports_ic support in 2026-01 and qmc fixes in 2026-02; no removal discussion was found from available tooling in this session. URLs were obtained by web search/open: LKDDb for in-tree presence and device coverage, NXP T1040 page for active 2025-era sell-through, and NXP P1025 page for legacy/NRND evidence. Conclusion: keep upstream, but expect mostly industrial/telecom legacy deployments rather than broad new adoption.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.033962842473206856, "commits_5y": 94, "substantive_commits_5y": 91, "first_touch_ts": 1450825976, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771854567, "top_author": "Herve Codina", "top_author_commits": 57, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/fujitsu", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Fujitsu A64FX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220520074119.3574753-2-hasegawa-hitomi@fujitsu.com", "claim": "Driver was added in 2022 specifically for A64FX diagnostic interrupts triggered via the BMC to force panic/kernel-dump collection." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20241029074859.509587-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com", "claim": "The most recent upstream touch in late 2024 was routine platform-driver API maintenance, indicating the code is still being kept buildable rather than being discussed for removal." }, { "url": "https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products/computing/servers/supercomputer/a64fx/", "claim": "Fujitsu still markets the A64FX processor on a current product page and positions it as the CPU for Fujitsu/HPE HPC platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products/computing/servers/supercomputer/specifications/", "claim": "Current Fujitsu PRIMEHPC FX1000 and FX700 specification pages list A64FX as the CPU, supporting that new-system sales/deployments persisted into the present web snapshot." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed`) showed this is a real platform driver (`a64fx-diag.c`) for ACPI ID `FUJI2007`, enabling BMC-triggered diagnostic panic/NMI handling on Fujitsu A64FX systems. Local `git -c safe.directory ... log/show` found only 5 substantive commits since introduction, with late-2023/2024 touches being treewide platform callback conversions, not removal work; the cited lore URLs were obtained from those commit messages. Web search found Fujitsu's current A64FX product page and current PRIMEHPC specs page, which together indicate A64FX hardware remains sold in niche HPC form factors. Deployment is therefore niche but real, with no natural replacement driver because this functionality is A64FX/BMC-specific. Keep the driver, but annotate as narrow HPC-specific coverage rather than broadly deployed hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1658144228, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730477337, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/gemini", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Cortina/StorLink Gemini (CS351x / SL351x) SoC family", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/gemini", "claim": "OpenWrt still has a working `gemini` target for boards based on Cortina Systems CS351x / StorLink SL351x SoCs, indicating ongoing niche downstream deployments." }, { "url": "https://archive.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.0/targets/gemini/generic/", "claim": "OpenWrt 24.10.0 published gemini target images dated February 4, 2025, showing the platform is still built and shipped in a current distro release." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/toh/d-link/dns-313", "claim": "A representative Gemini device page identifies the DNS-313 as using a Cortina Systems QWCS3512C A3 Gemini SoC and tags it as a low-end legacy NAS platform." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Storlink", "claim": "StorLink/Storm/Cortina Gemini is described as an ARMv4 SoC family originally produced around 2005 and used for NAS-like devices, consistent with legacy-only hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence: `lore_file_timeline(path=\"drivers/soc/gemini/\")` returned zero matching events, matching the provided zero-substantive-commits signal and showing no visible upstream maintenance or removal traffic. Deployment evidence came from web search results: OpenWrt target page and 24.10.0 archive were obtained via `web.search_query`, showing current distro support in 2025 but only for an old niche target; the OpenWrt DNS-313 page and DeviWiki Storlink page were also obtained via `web.search_query`, showing Gemini is a mid-2000s NAS/router SoC family. Local shell inspection of the only C file showed this driver is a tiny SoC-init arbitration quirk for `cortina,gemini`, with no obvious successor driver. Because upstream attention is effectively absent yet downstream deployment is still nonzero, the balanced recommendation is deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1515081713, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/hisilicon", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Huawei Kunpeng HCCS", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/7/27/1691", "claim": "Upstream patch series added the Kunpeng HCCS driver in 2023 as a real hardware driver for Huawei's Cache Coherence System on Kunpeng SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5293390.html", "claim": "A 2024 five-patch series added features and bug fixes for kunpeng_hccs, showing post-merge maintenance and feature growth rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5636629.html", "claim": "In April 2025, upstream still carried cleanup work specific to kunpeng_hccs as PCC core behavior evolved, indicating active integration maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5827539.html", "claim": "In August 2025, a maintainer replied that a kunpeng_hccs patch had been applied to the Hisilicon driver tree, showing current upstream attention and no visible removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100093459/e0460eb4/overview", "claim": "Huawei documentation updated in 2025 describes TaiShan 200 servers powered by Kunpeng 920 processors for data-center workloads, indicating ongoing deployed product support." }, { "url": "https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2025/9/hc-xu-keynote-speech", "claim": "Huawei announced continuing Kunpeng server roadmap items in 2025, including Kunpeng 950 and TaiShan 950 SuperPoD availability in early 2026, supporting the view that the platform family remains current rather than legacy-only." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell showed this is the single-module platform driver `kunpeng_hccs` with ACPI IDs and sysfs functionality, not a helper library. Local `git log` showed continuous non-treewide touches from 2023 through 2025. Public evidence was gathered via web search because lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed: LKML/spinics hits show initial submission plus 2024-2025 fixes/feature work and an applied 2025 patch, with no removal discussion found in searches. Huawei support/news pages obtained via web search/open show Kunpeng/TaiShan server products and roadmap still active in 2025, so the hardware family is still relevant for new and existing datacenter deployments. No natural in-tree replacement exists for HCCS management on Kunpeng platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1691498189, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756380188, "top_author": "Huisong Li", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/imx", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NXP i.MX8M / i.MX9 SoC support", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228174750.1542406-102-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 stable-bound fix touched drivers/soc/imx/soc-imx8m.c, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20260223-soc-of-root-v2-7-b45da45903c8@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 cleanup patch touched drivers/soc/imx/soc-imx9.c, showing active mainline attention for i.MX9 support." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-processors/i-mx-9-processors/i-mx-93-applications-processor-family-arm-cortex-a55-ml-acceleration-power-efficient-mpu%3Ai.MX93", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX93 family as Active, indicating the supported i.MX9 hardware remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8M", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX8M family as Active and under its longevity program, indicating continued new-market relevance for i.MX8M parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real SoC driver code (task metadata plus local shell inspection found module_platform_driver in imx93-src.c and MODULE_DESCRIPTION strings for i.MX8M/i.MX9). lore_file_timeline showed sustained activity on soc-imx8m.c through 2026 with a real bug-fix/stable backport; lore_file_timeline also showed recent 2025-2026 maintenance and feature support work on soc-imx9.c. No removal/deprecation evidence was found; a lore_regex removal search timed out rather than producing hits, so there is no positive removal signal. Web search on official NXP product pages shows both i.MX93 and i.MX8M families marked Active, so hardware is still sold and used in ongoing embedded/industrial deployments. Replacement driver: none; this code is the native upstream support for these SoC families. Source acquisition: lore URLs via lore_file_timeline / lore_regex, NXP URLs via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05115233937551409, "commits_5y": 102, "substantive_commits_5y": 99, "first_touch_ts": 1488970547, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768703622, "top_author": "Lucas Stach", "top_author_commits": 34, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/ixp4xx", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Intel IXP4xx XScale network processors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20240814031004.3876441-1-liaochen4@huawei.com/", "claim": "Upstream still sees non-treewide fixes for this directory; qmgr received a module autoloading fix in August 2024." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250722100904.735395-1-darshan.rathod@siqol.com/", "claim": "The NPE driver was still being touched in 2025, indicating the code is not abandoned even if activity is light." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/ixp4xx", "claim": "OpenWrt still carries an ixp4xx target, but it supports only a few old boards and describes the old target as dropped after 18.06 before a limited DT-based revival in 2023." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ixp4xx/generic/", "claim": "Current OpenWrt snapshots are still produced for ixp4xx, which supports ongoing legacy deployments rather than new mainstream hardware sales." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XScale", "claim": "IXP4xx belongs to Intel's older XScale IXP network-processor family used in legacy embedded/network appliances such as the NSLU2." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection showed two platform drivers (ixp4xx-npe, ixp4xx-qmgr) selected by ARCH_IXP4XX. Lore evidence obtained via lore_file_timeline and lore_activity on both .c files: recent touches are light maintenance/fixes, with no returned removal discussion; directory-level lore_file_timeline on the folder path returned no matches, so I checked per-file instead. Deployment evidence obtained via web search: OpenWrt target page and current snapshot index show surviving hobbyist/embedded support for a handful of old boards. Wikipedia URL was obtained via web search and used only to anchor the chipset family as older XScale/IXP hardware. Result: legacy hardware with some ongoing upstream care, so keep but annotate as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.32723380634015203, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1556028135, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730477337, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/lantiq", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Lantiq XWAY XRX200", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.72, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/soc/lantiq/fpi-bus.c", "claim": "This directory contains a single small driver, `fpi-bus.c`, for the `lantiq,xrx200-fpi` compatible." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/mips/lantiq/fpi-bus.txt", "claim": "The binding documents the hardware as the FPI bus on Lantiq XWAY xrx200 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.2/targets/lantiq/xrx200/", "claim": "OpenWrt still shipped `lantiq/xrx200` images in 2025, indicating an extant legacy installed base." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantiq", "claim": "Lantiq is a defunct standalone vendor; the product line changed ownership to Intel in 2015 and MaxLinear in 2020, consistent with this being legacy hardware rather than a current new-design platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/soc/lantiq/` returned zero matching events, and `lore_regex` for patch diffs under this path over 5 years returned zero results; no visible removal discussion surfaced. Local shell (`rg`/`sed`) showed the only in-tree code is `fpi-bus.c`, matching `lantiq,xrx200-fpi`; the two kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall mirrors of the exact files inspected locally. Web search opened the OpenWrt release index and Wikipedia page. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: upstream activity is effectively nil, but there is still a low-volume supported deployment base in OpenWrt and no replacement driver for the same SoC-bus role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 4, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1504552742, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/litex", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "LiteX FPGA soft SoC controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20240123164443.394642-3-afd@ti.com/", "claim": "The driver received a functional maintenance patch in January 2024 (`drivers/soc/litex: Use devm_register_restart_handler()`), indicating ongoing upstream care rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/soc/20241029074859.509587-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "The file was still part of treewide API maintenance in October 2024 (`soc: Switch back to struct platform_driver::remove()`), with no removal/deprecation framing in the sampled lore activity." }, { "url": "https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex", "claim": "LiteX is the upstream project for building FPGA-based SoCs; the official repository describes it as an active framework for creating FPGA cores/SoCs and shows current releases in 2025." }, { "url": "https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/releases", "claim": "LiteX had 2025 releases (for example 2025.04 and later 2025.08), supporting the conclusion that the underlying hardware ecosystem is still active for new FPGA-based deployments." }, { "url": "https://github.com/litex-hub", "claim": "LiteX-Hub states it hosts collaborative FPGA projects around LiteX, including board support and 'Linux on LiteX', which is evidence of ongoing niche deployments rather than a dead legacy platform." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell read of `drivers/soc/litex/litex_soc_ctrl.c` showed a real OF platform driver for `litex,soc-controller` handling CSR validation and reset. `lore_file_timeline` on the exact C file showed 2024-2025 traffic consisting of maintenance/treewide patches and stable carry, not removal discussion; the `lei` fallback failed in sandbox due to public-inbox daemon socket permission denial. Web search returned the official LiteX repo, releases page, and LiteX-Hub pages showing active 2025 project/release activity and ongoing Linux-on-LiteX use. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: niche soft-SoC hardware with low deployment volume, but still relevant and not showing upstream retirement signals.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.41923289794957835, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1604923620, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1737313535, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/loongson", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Loongson 2K SoCs (LS2K1000/LS2K0500 family)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/LOONGSON2_GUTS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_LOONGSON2_GUTS is present from kernel 6.2 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, matching this directory as active upstream support rather than orphaned code." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/EN/product/show?id=21", "claim": "Loongson's LS2K1000LA product page describes a current low-power processor for industrial control and terminal applications, indicating the hardware class is still commercially relevant." }, { "url": "https://www.loongson.cn/product/show?id=9", "claim": "Loongson's 2K0500 product page describes embedded/industrial/BMC use cases and publishes manuals/applications, supporting continued niche deployment of the same SoC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on local tree showed this is real platform-driver code (loongson2_guts, loongson2_pm), with substantive history from 2022-11-11 through 2025-02-20 and no removal/deprecation-themed activity beyond generic platform remove API churn. Another `exec_command` found active DTS coverage for ls2k1000 and ls2k0500 in arch/loongarch/boot/dts, consistent with live platform enablement. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: LKDDb for in-tree kernel coverage, and Loongson product pages for current market evidence. Overall this is a young, niche-but-current embedded/industrial SoC support directory with ongoing upstream maintenance and no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1668438092, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740086945, "top_author": "Binbin Zhou", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/mediatek", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "MediaTek application SoCs (MTK/Genio/Kompanio families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mediatek/20260325035836.2110757-2-jason-jh.lin@mediatek.com/", "claim": "linux-mediatek saw a 2026 patch touching mtk-mmsys for subsystem-ID compatibility, showing ongoing upstream maintenance in this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mediatek/20251020074211.8942-12-xiandong.wang@mediatek.com/", "claim": "linux-mediatek carried a 2025 series adding mmsys support for MT8189, indicating new SoC enablement rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20251124-mt8196-dvfsrc-v2-10-d9c1334db9f3@collabora.com/", "claim": "A 2025 series reworked mtk-dvfsrc bandwidth calculations for MT8196 support, further showing active development on current MediaTek SoCs." }, { "url": "https://genio.mediatek.com/genio-1200", "claim": "MediaTek's Genio 1200 (MT8395) page lists Linux-oriented OS support and product longevity 'Available until 2032', evidence that supported hardware remains in current embedded/industrial sales." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/chromebooks/mediatek-kompanio-838", "claim": "MediaTek's current Kompanio 838 Chromebook SoC page shows ongoing new-product positioning for Linux/ChromeOS-class deployments in this SoC family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained lore URLs via lore_activity on drivers/soc/mediatek/mtk-mmsys.c and drivers/soc/mediatek/mtk-dvfsrc.c; obtained MediaTek URLs via web search and open on official product pages. Directory contains active SoC support drivers with recent 2025-2026 enablement for MT8189/MT8196 plus maintenance work, and I found no concrete removal evidence before tool-query limits/timeouts. Official vendor pages show current Genio/Kompanio silicon still marketed, with Genio 1200 availability through 2032, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural replacement exists because these are platform-specific support drivers for current MediaTek SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04255676906015398, "commits_5y": 239, "substantive_commits_5y": 237, "first_touch_ts": 1427711140, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768823866, "top_author": "AngeloGioacchino Del Regno", "top_author_commits": 78, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/microchip", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Microchip PolarFire SoC (MPFS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-riscv/2026-January/083629.html", "claim": "Public patch thread for a 2026 fix to mpfs_sys_controller_probe() shows the driver is still receiving upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "Microchip still markets the PolarFire SoC FPGA family as a current Linux-capable product family." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/MPFS-ICICLE-KIT", "claim": "Microchip still sells a current PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit based on production MPFS250T silicon, indicating ongoing new deployments and developer availability." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/FPGA/ProductDocuments/UserGuides/PolarFire_SoC_Icicle_Kit_QuickStart_Guide_50003930.pdf", "claim": "A 2025 QuickStart guide documents booting Linux on the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit, supporting present-day Linux deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree inspection via shell (`sed`) shows three platform drivers in this directory, all for MPFS system-controller/syscon blocks, so this is active SoC support code rather than a helper library. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/soc/microchip` shows substantive fixes and feature work from 2022 through 2026-03, with no removal/deprecation commits; a grep over commit messages found only maintenance wording around `.remove` callbacks, not removal plans. URLs were obtained by web search: the lists.infradead patch thread was found by searching a recent commit hash/subject after lore search returned no results, and the Microchip product/kit pages plus 2025 QuickStart PDF were found by web search on PolarFire SoC family and Icicle Kit. Because the hardware family is still sold and the directory has recent upstream fixes, there is no deprecation signal; keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1645789859, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773935716, "top_author": "Conor Dooley", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/nuvoton", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Nuvoton WPCM450 BMC SoC", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20221031223926.241641-1-j.neuschaefer@gmx.net", "claim": "Initial upstream posting for the WPCM450 SoC information driver; indicates the driver was added to support WPCM450 platforms rather than being a long-abandoned leftover." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230201051717.1005938-1-joel@jms.id.au", "claim": "Merged upstream in 2023 as `soc: nuvoton: Add SoC info driver for WPCM450`, with no removal context visible from the directory history." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WPCM450_SOC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_WPCM450_SOC exists in current kernels and builds module `wpcm450-soc`, so the driver remains present and selectable upstream." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_WPCM450.html", "claim": "WPCM450 platform support remains in current kernels, implying the SoC-info driver still has an in-tree hardware target." }, { "url": "https://manualzz.com/doc/25937282/supermicro-x9-wpcm450--x10-ast2400-ipmi-user-s-guide", "claim": "Supermicro documentation ties WPCM450 to older X9-generation server BMCs while X10 moved to AST2400, supporting the conclusion that WPCM450 is legacy rather than current-volume hardware." }, { "url": "https://15h.org/index.php/Nuvoton_WPCM450", "claim": "WPCM450 is an older BMC SoC used by multiple vendors and still of interest for replacement/open firmware work, suggesting residual legacy deployments rather than new mainstream sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell (`sed` on `drivers/soc/nuvoton/wpcm450-soc.c`) shows this is a tiny SoC-identification driver that only registers WPCM450 model/revision on compatible systems. Shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --stat -- drivers/soc/nuvoton` showed one real upstream addition in 2023 plus later treewide mechanical edits, and exposed the cited lore URLs; no removal discussion surfaced in that history. Web search found LKDDb pages confirming current kernel presence, a Supermicro X9/X10 manual showing the hardware generation has been superseded for many years, and a WPCM450 reference page indicating lingering legacy/open-firmware interest. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is obsolete and low-deployment, but the driver is new-ish in mainline, tiny, has no replacement, and does not show active removal pressure.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1675267896, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1675267896, "top_author": "Jonathan Neuschäfer", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/pxa", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Marvell/Intel PXA SoCs (PXA2xx/PXA3xx/PXA168/PXA910 SSP and MFP support)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.ozlabs.org/pipermail/linux-aspeed/2023-September/011033.html", "claim": "A 2023 platform-driver callback conversion series explicitly included \"soc/pxa: ssp: Convert to platform remove callback returning void\", indicating maintenance traffic rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-mediatek/2024-October/085459.html", "claim": "A 2024 follow-up series switched drivers/soc users back to struct platform_driver::remove(), covering drivers/soc broadly and matching the recent substantive touch in this directory." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PXA_SSP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_PXA_SSP is still present in current kernel series and maps to multiple compatibles including mrvl,pxa25x-ssp, mrvl,pxa27x-ssp, mrvl,pxa3xx-ssp, mrvl,pxa168-ssp, mrvl,pxa910-ssp, and mrvl,ce4100-ssp." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.1/spi/pxa2xx.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still describes the pxa2xx SPI host driver as supporting PXA2xx and compatible SSP blocks, showing the SSP layer still has an in-kernel use case." }, { "url": "https://community.toradex.com/t/pxa320-external-memory-bus/8399", "claim": "Toradex stated in 2018 that Colibri PXA320 modules would be available only until 2020 and recommended moving to Colibri iMX7, which is evidence of end-of-life migration for a notable commercial PXA module line." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this directory contains real kernel driver/support code: `ssp.c` registers a platform_driver and is consumed by in-tree PXA audio code; `mfp.c` is active SoC pinmux support used by PXA board code. Recent upstream activity found via web search is maintenance-only callback churn in 2023 and 2024, with no removal/deprecation discussion surfaced. Deployment looks legacy/embedded-only: LKDDb and kernel docs show the SSP block is still wired into current kernels, but commercial availability evidence found via web search points to PXA modules aging out by 2020. No natural replacement driver exists because this is SoC-specific support glue; the practical replacement is platform migration off PXA, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1651956976, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730477337, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/qcom", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260423-smem-v3-1-582befff289a@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current in 2026: a v3 patch for drivers/soc/qcom/smem.c was posted on April 23, 2026, with review and test tags." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20260331162439.1922486-1-mukesh.ojha@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "The subsystem is still receiving Qualcomm-authored maintenance patches in 2026, e.g. 'soc: qcom: smem: Update max processor count' on March 31, 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/09/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-5--the-world-s-fastest-mobile-system-on-a", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in September 2025 and stated it would ship in new flagship devices from multiple OEMs in the following days." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/09/new-snapdragon-x2-elite-extreme-and-snapdragon-x2-elite-are-the-", "claim": "Qualcomm announced Snapdragon X2 Elite PC processors in September 2025 for ultra-premium Windows 11 PCs, showing ongoing new-design Qualcomm SoC deployments beyond phones." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/soc/qcom` is active Qualcomm SoC support code, not a legacy orphan: lore MCP `lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/soc/qcom/smem.c` showed active 2026 patch traffic, reviews, and testing, which matches the directory-level static stats (571 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2026-03-19). Qualcomm press-release URLs were obtained via web search and show Snapdragon mobile and PC SoCs still shipping in new products in 2025. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory provides Qualcomm-specific SoC infrastructure blocks used by current Snapdragon platforms.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015288266427106964, "commits_5y": 579, "substantive_commits_5y": 571, "first_touch_ts": 1400863084, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773888671, "top_author": "Konrad Dybcio", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 36, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/renesas", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car / RZ SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-renesas-soc/20260403141341.2851926-6-claudiu.beznea.uj@bp.reneasas.com/", "claim": "Upstream had active 2026 maintenance for this directory, including refactoring of r9a09g057-sys.c for RZ/V2H support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-renesas-soc/20250818162859.9661-2-john.madieu.xa@bp.renesas.com/", "claim": "Upstream was still adding new functionality in 2025, with rz-sysc syscon/regmap support posted as a multi-version patch series touching this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2h", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/V2H as an Active product, indicating the family supported here is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzt2h-advanced-high-end-mpu-integrated-powerful-application-processing-and-high-precision-real-time?type=feat", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/T2H as an Active product; this SoC family appears in this directory's Kconfig as supported hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-fast-tracks-sdv-innovation-r-car-gen-5-soc-based-end-end-multi-domain-solution-platform", "claim": "Renesas announced Gen 5 R-Car X5H sampling and evaluation boards in December 2025, showing current new-deployment momentum for R-Car-class SoCs covered by this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) showed this is live SoC support code, not a helper-only subtree: Kconfig names current R-Car Gen5, RZ/V2H, RZ/T2H, and related parts. `lore_activity` on drivers/soc/renesas/r9a09g057-sys.c returned 2025-2026 patch traffic with new support and fixes; no removal series was found, and a broad removal-subject probe timed out rather than surfacing evidence. Web search found official Renesas product/news pages marking relevant RZ parts Active and announcing new R-Car Gen5 sampling. No replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific support drivers for current Renesas silicon.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05399421582875075, "commits_5y": 88, "substantive_commits_5y": 84, "first_touch_ts": 1461309793, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768526013, "top_author": "Geert Uytterhoeven", "top_author_commits": 17, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/rockchip", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Rockchip RK3xxx/RK35xx SoC support blocks (GRF, IO-domain, DTPM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260323134535.680284672@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/rockchip/grf.c` received a real bug-fix patch in March 2026 ('Add missing of_node_put() when returning'), showing ongoing upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2024/1212/2033.html", "claim": "Rockchip marketed RK3576 in 2024 with Linux SDK support, indicating current-generation hardware still shipping around 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.rock-chips.com/a/en/products/RK35_Series/2022/0926/1660.html", "claim": "Rockchip markets RK3588 with Android/Linux support and modern high-speed interfaces, supporting the case that the family remains relevant in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `exec_command` showed real SoC support drivers (`grf.c`, `io-domain.c`, `dtpm.c`), not test/docs/helpers only; `grf.c` already contains support tables for recent SoCs including RK3576 and RK3588. lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/soc/rockchip/grf.c` and `drivers/soc/rockchip/io-domain.c`; cited lore URL was returned directly by that tool. Rockchip product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` and confirmed with `web.open`. No natural successor driver is visible in-tree; these are platform-specific support blocks still needed for current Rockchip SoCs. A targeted removal/deprecation search was attempted (`lore_regex`, then `lei`) but produced no usable removal evidence, so there is no basis to escalate beyond keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04337688796438029, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1444118008, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771799240, "top_author": "Shawn Lin", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/samsung", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos / Google GS101 SoC support blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20251222-gs101-chipid-v4-4-aa8e20ce7bb3@linaro.org/", "claim": "Upstream gained new functionality for this directory in late 2025: exynos-chipid was extended for Google GS101 OTP support." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250527162453.998502407@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "This directory still receives fixes/backports in maintained stable trees, indicating ongoing supported deployments." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/processor/automotive-processor/exynos-auto-v9/", "claim": "Samsung still markets Exynos Auto V9, a current automotive SoC explicitly matching this directory's EXYNOS_USI support text." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection shows real driver code under drivers/soc/samsung (module_platform_driver in exynos-chipid.c and exynos-usi.c; Kconfig names Exynos850 and ExynosAutoV9). lore_file_timeline was used on exynos-chipid.c and exynos-usi.c: it showed substantial 2025 activity, including new GS101 support and stable backports, which argues against deprecation. Web search found Samsung's official Exynos Auto V9 product page, supporting that at least part of the covered hardware family was still sold/new in 2025. No natural replacement exists because these are SoC-specific support drivers rather than a superseded generic stack.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06948601044486435, "commits_5y": 55, "substantive_commits_5y": 54, "first_touch_ts": 1456363087, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766921498, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/sophgo", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Sophgo CV1800B / SG2044 SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2025/03/15/473", "claim": "CV1800 rtcsys support was posted upstream in March 2025 as a new driver, indicating this directory is newly added rather than legacy." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5673456.html", "claim": "The CV1800 rtcsys series was explicitly applied to soc-for-next on May 7, 2025, showing active upstream acceptance rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1018035/", "claim": "The SG2044 support series includes the TOP syscon/clock work in April 2025, showing ongoing bring-up of new Sophgo server silicon." }, { "url": "https://en.sophgo.com/about-us/index.html", "claim": "Sophgo's own timeline says CV180 series released in 2022 and SG2044 released in 2025, so the hardware family is current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://milkv.io/chips", "claim": "Milk-V lists CV1800B chips as sample-buy products, which is direct evidence that at least part of this family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SOPHGO_SG2044_TOPSYS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_SOPHGO_SG2044_TOPSYS present in Linux 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, confirming ongoing upstream presence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed two tiny platform/MFD stub drivers added in 2025 only, with no aging or bitrot pattern. `git -c safe.directory=... log --stat -- drivers/soc/sophgo` exposed exact lore-linked commit metadata; direct lore search tooling was unavailable, so I used web search to resolve those message IDs to public thread pages (openwall/spinics) and confirm one thread was applied to soc-for-next, with no removal discussion found. Vendor/current-market evidence came from web search to Sophgo's official timeline and Milk-V's chip sales page; LKDDb was obtained by web search for current kernel presence. This directory fronts current-generation Sophgo SoCs, has low but real niche deployment (embedded CV1800B boards and SG2044 servers), and has no natural replacement beyond the downstream child drivers it instantiates.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1746575314, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746578402, "top_author": "Alexander Sverdlin", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/sunxi", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Allwinner sunXi SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-sunxi/20260324164357.1607247-7-wens@kernel.org/", "claim": "March 24, 2026 patch adds H616 SRAM regions to drivers/soc/sunxi/sunxi_sram.c, showing ongoing enablement for newer Allwinner parts." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-sunxi/20251009155752.773732-11-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "October 9, 2025 stable/autosel patch adds an A523 entry to sunxi_sram.c, indicating current maintenance and relevance for recent Allwinner SoCs." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-sunxi/20260223-soc-of-root-v2-9-b45da45903c8@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "February 23, 2026 patch updates sunxi_mbus.c for core API cleanup rather than removal, confirming the directory is still being actively maintained." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-2W.html", "claim": "Official product page advertises the Orange Pi Zero 2W with Allwinner H618 and current OS support, evidence that sunXi-family hardware is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains Allwinner sunXi SoC support code (MBUS DMA quirk handling and SRAM controller support), not a helper library. Lore evidence came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline on sunxi_sram.c and sunxi_mbus.c; both files have 2025-2026 patches, including new SoC support (H616, A523) and maintenance cleanup. A lore_regex removal/deprecation probe timed out twice, and the timelines themselves show active upkeep rather than removal discussion. Deployment evidence came from web search result/open of the official Orange Pi Zero 2W page showing a currently marketed Allwinner H618 board. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory provides SoC-specific plumbing for Allwinner sunXi platforms, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.14656432986208948, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1433174254, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757508686, "top_author": "Samuel Holland", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/tegra", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra SoC family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin", "claim": "NVIDIA was still marketing and selling Jetson Orin production modules, indicating Tegra-based hardware remained in new commercial deployment in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SOC_TEGRA_PMC.html", "claim": "drivers/soc/tegra/pmc.c still maps to active Tegra PMC compatibles up through tegra234 and tegra264 in current kernel series, showing ongoing support for newer Tegra generations." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARCH_TEGRA.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ARCH_TEGRA remains present through current kernel heads, confirming the Tegra platform family is not legacy-only in upstream Linux." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains builtin_platform_driver entry points in pmc.c, flowctrl.c, and fuse-tegra.c (checked with local shell rg). lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/soc/tegra/) returned no events because the tool appears file-oriented for exact paths; for activity I relied on the provided static metadata instead, which shows 86 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 23 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-01-18, all inconsistent with deprecation/removal. URLs were obtained via web search: NVIDIA Jetson Orin product page for current market availability, and LKDDb pages for continued upstream kernel coverage of Tegra/PMC and newer compatibles including tegra264. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the in-tree SoC support layer for Tegra platforms rather than a swappable legacy peripheral driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05262088622552246, "commits_5y": 89, "substantive_commits_5y": 86, "first_touch_ts": 1405600561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768722510, "top_author": "Thierry Reding", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/tegra/cbb", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra/Grace CBB (Control Backbone) fabrics", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/soc/tegra/cbb", "claim": "Upstream activity is current, with substantive work in 2025 adding Tegra254/Tegra264 support rather than removal or deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/soc/tegra/cbb/tegra234-cbb.c", "claim": "The driver code explicitly covers modern NVIDIA SoCs including Tegra234 and Tegra241, and 2025 edits show it remains maintained." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "Jetson Orin modules and developer kits were actively marketed and sold in 2025, indicating ongoing new deployments for Tegra234-class hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/grace-cpu-superchip/", "claim": "NVIDIA Grace CPU products remained current in 2025, supporting continued relevance of Tegra241/Grace-related CBB support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an asset/helper dir: local shell inspection found platform_driver registration and MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE in tegra194-cbb.c and tegra234-cbb.c. Local `git log` showed sustained upstream attention from 2022-09-15 through 2025-11-14, including new Tegra254/Tegra264 support in July 2025 and no sign of removal discussion. Kernel.org URLs are canonical recall, used to represent the locally verified tree/log pages; NVIDIA product URLs were obtained via web search. This is an SoC-internal error-reporting driver for current Jetson Orin and Grace-family systems, with no natural replacement driver beyond itself, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1663238496, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763133380, "top_author": "Sumit Gupta", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/tegra/fuse", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20260324114301.551949-1-kkartik@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: March 24, 2026 patch touching fuse-tegra.c shows ongoing maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/20251008111618.703516-1-kkartik@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Driver received a 2025 bug-fix/stable-worthy patch for Tegra194/Tegra234 ACPI behavior, indicating active field use on modern Tegra SoCs." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA lists Jetson AGX Orin and Orin NX/Nano modules as available through January 2032, with Xavier NX and TX2 NX through 2028, so Tegra hardware covered by this driver family was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r36.4.4/DeveloperGuide/", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson Linux Developer Guide updated June 26, 2025 documents the actively supported Jetson platform and modules that rely on Tegra SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell inspection of drivers/soc/tegra/fuse and drivers/soc/tegra/Kconfig showed built kernel code for SOC_TEGRA_FUSE across Tegra20/30/114/124/132/210/186/194/234/241, including current Tegra234/241 support. lore_activity (tool) on drivers/soc/tegra/fuse/fuse-tegra.c returned 2025-10 and 2026-03 linux-tegra patches, with no removal/deprecation evidence; the directory-level lore_file_timeline query returned no matches, so file-level lore evidence was used instead. Web search (tool) found NVIDIA lifecycle and Jetson Linux docs showing current Jetson/Orin availability. Kept, not annotated: active upstream fixes plus hardware still on sale. last_widely_available_year is set to 2032 based on the current Orin module lifecycle horizon; deployments are medium because Tegra/Jetson remains relevant in embedded/edge systems but is not broad commodity PC hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09805281242518651, "commits_5y": 42, "substantive_commits_5y": 40, "first_touch_ts": 1405600561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763137105, "top_author": "Kartik", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/ti", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "TI Sitara / K3 SoC support blocks", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20260316070429.1545707-4-alexander.sverdlin@siemens.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: March 2026 patch adds reset-reason support to `k3-socinfo`, indicating ongoing feature work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/processors/sitara/overview.html", "claim": "TI still markets current Sitara processors in the AM62x family and associated starter kits, showing the SoC family served by this directory remains in active sale/use." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/OCTVO-3P-AM335X", "claim": "An AM335x-based module was still listed as orderable on TI's site in recent crawl data, supporting continued legacy/industrial deployment of older Sitara parts also covered here." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/soc/ti` is real driver code: local `rg` plus `Kconfig`/`Makefile` inspection via shell showed Keystone, AMx3, K3, PRUSS, and SmartReflex support blocks. Obtained `https://lore.kernel.org/linux-devicetree/20260316070429.1545707-4-alexander.sverdlin@siemens.com/` via `lore_activity(file=drivers/soc/ti/k3-socinfo.c, since=5y)`, which showed fresh 2026 feature development; a parallel `lore_activity` on `pruss.c` also returned ongoing stable-tree traffic. Obtained the two TI URLs via web search on `ti.com`; they show both current Sitara AM62x products and still-orderable AM335x ecosystem hardware. This directory spans active TI SoC support IP used on still-sold embedded/industrial platforms, and there is no single upstream replacement driver for the same scope, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05111006090880069, "commits_5y": 118, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1411566554, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768410007, "top_author": "Thomas Gleixner", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/ux500", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "ST-Ericsson Ux500 / DBx500 (NovaThor U8500-era)", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/soc/ux500/ux500-soc-id.c", "claim": "The code is a small SoC-identification/sysfs helper for ST-Ericsson DBx500/Ux500 parts, registering soc_device data rather than driving a replaceable peripheral." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/UX500_SOC_ID.html", "claim": "CONFIG_UX500_SOC_ID is still present in current kernels, but LKDDb shows no bound hardware table and describes it as a SoC bus/sysfs information feature for ST-Ericsson ux500." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NovaThor", "claim": "NovaThor U8500 was a smartphone/tablet SoC family from the ST-Ericsson era, with the product line effectively historical by the 2012-2013 breakup timeframe rather than a current commercial platform." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III_mini_%28samsung-golden%29", "claim": "There is still niche community use on old NovaThor U8500 phones: postmarketOS lists a 2012 Galaxy S III mini as mainline-capable/testing, indicating hobbyist legacy deployments rather than new sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via shell showed one file, ux500-soc-id.c, using subsys_initcall to expose SoC identity for DB8500/8520/5500/9540. Shell git log on that file showed only one substantive non-treewide touch since 2020 (2022-11-08), indicating very low upstream attention. Attempted lore access via shell `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable; follow-up web searches scoped to lore.kernel.org returned no hits for this directory/file, so I found no evidence of active removal or maintenance discussion. Source URLs were obtained as follows: kernel.org tree URL by canonical recall for the inspected file; LKDDb, Wikipedia, and postmarketOS via web search. Net: obsolete handset SoC family, not sold new in 2025, but still has low-level legacy/community deployments, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1468315449, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1667938436, "top_author": "Jason A. Donenfeld", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/versatile", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Arm Versatile / RealView / Integrator platform ID", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20241106120335.547770759@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable backport on 2024-11-06 for `soc: versatile: realview: fix memory leak during device remove` shows recent upstream maintenance for this directory." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20241106120335.572279044@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "Stable backport on 2024-11-06 for `soc: versatile: realview: fix soc_dev leak during device remove` shows additional recent bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/versatile.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents Arm Versatile boards (`versatileab`, `versatilepb`) and describes booting a current Linux kernel on them, indicating ongoing emulator/test usage." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/realview.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents multiple Arm RealView boards (`realview-eb`, `realview-eb-mpcore`, `realview-pb-a8`, `realview-pbx-a9`), indicating legacy deployment in emulation." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/target-arm", "claim": "QEMU's Arm system docs list Integrator/CP, RealView, and Versatile boards, but recommend the generic `virt` board when users just want to run Linux, suggesting these boards are mainly legacy-specific targets rather than preferred new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection (`sed` via shell) shows two `device_initcall` SoC-ID helpers for Integrator and RealView, so this is a real driver directory. `lore_file_timeline` on both `.c` files found 2024 stable bug-fix activity and no explicit removal-thread evidence in the returned lore events; the two cited lore URLs came from that MCP output. QEMU pages were found by `web.search_query` and checked with `web.open`; they show these platforms remain supported as emulated legacy boards, while `target-arm` points new VM-style users to `virt`. That supports low current deployment, mostly emulation/testing, so not removal/deprecation; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5439865574415217, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1411683970, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725025211, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/vt8500", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "VIA/WonderMedia VT8500/WM8xxx SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250503-wmt-soc-driver-v3-2-2daa9056fa10@gmail.com", "claim": "Mainline gained this driver in May 2025 as a new socinfo helper for VIA/WonderMedia SoCs, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/14de236b-e2a7-4bde-986d-1e5ffddd01b4@kernel.org/", "claim": "The merge commit references prior review/discussion on lore, showing active upstream review around the driver's introduction." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/WMT_SOCINFO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_WMT_SOCINFO present in kernels 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, so the driver is current and not orphaned." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WonderMedia", "claim": "WonderMedia SoCs are a legacy product line from a company founded in 2008 and merged into VIA in 2016; listed chips are early ARMv5/ARM11/Cortex-A9 tablet/netbook-era parts, supporting an obsolescence assessment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory contains a real platform driver (local shell inspection of wmt-socinfo.c/Kconfig). The two lore URLs were obtained from `git show` of the sole introducing commit, which links the patch posting and review thread; no removal discussion was present in the available lore-linked history. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and confirms the config is in current kernels. Wikipedia URL was obtained via web search/open and supports that this is an old WonderMedia tablet/netbook SoC family from the early 2010s. Hardware appears legacy with low present-day deployments, but the driver was newly added in 2025 for still-supported legacy boards, so removal/deprecation would be premature; annotate as legacy instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1746379621, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746379621, "top_author": "Alexey Charkov", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soc/xilinx", "subsystem": "soc", "chipset_family": "Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC / AMD Versal Adaptive SoC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260320060445.1541017-1-ptsm@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/xilinx/zynqmp_power.c` was still receiving functional fixes in March 2026 ('Shutdown and free rx mailbox channel')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260320060306.1540928-1-ptsm@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/xilinx/zynqmp_power.c` also saw a concurrent bug-fix series in March 2026 ('Fix race condition in event registration'), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250701123851.1314531-4-jay.buddhabhatti@amd.com/", "claim": "`drivers/soc/xilinx/xlnx_event_manager.c` was part of a 2025 AMD update adapting to new family codes, showing support for newer Xilinx/AMD SoC families." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/soc/zynq-ultrascale-plus-mpsoc.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs as current products, with long lifecycle messaging and active product tables." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD was still marketing Versal Adaptive SoCs as current portfolio products, consistent with ongoing new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: two platform drivers (`zynqmp_power.c`, `xlnx_event_manager.c`) for Xilinx/AMD SoC power-management and event firmware interfaces. I used `lore_file_timeline` on both files; it showed sustained activity through 2025-2026 and no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the returned recent history, so this is not a dead legacy block. I used web search to obtain the two AMD product pages, which indicate the underlying Zynq UltraScale+ and Versal families are still current products in 2025. No natural in-tree replacement driver exists for the same firmware/SoC integration role, so removal or deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08427946267836733, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 36, "first_touch_ts": 1515415359, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765784750, "top_author": "Jay Buddhabhatti", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/soundwire", "subsystem": "soundwire", "chipset_family": "MIPI SoundWire host controllers (Intel, AMD, Qualcomm)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-sound/20250721084729.102130-1-suresh.k.chandrappa@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream SoundWire code was still receiving nontrivial maintenance patches in 2025, indicating an active subsystem rather than abandonware." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.2/driver-api/soundwire/summary.html", "claim": "Linux documents SoundWire as a subsystem for audio devices on mobile/mobile-inspired systems, with explicit master/slave driver APIs and bus support." }, { "url": "https://www.mipi.org/specifications/soundwire", "claim": "MIPI lists SoundWire as a current specification with version 1.3 adopted in September 2025 and states use across smartphones, tablets, PCs, automotive and embedded systems." }, { "url": "https://www.mipi.org/specifications/mipi-disco-soundwire", "claim": "MIPI DisCo for SoundWire remained current in 2024 and describes ACPI-based discovery/configuration for SoundWire devices in PCs and other modern systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is an active bus/host-controller driver directory, not legacy single-device support: local Kconfig inspection shows AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm master drivers. Upstream activity was checked with lore_activity on drivers/soundwire/intel.c, which returned 2025 maintenance traffic (tool: lore_activity). A removal/deprecation scan was attempted via lore_regex and produced no actionable evidence of an active removal push in this quick pass. Deployment evidence comes from kernel docs and current MIPI specification pages obtained via web search (tool: web search). Because SoundWire is a current MIPI audio interconnect used in new PCs/mobile/embedded platforms and the kernel subtree is still actively maintained, there is no natural replacement driver and the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.039804091585260624, "commits_5y": 461, "substantive_commits_5y": 454, "first_touch_ts": 1513678496, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768397717, "top_author": "Pierre-Louis Bossart", "top_author_commits": 203, "c_file_count": 22, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/spi", "subsystem": "spi", "chipset_family": "Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) controllers and devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-spi/20260420031417.291442-2-va@nvidia.com/", "claim": "`drivers/spi/spi.c` was still receiving upstream feature work in April 2026, indicating an actively maintained subsystem rather than a retirement candidate." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/spi/index.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes SPI as a first-class Linux subsystem covering controller and protocol drivers, reflecting ongoing supported use across embedded systems." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/SAMA7G54", "claim": "Microchip lists the SAMA7G54 MPU as `Status: In Production`; the SAMA7 family is a current Linux-capable embedded platform that uses SPI/QSPI-class storage and peripherals." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/spi` is the SPI subsystem directory, with core code plus many active controller/protocol drivers, not a single obsolete leaf. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/spi/spi.c`, which showed recent 2026 traffic and sustained yearly patch volume; no removal signal was found in the sampled lore checks. The kernel-docs and Microchip URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Local inspection of `drivers/spi/Kconfig` showed current platform coverage (for example Apple, AMD, STM32, Microchip, Rockchip, virtio), reinforcing that new deployments remain common. SPI itself is still pervasive in new embedded/industrial designs, so this should be kept; there is no natural replacement driver for the subsystem as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.006175157397137722, "commits_5y": 2301, "substantive_commits_5y": 2282, "first_touch_ts": 1137198594, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775562756, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 196, "c_file_count": 166, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/spmi", "subsystem": "spmi", "chipset_family": "SPMI controller / PMIC-arbiter buses for Apple, Qualcomm MSM, HiSilicon, and MediaTek SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/spmi/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig shows this directory is active SPMI bus/controller support for Apple SoCs and Qualcomm/HiSilicon/MediaTek PMIC-arbiter hardware, not a legacy one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260327024143.6764-1-rosenp@gmail.com/", "claim": "Mainline lore shows substantive SPMI core work in 2026, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260114092742.13231-5-angelogioacchino.delregno@collabora.com/", "claim": "A 2026 v8 patch series adds new SPMI core APIs, which is strong evidence of continued feature development and downstream demand." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2024/10/qualcomm-unveils-snapdragon-8-elite-with-the-world-s-fastest-mob", "claim": "Qualcomm was still launching new flagship mobile SoCs in late 2024, supporting the inference that Qualcomm PMIC/SPMI-based platforms remained current into 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-9400", "claim": "MediaTek was still marketing new flagship smartphone SoCs in 2024/2025, supporting continued new-platform deployment of MediaTek SPMI/PMIC infrastructure." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/spmi` is a real bus/controller driver subtree. Active-maintenance signal comes from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/spmi/spmi.c`, which returned 2026 lore URLs including new API work and cleanups; that is incompatible with deprecation/removal. Supported hardware families come from the canonical kernel Kconfig URL (canonical recall) and local tree inspection. Current deployment evidence comes from official Qualcomm and MediaTek product pages found via web search; combined with Kconfig, this supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true`. No natural replacement driver exists because this directory is the subsystem support itself, so recommendation is `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05534437817578405, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1392494128, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769192679, "top_author": "David Collins", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ssb", "subsystem": "ssb", "chipset_family": "Broadcom Sonics Silicon Backplane (SSB) for older BCM43xx/BCM47xx-era devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": "bcma", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260415183002.3752935-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "`drivers/ssb` still receives upstream bug-fix traffic; a 2026 patch fixes a reference leak in `ssb` code, arguing against removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SSB.html", "claim": "`CONFIG_SSB` remains in current kernels and the supported PCI IDs are Broadcom 4301/4306/4311/4318/4321/4322-class devices, indicating mostly legacy Broadcom WLAN-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM47XX_SSB.html", "claim": "Kernel config text describes SSB support as for 'old Broadcom BCM47XX boards', which is direct evidence that the SoC/router side is legacy rather than current-production hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM47XX_BCMA.html", "claim": "Kernel config text describes BCMA support as for 'new Broadcom BCM47XX boards', making BCMA the natural successor bus driver for newer Broadcom deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell `rg` on `drivers/ssb`/`Kconfig` showed this is a real Broadcom SSB bus-driver subtree spanning PCI/PCMCIA/SDIO/SoC hosts. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/ssb/main.c` showed recent 2025-2026 fixes and no obvious removal trend in recent activity, so removal/deprecation would be premature. Web search opened LKDDb pages for `SSB`, `BCM47XX_SSB`, and `BCM47XX_BCMA`; those pages label SSB boards as old and BCMA boards as new, supporting 'legacy but still deployed'. `last_widely_available_year` is an inference from the SSB-to-BCMA transition window, not a directly dated vendor-EOL citation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1816144488650341, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1192060296, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753340806, "top_author": "Randy Dunlap", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/axis-fifo", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx AXI4-Stream FIFO LogiCORE IP", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/pg080-axi-fifo-mm-s", "claim": "AMD product guide PG080 for AXI4-Stream FIFO v4.3 was updated on 2026-01-09, indicating the IP core remains a current AMD/Xilinx offering rather than an obsolete legacy block." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg36699.html", "claim": "A February 9, 2026 patch series targeted this driver for probe-logic cleanup, showing active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or removal planning." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg36703.html", "claim": "The v8 review thread includes maintainer/author engagement from Ovidiu Panait on February 9, 2026, another sign of ongoing stewardship." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg37354.html", "claim": "A March 1, 2026 patch removed unnecessary variable initializations in axis-fifo.c, confirming recent substantive code traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg38799.html", "claim": "Greg KH replied on March 30, 2026 to an axis-fifo patch, showing the driver is still on the active staging review path and not under visible removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/XIL_AXIS_FIFO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_XIL_AXIS_FIFO still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and maps it to Xilinx AXI FIFO compatible strings xlnx,axi-fifo-mm-s-4.1/4.2/4.3." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection of `drivers/staging/axis-fifo` shows a real OF platform misc-char driver for Xilinx AXI-Stream FIFO IP (`xlnx,axi-fifo-mm-s-*`) used as a memory-mapped interface to AXI Stream / AXI Ethernet without DMA. External URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: AMD PG080 establishes the IP is still current in 2026, Spinics threads show active 2026 cleanup/review traffic and no removal series, and LKDDb confirms the config remains in current kernels. Because the hardware/IP is still sold and upstream attention is active but the driver remains staging and likely serves niche FPGA/industrial deployments, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1532434453, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769524472, "top_author": "Ovidiu Panait", "top_author_commits": 22, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/fbtft", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Small TFT/OLED display controllers over SPI or 8080-style buses (ILI93xx/ST77xx/HX83xx/SSD1289/SH1106/RA8875 class)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": "drm_mipi_dbi + drivers/gpu/drm/tiny/*", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg36859.html", "claim": "Public patch traffic hit the directory in February 2026 with a cleanup touching 10 fbtft drivers, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg36157.html", "claim": "A January 29, 2026 review reply discussed an fbtft build-fix series triggered by linux-next reports, showing current bug-fix attention." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_TFT.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FB_TFT remains present in LKDDb through Linux 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, so the directory is still upstream-configurable." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.8/gpu/drm-kms-helpers.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes DRM MIPI DBI helpers for many tiny LCD controllers, which is the natural upstream migration path away from legacy fbdev/staging implementations." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/2478", "claim": "ILI9341-based TFT breakout hardware was still sold new on a mainstream hobbyist retail page in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.adafruit.com/product/2088", "claim": "ST7735R-based TFT breakout hardware was still sold new on a mainstream hobbyist retail page in 2026." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not removable now: local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/staging/fbtft` showed substantive 2024-2026 maintenance, including fixes merged on 2026-02-14. Lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so upstream-list evidence was obtained via web search to Spinics archives (`turn4search1`, `turn2search2`); both show active maintenance/bug-fix traffic, and no removal series surfaced in the limited search. Deployment evidence came from web search to LKDDb (`turn0search0`), kernel docs (`turn0search0` from the later docs search), and Adafruit product pages (`turn3search3`, `turn3search9`). Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: the hardware family is still sold and used in hobbyist/embedded niches, but the code is legacy staging fbdev and the replacement direction is DRM MIPI-DBI/tiny DRM drivers rather than long-term growth of fbtft itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 59, "substantive_commits_5y": 57, "first_touch_ts": 1421541881, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063787, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 36, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/greybus", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Greybus / UniPro modular interconnect", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/staging/greybus", "claim": "Upstream Greybus staging code is still seeing regular fixes and cleanup, matching the local tree's 2024-2026 commit activity rather than abandonment or removal prep." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Current kernel MAINTAINERS lists both drivers/greybus/ and drivers/staging/greybus/ as Maintained, with named maintainers for the subsystem and multiple subdrivers." }, { "url": "https://docs.beagleboard.org/projects/beagleconnect/introduction.html", "claim": "BeagleBoard's current Greybus overview says Project Ara is discontinued but Greybus is still used, describing BeagleConnect as an active Greybus-based embedded/IoT stack." }, { "url": "https://docs.beagleboard.org/projects/beagleconnect/beagleplay-bcf.html", "claim": "Current BeaglePlay + BeagleConnect documentation describes Greybus as the active host/module architecture for BeaglePlay and BeagleConnect Freedom deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beagleplay", "claim": "BeaglePlay is currently marketed for purchase, indicating Greybus-backed hardware is still sold new after 2025, albeit in a niche embedded market." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara", "claim": "Project Ara, Greybus's original flagship platform, was cancelled in 2016, so mainstream phone-volume deployment did not materialize." } ], "reasoning_notes": "No early-exit: this directory contains real module_init/module_greybus_driver hardware drivers. Activity first grounded with local shell inspection (`rg`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showing substantive 2024-2026 fixes and TODO cleanup; I cite the canonical kernel.org log URL for that same path by canonical recall. I used web search to obtain docs.kernel.org MAINTAINERS, which shows the subsystem is still maintained, and current BeagleBoard docs/pages showing live BeaglePlay/BeagleConnect Greybus deployments and product availability. I used web search to obtain Wikipedia's Project Ara page for the original-market cancellation context. I found no removal discussion in web/lore searching, so active maintenance plus niche current hardware argues against deprecate/remove; annotate instead because deployments appear specialized and low-volume rather than broad.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 137, "substantive_commits_5y": 125, "first_touch_ts": 1407742163, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769525171, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/greybus/Documentation/firmware", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: path is under Documentation/firmware and contains firmware/docs assets rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1463264632, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1752566957, "top_author": "Abhinav Krishna C K", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/iio/accel", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADIS16203 iSensor inclinometer", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adis16203.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADIS16203 as PRODUCTION with pricing and Sample & Buy availability, so the hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/resources/evaluation-hardware-and-software/evaluation-boards-kits/eval-adis16203.html", "claim": "Analog Devices still documents an ADIS16203 evaluation board and Linux reference design, indicating ongoing niche/industrial deployment rather than complete disappearance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20221122082757.449452-8-ramona.bolboaca@analog.com", "claim": "There was real upstream maintenance for this specific driver in late 2022, reviewed and merged through the IIO subsystem." }, { "url": "https://patch.msgid.link/20250411-iio-sentinel-normalization-v1-1-d293de3e3d93@baylibre.com", "claim": "The file was touched again in 2025 as part of active subsystem-wide maintenance, with no evidence of removal planning in the observed recent history." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local path inspection via shell showed this directory contains a real SPI IIO driver, adis16203.c, for the Analog Devices ADIS16203. Recent activity was checked with shell git log (safe.directory override); it showed substantive 2022 maintenance and 2025 subsystem churn, and no removal/deprecation series was visible in the available history. Public hardware status came from web search results on analog.com: the product page says PRODUCTION and the eval-board page still exists with Linux reference material. Because the part still appears orderable but is a specialized inclinometer in staging with only occasional upkeep, current deployments are best classified as low and the driver should be kept but annotated rather than deprecated or removed.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1253041344, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741186378, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/iio/adc", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices AD7816/AD7817/AD7818", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/staging/iio/adc/ad7816.c", "claim": "The driver file has continued upstream maintenance activity, including fixes in 2025 rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/iio/adc/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig identifies this as the AD7816/7/8 temperature sensor and ADC driver in staging IIO." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad7816.html", "claim": "AD7816 itself is listed by Analog Devices as obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad7817.html", "claim": "AD7817 is listed by Analog Devices as production and available for purchase." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad7818.html", "claim": "AD7818 is listed by Analog Devices as production and available for purchase." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains a real SPI driver (ad7816.c, module_spi_driver) and recent local git history showed substantive 2025 fixes, so this is not a dead orphan. I attempted lore discovery via web search for lore.kernel.org threads but did not find clear removal/deprecation discussion; combined with the 2025 commit stream, that argues against deprecate/remove. Hardware status is mixed: AD7816 is obsolete, but AD7817/AD7818 still appear on current Analog Devices product pages as production parts, so the family is still sold for legacy/industrial-style deployments. Recommendation is keep-annotate because it remains in staging, serves a niche low-volume hardware family, and has ongoing maintenance but not broad modern deployment. Source acquisition: kernel activity/Kconfig claims came from local `exec_command` inspection with canonical kernel.org URLs supplied by canonical recall; Analog Devices lifecycle pages were obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1253041344, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756110259, "top_author": "Jonathan Cameron", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/iio/addac", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices ADT7316/7/8 and ADT7516/7/9", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg35660.html", "claim": "Jonathan Cameron applied the Jan 2026 adt7316 power-management patch to the IIO tree, showing current upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg37591.html", "claim": "A March 2026 adt7316 cleanup patch series was posted, indicating ongoing code cleanup activity in this staging driver." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adt7316.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADT7316 as PRODUCTION with current pricing/sample availability, so at least part of the family was still sold new in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/adt7516.html", "claim": "Analog Devices lists ADT7516 as PRODUCTION with pricing and an evaluation board, reinforcing that the family still has live production parts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection identified this as the ADT7316/7/8 + ADT7516/7/9 staging IIO driver; local git log showed substantive touches through 2026-01-11. All cited URLs were obtained via web search. The mailing-list hits show active maintenance/cleanup and no visible removal thread; the vendor pages show some family members remain in production, but these are niche mixed-signal sensor/ADC/DAC parts with likely low modern Linux deployment. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/staging and niche rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1289346394, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768136422, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/iio/frequency", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices AD9832/AD9835 and AD9833/AD9834/AD9837/AD9838 DDS waveform generators", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://analog.com/en/products/ad9832.html", "claim": "AD9832 is marked PRODUCTION by Analog Devices, with sample-and-buy availability and industrial/test/medical application positioning." }, { "url": "https://www-cce.cldnet.analog.com/en/products/ad9834.html", "claim": "AD9834 is marked PRODUCTION by Analog Devices, indicating the related DDS family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AD9832.html", "claim": "CONFIG_AD9832 remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and maps to drivers/staging/iio/frequency/ad9832.c for AD9832/AD9835." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AD9834.html", "claim": "CONFIG_AD9834 remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and maps to drivers/staging/iio/frequency/ad9834.c for AD9833/AD9834/AD9837/AD9838." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/staging/iio/frequency", "claim": "Canonical upstream log location for the directory; local git history in the checked-out kernel snapshot shows continued substantive maintenance through 2025 rather than abandonment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real SPI IIO staging driver directory: local shell inspection found module_spi_driver() in ad9832.c and ad9834.c. Local shell git log showed repeated substantive fixes/conversions/devicetree work from 2021-2025, so this is not dormant; I attached the canonical kernel.org log URL by canonical recall for the upstream location. Web search found current Analog Devices product pages for AD9832 and AD9834, both marked production, which supports still-sold-new hardware in 2025. Web search also found LKDDb pages showing both configs still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD. I found no removal-discussion evidence in web lore searches, so removal is not justified. Because the hardware is still sold but appears niche industrial/lab/embedded rather than broad new deployment, and the driver remains in staging/sysfs-era form, keep it but annotate rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1335749104, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766344700, "top_author": "Zicheng Qu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/iio/impedance-analyzer", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Analog Devices AD5933/AD5934 impedance converter / network analyzer", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/4/16/1146", "claim": "Public 2025 patch thread shows active upstream bug-fix work on ad5933 rather than removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad5933.html", "claim": "ADI lists AD5933 as PRODUCTION and offers sample/buy and an evaluation board, indicating new hardware remained on sale in 2025." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/AD5933.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_AD5933 still present through current kernel heads and bound to AD5933/AD5934 IDs in this staging driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command of ad5933.c identified the driver as I2C support for AD5933/AD5934 (module + OF matches). Local git log via exec_command showed multiple substantive 2021-2025 touches, with latest in 2025-05, indicating maintenance. URLs were obtained by web search: lkml.org patch thread (turn3search0) for current lore-style activity, Analog Devices product page (turn0search1) for market status, and LKDDb (turn0search0) for in-tree coverage. Conclusion: hardware is still sold but is a narrow industrial/instrumentation part, so deployments are low; no clear replacement driver exists, and active fix traffic argues against deprecation/removal, though its long-term staging status merits annotation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1314131822, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747833628, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/i2c", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Intel AtomISP tablet camera stack (OV2722 and GC2235 sensors on Bay Trail/Cherry Trail-era systems)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/7/6/294", "claim": "Hans de Goede described ongoing AtomISP staging cleanup for kernel 6.17 and said the referenced cleanup removed the last leftover TODO item in atomisp_drvfs rather than proposing driver removal." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/3/11/861", "claim": "AtomISP still receives upstream cleanup patches in 2026, including a series touching 28 files and reporting successful build/module-load testing." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ATOMISP_OV2722.html", "claim": "The OV2722 sensor module is still present in current kernels and 'currently only works with the atomisp driver'; LKDDb maps it to ACPI INT33FB." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ATOMISP_GC2235.html", "claim": "The GC2235 sensor module is still present in current kernels and 'currently only works with the atomisp driver'; LKDDb maps it to ACPI INT33F8." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/87383/intel-atom-x5z8300-processor-2m-cache-up-to-1-84-ghz/specifications.html", "claim": "A representative Cherry Trail tablet SKU used with AtomISP is marked discontinued, with end-of-servicing lifetime and end of servicing updates on June 30, 2022." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this directory contains two real i2c sensor drivers (`atomisp-ov2722.c`, `atomisp-gc2235.c`) with `module_i2c_driver()`. Local tree search found no non-staging in-tree `ov2722` or `gc2235` driver, so there is no obvious upstream replacement for these exact sensors. The two LKML URLs were obtained via web search for AtomISP lore/LKML activity and show active maintenance/cleanup, not removal discussion. The two LKDDb URLs were obtained via web search and confirm these sensor drivers remain tied specifically to AtomISP. The Intel ARK URL was obtained via web search and is used to date the relevant tablet platform generation as long-obsolete for new mainstream deployments. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is legacy and deployment is low, but upstream attention is still active enough that deprecation/removal would be premature.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 168, "substantive_commits_5y": 160, "first_touch_ts": 1488789594, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763715849, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 115, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Intel Atom ISP 2400/2401", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_ATOMISP.html", "claim": "LKDDb ties CONFIG_VIDEO_ATOMISP to Intel Atom SoC camera/imaging hardware and PCI IDs 0f38/1178/1179/1478/22b8, covering Bay Trail, Merrifield, Moorefield/Anniedale, and Cherry Trail era platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/platforms/details/bay-trail.html", "claim": "Intel's Bay Trail page shows the family is an older Atom/E3800-era SoC line aimed at embedded/industrial uses rather than current mainstream client hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg32420.html", "claim": "A 2025 Hans de Goede patch series added atomisp support for sensors with a separate ISP v4l2_subdev, showing functional upstream development rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg40031.html", "claim": "Atomisp still receives 2026 linux-staging patch traffic, indicating ongoing cleanup/review activity and no obvious dead-code status." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg33509.html", "claim": "A 2025 atomisp security-fix thread reviewed by Hans de Goede shows real maintenance on deployed systems, not just cosmetic churn." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local grep found `module_pci_driver()` in `atomisp_v4l2.c` and PCI IDs for Bay Trail/Merrifield/Moorefield/Cherry Trail class SoCs. Local `git -c safe.directory ... log` showed sustained 2024-2026 commits, including bug fixes and cleanups. Web search found active mailing-list traffic in 2025-2026 (spinics URLs above) but no clear removal/deprecation thread in the searched lore/lkml/spinics results, so `remove`/`deprecate` would overstate it. Hardware family is old mobile/embedded Atom silicon; likely still encountered in legacy tablets, netbooks, and some embedded/industrial deployments, but not a meaningful new-2025 design win, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false`, `deployments_today=low`, and `last_widely_available_year=2018` are conservative inferences from the Intel Bay Trail age plus LKDDb platform scope. No natural upstream replacement covers the same old Atom ISP block directly; newer Intel IPU drivers target different hardware generations. URLs were obtained via web search; local git/rg commands supplied non-URL corroboration.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 549, "substantive_commits_5y": 539, "first_touch_ts": 1488789594, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768429983, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 292, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/base/circbuf/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP circular-buffer helper source subtree under staging media, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706767182, "top_author": "Dipendra Khadka", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/base/refcount/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal atomisp refcount helper-library source subtree under staging media, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/camera/pipe/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested internal source subtree for the AtomISP camera pipeline under a staging driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1669364738, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/camera/util/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: path and naming indicate an internal AtomISP camera utility source subtree (`util/src`) rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1719948194, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/css_2401_system/host", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP CSS host-side helper/library code within a staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970740, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695800403, "top_author": "Kate Hsuan", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/hive_isp_css_common/host", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP CSS host/common support library subtree under a staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730988966, "top_author": "Kate Hsuan", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/hive_isp_css_shared/host", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP CSS shared host-side support code under staging media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/hmm", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: HMM is an internal AtomISP PCI helper/memory-management subdirectory under a staging driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 33, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957013, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/aa/aa_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: deep atomisp ISP kernel-stage subdirectory containing internal image-processing code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/anr/anr_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ANR image-processing kernel code under the staging camera stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/anr/anr_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ANR image-processing kernel code under a staging media driver, with no standalone device-driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/bh/bh_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel/helper subdirectory under staging media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1637141567, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", 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"chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel block implementation for crop processing, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1636963912, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/csc/csc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains an internal AtomISP color-space-conversion kernel implementation under the staging media stack, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ctc/ctc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP internal ISP kernel component subtree (`pci/isp/kernels/ctc`), not a standalone 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"top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ctc/ctc2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel/component code under staging media, with no device-binding driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/de/de_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP image-processing kernel block subdirectory under staging media, with no module/driver entry point and only helper/kernel code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725616613, "top_author": "Kathara Sasikumar", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/de/de_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP image-processing kernel block (`de_2`) under staging media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/dp/dp_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP internal DP kernel implementation code under staging/media, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/dpc2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP ISP kernel/helper subdirectory (`kernels/dpc2`) rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/dvs/dvs_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP internal DVS image-processing kernel code under staging media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/eed1_8", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subdirectory under atomisp ISP kernels containing internal image-processing kernel code rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/fc/fc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AtomISP ISP kernel/component code (`isp/kernels/fc/fc_1.0`) is an internal imaging pipeline helper, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768429983, "top_author": "Arjun Changla", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/fpn/fpn_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP fixed-pattern-noise kernel implementation subdirectory, an internal ISP processing component without a standalone kernel driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/gc/gc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP internal GC 1.0 ISP kernel/helper code under a staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware 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"is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/hdr", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP HDR image-processing kernel subcomponent under staging media, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706767209, "top_author": "Dipendra Khadka", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ipu2_io_ls/bayer_io_ls", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP internal Bayer I/O kernel/helper code under staging media ISP pipeline, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725616614, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ipu2_io_ls/yuv444_io_ls", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP IPU2 image-processing kernel block (YUV444 I/O stage) under staging/media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725616614, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/iterator/iterator_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel helper/component subtree (`kernels/iterator`), not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1722324166, "top_author": "Tchadel Icard", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/macc/macc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP MACC kernel/component subdirectory under a staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706767205, "top_author": "Dipendra Khadka", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/macc/macc1_5", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP ISP kernel/helper subdirectory (`pci/isp/kernels/macc/macc1_5`) with no driver entry point, representing image-processing support code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1644301292, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/norm/norm_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AtomISP image-processing kernel/helper code (`kernels/norm/norm_1.0`), not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ob/ob_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP internal ISP kernel/algorithm subtree (`kernels/ob/ob_1.0`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ob/ob2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: deep atomisp ISP kernel subcomponent with no driver entrypoint markers in this directory, indicating internal image-processing/helper code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/output/output_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: deep atomisp ISP internal kernel/component subdirectory (`kernels/output/output_1.0`) with no driver entry-point markers, indicating helper/firmware-style pipeline code rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1636963912, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/qplane/qplane_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AtomISP ISP kernel/helper implementation subdirectory with no standalone driver entrypoint, representing internal pipeline code rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1636963912, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/raw_aa_binning/raw_aa_binning_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains an internal AtomISP ISP kernel block implementation (`raw_aa_binning`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1637141567, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/raw/raw_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP internal ISP raw kernel implementation code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1695800403, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ref/ref_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: deep under atomisp ISP kernel reference code (`pci/isp/kernels/ref/ref_1.0`), with no module/driver entrypoint in this directory, so it is an internal helper/codegen subtree rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1669364043, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/s3a/s3a_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel block (s3a) subcomponent under staging media, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1637141567, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/sc/sc_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP ISP subcomponent/versioned image-signal-processing kernel block under staging, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver with probe/bind entry points.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/sdis/sdis_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel component (`sdis_1.0`) under a staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1741278506, "top_author": "Santiago Ruano Rincón", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/sdis/sdis_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP internal SDIS kernel helper code under staging media ISP kernels, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746431247, "top_author": "Liu Jing", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/tdf/tdf_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel/algorithm subtree (tdf_1.0) under a staging media driver, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/tnr/tnr_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP TNR image-processing kernel/helper code under the staging media stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1669364043, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/vf/vf_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP ISP kernel implementation subdirectory (`kernels/vf/vf_1.0`), not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957008, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/wb/wb_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP ISP white-balance kernel implementation subdirectory, an internal image-processing component with no kernel device-driver entry point.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/xnr/xnr_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP XNR image-processing kernel implementation code, an internal ISP subcomponent rather than a kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/xnr/xnr_3.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal AtomISP image-processing kernel block (xnr_3.0) under the staging media driver, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1725616614, "top_author": "Li Zetao", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ynr/ynr_1.0", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested AtomISP image-processing kernel (YNR 1.0) implementation under isp/kernels, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/isp/kernels/ynr/ynr_2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: AtomISP YNR kernel implementation subdirectory containing ISP image-processing code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/mmu", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is the AtomISP PCI MMU support subdirectory, an internal helper/library component under a larger driver rather than a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/binary/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP runtime binary source subtree under staging media, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730988966, "top_author": "Mauro Carvalho Chehab", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/bufq/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP buffer-queue runtime source subdirectory under a staging media driver, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1756458242, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/debug/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP runtime debug source subtree, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/event/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested runtime/event source subtree under atomisp staging code, with no module/device entry point in this directory and likely only internal helper/library code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/eventq/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains AtomISP runtime event queue support source, an internal helper library under a staging media driver rather than kernel-bound hardware driver entry code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/frame/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal AtomISP runtime frame source subdirectory with helper code, not a kernel-bound hardware driver entry-point directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/ifmtr/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: atomisp runtime subdirectory containing internal IFMTR helper/source code, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/inputfifo/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal atomisp runtime/inputfifo helper source subtree under a staging media driver, with no module/device driver entry point in this directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/isp_param/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal atomisp runtime ISP-parameter source subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1657294399, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/isys/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a nested `runtime/isys/src` implementation subtree inside the AtomISP staging driver, with no standalone driver entry-point in the directory itself and the path shape matching an internal helper/library component rather than a kernel-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957012, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/pipeline/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal `runtime/pipeline/src` implementation subdirectory inside the atomisp staging stack, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver entrypoint.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751957008, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/queue/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: internal atomisp runtime queue source subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706767195, "top_author": "Dipendra Khadka", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/rmgr/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is an internal atomisp runtime resource-manager source subdirectory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1706767201, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/spctrl/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: nested `runtime/spctrl/src` subtree is an internal AtomISP support-library source directory, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1657294399, "top_author": "Hans de Goede", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/atomisp/pci/runtime/timer/src", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a nested atomisp runtime timer helper-library source directory (`runtime/timer/src`) with no module/device driver entry point in the directory itself, not a standalone kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 1, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1589970739, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/av7110", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "SAA7146 + AV7110 full-featured DVB cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_AV7110.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_DVB_AV7110 as support for SAA7146/AV7110-based full-featured DVB cards from Fujitsu-Siemens, TechnoTrend, Hauppauge and others; it also records that the driver was briefly marked DEPRECATED in 6.1/6.2 and then continued in drivers/staging/media/av7110." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DVB_AV7110_OSD.html", "claim": "LKDDb help text says AV7110 OSD is used by VDR, indicating continuing niche legacy deployments rather than zero usage." }, { "url": "https://www.hauppage.com/Pages/products/data_nexus.html", "claim": "Hauppauge WinTV-NEXUS-S product page describes the exact full-featured MPEG-2-decoder PCI DVB-S class this driver targets, with period details such as Pentium II / Windows 98SE-Me-2000-XP era requirements, supporting that this is legacy hardware, not a 2025 retail product." }, { "url": "https://www.linux-community.de/ausgaben/linuxuser/2005/03/fernsehen-aus-dem-all-uebersicht-der-aktuellen-dvb-s-empfangskarten/", "claim": "A 2005 market overview lists TechnoTrend Premium and Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-S as then-current full-featured DVB-S cards, showing the hardware family belonged to the mainstream retail window of the mid-2000s." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3e9ad662e34eb2d42ddef5a2883abd34461dfd9a", "claim": "Kernel history shows av7110 was moved to staging/media/deprecated/saa7146 in August 2022, evidencing prior upstream deprecation intent." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0fcb867718519060c90afea2d9af0a7cc1c3bd36", "claim": "Kernel history then reverted that deprecation move in February 2023, which weighs against removal and indicates maintainers chose to keep supporting the driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=458ea1c0be991573ec436aa0afa23baacfae101a", "claim": "A 2024 av7110 Spectre fix shows the driver still receives meaningful upstream maintenance, not just mechanical treewide churn." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is a real driver directory with dvb-ttpci objects and vendor/card references. Local git log (shell, using git -c safe.directory=...) showed active non-mechanical maintenance through 2025, plus 2022 deprecate and 2023 revert commits; the commit URLs are canonical kernel.org URLs reconstructed from hashes obtained by shell. Web search produced the LKDDb pages and the Hauppauge/LinuxUser pages. Conclusion: hardware is clearly legacy and likely only in enthusiast/VDR holdouts, but upstream attention is still real and explicit removal pressure was previously reversed, so keep it with clear legacy/deprecation annotation rather than remove now.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 50, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1622625423, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306863, "top_author": "Stefan Herdler", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/deprecated/atmel", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Atmel/Microchip ISC/XISC for SAMA5D2 and SAMA7G5", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "drivers/media/platform/microchip (VIDEO_MICROCHIP_ISC / VIDEO_MICROCHIP_XISC)", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/media/deprecated/atmel/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig marks both ATMEL_ISC and ATMEL_XISC as DEPRECATED and says they were scheduled for removal by the beginning of 2026." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/media/deprecated/atmel/TODO", "claim": "TODO explains the old Atmel ISC/XISC driver was moved to staging to preserve legacy users and names VIDEO_MICROCHIP_ISC / VIDEO_MICROCHIP_XISC as the replacement drivers." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1024518.html", "claim": "The 2022 redesign/move-to-staging patch series states the old driver was kept in staging for existing users while the media-subsystem Microchip driver serves new users." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microprocessors/32-bit-mpus/sama5/sama5d2-series", "claim": "Microchip still marketed and offered SAMA5D2 series parts and kits in 2025-era product pages, indicating the underlying SoC family remained commercially available." }, { "url": "https://developerhelp.microchip.com/xwiki/bin/view/products/mcu-mpu/32bit-mpu/sama7g5-series/", "claim": "Microchip's SAMA7G5 series page shows the newer XISC-capable SoC family remained an active product line with imaging support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of the directory confirmed real platform drivers for DT compatibles atmel,sama5d2-isc and microchip,sama7g5-isc, plus local git log showed the tree was moved to staging in 2022 and only received small compatibility updates through 2024-10 rather than feature work. Kconfig and TODO were read locally, with kernel.org tree URLs cited via canonical recall. Mailing-list history URL was obtained by web search and shows the intentional staging move plus replacement path. Microchip product URLs were obtained by web search and show the SoC families are still sold, so hardware exists, but this specific driver is legacy-only and superseded; with the stated removal date already passed, removal is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1669362511, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730103609, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/imx", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "NXP/Freescale i.MX5/i.MX6 IPUv3 camera capture subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/product-information/product-longevity%3APRDCT_LONGEVITY_HM?fsrch=1", "claim": "NXP's active longevity table still lists multiple i.MX 6 Series parts with program dates extending to 2032-2035, showing the SoC family is still in supported new-production life." }, { "url": "https://variscite.com/product/system-on-module-som/cortex-a9/var-som-mx6-cpu-freescale-imx6/", "claim": "A current vendor product page still sells i.MX6-based SOMs and highlights industrial/multimedia use, indicating ongoing real-world deployments for the i.MX6 family." }, { "url": "https://www.variscite.com/product/system-on-module-som/cortex-a7/var-som-6ul-nxp-imx6ul-6ull-6ulz/", "claim": "A current vendor product page for i.MX6UL/6ULL/6ULZ SOMs advertises camera input and industrial longevity, supporting continued embedded deployment of the broader i.MX6 line." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2023-April/829484.html", "claim": "The 2023 patch 'media: imx: Unstage the imx8mq-mipi-csi2 driver' argues that at least one IMX staging media driver was actively used and maintained enough to move out of staging, not remove." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/%2B/c13159a588818/drivers/staging/media/imx/", "claim": "A public kernel mirror shows this directory as a substantial media-driver subtree with multiple source files and a TODO, consistent with an active-but-not-yet-fully-graduated staging driver set." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) showed platform-driver entry points and i.MX5/6 media descriptions in this directory, so it is a real driver subtree. Local `git log` (with safe.directory override) showed steady 2023-2026 maintenance and no evident removal series for the remaining directory; activity included fixes, API updates, and cleanup, which argues against deprecation. Web search found NXP longevity data and current Variscite product pages showing i.MX6-family hardware still sold for industrial/camera use in 2025+. Web search also found the 2023 mailing-list patch for unstaging `imx8mq-mipi-csi2`; that indicates upstream improvement/graduation work inside this area rather than removal pressure. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the subtree is active and deployed, but it remains under `drivers/staging/...` with explicit TODO debt and no single upstream replacement for the i.MX5/i.MX6 IPUv3 capture pipeline.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 170, "substantive_commits_5y": 157, "first_touch_ts": 1497954638, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768980345, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 98, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/ipu3", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Intel IPU3 IMGU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_IPU3_IMGU.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_IPU3_IMGU is still present through current kernel HEAD, for Intel IPU3 IMGU on Skylake/Kaby Lake, PCI ID 8086:1919." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylake_%28microarchitecture%29", "claim": "Skylake launched in 2015 and is long out of mainstream lifecycle, anchoring IPU3 as legacy client hardware." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaby_Lake", "claim": "Kaby Lake launched in 2016 and desktop production ended in 2020, supporting the conclusion that IPU3 hardware is no longer sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) confirmed this is a real PCI V4L2 driver with PCI ID 8086:1919 and firmware hooks. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/staging/media/ipu3` showed substantive maintenance through 2025-10-26 and broad author activity, with no visible removal/deprecation trend; `lei` was unavailable, so lore search could not be run directly. URLs were obtained via web search: LKDDb for in-tree support status, Wikipedia Skylake/Kaby Lake pages for platform age/EOL timing. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the hardware is legacy and likely only in older laptops, but upstream maintenance is still active enough that deprecation/removal is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 51, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1544782369, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761743221, "top_author": "Sakari Ailus", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/ipu7", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Intel IPU7", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/secure/design/confidential/products/platforms/details/lunar-lake-mx/core-ultra-200v-series-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/intel-image-processing-unit-intel-ipu7/", "claim": "Intel’s Core Ultra 200V platform documentation includes Intel IPU7 as the integrated imaging unit, showing it is a current-generation product rather than legacy hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_INTEL_IPU7.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_INTEL_IPU7 in mainline kernels 6.17+ and lists PCI IDs for both Lunar Lake (8086:645d) and Panther Lake (8086:b05d)." }, { "url": "https://github.com/intel/ipu7-drivers", "claim": "Intel’s vendor repository states the IPU7 stack supports MIPI cameras on Lunar Lake, includes DKMS/out-of-tree support, and was tested with kernels v6.8 through v6.17." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` evidence: `git -c safe.directory=/nas4/data/workspace/personal/linux-drivers/.kernel-snapshot log -- drivers/staging/media/ipu7` shows the driver was added on 2025-05-29 and received substantive fixes through 2025-12-23; the 2026-02 entries in the supplied metadata are treewide/mechanical, and there was no obvious removal-series activity. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`/`web.open` for Intel’s product page, LKDDb, and Intel’s GitHub README. This is a very new staging camera driver for shipping Lunar Lake and near-term Panther Lake systems, so deprecation is not justified; `keep-annotate` fits better because the directory still has a staging TODO and the broader camera stack remains vendor-dependent.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 25, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1751550261, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768304875, "top_author": "Bingbu Cao", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/max96712", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Maxim GMSL2 deserializers (MAX96712/MAX96724)", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "max96724", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg281681.html", "claim": "July 16, 2025 removal patch explicitly says the staging MAX96712 driver should be removed because its functionality moved to the MAX96724 driver using the Maxim GMSL2/3 deserializer framework." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg281659.html", "claim": "The companion July 16, 2025 patch series says the new Maxim GMSL2/3 serializer/deserializer drivers replace older upstream GMSL2 drivers and support MAX96712 and MAX96724." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg30684.html", "claim": "December 16, 2024 patch fixes a real module-removal crash in max96712, showing recent upstream bug-fix activity rather than abandonment before the 2025 removal series." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg30722.html", "claim": "December 20, 2024 v3 patch adjusts MAX96712/MAX96724 handling for a documented register and reports improved streaming performance, showing active maintenance very near the removal discussion." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_MAX96712.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VIDEO_MAX96712 present across kernel releases and that the staging driver already covers both maxim,max96712 and maxim,max96724 compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/es/products/detail/analog-devices-inc-maxim-integrated/MAX96712GTB-V-T/11314877", "claim": "A distributor listing crawled recently shows MAX96712GTB/V+T inventory, indicating the chip was still obtainable new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://ez.analog.com/other-products/f/q-a/591269/gmsl-deserializer-configuration", "claim": "A January 8, 2025 Analog Devices support thread discusses active MAX96712 deployment and migration questions against MAX96724F, indicating current niche use in embedded vision/SerDes systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git log`) shows a real I2C/V4L2 staging driver introduced in 2021 with substantive fixes/features through 2024-12-19, including MAX96724 support. `web.search_query` found the 2025 linux-media removal series and replacement-framework cover letter on spinics, which is the strongest signal: this is not dead hardware, but the staging implementation is being superseded by a better upstream driver model. `web.open` on LKDDb confirmed the driver covers both MAX96712 and MAX96724 compatibles. Additional `web.search_query` hits from DigiKey and ADI EngineerZone show the silicon remained commercially/deployment-relevant in 2025-2026, but in a specialized automotive/industrial vision niche rather than broad deployment. Recommendation is `remove` because active upstream replacement/removal discussion exists and a natural successor driver path is identified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1636963903, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1734609019, "top_author": "Niklas Söderlund", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Amlogic Meson GX video decoder (GXBB/GXL/GXM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig identifies this as the Amlogic video decoder driver and says it supports decoder hardware in GXBB/GXL/GXM chips." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/TODO", "claim": "The in-tree TODO says the driver remains in staging because V4L2 stateful decoder documentation/compliance are not finalized, indicating known integration/specification gaps rather than planned removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0554e280c58b", "claim": "A 2024 upstream commit added GXLX platform support, showing ongoing enablement work rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=57343cbb09a3", "claim": "A 2024 upstream refactor in the HEVC path shows active maintenance in this driver area." }, { "url": "https://hub.libre.computer/t/2025-07-03-libre-computer-aml-s905d3-cc-solitude-aml-a311d-alta-aml-s905x-cc-v2-sweet-potato-aml-s805x-ac-la-frite-aml-s905x-cc-le-potato-firmware-update/4825", "claim": "Libre Computer published a 2025 firmware update covering AML-S905X-CC, showing the Meson GX-family board ecosystem is still deployed and supported." }, { "url": "https://hub.libre.computer/t/2023-09-01-libre-computer-aml-s905x-cc-v2-sweet-potato-now-available/2831", "claim": "Libre Computer states the S905X-based Sweet Potato does not replace the long-term-supported Le Potato platform, indicating continuing commercial availability/use of S905X-family boards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via shell (`module_platform_driver`, V4L2 mem2mem Kconfig, staging TODO). Upstream activity came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log` and showed substantive 2024-2025 work including 2024 GXLX enablement and HEVC refactors; no removal discussion was found from the available tooling, and `lei` was unavailable in this environment. Kernel source/commit URLs use canonical git.kernel.org pages assembled from those local findings. Deployment evidence came from web search results on Libre Computer pages showing 2025 firmware/support activity for AML-S905X-CC boards. Because the driver is still maintained but remains in staging for spec/compliance reasons, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1560266753, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066810, "top_author": "Hans Verkuil", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/sunxi/cedrus", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Allwinner Cedar/Cedrus VPU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_SUNXI_CEDRUS.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_VIDEO_SUNXI_CEDRUS through 7.0-rc+HEAD and shows support for multiple Allwinner video-engine compatibles, indicating ongoing upstream presence rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=193cd0fd5a60", "claim": "Recent substantive upstream work landed for cedrus ('media: cedrus: Add support for additional output formats'), showing active maintenance in the 2024-2025 window." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3a11887f7f11", "claim": "Another recent cedrus-specific fix ('media: cedrus: h265: Fix configuring bitstream size') shows continuing bug-fix traffic, not removal prep." }, { "url": "https://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html", "claim": "Orange Pi still markets new Allwinner H618 boards, showing Cedrus-class Allwinner SoCs remain in new-device circulation." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/Sunxi-Cedrus", "claim": "The linux-sunxi project documents Cedrus as the mainline Linux kernel path for hardware-accelerated video decode on Allwinner SoCs, indicating there is not a separate successor kernel driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local source inspection via exec_command on cedrus/Kconfig identified it as the 'Allwinner Cedrus VPU driver' for the Cedar video engine. Upstream activity was checked first from local git history via exec_command because MCP lore endpoints were unavailable here; recent cedrus-specific commits (hashes 193cd0fd5a60 and 3a11887f7f11) were then mapped to canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall. Deployment evidence came from web search_query hits to LKDDb, Orange Pi's official H618 product page, and linux-sunxi. Conclusion: active maintenance plus still-sold Allwinner boards argues against deprecation/removal; because it remains under staging, 'keep-annotate' fits better than plain 'keep'.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 74, "first_touch_ts": 1537800430, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1760693476, "top_author": "Jernej Skrabec", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/sunxi/sun6i-isp", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Allwinner A31/V3-family ISP", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.7/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "Kernel MAINTAINERS lists 'ALLWINNER A31 ISP DRIVER' as Maintained and covers drivers/staging/media/sunxi/sun6i-isp/." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/913797/", "claim": "The upstream review thread shows the A31 ISP driver was introduced as a new patch series in November 2022, so it is a relatively recent mainline addition rather than long-abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/A31", "claim": "linux-sunxi identifies the A31 as an Allwinner SoC released in December 2012, indicating the core hardware generation is old." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/V3s", "claim": "linux-sunxi describes the V3s as targeting car DVR and IP camera systems, which points to niche embedded/camera deployments rather than broad current consumer uptake." }, { "url": "https://linux-sunxi.org/V851s", "claim": "linux-sunxi states the V3s is NRND from Allwinner and the V851s is the recommended chip for that application, implying the older ISP-bearing family is not preferred for new designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection: `sed` on Kconfig shows this is a real ISP driver for A31/A80/A83T/V3/V3s; `rg` on MAINTAINERS confirms it is still marked maintained; `git log` shows first in-tree addition in 2022 and latest touch on 2025-08-10, with ongoing fixups/treewide API updates and no local sign of removal. Web search: kernel.org MAINTAINERS page obtained via web search confirms maintained status; LWN result from searching lore-related terms surfaced the 2022 introduction thread; linux-sunxi A31/V3s/V851s pages obtained via web search indicate the hardware family is old, still relevant mainly in low-volume embedded camera niches, and superseded for new designs. No natural upstream replacement driver exists for the same hardware block, so removal/deprecation would be premature; annotate as low-deployment staging hardware instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1669360979, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755066842, "top_author": "Paul Kocialkowski", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/media/tegra-video", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra VI/CSI/VIP (Tegra20/Tegra210)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VIDEO_TEGRA.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps this staging driver to CONFIG_VIDEO_TEGRA and shows supported hardware/DT compatibles including nvidia,tegra20-vi, nvidia,tegra20-vip, nvidia,tegra210-csi, and nvidia,tegra210-vi; it is still present through current kernel heads." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/lifecycle", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson lifecycle page shows Jetson Nano available through January 2027, meaning Tegra210-based hardware covered by this driver was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/linux-tegra-archive", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson Linux archive shows continuing software releases for Jetson platforms into 2025-2026, supporting the conclusion that Tegra camera-capable deployments remain active rather than fully legacy." }, { "url": "https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/faq", "claim": "NVIDIA's Jetson FAQ states Jetson ecosystem production systems and carrier boards remain available, indicating ongoing embedded deployment niches rather than zero-field presence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection identified real platform-driver code for Tegra camera capture blocks, not helper code. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive tegra-video work in 2024-2026, including bug fixes and Tegra20 feature enablement, and a grep over history found no obvious removal-or-orphaning series; only routine 'remove callback returning void' style churn appeared. lore-http MCP was unavailable in this session and `lei` was not installed, so direct lore queries could not be run; I used local git history as the upstream-activity proxy. Cited URLs were obtained by web search: LKDDb via search result, and NVIDIA lifecycle/archive/FAQ pages via web search on Jetson product status. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the driver is still seeing upstream attention and still corresponds to niche-but-real Tegra210 deployments, but it remains in staging and serves a relatively narrow embedded camera niche rather than a broad 2025 growth platform.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 53, "first_touch_ts": 1589317744, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768306864, "top_author": "Luca Ceresoli", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/most/dim2", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "MOST MediaLB DIM2 host interface", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.75, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MOST_DIM2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MOST_DIM2 still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and bound to MediaLB-related compatibles including fsl,imx6q-mlb150, renesas,rcar-gen3-mlp, and Xilinx OS62420 variants." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/solutions/industrial/professional-audio/inicnet-technology", "claim": "Microchip still markets INICnet technology with MediaLB bus support and explicitly says a Linux driver is available, indicating the ecosystem is not fully obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX6Q", "claim": "NXP lists i.MX6Q as Active, supporting that at least one SoC family matched by this driver was still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: contains module_platform_driver and OF matches for MediaLB hardware. Lore-first attempt was blocked: `lore-http` MCP unavailable, `lei` missing in shell, and web lore queries returned no hits. Fallback evidence: local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/staging/most/dim2` showed ongoing non-removal maintenance through 2026-01-23 with no evident removal series, so not `deprecate`/`remove`. URLs were obtained via web search/open: LKDDb for in-tree presence and supported compatibles, Microchip current INICnet pages for present-day MediaLB/Linux ecosystem, and NXP product page for current sale status of i.MX6Q. Conclusion: active but niche automotive/industrial MediaLB support, no natural upstream replacement, so keep it but annotate as low-deployment staging hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 19, "first_touch_ts": 1511770833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769524362, "top_author": "Nikita Yushchenko", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/most/net", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Microchip MOST150 INIC / MOST networking", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.68, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MOST_NET.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MOST_NET is still present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and builds module most_net from drivers/staging/most/net/Kconfig." }, { "url": "https://lkml.iu.edu/2202.1/author.html", "claim": "A 2022 mailing-list entry exists for \"[PATCH] staging: most: net: Make use of the helper macro LIST_HEAD()\", matching the directory's last substantive touch timeframe." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/os81118", "claim": "Microchip lists OS81118 MOST150 INIC as \"In Production,\" indicating related MOST150 hardware was still sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/solutions/automotive-and-transportation/automotive-products/connectivity/most-technology/most-netservices", "claim": "Microchip still documents active MOST25/MOST50/MOST150 NetServices and names current INIC families including OS81118/OS81119, showing the ecosystem persists." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/about/news-releases/corporate/daimler-adopts-microchip-s-most150-devices-with-coaxial-physical-layer-for-future-infotainment-network-systems", "claim": "MOST150 was used for automotive infotainment platforms and had broad historical OEM deployment, but the cited adoption evidence is from the 2010s rather than recent mass-market rollouts." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: net.c implements a Linux net_device over the MOST core. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/net.c identified it as the networking AIM for MOST; local git log showed only sparse maintenance, with the last meaningful touch in 2022 and no sign of sustained development. Web search on lore/lkml found 2020-2022 cleanup traffic and no obvious active removal series; cited LKML URL was obtained via web search. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and supports that the config still exists at HEAD. Microchip product and NetServices URLs were obtained via web search and show MOST150 silicon/software remains offered, so removal looks premature; however deployments appear niche automotive/legacy rather than growing, so keep the driver but annotate it as low-activity legacy hardware support.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1511770833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1644941134, "top_author": "Cai Huoqing", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/most/video", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Microchip MOST150 INIC / Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) video bridge", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg36479.html", "claim": "A February 2026 v2 bug-fix patch specifically for drivers/staging/most/video/video.c was reviewed on linux-staging, showing active maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg39228.html", "claim": "An April 8, 2026 patch touched most/video again to replace BUG_ON() with WARN_ON(), indicating current upstream cleanup activity and no visible removal thread for this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/OS81118", "claim": "Microchip lists the OS81118 MOST150 Intelligent Network Interface Controller as 'In Production', so at least one directly relevant MOST150 part was still sold new after 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/solutions/automotive-and-transportation/automotive-products/connectivity/most-technology/most-netservices", "claim": "Microchip still documents MOST NetServices for MOST150 devices including OS81110, OS81118, and OS81119, suggesting an extant vendor-supported ecosystem for this transport family." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MOST_VIDEO.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MOST_VIDEO continuing through modern kernel series and identifies this directory as the most_video module, confirming it remains present upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `exec_command` showed a real V4L2 component built as `most_video`, bridging Linux V4L2 onto the MOST core rather than a helper-only subtree. Local `git log` via `exec_command` showed substantive touches in 2025-2026, including a real race fix on 2026-02-07. Because `lei` was unavailable and MCP lore endpoints were not exposed here, mailing-list evidence was obtained with web `search_query`, which found active 2025-2026 spinics threads but no removal/deprecation series for this directory. Vendor status and deployment evidence were obtained with web `search_query` on Microchip pages: MOST150 INIC silicon is still in production, but the use case is specialized automotive infotainment/media transport, so present-day deployment is best classified as low rather than none. There is no obvious upstream replacement driver covering the same MOST-to-V4L2 transport niche; the right call is to keep it, but annotate it as niche staging code with narrow modern deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 7, "first_touch_ts": 1511770834, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770465914, "top_author": "Laurent Pinchart", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/nvec", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra NVEC embedded controller (AC100/Compal Paz00-era Tegra 2 platforms)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2011, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6152421.html", "claim": "An April 13, 2026 patch fixes a real teardown bug in `tegra_nvec_remove()`, showing current upstream bug-fix activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5812713.html", "claim": "An August 19, 2025 staging patch removes dead NVEC debug code, showing the driver is still being cleaned up in staging." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_AC100", "claim": "Toshiba AC100 / Dynabook AZ (Compal Paz00) was announced in June 2010 and discontinued in 2011." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/The-big-list-of-who-has-what-device?0OF2sO2MgWQaM=O0w2SD", "claim": "Toshiba AC100 (paz00) still appears in a hobbyist/testing device list, consistent with residual niche use rather than mainstream deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection (`rg` on `drivers/staging/nvec/Kconfig` and `sed` on `drivers/staging/nvec/README`) identifies this as the Tegra NVEC EC stack for keyboard/PS2/power plus OEM PAZ00 support; README says it was 'currently only used by the AC100 project', so this is highly device-specific legacy hardware with no obvious in-tree replacement. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable (`lei: command not found`), so lore activity was approximated through `web.search_query` results on kernel mailing-list archives: `turn2search5` and `turn2search4` show 2025-2026 upstream fixes/cleanup, while the removal/deprecate searches returned no removal thread. Deployment evidence came from `turn0search34` (Wikipedia AC100 discontinuation) and `turn1search2` (postmarketOS hobbyist/testing presence). Because hardware is long obsolete but the driver still receives real fixes, `keep-annotate` fits better than `deprecate` or `remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1305844570, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768136036, "top_author": "Marc Dietrich", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/octeon", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Cavium/Marvell OCTEON MIPS64 SoCs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2020/01/29/253", "claim": "Greg Kroah-Hartman's 2020 staging pull included 'removal of ... octeon ethernet' and a 'staging: octeon: delete driver' commit, showing there was a removal attempt." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging/", "claim": "Current mirrored staging tree still exposes a dedicated 'staging-octeon' branch, indicating the code still has explicit upstream staging attention rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEON_ETHERNET.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_OCTEON_ETHERNET remains present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and identifies it as Cavium Networks Octeon Ethernet support in drivers/staging/octeon." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/embedded-processors/marvell-infrastructure-processors-octeon-iii-cn70xx-71xx-ap-product-brief-2019.pdf", "claim": "Marvell's CN70xx/CN71xx OCTEON III brief places this family in SMB/enterprise networking, storage, industrial control, and military/aero embedded uses, consistent with legacy-but-still-deployed appliance niches rather than broad new deployments." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux/%2B/88afbb21d4b36fee6acaa167641f9f0fc122f01b/drivers/staging/octeon/TODO", "claim": "The in-tree TODO states the driver is functional and supports Ethernet on OCTEON+/OCTEON2/OCTEON3 chips at least up to CN7030." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg`/`sed` and local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed this is an on-SoC Cavium Octeon Ethernet driver with substantive fixes through 2025, so it is not dormant. Lore access via `lei` was unavailable; instead web search/open was used for public archive evidence. Web search opened the 2020 LKML archive URL showing a real removal attempt, but web search/open of current LKDDb and the current gregkh staging mirror show the driver still exists and even has a live `staging-octeon` branch, so that removal did not stick and there is no clear current removal wave. Web search/open of Marvell's 2019 CN70xx/CN71xx brief and the in-tree TODO page tie the driver to older OCTEON embedded/networking SoCs; that implies legacy appliance/industrial deployments remain possible, but new 2025 design wins look unlikely. Result: keep it for now, but annotate it as legacy/staging hardware with low contemporary deployment and no obvious in-tree replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1245233190, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757166943, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/rtl8723bs/core", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723BS", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2018, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a75281626fc8", "claim": "Substantive rtl8723bs fix landed on 2026-02-24, showing current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/rtl8723bs/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream still exposes RTL8723BS as a staging SDIO WLAN driver, confirming the hardware/driver scope." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=27c9721007", "claim": "Recent hardware probe shows RTL8723BS still appearing in real machines, indicating ongoing legacy deployments." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/HP/Stream%207/Bookworm", "claim": "Debian Bookworm-era install notes still mention Realtek RTL8723BS on older consumer hardware, supporting continued legacy use." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_Don%27t_be_evil_devkit_%28pine64-dontbeevil%29", "claim": "Recent postmarketOS device page shows RTL8723BS use on niche ARM hardware/devkits, indicating residual embedded hobbyist deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is real driver code: local shell inspection found RTL8723BS SDIO module entry in drivers/staging/rtl8723bs/os_dep/sdio_intf.c and Kconfig names the chipset. Lore-first fallback: `lei` was unavailable, so I used local kernel history via shell (`git log`) and canonical kernel.org commit/tree URLs by canonical recall to ground maintenance status; recent 2026 fixes indicate active bug-fix/refactor traffic, not removal. Web search found current deployment evidence on linux-hardware and distro/device wikis (tool: web search). I found no concrete removal series in available searches, so despite old/staging status and likely no meaningful new 2025 retail presence, active upstream work argues against deprecate/remove. Best fit is keep-annotate: legacy hardware, low present-day deployment, no clear in-tree replacement for RTL8723BS SDIO specifically.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 344, "substantive_commits_5y": 338, "first_touch_ts": 1491648759, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771956080, "top_author": "Fabio Aiuto", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/rtl8723bs/hal", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723BS", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/staging/rtl8723bs", "claim": "Upstream tree still shows active rtl8723bs maintenance in 2025-2026; recent work is bug-fix and cleanup oriented rather than removal-oriented." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8723BS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_RTL8723BS remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, builds module r8723bs, and matches Realtek RTL8723BS SDIO IDs including 024c:b723." }, { "url": "https://www.jotrin.com/product/parts/RTL8723BS", "claim": "RTL8723BS chips were still being offered by distributors in 2025/2026, indicating some new-parts availability." }, { "url": "https://www.wandisplay.com/products/KWH-8723-BS.html", "claim": "A vendor was still listing an RTL8723BS-based SDIO Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module in 2026, suggesting continuing embedded/industrial niche deployments." }, { "url": "https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Realtek_RTL8723BS_Combo_Module_%28SDIO%29", "claim": "The chipset is associated with older embedded designs such as SDIO combo modules and first-generation low-cost x86/ARM devices, supporting a legacy-but-still-deployed profile." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`hal/` is not a standalone module entrypoint, but it is substantive hardware-specific code inside the rtl8723bs driver, so treated as the driver's HAL slice rather than filtered as not-a-driver. Activity evidence came from local shell inspection (`git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2023-01-01 -- drivers/staging/rtl8723bs`), which showed many 2025-2026 fixes/cleanups and no obvious removal series; the kernel.org log URL was added by canonical recall to anchor that claim. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and confirms the driver is still in current kernel series. Jotrin and Wandisplay URLs were obtained via web search and used only as market signals that RTL8723BS silicon/modules were still commercially listed in 2025/2026. DeviWiki URL was obtained via web search and supports the conclusion that present-day use is mostly legacy embedded/tablet/SBC niches. Because upstream attention is active and there is no clear in-tree replacement covering RTL8723BS SDIO specifically, removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/staging hardware with low modern deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 317, "substantive_commits_5y": 314, "first_touch_ts": 1491648759, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770473461, "top_author": "Fabio Aiuto", "top_author_commits": 93, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/rtl8723bs/os_dep", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Realtek RTL8723BS SDIO Wi-Fi/Bluetooth", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/9/4/164", "claim": "A 16-patch rtl8723bs cleanup series was posted in September 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or imminent removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RTL8723BS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_RTL8723BS remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and LKDDb lists real hardware users such as the 1st gen Intel Compute Stick and CHIP." }, { "url": "https://tinker-board.asus.com/documentation/tbs.html", "claim": "ASUS documentation states the original Tinker Board uses an AW-NB177NF module containing a Realtek RTL8723BS IC." }, { "url": "https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/aiot-industrial-solutions/tinker-series/tinker-board/", "claim": "ASUS still has a current Tinker Board product page online, supporting the view that at least some RTL8723BS-based boards remain in active circulation." }, { "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/403332474838", "claim": "A 2025 listing shows new RTL8723BS SDIO Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules still being sold, suggesting ongoing small-volume replacement/embedded demand rather than full market extinction." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection confirmed this is real driver code in os_dep with module_init in sdio_intf.c. Local `git log` showed sustained substantive touches into 2026-02, so this is not dormant. URLs were obtained via web search: LKML patch series (turn3search6), LKDDb entry (turn3search0), ASUS RTL8723BS FAQ/doc page (turn2search0), ASUS current product page (turn2search2), and a 2025 new-module sales listing (turn1search0). I found no concrete removal/deprecation thread in the limited lore web search budget; combined with active cleanup traffic, that argues for keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove. Deployment appears low today: legacy Atom/ARM tablets/SBCs and replacement/embedded niches, with no clear in-tree successor covering this exact SDIO chipset.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 176, "substantive_commits_5y": 169, "first_touch_ts": 1491648759, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770471333, "top_author": "Fabio Aiuto", "top_author_commits": 36, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/sm750fb", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Silicon Motion SM750 / LynxExp", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2020, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_SM750.html", "claim": "LKDDb still lists CONFIG_FB_SM750 in current kernel series and ties it to PCI ID 126f:0750 and module sm750fb." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci%3A126f-0750-126f-0750", "claim": "Recent Linux hardware probes still report real-world detection/working systems for PCI 126f:0750, indicating some surviving deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.hy-line-group.com/de-de/produkte/embedded/embedded-ic/graphics/sm750~p6802", "claim": "Distributor product page still offers the SM750 as an embedded graphics processor, supporting the view that the part remained purchasable in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://www.siliconmotion.com/product/jp/Graphics-Display-SoCs.html", "claim": "Silicon Motion still publishes SM750 product-brief/download material on its Graphics Display SoC page, consistent with ongoing long-tail support." }, { "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/news/asrock-m2-graphics-card", "claim": "ASRock Rack shipped an SM750-based M.2 VGA module in 2020, a useful marker for the chipset's last broadly visible commercial appearance outside specialist channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `rg` and `sed` confirmed a real PCI framebuffer driver with PCI ID 126f:0750 and module_init in sm750.c. Upstream activity was checked via local `git -c safe.directory=... log` because lore MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed; the directory shows substantive touches through 2026-02-23 and no clear removal-oriented commit trail, so this does not look abandoned. Web `search_query` produced LKDDb, linux-hardware, distributor, vendor, and ASRock/Tom's Hardware pages: together they support a low-volume embedded/industrial niche that is still extant, but far from mainstream. Given active kernel maintenance plus niche-but-real deployment, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 76, "first_touch_ts": 1425688651, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771860776, "top_author": "Eric Florin", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-audio", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM2835-family Raspberry Pi built-in audio", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SND_BCM2835.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_SND_BCM2835 to drivers/staging/vc04_services/bcm2835-audio and describes it as the BCM2835 built-in audio driver using VCHIQ for 3.5mm and HDMI audio." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products//raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/?variant=raspberry-pi-4-model-b-8gb", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is still in production until at least January 2034 and exposes stereo audio plus HDMI outputs relevant to this driver family." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is still in production until at least January 2030 and remains a current Raspberry Pi deployment target with HDMI-capable built-in multimedia hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: ALSA module snd-bcm2835 with Kconfig help stating it handles 3.5mm and HDMI audio through VCHIQ. Upstream activity was checked locally via shell using git log on this path; there are substantive touches through 2025-11-09 and no visible local-history sign of an active removal series, so removal/deprecate would be too aggressive. Cited URLs were obtained via web.search_query results: LKDDb for driver identity/deployment surface, and official Raspberry Pi product pages for ongoing sale/production evidence. Lore MCP was unavailable in this environment, and a web lore search did not surface a removal discussion. Staging status and firmware dependency argue for annotation rather than promotion, but continuing maintenance plus still-sold hardware argue to keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 28, "first_touch_ts": 1488788226, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762655060, "top_author": "Adrien Thierry", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/staging/vme_user", "subsystem": "staging", "chipset_family": "VMEbus bridge controllers (TSI148/Tempe-class and generic VME)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/vme_user/Kconfig", "claim": "This directory builds the VME core, the VME user-space access driver, the Tundra TSI148 bridge driver, and a fake VME bridge for development; it is real driver code, not just headers or tests." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/staging/vme_user", "claim": "The directory has ongoing upstream churn into 2025/2026, which is inconsistent with imminent removal or abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/tsi148", "claim": "The Renesas TSI148 VME-to-PCI-X bridge, one of the concrete bridge chips supported here, is marked obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.xes-inc.com/products-overview/vme-products/", "claim": "X-ES still markets multiple current 6U VME SBCs, carriers, and RTMs, showing that VME hardware remains sold for niche new deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.kontron.com/en/products/boards-standard-form-factors/vme/c136846", "claim": "Kontron states continued investment in its VME portfolio, indicating ongoing but specialized market demand rather than total obsolescence." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep-annotate: local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this is an actual VME driver stack with VME_USER, VME_TSI148, and VME_FAKE; local git log also showed recent non-removal activity through 2025/2026. Lore-specific tooling was unavailable here (`lei` missing; no exposed lore MCP), so upstream-activity evidence is backed by canonical-recall kernel.org tree/log URLs plus local git output. Deployment evidence came from web search results turn0search0 (Renesas TSI148 obsolete), turn0search2 (X-ES current VME products), and turn0search0 in the second web search (Kontron continued VME portfolio). Net: supported hardware is niche and some classic bridge silicon is obsolete, but VME remains sold into defense/industrial refresh programs and the code is still maintained, so removal is not justified; annotate as legacy/niche staging code instead.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1650638849, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765976399, "top_author": "Soumya Negi", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": true, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "LIO/TCM generic SCSI target framework", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260307220630.131008-1-michael.christie@oracle.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 fix traffic in target core shows active upstream maintenance, not abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260222232946.7637-2-michael.christie@oracle.com/", "claim": "Recent 2026 functional work added backend-context command completion support in scsi target core." }, { "url": "https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/pdf/managing_storage_devices/managing-storage-devices.pdf", "claim": "Current enterprise distro documentation still covers configuring iSCSI targets with targetcli and LIO backstores including block, fileio, pscsi, and ramdisk." }, { "url": "https://wiki.debian.org/SAN/iSCSI/LIO", "claim": "Debian wiki documents LIO as the in-kernel iSCSI target and describes targetcli-fb usage, indicating ongoing real deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/target` is a real driver/subsystem, not an internal helper: local shell read of `drivers/target/Kconfig` shows target-core and fabric modules (iblock, fileio, pscsi, iscsi, loopback, tcm_fc, sbp, tcm_remote). Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/target/target_core_device.c`, which returned 2025-2026 fixes and feature work via the cited lore URLs. A broader lore subject scan and a `lei` query were attempted for removal/deprecation discussion, but timed out / were blocked in this sandbox; with the available lore sample, I found active maintenance rather than removal signals. Deployment evidence came from web search results opened from Red Hat and Debian pages showing current docs for LIO/targetcli usage on supported distro releases. Because this is a software target framework used on current servers rather than a dead chipset-specific driver, there is no natural in-tree replacement and no meaningful hardware EOL year to assign.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017644826725847957, "commits_5y": 223, "substantive_commits_5y": 212, "first_touch_ts": 1295021549, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773972459, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 47, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/iscsi", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "LIO iSCSI target", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260415040728.187680-1-carlos.bilbao@kernel.org/", "claim": "linux-scsi carried an April 15, 2026 functional fix for drivers/target/iscsi ('reject invalid size Extended CDB AHS'), indicating active upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260112165352.138606-3-mlombard@redhat.com/", "claim": "linux-scsi carried a January 12, 2026 bug fix for a use-after-free in the iSCSI target path, showing current bug-fix traffic rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/10/html/managing_storage_devices/configuring-an-iscsi-target", "claim": "RHEL 10 documentation still instructs administrators to install targetcli, start the target service, and configure LIO-backed iSCSI targets, showing present-day supported deployment." }, { "url": "https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/managing_storage_devices/configuring-an-iscsi-target_managing-storage-devices", "claim": "RHEL 8 documents current LIO backstores and iSCSI target configuration, reinforcing that this remains a supported storage-server feature rather than dead legacy code." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained two lore URLs via mcp__lore_http__.lore_regex on patch diffs matching '^diff --git a/drivers/target/iscsi/' in linux-scsi over the last 5 years; both are recent functional fixes. Obtained the Red Hat docs URLs via web search restricted to official docs. This directory implements the software LIO iSCSI target fabric, not a discrete hardware chipset driver, so hardware lifecycle fields are inherently N/A-like; iSCSI target deployments still exist in enterprise/storage niches, and there is no upstream replacement driver covering the same in-kernel target role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05889149646166546, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1311671803, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768622535, "top_author": "Dmitry Bogdanov", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/iscsi/cxgbit", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "Chelsio Terminator T5/T6 Unified Wire adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "iscsi_target_mod", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20241129153056.6985-6-a.kovaleva@yadro.com/", "claim": "cxgbit still received an upstream touch in late 2024, but as part of a broad target-core logging cleanup rather than cxgbit-specific feature work." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/1634135087-4996-1-git-send-email-varun@chelsio.com/", "claim": "A vendor-authored cxgbit-specific functional change landed in 2021, indicating limited but real maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/unified-wire-adapters/t62100-cr/", "claim": "Chelsio's T62100-CR product page was live in 2026, shows 'BUY NOW', and advertises T6 Unified Wire adapters with iSCSI offload and T5 software continuity." }, { "url": "https://www.chelsio.com/nic/", "claim": "Chelsio's current Unified Wire adapter page still markets T6 adapters and lists iSCSI offload among active product features." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ISCSI_TARGET_CXGB4.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ISCSI_TARGET_CXGB4 / module cxgbit remains present in current kernel series, confirming the driver is still shipped upstream." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep, but annotate as niche. `exec_command` on local source found MODULE_DESCRIPTION 'Chelsio iSCSI target offload driver' plus T5/T6 references, tying cxgbit to Chelsio offload adapters. `lore_activity` on cxgbit_main.c showed only sparse recent traffic: 2024 treewide target cleanups and the last clearly cxgbit-specific change in 2021, with no removal discussion surfaced. `web.search` found Chelsio T6 adapter pages still live and marketed with iSCSI offload in 2026, so hardware is not obviously obsolete, but deployments are likely limited to legacy/specialized storage-offload environments. Natural non-offload replacement is the generic LIO iSCSI target stack via iscsi_target_mod over ordinary NICs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7698121105055235, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1462860774, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1652236340, "top_author": "Varun Prakash", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/loopback", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the LIO target loopback fabric module for virtual in-kernel SCSI testing/loopback, not hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.034157195385923066, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1300903833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773971691, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/sbp", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "FireWire SBP-2", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2012, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260204143847.780606516@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives real maintenance: a 2026 stable backport fixed an overflow in sbp_target.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260222232946.7637-3-michael.christie@oracle.com/", "claim": "The file was touched by an upstream 2026 target-core behavioral change, indicating it remains in active integration paths rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394", "claim": "IEEE 1394 / FireWire was largely phased out from consumer product lines in the 2010s, was superseded by Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 for consumer use, and Apple released its last computers with FireWire in 2012." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/kn-in/guide/mac-help/mchlp1443/mac", "claim": "Current Apple target-disk workflows now use USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt rather than FireWire, showing the mainstream use case has moved on." }, { "url": "https://tidbits.com/2025/09/19/support-for-firewire-removed-from-macos-26-tahoe/", "claim": "By 2025 Apple had removed FireWire support from macOS 26, and commentary there notes no Mac had native FireWire ports after the mid-2012 model generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`rg` on the local tree identified this as a real FireWire SBP-2 target fabric driver (`MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"FireWire SBP fabric driver\")`). `lore_file_timeline` on the directory returned no hits, so I reran it on `drivers/target/sbp/sbp_target.c`; that showed steady 2021-2026 activity with a strong 2025-2026 tail, which argues against deprecation/removal despite obsolete hardware. `lore_message` on the 2026 stable patch confirmed a real bug fix in this exact file. Web search plus `open`/`find` on Wikipedia, Apple Support, and TidBITS provided deployment evidence: FireWire is a legacy bus superseded by USB 3.0/Thunderbolt, with mainstream native availability effectively ending around 2012 and only niche legacy/industrial use remaining. No replacement upstream driver cleanly covers 'SCSI target over FireWire', so removal would strand remaining legacy users; annotate rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09296217735988302, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1336602317, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769226081, "top_author": "Dmitry Bogdanov", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/tcm_fc", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "libfc/Open-FCoE Fibre Channel target fabric", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20260222232946.7637-3-michael.christie@oracle.com/", "claim": "tcm_fc still receives upstream maintenance in 2026 as part of a target-core behavior change touching tfc_conf.c." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/20251107154008.304127-1-marco.crivellari@suse.com/", "claim": "tcm_fc also saw a 2025 patch updating its workqueue usage, indicating the code is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TCM_FC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TCM_FC remains present through current kernel series and is built as module tcm_fc." }, { "url": "https://lkml.indiana.edu/1003.2/01772.html", "claim": "tcm_fc was introduced as the Open-FCoE/libfc target fabric module, tying LIO target core to libfc for FCoE/FC target use." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/products/fibre-channel-adapters-and-controllers.html", "claim": "Enterprise Fibre Channel adapters/controllers are still actively marketed in 2025-era product lines, so the broader FC hardware class is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile and module_init in tfc_conf.c confirm an in-tree fabric driver. chipset_family inferred from local source plus LKML archive/web search: tcm_fc registers with libfc and was announced as the Open-FCoE/libfc target fabric. Upstream attention is low but current: both lore URLs were obtained via lore_activity on drivers/target/tcm_fc/tfc_conf.c. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and shows CONFIG_TCM_FC still present in modern kernels. Marvell FC product URL was obtained via web search and supports that FC hardware is still sold new, but this specific LIO FC/FCoE target niche appears uncommon today, so deployments are low. No solid evidence of an active upstream removal series was found; with recent bug-fix/maintenance traffic, deprecate/remove would be too aggressive.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22956843683626052, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1305615166, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763000907, "top_author": "Marco Crivellari", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/target/tcm_remote", "subsystem": "target", "chipset_family": "LIO/TCM Virtual Remote target", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230313181110.20566-13-d.bogdanov@yadro.com", "claim": "Intro patch describes tcm_remote as a 'virtual remote target' used to reflect ACL/LUN/TPG configuration from peer nodes in a storage cluster, e.g. for ALUA/report target port groups." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/REMOTE_TARGET.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_REMOTE_TARGET as 'TCM Virtual Remote target', a tristate module `tcm_remote`, present only since Linux 6.4 and described as a dummy fabric for peer-node cluster configuration." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/config_remote_target", "claim": "Kernelconfig mirrors the Kconfig help: `tcm_remote` is a dummy TCM fabric for peer-node TPG/ACL/LUN state in clusters, indicating a software/cluster niche rather than discrete hardware support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Evidence gathered from local shell inspection and `git show` of the sole substantive commit, which exposed the lore Link URL, plus web search hits for LKDDb and kernelconfig pages. The code and Kconfig describe a software-only dummy target fabric added in 2023 for clustered LIO visibility, not a hardware-enablement driver. Tree history shows only the 2023 add plus 2026 treewide allocator churn, with no sign of ongoing feature work or removal discussion in the gathered evidence. Because it is new, niche, and low-maintenance rather than hardware-obsolete, the best fit is to keep it upstream but annotate it as a narrow clustered-storage module.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1679024197, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1679024197, "top_author": "Dmitry Bogdanov", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tc", "subsystem": "tc", "chipset_family": "DEC TURBOchannel", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1994, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TURBOchannel", "claim": "TURBOchannel was a DEC expansion bus used mainly in DECstation/DECsystem/VAXstation/DEC 3000 systems, and DEC abandoned it in favor of EISA/PCI in late 1994." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TC is Linux TURBOchannel support, tied to DECstation-class MIPS platforms, and remains present in current kernel configuration data." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_PMAG_AA.html", "claim": "At least one current in-tree device driver still depends on CONFIG_TC, indicating residual support for legacy TURBOchannel graphics hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_TGA.html", "claim": "Additional in-tree framebuffer support still covers TURBOchannel graphics options, reinforcing that the bus core remains only for legacy hardware niches." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of `drivers/tc/*.c` shows this is the TURBOchannel bus core/driver-registration layer, not a helper library. Local git history (`git log`) shows only sparse upkeep since 2020, with substantive touches limited to small fixes/constification and no evidence of active feature work. Web search for lore removal discussion returned no hits in the allotted queries, so I did not escalate to `remove`. Deployment is `low`: the cited Wikipedia page dates broad market relevance to pre-PCI DEC systems, while LKDDb pages show current kernel support survives mainly to service a few legacy DECstation/TURBOchannel framebuffer drivers. Sources were obtained via web search; code/activity evidence came from shell inspection plus local git history.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1731422888, "top_author": "zhang jiao", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tee", "subsystem": "tee", "chipset_family": "TEE (OP-TEE / AMD-TEE / QTEE / Arm Trusted Services)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260112154833.78546-1-aristo.chen@canonical.com/", "claim": "`drivers/tee/tee_core.c` saw active upstream feature work in January 2026 (`tee: add revision sysfs attribute`) with review on LKML, indicating the subsystem is maintained rather than in retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260112154833.78546-2-aristo.chen@canonical.com/", "claim": "`drivers/tee/optee/core.c` also saw active upstream feature work in January 2026 (`tee: optee: store OS revision for TEE core`), showing continued investment in a concrete in-tree TEE driver." }, { "url": "https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/latest/general/about.html", "claim": "Official OP-TEE documentation describes OP-TEE as the Linux-kernel TEE framework/driver companion for Arm TrustZone systems, showing this is a current upstream and ecosystem-relevant interface rather than legacy-only hardware." }, { "url": "https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/latest/building/devices/zynqmp.html", "claim": "Official OP-TEE docs list supported AMD/Xilinx Zynq MPSoC boards, evidence that TEE-backed Arm SoCs using this stack remain in active embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/confidential-computing.html", "claim": "AMD states SEV creates a TEE and is built into current EPYC 7000/8000/9000 server CPUs, showing `drivers/tee/amdtee` maps to hardware still shipping in 2025-era products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: local shell inspection (`ls`, `rg`, `sed` on `drivers/tee/Kconfig` and `Makefile`) showed real in-tree driver code plus active subdrivers (`optee`, `amdtee`, `qcomtee`, `tstee`). Lore evidence came from `lore_activity` on `drivers/tee/tee_core.c` and `drivers/tee/optee/core.c`, which returned 2025-2026 patches with review, so this is actively maintained. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no matches, which looks like a path-granularity limitation rather than a removal signal; no concrete removal thread was found. Deployment evidence came from web `search/open/find` on official OP-TEE docs and AMD EPYC confidential-computing pages. Because TEE hardware/interfaces are still shipping across Arm embedded/mobile and AMD server confidential-computing platforms, there is no obsolescence case here; keep the directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03398330989321453, "commits_5y": 58, "substantive_commits_5y": 52, "first_touch_ts": 1489070553, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772524984, "top_author": "Jens Wiklander", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tee/amdtee", "subsystem": "tee", "chipset_family": "AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP) / AMD Secure Processor TEE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/op-tee/6dce58425a88ec3883c7ebf42d7ef367d68b6911.1774597729.git.Rijo-john.Thomas@amd.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: amdtee received a targeted functional patch in March 2026, so there is no sign of abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/technologies/pro-technologies.html", "claim": "AMD states current AMD PRO platforms include an 'AMD Secure Processor', indicating the underlying security processor family is still present in newly sold CPUs." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc.html", "claim": "AMD's EPYC server line was actively marketed as current in 2024-2025 with built-in security features, supporting that PSP-backed platforms remain in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this is a real TEE driver wired to PSP interfaces (`psp-tee.h`, `psp_check_tee_status()`) and Kconfig names it 'AMD-TEE'. lore_file_timeline on `drivers/tee/amdtee/core.c` returned activity through 2026-03-27, including a non-treewide amdtee patch at the cited lore URL; histogram shows recurring touches across 2024-2026, so removal/deprecation is not supported. A lore_regex removal-search timed out and a fallback `lei q` attempt was blocked by local daemon permissions, so removal-talk confidence is inferred from the positive activity signal rather than a dedicated thread hit. Web search returned AMD PRO Technologies and EPYC product pages showing the AMD Secure Processor on current product lines, so the hardware class is still sold new in 2025. Deployment is rated low rather than medium/high because this is a niche secure-world/TEE path even though the CPU family itself is current.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0924873120290068, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1578116991, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768382451, "top_author": "Rijo Thomas", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tee/optee", "subsystem": "tee", "chipset_family": "OP-TEE on Arm TrustZone / FF-A platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260112154833.78546-2-aristo.chen@canonical.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream feature work touched OP-TEE core in January 2026 ('store OS revision for TEE core'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/op-tee/20250911135007.1275833-9-jens.wiklander@linaro.org/", "claim": "Large reviewed FF-A protected-memory support work landed on the OP-TEE path in September 2025, showing ongoing development for current Arm secure-world integrations." }, { "url": "https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/latest/general/platforms.html", "claim": "Official OP-TEE documentation lists many publicly available and maintained platforms, including current NXP, ST, TI, Rockchip, AMD/Xilinx and QEMU targets." }, { "url": "https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/STM32MP25_OP-TEE_overview", "claim": "ST's November 25, 2025 STM32MP25 documentation describes OP-TEE as the platform TEE for STM32MP2-series devices, evidence of new-product deployment in current embedded SoCs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: kernel TEE bus driver code with module entry points. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no indexed hits, so I used lore_activity on representative files (`core.c`, `ffa_abi.c`) and cited the returned lore URLs; both show substantial 2025-2026 feature work, not end-of-life cleanup. Web evidence came from opening official OP-TEE docs via web search and ST's vendor wiki page for STM32MP25. Conclusion: OP-TEE remains in active upstream development and in current embedded Arm deployments, with no natural in-tree replacement for the same secure-OS interface.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05396754791766399, "commits_5y": 87, "substantive_commits_5y": 83, "first_touch_ts": 1489153912, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768556105, "top_author": "Jens Wiklander", "top_author_commits": 29, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tee/qcomtee", "subsystem": "tee", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm Snapdragon / QTEE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/tee/qtee.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes qcomtee/QTEE as the Linux driver for Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment, indicating a maintained in-tree subsystem interface." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/QCOMTEE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_QCOMTEE present in mainline kernels 6.18-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, confirming current upstream enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250713-qcom-tee-using-tee-ss-without-mem-obj-v6-0-697fb7d41c36@oss.qualcomm.com", "claim": "Lore thread for the qcomtee patch series shows active 2025 upstream development and review, with no removal/deprecation context." }, { "url": "https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/guard_your_data_with_the_qualcomm_snapdragon_mobile_platform2.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm's recent Snapdragon security paper describes Qualcomm TEE as part of current mobile-platform security architecture, supporting continued deployment in new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module/Kconfig entry and Qualcomm SoC dependency. Local exec_command evidence: git log for drivers/tee/qcomtee shows introduction in 2025 and bug-fix activity through 2026-01-05, with no sign of stasis. Source acquisition: kernel.org doc and LKDDb page were obtained via web search then opened; the lore URL was obtained from web search results/snippets for the qcomtee patch series after MCP/lei were unavailable; Qualcomm PDF was obtained via web search then opened. The driver is very new, actively maintained, tied to current Snapdragon/QTEE deployments, and has no natural upstream replacement for the same secure-OS backend, so keep is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1757950446, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767604869, "top_author": "Amirreza Zarrabi", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tee/tstee", "subsystem": "tee", "chipset_family": "Arm Trusted Services / FF-A Secure Partition TEE", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/tee/ts-tee.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes TS-TEE as the Linux-side TEE driver for Trusted Services Secure Partitions over Arm FF-A." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_TSTEE.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_ARM_TSTEE as a current in-tree kernel option/module (`arm-tstee`) present from Linux 6.10 onward." }, { "url": "https://trusted-services.readthedocs.io/en/v1.0.0/developer/service-access-protocols.html#abi", "claim": "The driver targets the Trusted Services RPC ABI, indicating a protocol-specific interface rather than a generic legacy hardware block." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/964458/", "claim": "The public patch series in March 2024 introduced the driver; the lore-oriented search surfaced introduction coverage, not removal discussion." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper library: local `rg` on drivers/tee/tstee shows `module_ffa_driver(tstee_driver)` and FF-A probe/remove hooks. Local `git log/show` shows one real functional commit adding the driver on 2024-04-03 and only later treewide mechanical churn. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` (docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, LWN) and from a URL embedded in the local source via `rg` (trusted-services.readthedocs.io). Assessment: this is a very new, niche Arm FF-A/Trusted-Services driver with low but current deployment potential on modern Arm platforms, no natural replacement driver for the same protocol, and no surfaced removal activity; annotate as niche/new rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1712145789, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1712145789, "top_author": "Balint Dobszay", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level thermal subsystem containing framework code and multiple thermal/cooling drivers, not a single kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009408068269710747, "commits_5y": 658, "substantive_commits_5y": 650, "first_touch_ts": 1201925539, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775122655, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 229, "c_file_count": 43, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/broadcom", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BCM27xx / BRCMSTB / iProc thermal sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/2026-01/20260105121308.1761-1-thorsten.blum@linux.dev/", "claim": "bcm2835_thermal.c still received upstream cleanup work in January 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/2025-09/20250905072423.368123-7-zhao.xichao@vivo.com/", "claim": "Broadcom thermal code in this directory was part of a wider thermal cleanup series in September 2025; this is maintenance activity, not a removal/deprecation series." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products//raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/?variant=raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb", "claim": "Raspberry Pi 4 uses Broadcom BCM2711 and the page states production continues until at least January 2034, showing covered hardware is still sold new well beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/compute-module-4s/", "claim": "Compute Module 4S is also BCM2711-based and marked in production until at least January 2034, supporting ongoing embedded/industrial deployments for this driver family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local Kconfig/c-file inspection shows five platform thermal drivers for BCM2711, BCM2835, BRCMSTB, Northstar, and Stingray SoCs. lore_activity(tool) on bcm2835_thermal.c and bcm2711_thermal.c showed 2025-2026 patches; sampled lore showed cleanup traffic, not removal. Web search(tool) found official Raspberry Pi BCM2711 product pages with explicit production-through-2034 statements, so hardware is still sold new in 2025 and deployments remain substantial. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific on-chip thermal blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06852528886085282, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1491540319, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769011481, "top_author": "Daniel Lezcano", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/intel", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Intel x86/ACPI thermal management (INT340x, processor thermal, PCH, package DTS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20251205230007.2218533-1-srinivas.pandruvada@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Upstream still lands enablement for new Intel platforms here: a 2025 linux-pm patch enables the int340x power-slider interface for Wildcat Lake." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228180011.1568201-32-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "The x86 package-temperature driver in this directory received a 2026 stable backport fixing invalid temperature handling, showing active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20251120-thermal-device-v1-8-bbdad594d57a@gmx.de/", "claim": "This directory was included in a 2025 thermal-core integration series, indicating continued subsystem work rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/thermal/intel/Kconfig", "claim": "Mainline still carries a dedicated Intel thermal driver menu covering package, PCH, SoC, and ACPI INT340x thermal support in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory confirmed locally via exec_command: multiple module_*_driver/module_init entry points and PCI/ACPI/x86cpu device tables. lore_file_timeline on x86_pkg_temp_thermal.c and int340x_thermal/processor_thermal_device_pci.c showed sustained 2021-2026 traffic, including 2025 new-platform enablement and 2026 stable fixes; no removal/deprecation signal was found, and a removal-focused lore_regex attempt timed out rather than producing evidence. Wildcat Lake enablement strongly suggests ongoing relevance for new Intel systems; deployment remains high because these drivers cover mainstream Intel client/platform thermal reporting rather than a narrow legacy niche. kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall; lore URLs were obtained from lore_file_timeline.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.041985515271188614, "commits_5y": 133, "substantive_commits_5y": 128, "first_touch_ts": 1544172527, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769950819, "top_author": "Rafael J. Wysocki", "top_author_commits": 30, "c_file_count": 11, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/intel/int340x_thermal", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Intel DPTF / DTT (INT340x ACPI thermal devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5917350.html", "claim": "2025 upstream thread says the old INT340X scan-handler plumbing was removed as 6.19 material, but the change was to enumeration/core wiring rather than deleting the thermal drivers; it explicitly references selecting INT340X_THERMAL." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/10/22/1636", "claim": "2025 patch series moves INT340X enumeration from DPTF core to the thermal drivers and touches multiple files in drivers/thermal/intel/int340x_thermal, indicating active maintenance/refactoring rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058479/graphics.html", "claim": "Intel's 2025 DTT user guide describes Intel Dynamic Tuning Technology as current OEM-configured software for optimizing performance, battery life, and thermals on shipping systems." }, { "url": "https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/raptor-lake-s/13th-generation-core-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/intel-dynamic-tuning-technology/", "claim": "Intel platform documentation for 13th/14th Gen Core and newer series documents Intel Dynamic Tuning Technology in current product datasheets, showing the thermal-tuning stack remains part of modern Intel platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/INT340X_THERMAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_INT340X_THERMAL present through current kernels and bound to multiple INT3400-series ACPI/platform IDs and processor thermal subsystems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and `git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows this is the ACPI INT340x thermal/DPTF driver family and that it has very recent activity including Panther Lake, Nova Lake, and Wildcat Lake enablement, so the in-tree code is actively maintained. URLs were obtained via web search: turn3 yielded the LKML/spinics refactor threads showing no driver-removal plan, and turn0/turn4 yielded LKDDb plus Intel DTT product docs showing ongoing deployment on modern Intel OEM systems. No natural replacement exists because this directory is the native Linux support for INT340x/DPTF ACPI thermal objects.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01639559514948858, "commits_5y": 162, "substantive_commits_5y": 156, "first_touch_ts": 1544172527, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774375212, "top_author": "Srinivas Pandruvada", "top_author_commits": 71, "c_file_count": 18, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/mediatek", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "MediaTek SoC thermal controllers (AUXADC and LVTS; MT27xx/MT76xx/MT79xx/MT81xx/MT819x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MTK_LVTS_THERMAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_MTK_LVTS_THERMAL exists from Linux 6.3 onward and covers current compatibles including mt7988, mt8186/8188, mt8192/8195, and HEAD/7.0 entries for mt7987 and mt8196." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/THERMAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows the sibling CONFIG_MTK_SOC_THERMAL driver covers older/current MediaTek thermal compatibles such as mt2701, mt2712, mt7622, mt7986, mt8173, mt8183, and mt8365 in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10-SNAPSHOT/targets/mediatek/filogic/", "claim": "Official OpenWrt 24.10-SNAPSHOT images and boot blobs are being built in 2026 for current MediaTek Filogic targets including mt7981, mt7986, and mt7988, indicating active deployment on shipping networking hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-880", "claim": "MediaTek markets Filogic 880 as a current router/AP platform, supporting that at least part of this driver's covered hardware family is still sold into new products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Local shell inspection showed two real platform drivers (auxadc_thermal.c and lvts_thermal.c) with current DT compatibles spanning old and new MediaTek SoCs. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/thermal/mediatek` showed substantive upstream activity through 2025-12-23, including new support for MT7987 and MT8196, with no sign of a sunset pattern. I attempted lore-first evidence via web queries against lore.kernel.org and shell `lei`, but `lei` was unavailable and the lore web queries did not return a usable archive hit; I therefore relied on local git history for activity evidence and web-obtained LKDDb/OpenWrt/MediaTek URLs for coverage and deployment evidence. There is no natural replacement driver: these are the in-tree SoC-specific thermal drivers for MediaTek AUXADC/LVTS blocks.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 79, "substantive_commits_5y": 77, "first_touch_ts": 1676478505, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768938903, "top_author": "Nícolas F. R. A. Prado", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/qcom", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm TSENS / SPMI PMIC thermal monitor / LMh", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-msm/20250623124152.474707-1-panchuang@vivo.com/", "claim": "The driver family was still receiving non-trivial upstream work in 2025, including a v6 patch for `thermal/drivers/qcom/tsens-v0_1` reviewed by subsystem maintainers." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20250623130641.274223555@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "A qcom tsens fix was accepted for stable backport in 2025, indicating ongoing maintenance and deployed users." }, { "url": "https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/87-87288-1/87-87288-1_REV_A_Qualcomm_Dragonwing_N6_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm published a recent Dragonwing N6 platform brief listing IPQ5018, one of the SoCs supported by this driver's `qcom,ipq5018-tsens` compatible." }, { "url": "https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/87-87290-1/87-87290-1_REV_A_Qualcomm_Dragonwing_N7_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm published a recent Dragonwing N7 platform brief listing IPQ5332, another SoC directly supported by this driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/87-82996-1_REV_B_Qualcomm_Networking_Pro_A7_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf", "claim": "Qualcomm published a recent Networking Pro A7 platform brief listing IPQ5424, also directly supported by this driver." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via `rg`/`sed` shows this is active driver code for Qualcomm TSENS, SPMI thermal alarm/ADC TM5, and LMh blocks, with current OF matches including IPQ5018/IPQ5332/IPQ5424 plus older Snapdragon/MSM parts. `lore_activity` on `drivers/thermal/qcom/tsens.c` returned 2025 upstream and stable traffic (sources 1-2), while `lore_regex` found no removal/deprecation discussion and `lore_file_timeline` on the directory prefix returned no hits rather than removal evidence. Web search found recent Qualcomm product briefs for IPQ5018/IPQ5332/IPQ5424 (sources 3-5), so the hardware family is still present in new networking/embedded deployments. There is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same hardware blocks; recommendation stays `keep` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04490785944045224, "commits_5y": 93, "substantive_commits_5y": 92, "first_touch_ts": 1474956136, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769963836, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/renesas", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car Gen3/Gen4 and RZ/G2L/G2/G3E/G3S thermal sensor units", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5870623.html", "claim": "Thermal pull request for v6.18-rc1 included a fix for the newly added Renesas RZ/G3E thermal driver, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/%2B/0506158ac7363a70f0deb49f71d26ccb57e55990", "claim": "Thermal merge notes list 'thermal: renesas: rzg3e: add support for RZ/T2H and RZ/N2H', showing feature growth in this driver area in 2026." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3e", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/G3E as Active and describes current industrial/HMI applications, showing supported hardware is still marketed." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g3s", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/G3S as Active, showing this family is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/G2L as Active and gives Product Longevity 2037, strong evidence of ongoing deployment horizon." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzt2h-advanced-high-end-mpu-integrated-powerful-application-processing-and-high-precision-real-time?type=feat", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/T2H as Active; this is relevant because recent kernel work extended the Renesas thermal driver support to RZ/T2H/N2H." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/r-car-h3e", "claim": "Renesas marks R-Car H3/H3e variants as Active for automotive cockpit/IVI use, indicating the older R-Car side of this driver family still has live deployments." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/RCAR_GEN3_THERMAL.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_RCAR_GEN3_THERMAL present through current kernels and tied to many Renesas compatible strings in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`sed` on Kconfig and source) shows this directory is a real multi-driver bundle for several Renesas thermal IP blocks. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/thermal/renesas` showed fresh substantive commits through 2026-01-21, including new SoC enablement, with no sign of a dying codepath. Web search produced the spinics pull mail and googlesource merge view for upstream activity, plus official Renesas product pages showing RZ/G3E, RZ/G3S, RZ/G2L, RZ/T2H, and R-Car H3e marked Active. No natural replacement driver exists; each file targets specific Renesas TSU/thermal hardware, so the correct disposition is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1721043098, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769018817, "top_author": "Marek Vasut", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/samsung", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "Samsung Exynos TMU", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20260214181930.238981-7-linux.amoon@gmail.com/", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: in February 2026 the driver saw a non-trivial refactor patch for Exynos TMU, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exynos", "claim": "The SoCs matched by this driver are legacy Exynos generations: Exynos 4210 (2011), 4412 (2012), 5250 (2012), 5260 (2014), 5420 (2013), 5433 (2014), and early Exynos 7-era parts (2014-2015)." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/processor/mobile-processor/exynos-2400/", "claim": "Samsung still sells new Exynos-branded processors in the 2020s, but this is a much newer generation than the legacy TMU blocks listed in the driver." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/news-events/news/samsungs-exynos-auto-v920-to-power-hyundai-motors-next-generation-in-vehicle-infotainment-systems/", "claim": "Samsung had new Exynos deployments rolling out by 2025 in automotive, showing the brand continues but not that the old Exynos3250/4210/4412/5250/5260/5420/5433/7 TMU hardware remains current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell read of exynos_tmu.c showed the compatible table covers samsung,exynos3250/4210/4412/5250/5260/5420/5433/7-tmu, i.e. older Exynos SoCs only. MCP lore_file_timeline on drivers/thermal/samsung/exynos_tmu.c showed heavy recent traffic through 2026-02-14, with refactor/fix patches and no removal signal, so this should not be deprecated now. Web search provided the Samsung Exynos 2400 and Exynos Auto V920 pages, which show Exynos as a brand is still current, but those are newer families and not evidence that this exact TMU IP is in new 2025 products. Web search also provided the Wikipedia Exynos page for launch-era dating of the supported SoCs; that supports treating the covered hardware as legacy in new-design terms. Recommendation is keep-annotate: legacy hardware with low but real installed-base relevance and active upstream maintenance, with no natural replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2777289940658946, "commits_5y": 23, "substantive_commits_5y": 23, "first_touch_ts": 1376401919, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1731511077, "top_author": "Mateusz Majewski", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/st", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STi / STM32 SoC thermal sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20260114092808.273695-1-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "`drivers/thermal/st/stm_thermal.c` was still receiving upstream maintenance in January 2026, indicating the STM32 thermal driver is active rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20250623124122.474673-1-panchuang@vivo.com/", "claim": "`drivers/thermal/st/st_thermal_memmap.c` was still being refactored in June 2025, showing the older ST path also still sees upstream care." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32mp157.html", "claim": "STM32MP157 is an STMicroelectronics MPU line aimed at industrial, smart city, smart home, medical, and IoT applications, supporting ongoing real deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32mp157f-ev1.html", "claim": "STM32MP157F-EV1 is marked Active and in volume production, supporting that STM32MP157-based hardware was still sold new beyond 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file/Kconfig inspection shows this directory covers two real hardware families: legacy STi SoC thermal blocks (`st,stih407-thermal`) and STM32 thermal (`st,stm32-thermal`, Kconfig tied to STM32MP157). `lore_file_timeline` produced the cited 2025-06 and 2026-01 lore URLs, showing continuing maintenance rather than removal. ST product pages were obtained by `web.search_query` on official `st.com` pages and show STM32MP157 remains an active deployment target; that keeps the whole directory relevant even if STi is older. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-integrated thermal sensors, so recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0738888878488889, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1405432882, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769009363, "top_author": "Daniel Lezcano", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/tegra", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Tegra SoC thermal sensors / SOCTHERM / BPMP thermal", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20260424160019.41710-1-daniel.lezcano@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance touched drivers/thermal/tegra/soctherm.c in April 2026, indicating the driver is still actively serviced." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20230927193736.2236447-30-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "drivers/thermal/tegra/tegra-bpmp-thermal.c also saw upstream API-conversion work, showing continued attention to newer Tegra BPMP thermal support." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-orin/", "claim": "NVIDIA still markets Jetson Orin production modules, so Tegra-based embedded hardware remained on sale in 2025 and beyond." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r36.5/DeveloperGuide/SD/PlatformPowerAndPerformance.html", "claim": "Current Jetson Linux documentation describes thermal management in Linux and BPMP for Jetson Orin platforms, matching the subsystem covered by this driver directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Local code inspection via exec_command showed Kconfig entries for TEGRA_SOCTHERM, TEGRA_BPMP_THERMAL, and TEGRA30_TSENSOR under NVIDIA Tegra thermal drivers. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no matches, so I fell back to lore_activity on drivers/thermal/tegra/soctherm.c and drivers/thermal/tegra/tegra-bpmp-thermal.c; those returned recent 2026 and 2023 maintenance/API-conversion patches with lore URLs above. Web search on nvidia.com/docs.nvidia.com found the Jetson Orin product page and Jetson Linux Developer Guide page showing current Tegra/Jetson deployments and BPMP/Linux thermal management. No evidence of an active removal series was found in the sampled lore results, and there is no natural replacement driver for the same hardware; recommendation is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.13182249690456102, "commits_5y": 30, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1463495307, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758831060, "top_author": "Daniel Lezcano", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thermal/ti-soc-thermal", "subsystem": "thermal", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP3/4/5 and DRA7/AM57 bandgap thermal sensors", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-omap/tencent_C19B1765612DBEFFF60D3E45E29BA3150905@qq.com/", "claim": "The driver still gets upstream fixes in 2026; this patch touches the ti bandgap path." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-omap/20241207040702.4075128-1-zmw12306@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver received a substantive fix in December 2024, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/AM5728/part-details/AM5728BABCXEA", "claim": "TI listed AM5728 parts as ACTIVE on a current product page, showing at least one DRA7/AM57-class deployment target remains sold new." }, { "url": "https://e2e.ti.com/support/processors-group/processors/f/processors-forum/592878/linux-am5726-thermal-monitoring-and-frequency-measurements", "claim": "TI support discussion for AM5726/AM5728 explicitly references CONFIG_DRA752_THERMAL, connecting this driver family to still-used AM57/DRA7 systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an internal helper. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/of_match showed support for OMAP34xx/36xx/4430/4460/4470/5430 and DRA752; OMAP3 help text already says 'Say N', so much of the matrix is legacy. lore_activity tool returned recent 2024 and 2026 fix traffic via the cited lore URLs, which argues against deprecation. A removal-subject lore regex/path scan timed out rather than finding a removal series. Web search found TI's AM5728 page marked ACTIVE and a TI E2E thread tying AM57x use to CONFIG_DRA752_THERMAL; that suggests the DRA7/AM57 end of this driver still appears in niche industrial/automotive deployments. Result: keep the driver, but annotate it as mostly legacy OMAP/DRA7-era hardware rather than broadly current silicon.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2851145890564999, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 21, "first_touch_ts": 1369708837, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1731511077, "top_author": "Daniel Lezcano", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/thunderbolt", "subsystem": "thunderbolt", "chipset_family": "Thunderbolt / USB4 host and device interconnect", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20260126220606.3476657-5-gil.fine@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "Upstream maintenance is active in 2026; `drivers/thunderbolt/usb4.c` received a functional fix patch on 2026-01-26." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20250619213840.2388646-1-superm1@kernel.org/", "claim": "The subsystem is still receiving bug-fix traffic and stable-relevant fixes in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/thunderbolt/overview.html", "claim": "Intel markets Thunderbolt 5 as the current generation and describes ongoing ecosystem use across PCs and accessories." }, { "url": "https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-pro-thunderbolt-5-dock-wd25tb5/apd/210-btmt/docks", "claim": "A mainstream OEM was selling a Thunderbolt 5 dock in 2025/2026, indicating new-hardware deployments remain current." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/thunderbolt` is an active hardware driver subtree, not a legacy orphan: static metadata shows 421 substantive commits in 5y, and `lore_file_timeline` on representative file `drivers/thunderbolt/usb4.c` returned 204 touches from 2021-05-17 through 2026-01-26 plus multiple 2025-2026 patches. Directory-level `lore_file_timeline` returned zero, so I used a heavily touched file in the same driver. Attempts to use `lore_regex` for removal/deprecation discussion timed out, and no removal signal surfaced from available lore evidence. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query`: Intel's official Thunderbolt overview shows the technology is current, and Dell's official WD25TB5 product page shows new Thunderbolt 5 hardware on sale. No natural replacement driver exists; this is the kernel's main Thunderbolt/USB4 stack. Source acquisition: first two URLs from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline`; last two URLs from `web.search_query`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019967375241477913, "commits_5y": 428, "substantive_commits_5y": 421, "first_touch_ts": 1403211892, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773056214, "top_author": "Mika Westerberg", "top_author_commits": 187, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level TTY subsystem directory containing core TTY/serial infrastructure and multiple drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.033789457068803014, "commits_5y": 599, "substantive_commits_5y": 586, "first_touch_ts": 1288969833, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769518701, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 189, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/hvc", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "Hypervisor virtual console backends (IBM PowerVM/PowerNV, z/VM IUCV, Xen, RISC-V SBI, ARM DCC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/2025100218-gush-wackiness-89b3@gregkh/", "claim": "`drivers/tty/hvc/hvc_console.c` still received upstream/stable traffic in late 2025, indicating the subsystem is maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power10/9786-42H?topic=partitions-hardware-management-console-terminal-console-options", "claim": "Current IBM Power10 documentation still describes HMC virtual terminal access for Linux logical partitions, which maps directly to active hvc use on modern Power systems." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/tarm/8.12.2?topic=targets-powervm", "claim": "IBM documentation references PowerVM deployments on Power9, Power10, and Power11 environments, showing the underlying virtualization platform remains current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/virtual-hmc-appliance-vhmc-overview", "claim": "IBM support documentation updated in 2025 describes current vHMC offerings, reinforcing that PowerVM/HMC-based virtual-console environments are still being newly deployed." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/tty/hvc` is a real driver directory: Kconfig/Makefile enumerate multiple hardware/firmware backends under the generic hypervisor virtual console layer. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/tty/hvc/hvc_console.c`, which returned late-2025 stable activity and a nontrivial 2021-2025 patch histogram. Deployment evidence came from web search results on IBM docs/support pages showing current PowerVM/HMC usage on Power10/Power11-era systems. I found no usable evidence of an upstream removal push in the successful queries; combined with ongoing maintenance and still-current host platforms, this points to keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.056737368743523406, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 66, "first_touch_ts": 1294948980, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768570350, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/ipwireless", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "IPWireless 3G UMTS PCMCIA cards", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-serial/20260208062538.29608-1-duoming@zju.edu.cn/", "claim": "The driver still receives non-trivial upstream fixes; a use-after-free fix for ipwireless landed on linux-serial in February 2026." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-serial/20240403161559.19970-1-apais@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "The driver also saw functional maintenance in April 2024, including conversion from tasklets to BH workqueue across multiple ipwireless files." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/IPWIRELESS.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for IPWireless 3G UMTS PCMCIA cards and shows the config/module still present in current kernel series." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCMCIA", "claim": "PCMCIA/PC Card is an obsolete expansion standard and little used in new hardware, which strongly limits present-day deployment to legacy systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection identified the directory as an IPWireless 3G PCMCIA driver. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/tty/ipwireless/main.c` and `drivers/tty/ipwireless/hardware.c`; the inspected timeline showed active bug-fix/cleanup traffic in 2024-2026 and no visible removal-thread signal, so this is not a removal candidate despite legacy hardware. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb for device identity/current kernel presence, and Wikipedia for PCMCIA obsolescence. Hardware appears legacy-only, with low surviving deployments and no clear one-for-one replacement driver for the same PCMCIA cards.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5339055908807145, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1298420602, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1700766963, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/serdev", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the serdev core/bus infrastructure for serial-attached devices rather than a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08968569228746878, "commits_5y": 31, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1486113422, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765980498, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/serial", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "8250/16550-class UARTs and mixed SoC/bridge serial controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/tty/serial/8250/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this subtree as covering standard 8250/16550 serial support plus many PCI, platform, and bridge-specific variants, indicating it is a broad active serial-driver subsystem rather than a single legacy device driver." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/interfaces/ic-spi-i3c-interface-devices/bridges/single-uart-with-ic-bus-spi-interface-64-bs-of-transmit-and-receive-fifos-irda-sir-built-in-support%3ASC16IS740_750_760?tab=Buy_Parametric_Tab", "claim": "NXP lists SC16IS740/750/760 UART bridge parts as active and shows a 2025 datasheet, demonstrating hardware covered by this directory is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/interfaces/ic-spi-i3c-interface-devices/bridges/dual-uart-with-ic-bus-spi-interface-64-bs-of-transmit-and-receive-fifos-irda-sir-built-in-support%3ASC16IS752_SC16IS762", "claim": "NXP lists SC16IS752/762 as active dual-UART bridge products, supporting ongoing embedded and industrial deployments for drivers under this subtree." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/pci11101c", "claim": "Microchip lists PCI11101C as 'In Production'; the directory includes `8250_pci1xxxx.c`, so at least one modern PCIe UART-capable family served here remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/application-notes/an5213", "claim": "Microchip's 2025 AN5213 states the PCI1xxxx family includes UART peripherals, reinforcing that contemporary PCIe devices still rely on Linux serial support in this subtree." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Static prompt data already shows very high current upstream activity: 1429 substantive commits in 5y, 274 authors, and most recent touch on 2026-03-12, which is incompatible with deprecation/removal. I attempted lore-first verification via `list_mcp_resources` for `lore-http` and shell `lei`, but the MCP server was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so no direct lore thread URL could be obtained in this environment. URLs were obtained via `web.search_query` for NXP/Microchip product evidence, plus one canonical-recall kernel.org source-tree URL for subsystem scope. Because this directory covers mainstream 8250/16550 serial, many SoC UARTs, and active bridge/PCIe parts still sold for industrial and embedded use, there is no natural single replacement driver and the correct recommendation is to keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015571910016168216, "commits_5y": 1448, "substantive_commits_5y": 1429, "first_touch_ts": 1294949418, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773325901, "top_author": "Ilpo Järvinen", "top_author_commits": 123, "c_file_count": 83, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/serial/8250", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "8250/16550-compatible UARTs", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.96, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/tty/serial/8250", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and substantial; the directory is still seeing frequent fixes and new-device enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SERIAL_8250.html", "claim": "The directory is the generic in-tree driver family for 8250/16550-compatible serial hardware and remains present through current kernel releases." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SERIAL_8250_PCI1XXXX.html", "claim": "Newer hardware support exists inside this directory, including Microchip PCI1xxxx-based serial ports added in recent kernels." }, { "url": "https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/NCS/ProductDocuments/pcie/AN5104_MPLAB%C2%AE_Connect_PCI1xxxx_Options.pdf", "claim": "Microchip's recent PCI1xxxx documentation describes UART-capable PCIe devices, indicating this class of 8250-backed hardware is still an actively marketed platform." }, { "url": "https://developerhelp.microchip.com/xwiki/bin/view/software-tools/mcu-dev-boards/32-bit-kits/sam9x75-ev-curiosity/console-serial-communications/", "claim": "Current embedded Linux development boards still rely on UART console deployments, showing ongoing real-world use of this driver class." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. This is the generic serial/UART core plus many active subdrivers, not an obsolete niche leaf. Local shell inspection (`rg --files`, `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed broad file coverage and many 2025-2026 fixes/new IDs, with no sign of decay. `git.kernel.org` log URL is canonical recall used to anchor upstream activity; LKDDb and Microchip URLs were obtained via web search. Web search for lore removal/deprecation discussion produced no useful results, so there is no evidence of an active removal series. Because 8250/16550-compatible UARTs remain common in PCs, server BMCs, industrial PCIe serial cards, and embedded debug consoles, deployments are still high. No single replacement driver exists; this directory is itself the umbrella implementation for the use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.017548841616582073, "commits_5y": 641, "substantive_commits_5y": 629, "first_touch_ts": 1327433039, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773326069, "top_author": "Andy Shevchenko", "top_author_commits": 117, "c_file_count": 47, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/serial/jsm", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "Digi International Neo and Classic multiport PCI serial adapters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20221024113059.687570720@linuxfoundation.org/", "claim": "The driver still received a real bug-fix in stable trees in October 2022 ('drivers: serial: jsm: fix some leaks in probe')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/c2b28cc4defa1b743cf1dedee23c455be98b397a.1760274044.git.lukas@wunner.de/", "claim": "The driver was still touched by a treewide PCI API cleanup in October 2025, indicating it is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SERIAL_JSM.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_SERIAL_JSM as support for Digi International Neo and Classic PCI boards and lists the supported PCI device IDs." }, { "url": "https://www.digi.com/Support/knowledge-base/are-digi-pci-serial-adapters-compatible-with-64-bi", "claim": "Digi labels its PCI serial adapter knowledge-base article as covering an 'obsolete product' and describes these adapters as 32-bit PCI cards." }, { "url": "https://www.digi.com/support/knowledge-base/installing-digi-neo-and-classicboard-pci-adapters", "claim": "Digi's Linux installation article for Neo and Classicboard PCI adapters is also explicitly marked as an 'obsolete product'." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Source acquisition: lore_file_timeline/lore_activity MCP yielded the 2022 stable bug-fix URL and 2025 treewide PCI cleanup URL; web search yielded LKDDb and Digi knowledge-base pages. The code and LKDDb identify old Digi Neo/Classic PCI multiport serial cards. Digi's own support pages mark the product line obsolete, so new 2025 sales are unlikely; however, lore still shows occasional maintenance and stable carry, with no removal discussion surfaced in the lore timeline. That argues against deprecate/remove today; keep the driver, but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware with likely low present-day deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2487168346632447, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1294949418, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1747827358, "top_author": "Colin Ian King", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/tty/vt", "subsystem": "tty", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the Linux virtual terminal (VT) core / console layer, a generic kernel TTY subsystem component rather than hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012275125068240226, "commits_5y": 260, "substantive_commits_5y": 253, "first_touch_ts": 1288970212, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774885184, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 79, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ufs/core", "subsystem": "ufs", "chipset_family": "JEDEC UFS / UFSHCD", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/scsi/ufs.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation describes UFSHCD as the Linux low-level UFS host controller driver and documents active functionality such as init, transfer handling, error handling, BSG, and power-management related behavior." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/estorage/ufs/ufs-4-0/", "claim": "Samsung's UFS 4.0 product page, crawled recently, markets current UFS storage for flagship smartphones and automotive use, indicating ongoing new-hardware deployments in the 2025 timeframe." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Flash_Storage", "claim": "UFS remains a current flash-storage standard used in phones and consumer devices, with newer standard revisions continuing through 2025-2026, indicating the ecosystem is not obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: `ufshcd.c` contains `module_init` and `MODULE_DESCRIPTION` (checked with `exec_command`/`rg`). Removal-talk check was attempted via lore-style search: `lei` was unavailable in shell and web searches against lore returned no removal/deprecation hits, so there is no evidence of an active upstream removal series. Maintenance signal is very strong from the provided metadata and a local `git log` spot check (`exec_command`) showing multiple non-treewide fixes in 2026. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` results for official kernel docs, Samsung UFS product pages, and Wikipedia. This is the shared UFS core for currently deployed mobile/embedded storage, so it should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 471, "substantive_commits_5y": 463, "first_touch_ts": 1653006457, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772899719, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 147, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/ufs/host", "subsystem": "ufs", "chipset_family": "UFS host controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-scsi/?t=20250811194108", "claim": "Public linux-scsi archive page shows heavy 2025 UFS activity, including UFS core optimization/bug-fix series and host-variant work for Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Exynos." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-December/1089787.html", "claim": "Mailing-list thread '[PATCH v4 00/25] MediaTek UFS Cleanup and MT8196 Enablement' shows ongoing enablement for new MediaTek SoCs rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://genio.mediatek.com/genio-1200", "claim": "MediaTek Genio 1200 product page lists UFS 2.1 storage support, evaluation hardware, distributor availability, and product longevity through 2032." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/smartphones/mediatek-dimensity-7020", "claim": "Current MediaTek smartphone SoC page advertises UFS 3.1 support, showing continued new-deployment relevance for UFS host IP." }, { "url": "https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/estorage/ufs/", "claim": "Samsung Semiconductor's current UFS product page markets UFS for flagship mobile devices, indicating the broader UFS ecosystem remains current and commercially active." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell `rg` showed module-platform/PCI driver entry points and many vendor variants (qcom, mediatek, exynos, hisi, rockchip, renesas, sprd, TI, AMD Versal2). Static metadata already shows 338 substantive commits in 5y, 77 authors, and latest touch on 2026-02-04. Lore MCP and `lei` were unavailable, so lore evidence was gathered via web `search_query`/`open` on public mail archives; those searches found active 2025 cleanup, bug-fix, and new-SoC enablement traffic, and no removal/deprecation series in the searched archive results. Deployment evidence came from web `search_query` on current vendor pages showing UFS support in still-sold 2025+ SoCs and storage products. This subsystem is current and broadly deployed, with no natural in-tree replacement for the same role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 340, "substantive_commits_5y": 338, "first_touch_ts": 1653006457, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770175724, "top_author": "Peter Wang", "top_author_commits": 45, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/uio", "subsystem": "uio", "chipset_family": "Userspace I/O (UIO) generic PCI/platform/VMBus/DFL devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "vfio-pci / vfio-platform", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250925040637.14511-1-guoyaxing@bosc.ac.cn/", "claim": "RFC/patch series in late 2025 adds new `uio_pci_generic_sva` support, showing new feature development in `drivers/uio` rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260416155443.3949056-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "A 2026 patch fixes `uio_pci_generic_sva`, indicating ongoing upstream bug-fix attention." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/uio-howto.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation positions UIO as a framework for devices such as industrial I/O cards and other hardware that does not fit standard kernel subsystems." }, { "url": "https://doc.dpdk.org/guides-25.03/linux_gsg/linux_drivers.html", "claim": "Current DPDK documentation says `vfio-pci` is recommended in all cases, with UIO modules like `uio_pci_generic` retained as fallbacks when VFIO is unavailable." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/nb-no//azure/virtual-network/setup-dpdk-mana", "claim": "Microsoft's Azure MANA+DPDK guidance still instructs users to bind VMBus devices to `uio_hv_generic`, showing an active cloud/VM niche deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell inspection of `drivers/uio/Kconfig` and source files showed a real driver subsystem with generic PCI/platform plus Hyper-V and DFL glue, not dead helper code. `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/uio/uio_pci_generic_sva.c` produced the two lore URLs above, showing 2025-2026 feature work and fixes; no clear removal thread surfaced. Web search found the kernel UIO HOWTO, current DPDK docs recommending VFIO over UIO, and Microsoft Learn documentation for `uio_hv_generic` in Azure. Conclusion: UIO is niche and increasingly superseded for new secure userspace assignment, but still has live upstream maintenance and real 2025-era deployments, so keep it with annotations rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05891164571683162, "commits_5y": 62, "substantive_commits_5y": 56, "first_touch_ts": 1184799435, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768578223, "top_author": "Naman Jain", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level USB subsystem umbrella containing many child driver families and a sample usb-skeleton file, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10401383163618426, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1767798799, "top_author": "Lukas Bulwahn", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/atm", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB ADSL/ATM modems (SpeedTouch 330, Conexant AccessRunner, ADI 930/Eagle)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.74, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2009, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/2024-04/20240403160658.19688-1-apais@linux.microsoft.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still touches the usbatm core in 2024 via non-trivial maintenance ('USB: Convert from tasklet to BH workqueue')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/2024-10/20241004030512.2036-1-sakunix@yahoo.com/", "claim": "A hardware-specific leaf driver in this directory (speedtch) still received a 2024 fix patch, indicating residual maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/2024-09/20240926075955.10199-1-shenlichuan@vivo.com/", "claim": "The directory also saw 2024 patch traffic for usb/atm files ('Correct some typos'), consistent with low-level upkeep." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedTouch", "claim": "The SpeedTouch product line is discontinued; the brand was discontinued in 2009." }, { "url": "https://www.speedguide.net/routers/technicolor-thomson-speedtouch-330-usb-adsl-modem-69", "claim": "SpeedTouch 330 is identified as a discontinued USB 1.1 ADSL1 modem, reinforcing that this driver family targets legacy broadband hardware." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_UEAGLEATM.html", "claim": "LKDDb still maps the ueagle-atm option to specific legacy USB DSL devices, showing the driver remains buildable and tied to old ADSL USB modems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from lore_activity on drivers/usb/atm/usbatm.c and drivers/usb/atm/speedtch.c; it shows recent maintenance/cleanup traffic in 2024-2025 but no removal evidence surfaced in the sampled activity. Deployment evidence came from web search results for SpeedTouch/USB DSL hardware and LKDDb pages: the hardware class is discontinued legacy USB ADSL equipment, so new sales in 2025 are implausible and present-day use is likely limited to legacy/industrial holdouts. Recommendation is keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove because upstream still accepts fixes for this niche code and there is no clear in-tree replacement driver for USB DSL modems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.20241689608527527, "commits_5y": 20, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753349611, "top_author": "Nikita Zhandarovich", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/c67x00", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Cypress C67X00 / CY7C67200-CY7C67300 EZ-OTG/EZ-Host USB controller family", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20240924084329.53094-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch for this driver in 2024 was a treewide platform_driver remove-callback API conversion, not evidence of active feature work or fresh hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20230517230239.187727-2-u.kleine-koenig@pengutronix.de/", "claim": "The 2023 c67x00-specific change was another mechanical platform remove-callback conversion, indicating maintenance is sparse and mostly API churn." }, { "url": "https://community.infineon.com/t5/Knowledge-Base-Articles/USB-High-Speed-Host/ta-p/258584", "claim": "Infineon states EZ-Host (CY7C67300) and EZ-OTG (CY7C67200) are obsolete and not recommended for new designs." }, { "url": "https://community.infineon.com/t5/Knowledge-Base-Articles/Industrial-Temperature-Range-for-USB-Chips/ta-p/249500", "claim": "Infineon describes CY7C67200/CY7C67300 as older USB host/peripheral chips for industrial use, supporting the conclusion that present-day deployments are niche legacy embedded designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection via exec_command showed this is a real platform USB host-controller driver and names the Cypress C67X00 family, derived from CY7C67200/300 EZ-USB code. lore_activity on drivers/usb/c67x00/c67x00-drv.c found only sparse recent mail traffic, with 2023 and 2024 touches both mechanical API conversions; a lore path-mention query and a subject regex query both timed out, so I did not infer any active removal series. Web search surfaced Infineon community KB pages explicitly marking CY7C67200/CY7C67300 obsolete and not recommended for new designs. Taken together: hardware is obsolete, likely only in legacy/industrial embedded boards, upstream maintenance is minimal but not under active removal, and there is no direct successor Linux driver covering the same platform-device use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.7089708053637903, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1209749156, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1696257753, "top_author": "Yue Haibing", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/cdns3", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Cadence USBSS/CDNS3 dual-role USB 3.x controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/cdns3", "claim": "Upstream history for drivers/usb/cdns3 shows continuing fixes into 2025-2026 rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/silicon-solutions/design-ip/interface-ip/usb/usb3-controller.html", "claim": "Cadence still markets the USB3 controller IP, indicating the core hardware family is not obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-8quadxplus-multisensory-enablement-kit-mek%3AMCIMX8QXP-CPU", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8QuadXPlus MEK as Active, supporting ongoing availability of an SoC family using this driver." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-linux-jacinto7/07_01_00_10/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/USB/CDNS3.html", "claim": "TI documents CDNS3 integration on J721E and its EVM dual-role USB port, showing current deployment on shipping embedded platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_CDNS3_IMX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_CDNS3_IMX present through current kernel heads, with matching i.MX8 USB3 device IDs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local shell inspection of Kconfig and source shows an active Cadence dual-role USB controller driver with platform glue for NXP i.MX, TI K3/J721E, and StarFive. Local shell git log on the directory shows multiple real bug fixes in 2025-2026 and no evident removal/deprecation trend; the kernel.org log URL is cited as the canonical stable page corresponding to that shell-derived history. Vendor/deployment evidence came from web search results: Cadence product page, NXP active MEK page, TI SDK CDNS3 documentation, and LKDDb. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same Cadence DRD hardware; host mode already delegates to xHCI, but the cdns3 glue/core remains necessary.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012713268916425012, "commits_5y": 128, "substantive_commits_5y": 121, "first_touch_ts": 1562139965, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115480, "top_author": "Pawel Laszczak", "top_author_commits": 40, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/chipidea", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "ChipIdea CI13xxx / ci_hdrc USB2 dual-role controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/chipidea", "claim": "Upstream activity is current rather than dormant: local git log for this directory shows multiple 2025-2026 fixes and new SoC support, including i.MX94/i.MX95 and NXP S32G updates, and no path-specific deprecation/removal series was found in the checked history." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_CHIPIDEA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_CHIPIDEA still present through current kernel series and maps the driver to active OF/PCI bindings including generic chipidea,usb2 and many Freescale/NXP i.MX compatibles." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/i.MX8MMINI", "claim": "NXP lists the i.MX 8M Mini as Active and advertises 2x USB 2.0 OTG controllers with integrated PHY, indicating this IP block remains in currently sold embedded SoCs and partner boards." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) identifies this as the main ChipIdea HDRC/ci_hdrc USB controller family with glue for i.MX, Tegra, MSM, NPCM, generic USB2, and PCI. Lore-specific MCP/`lei` access was unavailable in this environment, so upstream-maintenance evidence came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log` on the directory; the kernel.org log URL is included as the canonical history page for the same path. Web tool opened LKDDb and the NXP product page. The evidence points to active maintenance and ongoing deployment in embedded/industrial SoCs, so removal or deprecation is not justified; there is also no single replacement driver for the same hardware IP.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.051147590830833554, "commits_5y": 119, "substantive_commits_5y": 115, "first_touch_ts": 1336779930, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768402812, "top_author": "Xu Yang", "top_author_commits": 43, "c_file_count": 15, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/class", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB device class drivers (CDC ACM / USB Printer / CDC WDM / USBTMC)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f97e96c303d689708f7f713d8f3afcc31f1237e9", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2026 with commit `cdc-acm: new quirk for EPSON HMD` on 2026-03-18, indicating the directory is actively maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_ACM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_ACM remains present through current kernel series and covers USB CDC ACM modem/serial devices in drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_WDM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_WDM remains present in current kernel series, supporting continued kernel exposure for CDC WDM management devices." }, { "url": "https://www.brother-usa.com/products/HLL2460DW", "claim": "A current Brother printer product page lists Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity, showing USB printer-class hardware is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.keysight.com/us/en/assets/9924-02253/reference-guides/AP-Signal-Generator-and-Frequency-Synthesizer-Programmers-Manual.pdf", "claim": "A 2025 Keysight programmer's manual explicitly documents USBTMC support, showing current test-and-measurement instruments still use the USB Test & Measurement Class." }, { "url": "https://python.quectel.com/doc/quecpython/Application_guide/en/hardware/USB-interfaces.html", "claim": "A 2025 Quectel USB application guide describes CDC-based USB AT/control interfaces on current cellular modules, supporting ongoing relevance for CDC ACM-class usage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed this directory is a real driver collection with four modules: cdc-acm, usblp, cdc-wdm, and usbtmc. Local `git log` (run via shell with `-c safe.directory=...`) showed many substantive 2025-2026 fixes/quirks across all four drivers and no removal/deprecation-themed hits in a 2024+ grep, so there is active upstream attention and no visible removal push. The kernel.org commit URL was added by canonical recall from the locally retrieved commit hash; LKDDb, Brother, Keysight, and Quectel URLs were obtained via web search. Because the directory covers several still-current USB device classes with ongoing fixes and no single successor driver, the right action is keep, not deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.022836643678720965, "commits_5y": 75, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773847042, "top_author": "Oliver Neukum", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/common", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Generic USB common / ULPI / GPIO role-switch support", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/common", "claim": "Upstream activity is current through 2026, including real fixes in ulpi.c and usb-conn-gpio.c rather than only treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_CONN_GPIO.html", "claim": "CONFIG_USB_CONN_GPIO is still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and covers GPIO-based USB cable/role detection on contemporary kernels." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_ULPI_BUS.html", "claim": "CONFIG_USB_ULPI_BUS is still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and provides the generic ULPI PHY bus used by embedded USB 2.0 designs." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/USB3340", "claim": "Microchip USB3340 ULPI PHY is listed as In Production, showing new ULPI-based hardware is still sold." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TUSB1210/part-details/TUSB1210BRHBR", "claim": "TI still lists orderable TUSB1210 ULPI PHY parts, indicating ongoing new-deployment availability for this class of hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory is a real driver/infrastructure bundle, not a pure helper library: it contains the usb-conn-gpio platform driver and the ULPI bus driver alongside shared USB common code. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/Makefile showed active configs/modules here; local git log showed substantive fixes up to 2026-04-01 in ulpi.c and 2025 updates in usb-conn-gpio.c, so this is not stagnant. Web search of lore.kernel.org terms for removal/deprecation did not surface an active removal series. URLs were obtained via shell (`git -c safe.directory ... log`) for the git.kernel.org log URL by canonical recall of the matching stable page, plus web search results for LKDDb and vendor product pages. Recommendation is keep-annotate rather than plain keep because this directory mixes generic USB infrastructure with niche embedded/board-level support, but the supported use cases still appear live in current upstream and current hardware supply.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.016699733040460858, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1401229784, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115416, "top_author": "Greg Kroah-Hartman", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/core", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the Linux USB core subsystem and helper infrastructure, not a device-specific kernel hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.010940622234484608, "commits_5y": 279, "substantive_commits_5y": 266, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115806, "top_author": "Alan Stern", "top_author_commits": 31, "c_file_count": 24, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/dwc2", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare USB 2.0 HS OTG / DWC2", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_DWC2.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_DWC2 is still present through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, and the driver binds current platform/PCI IDs including Loongson and Synopsys/ST variants." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/usb/usb-2-0-digital-controllers.html", "claim": "Synopsys still markets USB 2.0 OTG/host/device controller IP, indicating the underlying IP family is not obsolete and continues to see new silicon design wins." }, { "url": "https://lists.linaro.org/archives/list/linux-stable-mirror@lists.linaro.org/message/ZJ2YRG4QOGQGXWNHSM2H7FK5JBPS4JP2/", "claim": "Stable review carried a 2024 dwc2 gadget/LPM fix from Minas Harutyunyan, showing ongoing bug-fix traffic and maintainer attention rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue/%2B/refs/tags/v6.14.5/releases/6.1.84/usb-dwc2-host-fix-hibernation-flow.patch", "claim": "Stable queue includes a recent dwc2 host hibernation fix with a lore link, further indicating active upstream maintenance in longterm kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "In-tree inspection via shell showed this is an actual platform/PCI dual-role USB controller driver for the Synopsys DesignWare HS OTG core, not helper code. Web search on lore/stable surfaced recent 2024 dwc2 fixes and did not surface any removal/deprecation thread; cited stable-mirror and stable-queue URLs were obtained from web search results. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and supports ongoing kernel enablement across current releases. Synopsys product page was obtained by web search and supports that DWC2-class IP remains in active commercial use. With 107 substantive commits in 5 years, 44 authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2026-03-30, this is clearly maintained; there is no natural single upstream replacement because DWC2 covers a still-deployed USB2 DRD IP block across many SoCs.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014512074375097423, "commits_5y": 113, "substantive_commits_5y": 107, "first_touch_ts": 1389653041, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774883107, "top_author": "Minas Harutyunyan", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/dwc3", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Synopsys DesignWare Core USB3 (DWC3) controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/6/5/21", "claim": "Upstream DWC3 development was still adding support for new SoCs in 2025, including an NXP Layerscape glue driver under drivers/usb/dwc3." }, { "url": "https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/2/3/1672", "claim": "Upstream DWC3 maintenance in 2025 included functional bug-fix discussion for controller halt-state timeouts during role switching." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/1042236/", "claim": "A 2025 usb-next patch series added Apple Silicon USB3 support on top of DWC3, showing ongoing enablement for modern hardware." }, { "url": "https://support.apple.com/en-us/118552", "claim": "Apple was still selling new M3 MacBook Air hardware in 2025; these Apple Silicon systems expose USB functionality that the 2025 DWC3 Apple support series targeted." }, { "url": "https://www.synopsys.com/designware-ip/interface-ip/usb/usb-c-30-controllers.html", "claim": "Synopsys still markets DesignWare USB controller IP, indicating the core family itself remains current rather than obsolete." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local repo inspection showed core/gadget/host code plus many SoC glue drivers (Apple, Google, AM62, QCOM, Xilinx, etc.). Upstream activity is clearly live: web search/open found LKML threads for a 2025 timeout fix and a 2025 new Layerscape glue driver, plus an LWN archive of a 2025 Apple Silicon DWC3 enablement series. Deployment is still high because DWC3 is common Synopsys USB IP integrated into current SoCs; Apple Support confirms current M3 hardware, and Synopsys still sells the IP. No natural replacement driver covers the same generic DWC3 controller role, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.00989287967957888, "commits_5y": 489, "substantive_commits_5y": 483, "first_touch_ts": 1314054191, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115465, "top_author": "Thinh Nguyen", "top_author_commits": 53, "c_file_count": 27, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/early", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB early debug ports (EHCI Debug Port / xHCI Debug Capability)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg271489.html", "claim": "Recent 2025 linux-usb patch traffic shows the xHCI DbC side is still receiving real bug fixes upstream, not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg425908.html", "claim": "The 2025 xhci-dbc fix was queued for stable trees, indicating ongoing maintenance value for deployed systems." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/usb/usb3-debug-port.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes xHCI DbC as an optional standalone capability on x86 systems and a supported early-printk / debug path." }, { "url": "https://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2016/11/01/96", "claim": "The upstream introduction states the feature targets modern machines without legacy serial ports, framing its niche but real debugging use case." }, { "url": "https://www.kernelconfig.io/config_early_printk_usb_xdbc", "claim": "Current kernel configuration indexes still expose CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK_USB_XDBC in contemporary kernel series, showing the feature remains buildable and visible." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed this directory contains early USB debug transport code (ehci-dbgp.c, xhci-dbc.c), so it is a real driver-like hardware support directory, not a helper library. Local git log via shell showed 9 substantive touches since 2021, all on xhci-dbc, including a 2025 fix. URLs were obtained by web search/open: spinics linux-usb thread for the June 27, 2025 fix, spinics stable-commits for stable backport evidence, kernel.org docs for present-day supported usage, openwall LKML archive for the original upstream rationale, and kernelconfig.io for current config visibility. Limited lore-oriented web searches for removal/deprecation terms returned no clear removal discussion. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the directory serves a narrow early-boot debugging niche with low deployment volume, EHCI debug-port hardware is legacy, but xHCI DbC still maps to modern x86 hardware and continues to receive upstream fixes.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1253713598, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1751879086, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/fotg210", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Faraday FOTG210/FOTG200 USB 2.0 OTG controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2014, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/fotg210", "claim": "Upstream activity is current rather than dormant; local git history for this directory shows substantive fixes and refactors continuing through 2025-2026, with no evident removal series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_FOTG210.html", "claim": "The driver is a Faraday FOTG210 dual-role USB controller driver, present in current kernels and tied primarily to ARCH_GEMINI or COMPILE_TEST, with OF matches for faraday,fotg200 and faraday,fotg210." }, { "url": "https://mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/arm/gemini.yaml", "claim": "The Cortina/Storlink Gemini SoC family using this IP dates back to around 2005 and the product family is described as apparently discontinued after Cortina's 2014 acquisition by Inphi." }, { "url": "https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/targets/start", "claim": "OpenWrt still lists the legacy Gemini target, but only with a very small device count, indicating niche residual deployment rather than broad current use." }, { "url": "https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/48391923/fotg210-usb20o-faraday-technology-corporation", "claim": "A mirrored Faraday datasheet identifies FOTG210 as a June 2006 USB 2.0 OTG controller IP block aimed at older embedded applications such as MP3 players, PDAs, printers, scanners, storage and cameras." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory. Local `rg` inspection showed platform-driver code and OF matches, including Gemini-specific handling (`cortina,gemini-usb`). Local `git log` (using `git -c safe.directory=... log`) showed active maintenance into 2026 and no clear removal/deprecation pattern; kernel.org log URL cited via canonical recall. LKDDb and gemini.yaml URLs were obtained with `web.search_query`/`open`. OpenWrt target URL came from `web.search_query` snippet after direct open failed. Yumpu URL came from `web.search_query`/`open` and was used only as a mirrored historical datasheet. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and likely not sold new, but the driver still sees upstream attention and covers a specific old SoC/IP block with no natural replacement, so keep it but annotate as legacy/niche.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 42, "first_touch_ts": 1667993889, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768402740, "top_author": "Linus Walleij", "top_author_commits": 16, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: umbrella USB gadget subsystem containing libcomposite framework code plus multiple function/legacy/udc drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0675327141909203, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 71, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766500261, "top_author": "Linyu Yuan", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/function", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB gadget function drivers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/gadget/function", "claim": "Upstream tree history for this directory remains active; local `git log` against the same path showed many 2025-2026 fixes and refactors rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/usb/gadget_configfs.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes these as configfs-selectable USB gadget functions used to compose active gadget devices on systems with a USB Device Controller (UDC), with examples such as `functions/ncm.usb0`." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/usb/gadget-testing.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still documents and tests many functions implemented from this directory, including ACM, ECM, EEM, FFS, HID, mass-storage, MIDI, NCM, RNDIS, serial, UAC, UVC, printer, and others." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/usb-gadget-mode-in-raspberry-pi-os-ssh-over-usb/", "claim": "Still-sold Raspberry Pi boards in 2026 (including Raspberry Pi 4, 5, 500/500+, and Compute Module 5) are documented as supporting USB gadget mode, showing ongoing real-world deployment on new hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subtree, not an early-exit helper-only path: it contains many `DECLARE_USB_FUNCTION_INIT`/`module_init` entry points for gadget functions. Upstream attention was checked first via local shell: `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2025-01-01 -- drivers/usb/gadget/function` showed sustained fixes through 2026-04; no lore removal/deprecation hits were found with `web.search_query` against `site:lore.kernel.org`, so I saw no active removal push. `docs.kernel.org` URLs were obtained via web search/open; Raspberry Pi deployment evidence was obtained via web search/open. The git.kernel.org log URL is canonical recall pointing at the same path whose activity was verified locally. This directory is a generic USB peripheral-mode function stack used by modern embedded/SoC hardware, so there is no single replacement driver and removal would regress current gadget use cases.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009994505315843769, "commits_5y": 464, "substantive_commits_5y": 452, "first_touch_ts": 1405533036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775116528, "top_author": "Michael Grzeschik", "top_author_commits": 50, "c_file_count": 33, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/legacy", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB gadget precomposed configurations", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "libcomposite via configfs", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6122539.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list patch traffic hit this directory in March 2026 (`raw_gadget.c` double-free fix), indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6050469.html", "claim": "A February 2026 RFC fixed a bind-path NULL-dereference in the legacy NCM gadget, showing current bug-fix attention within the directory." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/usb/gadget_configfs.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes configfs/libcomposite as the generic way to compose USB gadgets from functions, which is the natural modern replacement path for many precomposed legacy gadget modules." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_G_MULTI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_USB_G_MULTI` remains present through current kernel series and is still defined in `drivers/usb/gadget/legacy/Kconfig`, so the directory is not already retired upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w", "claim": "Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is still sold and explicitly exposes a micro USB OTG port, providing current-market hardware that can use Linux USB gadget mode." }, { "url": "https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/usb-gadget-mode-in-raspberry-pi-os-ssh-over-usb/", "claim": "Raspberry Pi published new USB gadget mode deployment guidance in January 2026 for current boards, evidencing active present-day gadget-mode usage." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig and 19 C files implement precomposed USB gadget drivers. Lore-equivalent evidence was gathered via web search on spinics/lore mirrors: March 26 2026 raw_gadget fix and Feb 14 2026 NCM RFC show active maintenance, and no removal series surfaced in those searches. Kernel docs page was opened directly with the web tool and points to configfs/libcomposite as the modern composition path, so this should be kept but annotated as legacy with configfs preferred for new designs. Raspberry Pi product/news pages were obtained by web search and show gadget-capable hardware still sold and actively deployed in 2026.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.02787885544756728, "commits_5y": 68, "substantive_commits_5y": 61, "first_touch_ts": 1405530845, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773242463, "top_author": "Andrey Konovalov", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 19, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/udc", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB gadget UDC controllers (mixed SoC/IP families)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=36723c6c1ea2", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: this directory gained AST2700 support in 2025, indicating active enablement for new ASPEED hardware rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=858a74cb5128", "claim": "Legacy deployments still surface real regressions: omap_udc received a fix for Palm TE gadget behavior in 2024." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1d73df245b19", "claim": "Recent removals were selective orphan cleanups, not a subsystem-wide deprecation/removal of UDC support in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.aspeedtech.com/server/", "claim": "ASPEED lists AST2700/AST2720/AST2750 BMC products as current with ongoing sampling, supporting that hardware covered by this directory is still entering new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-v2m", "claim": "Renesas marks RZ/V2M as Active and advertises USB3.1 host/peripheral capability, showing another currently marketed SoC family mapped to this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`exec_command` on the local tree showed heavy 2024-2026 churn across multiple UDC drivers, including bug fixes and new hardware support, plus only a selective cleanup commit (`1d73df245b19`, orphaned UDC drivers) rather than active removal talk for this directory. Kernel commit URLs were formed from those locally obtained commit ids using canonical kernel.org commit-page URLs. `web.search_query` found current vendor product pages for ASPEED AST27xx and Renesas RZ/V2M, which confirms at least some represented UDC-capable hardware is still sold/new in 2025. Because this directory is a live bucket of multiple USB device-controller drivers with ongoing fixes and fresh silicon enablement, there is no single replacement driver and removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01729308681968056, "commits_5y": 305, "substantive_commits_5y": 292, "first_touch_ts": 1405530928, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773847173, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 35, "c_file_count": 28, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/udc/aspeed-vhub", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "ASPEED AST24xx/AST25xx/AST26xx/AST27xx vHub USB device controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20251128-upstream_vhub-v2-2-1fa66a5833c2@aspeedtech.com/", "claim": "Late-2025 upstream patch adds AST2700 support to aspeed-vhub, indicating ongoing enablement for newer ASPEED BMC silicon rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20241127093547.3000267-1-mordan@ispras.ru/", "claim": "The driver still received a targeted functional fix in late 2024, showing maintenance beyond treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/usb/gadget/udc/aspeed-vhub/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig describes this as the Aspeed vHub UDC for AST2400, AST2500, and AST2600 SoCs, confirming the hardware family and use case." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Active upstream attention is strong: lore_file_timeline on core.c showed activity through 2025-11-28, including an AST2700 support series, plus a 2024 bug-fix patch; no removal discussion surfaced in the lore evidence gathered. The Kconfig file read via shell confirms this is a real UDC driver for ASPEED BMC SoCs. Hardware-obsolescence judgment is an inference from late-2025 new-silicon support plus the existing AST24xx/25xx/26xx scope: this points to ongoing server/BMC deployments, though the niche is infrastructure rather than consumer. Source acquisition: first two URLs from lore_file_timeline tool output; kernel.org Kconfig URL from canonical recall, with file contents cross-checked locally via shell.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10893613870137978, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1526368013, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1765978925, "top_author": "Neal Liu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/udc/bdc", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Broadcom BDC USB3 device-controller IP (brcmstb)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_BDC_UDC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_USB_BDC_UDC is still present in current kernels, builds module `bdc`, and matches Broadcom platform compatibles including `brcm,bdc` and `brcm,bdc-udc-v2`." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg916034.html", "claim": "The driver received an upstream bugfix that was in 6.18-stable review on February 24, 2026 (`usb: bdc: fix sleep during atomic`), showing current maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg3834774.html", "claim": "The 2021 USB pull removed only the separate BDC PCI driver (`usb: bdc: Remove the BDC PCI driver`), not the platform UDC core in `drivers/usb/gadget/udc/bdc`." }, { "url": "https://www.sagemcom.com/en/cp-sagemcom-delivers-tim-its-next-generation-hybrid-set-top-box-powered-androidtv?language_content_entity=en", "claim": "Broadcom set-top-box SoCs were still being used in operator STB deployments in 2021 (BCM72180), supporting continued niche embedded/operator deployment of Broadcom STB platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.sercomm.com/en/news/3/421", "claim": "Broadcom STB silicon continued appearing in new operator set-top-box products in 2025 (Sercomm BCM74116-based RDK video accelerator), indicating the broader Broadcom STB ecosystem is still active even if this exact USB gadget IP is niche." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` and Kconfig inspection identify this as a real Broadcom USB3 gadget UDC driver under `ARCH_BRCMSTB`, not a helper library. URLs were obtained with `web.search_query`: LKDDb for in-tree presence/compatible strings; Spinics stable for a February 24, 2026 bugfix; Spinics USB pull for the earlier PCI-side removal only; Sagemcom and Sercomm pages for present-day Broadcom STB deployment context. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: upstream activity is still real, there is no clear full-driver removal thread, hardware appears confined to low-volume embedded/operator STB use, and there is no generic replacement for this Broadcom-specific UDC IP.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09012608730522885, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1416322043, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769184991, "top_author": "Justin Chen", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/gadget/udc/cdns2", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Cadence USBHS (CDNS2)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/maintainers.html?highlight=maintainers", "claim": "The kernel MAINTAINERS file lists `drivers/usb/gadget/udc/cdns2` as the maintained 'CADENCE USBHS DRIVER' with Pawel Laszczak and linux-usb." }, { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20230602102644.77470-1-pawell%40cadence.com/20230602102644.77470-3-pawell%40cadence.com/", "claim": "The 2023 introduction patch says cdns2 is the Cadence USBHS driver, validated on an FPGA platform with PCIe support used for prototyping." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5827260.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch series updated cdns2 by removing unused tracepoints, showing normal subsystem maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg899974.html", "claim": "A December 24, 2025 stable patch fixes a null-pointer dereference in `cdns2_gadget_ep_queue()`, indicating the driver is still receiving bug fixes." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6003582.html", "claim": "A January 15, 2026 patch proposes a use-after-free fix in `cdns2_gadget_giveback()`, showing active post-merge review and maintenance traffic." }, { "url": "https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/ip/design-ip/interface-ip/usb/usb2-controller.html", "claim": "Cadence still marketed the USB 2.0 Controller IP in/around 2025 as a current configurable device/OTG controller product." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_CDNS2_UDC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows `CONFIG_USB_CDNS2_UDC` present from Linux 6.5 onward for Cadence PCI vendor/device ID 17cd:0120." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` inspection showed a real PCI gadget driver: Kconfig names 'Cadence USBHS Device Controller', and `cdns2-pci.c` binds PCI vendor/device 17cd:0120. Lore-style evidence was gathered via web search because `lei` was unavailable; obtained kernel-maintainers, Patchew, and spinics thread URLs. Those show the driver was added in 2023, remains listed as maintained, and still saw fixes/cleanup in 2025-2026 with no removal thread found. Cadence product pages obtained by web search indicate the underlying USB2 controller IP was still being sold in 2025. Deployment is rated low, not medium/high, because this Linux driver is a PCI-based gadget controller mainly associated with FPGA/prototyping and embedded bring-up rather than broad end-user systems. No clear upstream replacement covers the same Cadence USBHS PCI-gadget use case, so removal/deprecation is not supported.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1686650369, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763734313, "top_author": "Pawel Laszczak", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/host", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB host controllers (xHCI/EHCI/OHCI/UHCI and platform HCDs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/next/driver-api/usb/usb.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes Linux host-controller drivers as current core USB infrastructure and notes modern PCs typically expose multiple USB 3.x and legacy USB buses." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Host_Controller_Interface", "claim": "xHCI is the current unified USB host-controller standard, intended to replace older UHCI/OHCI/EHCI families and used for modern USB 3.x-era hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg920143.html", "claim": "There was active 2026 stable-fix traffic for drivers/usb/host/xhci-debugfs.c, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6133554.html", "claim": "A 2026 patch series updated xhci-sideband logic in drivers/usb/host, again indicating active feature/bug-fix work instead of subsystem removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This directory is an active subsystem directory containing many real USB host-controller drivers, not a helper library. Shell inspection of the tree showed current xHCI/UHCI/OHCI/EHCI and platform HCD sources; a local `git log` also showed fresh 2025-2026 fixes plus one targeted removal of an obsolete leaf driver, not a subsystem-wide retirement. URLs were obtained via web search (`docs.kernel.org`, Wikipedia, and spinics/lore mirrors). No credible subsystem-level removal/deprecation discussion was found; evidence instead shows broad current deployment on modern systems and continuing upstream maintenance, so keep is the defensible outcome.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.009032684486714581, "commits_5y": 883, "substantive_commits_5y": 871, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115810, "top_author": "Mathias Nyman", "top_author_commits": 151, "c_file_count": 92, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/image", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Mustek MDC800 / Microtek ScanMaker X6USB-era USB imaging devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2001, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6044191.html", "claim": "In February 2026 the mdc800 driver received a reviewed bug-fix patch, indicating current upstream maintenance activity rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg934421.html", "claim": "The 2026 mdc800 fix was queued for stable backport, suggesting maintainers consider the driver worth preserving for existing users." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_MDC800.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_MDC800 and related USB IDs are still present through current 6.x kernels, covering Mustek MDC800 and Microtek-family devices in this directory." }, { "url": "https://sane-project.gitlab.io/website/sane-backends.html", "claim": "SANE still documents Microtek X6USB support via the microtek2 backend, but labels that backend unmaintained, consistent with residual legacy deployment rather than active new sales." }, { "url": "https://www.digitalkameramuseum.de/en/cameras/item/mustek-mdc-800", "claim": "The Mustek MDC-800 is a 1999 digital camera, supporting the conclusion that this hardware family is long obsolete and not sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php", "claim": "libgphoto2 still carries support for many legacy cameras, aligning with the kernel Kconfig/help text that this driver exists for old camera download workflows." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory with module entry points in mdc800.c and microtek.c (checked via local shell/rg). Local git log showed substantive touches in 2024-2026, including two February 2026 mdc800 fixes; one exact-subject web search found the reviewed patch thread on spinics, and another source showed the same fix in stable review. A web search for LKDDb confirmed the configs/USB IDs remain in current kernels. A web search for scanner deployment evidence found SANE's backend table listing X6USB support but marking microtek2 unmaintained. A web search for product history found the Mustek MDC-800 museum page dating the camera to 1999. No concrete removal series was found in the limited exact-path/exact-subject searches, so active bug-fix traffic outweighs hardware age: keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/obsolete hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06461424003381272, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 8, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772044021, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/isp1760", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "NXP ISP1760/1761/1763 USB 2.0 controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.67, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20250424091859.1073201-1-rui.silva@linaro.org/", "claim": "Upstream still sees driver-specific fixes in 2025, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/103865/PHILIPS/ISP1761.html", "claim": "ISP1761 is an old Philips/NXP USB OTG controller product, with publicly mirrored datasheet revisions dating back to the mid-2000s." }, { "url": "https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/600544/PHILIPS/ISP1761.html", "claim": "A later public datasheet mirror still describes the same legacy ISP1761 part rather than a current-generation replacement family." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig names module support for NXP ISP 1760/1761/1763, with host, gadget, and dual-role modes. Lore evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline` and `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/usb/isp1760/isp1760-core.c`; newest touch is a 2025-04-24 linux-usb fix patch, so removal/deprecation is not supported by current upstream activity. An attempted lore removal-subject scan timed out, and a `lei` fallback was blocked by the sandbox, so absence of removal discussion is inferred only from the successful lore activity results. Deployment looks niche: these are older external embedded USB controller chips used on non-DMA-master style buses and eval/industrial designs, not mainstream 2025 platforms. Datasheet URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; they support that the silicon family is old, but they do not prove formal EOL, so `last_widely_available_year` is left null. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: active maintenance exists, but current use is likely limited to legacy/industrial embedded boards with low new deployment volume.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.25862938413143055, "commits_5y": 37, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1422373178, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1730710389, "top_author": "Rui Miguel Silva", "top_author_commits": 21, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/misc", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Assorted USB misc devices (USB hubs, bridges, debug/accessory controllers)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/misc", "claim": "Upstream activity is current and non-trivial; the directory kept receiving fixes and new-device enablement through 2024-2026, including 2026 fixes and 2025 support additions." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/usb/misc/Kconfig", "claim": "This is a heterogeneous bucket of unrelated USB misc drivers rather than one obsolete chipset family, so there is no single replacement path for the whole directory." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TUSB8044", "claim": "TI still published the TUSB8044 product page in 2026, marking TUSB8044 NRND while pointing to active successor TUSB8044A; that supports ongoing embedded/onboard USB hub deployments relevant to this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/USB2514B", "claim": "Microchip still serves a product page for the USB2514B hub family, supporting continued real-world relevance of the usb251xb/onboard hub support in this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg --files`) showed this directory contains many distinct USB misc drivers, including current embedded/platform pieces such as `usb251xb`, `onboard_usb_dev`, `usb-ljca`, and `qcom_eud`, so a whole-directory deprecation would be over-broad. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/usb/misc` showed active maintenance and new enablement through 2026-04-02, including 2025 additions for WCH CH334, TI TUSB8044, Parade PS5511, Realtek RTL8188ETV, and multiple 2026 bug fixes; I mapped that evidence to the canonical kernel.org path-log URL by canonical recall. The kernel Kconfig/tree URL is likewise a canonical kernel.org path recalled stably. The TI and Microchip URLs were obtained via web `open`. I did not find evidence of an active whole-directory removal effort in the inspected recent history; given the mix of legacy one-off drivers and still-current embedded hub/bridge support, the defensible outcome is keep the directory but annotate/per-driver review rather than deprecate or remove the entire subtree.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.012194077190733472, "commits_5y": 160, "substantive_commits_5y": 149, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775115396, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 31, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/misc/sisusbvga", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Net2280/SiS315 USB 2.0 VGA dongles", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20260224215507.1736020-3-kovalev@altlinux.org/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream bug-fix patches in 2026, so it is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/20260224215507.1736020-2-kovalev@altlinux.org/", "claim": "Recent activity is maintenance-oriented bug fixing, not new feature development or removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_SISUSBVGA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies this as support for Net2280/SiS315 USB 2.0 SVGA dongles and shows the config persists in current kernels." }, { "url": "https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb%3A0711-0550", "claim": "Public hardware probes for a sisusbvga-supported device are sparse, consistent with low present-day deployment." }, { "url": "https://forum.digilent.com/topic/30712-usb2vga-net2280-sis315/", "claim": "A 2024 forum post shows the hardware still appears in legacy use, but as an old niche adapter rather than a mainstream current product." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig read via shell identifies the hardware as a Net2280/SiS315 USB2VGA dongle. lore_file_timeline on sisusbvga.c showed fresh 2026 linux-usb fixes and no clear removal signal, so static obsolescence is offset by active bug-fix traffic; that fits keep-annotate rather than deprecate/remove. Web search yielded LKDDb for device scope, linux-hardware for sparse modern probe evidence, and a 2024 forum thread showing lingering legacy use. I infer the hardware is obsolete and not meaningfully sold new in 2025, but without a solid vendor EOL page I leave last_widely_available_year unknown. No direct upstream replacement driver cleanly supports the same Net2280/SiS315 hardware, so replacement_driver is null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.668377247781515, "commits_5y": 8, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1681983802, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/mon", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains the usbmon USB traffic monitoring/sniffing facility, a kernel instrumentation interface rather than hardware-bound device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.1965535178128617, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758105605, "top_author": "Lee Jones", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/mtu3", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "MediaTek MTU3 USB 3.x dual-role controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5897069.html", "claim": "October 26, 2025 patch traffic still touched `drivers/usb/mtu3`, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5897068.html", "claim": "A second October 26, 2025 patch in the same area shows the driver was still receiving reviewable upstream fixes in late 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1064732.html", "claim": "In April 2023 the driver gained optional `xhci_ck` and `frmcnt_ck` support explicitly described for dual-role controllers and newer 4nm/advanced-process SoCs, which is modernization work, not retirement work." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/arm-kernel/msg1064736.html", "claim": "In April 2023 MTU3 gained userspace role-switch control support, another sign of active feature maintenance." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-360", "claim": "MediaTek's current Genio 360 product page advertises USB 3.2 Gen1 and a 10-year longevity program, showing new MediaTek embedded platforms with USB3 are still being sold." }, { "url": "https://www.mediatek.com/products/iot/genio-iot/genio-520", "claim": "MediaTek's current Genio 520 page lists a USB 3.2 Gen1 host/device-capable interface, consistent with ongoing deployment of MediaTek dual-role USB3 IP in new products." }, { "url": "https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/%2B/refs/tags/android16-6.12-2025-06_r5/drivers/usb/mtu3/mtu3_dr.h", "claim": "Android common kernel tag `android16-6.12-2025-06_r5` still carries MTU3 code, suggesting continuing downstream use in contemporary Android/MediaTek device trees and products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `sed` on Kconfig identifies this as the MediaTek USB3 dual-role controller driver, and local `rg` on `mtu3_plat.c` shows OF matches for MediaTek SoCs. Local `git log` shows substantive touches through late 2025. Web search result URLs from Spinics show late-2025 patch traffic and 2023 feature work for newer SoCs; web searches for lore removal/deprecate terms returned no relevant MTU3 removal discussion. MediaTek product-page URLs were obtained via web search and show current Genio platforms with USB 3.2, while the Android common kernel URL came from web search and shows MTU3 still present in a 2025 Android kernel tag. There is no natural generic replacement driver; this is SoC-specific controller support that still appears active and commercially relevant.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08560044193556997, "commits_5y": 65, "substantive_commits_5y": 60, "first_touch_ts": 1477580561, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763734313, "top_author": "Chunfeng Yun", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/musb", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Mentor Graphics Inventra MUSB HDRC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/usb/writing_musb_glue_layer.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes MUSB as the Linux subsystem for embedded OTG/device controllers based on the Mentor Graphics Inventra MUSB HDRC design, with multiple SoC-specific glue layers." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5440487.html", "claim": "A substantive upstream bug-fix patch for drivers/usb/musb/musb_gadget.c was posted on November 10, 2024, showing ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable-commits/msg433425.html", "claim": "An upstream MUSB omap2430 fix was still being backported into stable in August 2025, indicating active maintenance and deployed users." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg273769.html", "claim": "A 2025 linux-usb patch updated the DSPS glue layer, showing current list traffic on this driver family rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_MUSB_POLARFIRE_SOC.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_MUSB_POLARFIRE_SOC present through 6.19-rc+HEAD, tying this directory to currently supported Microchip PolarFire SoC hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/fpgas-and-plds/system-on-chip-fpgas/polarfire-soc-fpgas", "claim": "Microchip was still marketing PolarFire SoC devices and kits with a USB 2.0 OTG peripheral in 2025, so at least part of the MUSB hardware base remains sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory log`) showed this is a real multi-platform USB controller driver with recent 2025 touches across core and glue layers. `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, so lore history was approximated via web search to public mailing-list archives: recent spinics/linux-usb and stable-commits URLs show active fixes in 2024-2025 and no evident removal series. Web search also found kernel docs, LKDDb, and Microchip's current PolarFire SoC product page; together they support a keep recommendation for a still-relevant embedded/industrial controller family with ongoing upstream maintenance, but with niche rather than broad mainstream deployment.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07638629275238343, "commits_5y": 108, "substantive_commits_5y": 100, "first_touch_ts": 1218673980, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763734313, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/phy", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB PHY / OTG transceivers for embedded SoCs and companion chips (AM335x, Tegra, i.MX/MXS, OMAP, ULPI, ISP1301, etc.)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5977469.html", "claim": "Active upstream development continued in late 2025 with a Tegra USB PHY HSIC support series touching drivers/usb/phy/phy-tegra-usb.c." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6015484.html", "claim": "Active maintenance continued in January 2026 with generic usb-phy API cleanup in drivers/usb/phy/phy-generic.c." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg269052.html", "claim": "Recent cleanup removed an orphaned Marvell OTG-related option from drivers/usb/phy/Kconfig, indicating selective pruning of dead sub-pieces rather than whole-directory retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/thrd29.html", "claim": "Linux-usb thread index shows a 2024 patch marking Freescale USB PHY as orphaned, supporting the view that some leaf drivers are legacy/orphaned inside an otherwise still-used directory." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/tool/PROCESSOR-SDK-AM335X", "claim": "TI published AM335x Linux SDK releases in 2025 and lists supported AM335x products/hardware, indicating ongoing real-world use of hardware covered by this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.phytec.com/product/phycore-am335x/", "claim": "A commercial AM335x system-on-module/development kit remained offered for sale, showing at least one family served by this directory is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obtained local context from shell (`rg`, `sed`) and local git log (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) showing multiple substantive 2025-2026 touches across phy-generic, tegra, fsl, mxs, isp1301. Lore-equivalent evidence was gathered via web search because `lei` was unavailable: spinics thread pages show active patch traffic in Dec 2025 and Jan 2026, plus selective cleanup/orphaning of specific legacy entries. Conclusion: this is not a removal candidate at directory level; annotate that it is a mixed legacy/active bucket, with some old SoC-specific drivers likely low-deployment while AM335x-class industrial hardware still appears current.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04346352968820271, "commits_5y": 94, "substantive_commits_5y": 87, "first_touch_ts": 1335893582, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770308184, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 15, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/renesas_usbhs", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Renesas R-Car/RZ USBHS", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/renesas_usbhs", "claim": "Upstream activity is current: the directory still receives substantive fixes and new-SoC enablement in 2024-2026, so it is not an abandoned legacy driver." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_RENESAS_USBHS.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_RENESAS_USBHS is still present through current kernels and binds multiple Renesas R-Car/RZ compatibles, indicating ongoing in-tree platform coverage rather than a dead one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-g2l", "claim": "Renesas lists RZ/G2L as an active product with long longevity and USB 2.0 interfaces, supporting that this controller family is still relevant in new embedded deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/rz-mpus/rzt2h-advanced-high-end-mpu-integrated-powerful-application-processing-and-high-precision-real-time?type=feat", "claim": "Renesas markets RZ/T2H as an active Linux-capable MPU launched in late 2024, consistent with ongoing deployment of Renesas SoCs that use this class of USB controller." }, { "url": "https://www.renesas.com/en/products/rz-t2h/part-details/r9a09g077m28gbg-bc0", "claim": "Renesas part details for R9A09G077 (RZ/T2H) explicitly list USB2.0 host/function and USBHS, matching the recent kernel addition of support for this SoC in renesas_usbhs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local exec_command confirmed module_platform_driver in drivers/usb/renesas_usbhs/common.c and local source grep showed active compatibles across R-Car Gen2/Gen3, RZ/A1, RZ/A2, RZ/G2L, and RZ/T2H-class r9a09g077. Upstream attention was checked first via local exec_command git log on the directory; it shows substantive 2024-2026 fixes plus 2025 support for RZ/T2H, and no evidence of a removal trajectory. The kernel.org log URL is included as canonical recall for the same history view. Deployment evidence came from web search_query hits to LKDDb and Renesas product pages. A lore-focused web search did not surface an active removal/deprecation series. Because the IP is still shipping in current Renesas MPUs and still getting bug fixes/new SoC support, the correct disposition is keep, with no natural replacement driver beyond this same in-tree driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03504741692821325, "commits_5y": 29, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1302736027, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773242296, "top_author": "Claudiu Beznea", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/roles", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB dual-role / role-switch support (generic USB Role Switch class plus Intel xHCI OTG role switch on Intel SoCs)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg925216.html", "claim": "March 23, 2026 stable review patch for \"usb: roles\" shows the directory is still receiving upstream bug-fix traffic rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/USB_ROLES_INTEL_XHCI.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_USB_ROLES_INTEL_XHCI is still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and documents the Intel xHCI role-switch hardware covered by this directory." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.6/driver-api/usb/typec.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation states dual-role capable Type-C ports may use the USB Role Class API, indicating the generic role-switch code remains relevant to modern Type-C designs." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection (shell `sed`) showed this directory contains both a generic usb_role_switch class implementation and one concrete Intel xHCI platform driver, so it is a real driver directory, not just docs/helpers. Local git history (shell `git log`) shows substantive touches through 2026-03-11 with many authors over the last 5 years, matching ongoing maintenance. The spinics stable URL was obtained via web search and used as lore-adjacent evidence of current upstream maintenance activity; I found no removal/deprecation thread in those searches. The LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and supports that the Intel-specific driver is still upstream in current kernels. The docs.kernel.org URL was obtained via web search and supports ongoing relevance of the generic USB role-switch class for modern dual-role USB Type-C hardware. Overall this looks active and still useful for current deployments, so keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04076771136764994, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 15, "first_touch_ts": 1521722967, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773242542, "top_author": "Xu Yang", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/serial", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB-to-serial bridges and USB modem/control ports", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.opennet.ru/kernel/6.12.26.html", "claim": "Stable changelog entries for April 2025 show ongoing upstream additions in this directory, including new support in `ftdi_sio`, `option`, and `usb-serial-simple`, indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.usbgear.com/usbg-232.html", "claim": "USBGear still sells a Linux-compatible USB-to-RS232 adapter, showing the basic USB-serial use case remains current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.ftdi-chip.com/USB-COM232-PLUS2/13008515", "claim": "FTDI-branded USB-to-serial/RS-232 converter products are still listed as in stock, showing new USB-serial bridge hardware remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.sierrawireless.com/iot-modules/5g-modules/em9291/", "claim": "The Sierra Wireless EM9291 5G module is a current product class whose AT/diagnostic ports map to the `option` USB-serial driver family in this directory." }, { "url": "https://owonna.com/products_owon_hds200_series_digital_oscilloscope", "claim": "OWON HDS200 test equipment is a current product line; upstream added support for this class in `usb-serial-simple` in 2025, evidencing present-day deployments beyond legacy adapters." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory, not an early-exit case. Upstream activity was checked first via local shell (`git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/usb/serial`), which showed many 2025-2026 commits adding IDs and fixes across `option`, `ftdi_sio`, `f81232`, `io_edgeport`, etc. Because `lore-http` MCP was unavailable and `lei` was not installed, deployment/removal evidence used web search. `https://www.opennet.ru/kernel/6.12.26.html` was obtained by web search/open and shows fresh upstream USB-serial additions; searches for removal discussion on lore terms returned no relevant hit. Current-hardware evidence came from web search/open on USBGear, FTDI, Sierra Wireless, and OWON product pages. This directory is an actively maintained subsystem covering still-sold adapters, industrial/test gear, and cellular modem control ports, so removal/deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.01109633799569867, "commits_5y": 315, "substantive_commits_5y": 305, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775035928, "top_author": "Johan Hovold", "top_author_commits": 83, "c_file_count": 56, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/storage", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB Mass Storage / USB Attached SCSI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-linux/log/drivers/usb/storage", "claim": "Public kernel log for drivers/usb/storage shows recent 2024 fixes such as 'usb-storage: Optimize scan delay more precisely' and 'scsi: usb: uas: Do not query the IO Advice Hints Grouping mode page for USB/UAS devices', consistent with ongoing upstream maintenance." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240213143306.2194237-1-martin.petersen@oracle.com", "claim": "Lore patch for 'scsi: sd: usb_storage: uas: Access media prior to querying device properties' shows active fixes for real USB/UAS device-discovery regressions." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240613211828.2077477-3-bvanassche@acm.org", "claim": "Lore patch for 'scsi: usb: uas: Do not query the IO Advice Hints Grouping mode page for USB/UAS devices' documents 2024 regressions affecting current devices such as Kingston DataTraveler G2 and Garmin FR35." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/usb/storage/usb.c.html", "claim": "Current usb-storage code explicitly hands UAS-capable devices off to the UAS driver, showing the directory still implements the generic BOT path alongside modern UAS coexistence." }, { "url": "https://www.seagate.com/products/external-ssds/", "claim": "Seagate still markets external USB SSD products, indicating the generic USB mass-storage device class remains a current retail category." }, { "url": "https://sabrent.com/products/ec-uasp", "claim": "Sabrent sells a UASP-capable USB storage enclosure, showing UAS-capable USB storage hardware is still sold new." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Static context already shows 99 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 60 unique authors, and a most recent substantive touch on 2025-12-23. Local `exec_command` inspection of Kconfig and source files showed this directory covers both generic USB Mass Storage and UAS, plus a set of legacy subdrivers. Lore evidence was gathered via `web.search_query` and `web.open`: the 2024 lore patches and the public log page show active bug-fix traffic, not deprecation/removal work. Deployment remains high because generic USB flash drives, external HDD/SSDs, and UASP enclosures are still sold new in 2025. No single upstream replacement covers the whole directory; `uas` only supersedes the BOT path for the UAS-capable subset, and it lives in the same directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06277873530550278, "commits_5y": 107, "substantive_commits_5y": 99, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766500891, "top_author": "Bart Van Assche", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 23, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB Type-C / USB Power Delivery port controllers, muxes, retimers, and UCSI glue", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/typec", "claim": "The directory remains under active upstream development; local git history shows multiple functional commits in 2026 and no matching deprecation/removal-log hits for the directory." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/usb/typec.html", "claim": "This is the kernel's USB Type-C connector class and port-driver API, intended for platform Type-C/PD port drivers, UCSI drivers, and Thunderbolt-related integrations." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TYPEC.html", "claim": "CONFIG_TYPEC and many concrete devices under drivers/usb/typec remain present through current kernel series, including 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating ongoing enablement rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.st.com/en/interfaces-and-transceivers/stusb1602.html", "claim": "A Type-C controller family represented in this directory was still sold in vendor channels in 2025, even if marked NRND rather than discontinued." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS25750", "claim": "Vendors still published active product pages for supported Type-C/PD controllers in this driver area, showing the hardware class remains current enough for ongoing deployments and support transitions." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is an actively maintained subsystem directory, not a stranded legacy driver. Local shell inspection showed core Type-C class code plus many chip-specific drivers (tcpm, mux, tipd, ucsi, altmodes). Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantive 2026 commits (for example UCSI, Thunderbolt altmode, hd3ss3220, fusb302) and a grep for remove/deprecat/obsolete/orphan in the directory log returned no hits, so there is no visible upstream removal signal. Source acquisition: kernel.org log URL is canonical recall to the public equivalent of the locally verified git history; docs.kernel.org, LKDDb, ST, and TI URLs were obtained via web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014095906894278538, "commits_5y": 129, "substantive_commits_5y": 123, "first_touch_ts": 1490273324, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774883841, "top_author": "Heikki Krogerus", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/altmodes", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB Type-C Alternate Modes (DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 compatible, NVIDIA VirtualLink)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5855980.html", "claim": "September 2025 patch series touches drivers/usb/typec/altmodes/displayport.c for new data-role handling, showing active upstream development rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6089992.html", "claim": "March 2026 fix for displayport.c addresses real interoperability failures and was tagged for stable, indicating current maintenance and ongoing field use." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.2/driver-api/usb/typec_bus.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation states alternate modes are SVID-specific and each alternate mode needs a custom driver, so there is no generic replacement driver for this directory's function." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/usb/typec.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes alternate modes on USB Type-C ports, partners, and cable plugs as standard parts of the Type-C subsystem, consistent with continuing relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/learn/thunderbolt-5-for-gaming.html", "claim": "Intel's Thunderbolt 5 product material shows Thunderbolt-over-USB-C remains present in new hardware generations, supporting ongoing new deployments for at least part of this directory's scope." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local inspection shows real driver code in displayport.c, thunderbolt.c, and nvidia.c under drivers/ with recent non-mechanical commits through 2026-03-30 from 17 authors via `git -c safe.directory=... log`. All cited URLs were obtained by web search. The 2025-2026 patch threads show active upstream bug fixing and feature work, with no visible removal discussion. DisplayPort Alt Mode and Thunderbolt remain current USB-C features in new systems; NVIDIA VirtualLink is legacy, but it does not dominate the directory-level recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 38, "substantive_commits_5y": 38, "first_touch_ts": 1530546156, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774883860, "top_author": "RD Babiera", "top_author_commits": 10, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/mux", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB Type-C mux/redriver/retimer switch chips (FSA4480, TUSB1046, PS883x, PTN36502, IT5205, PI3USB30532, Qualcomm WCD939x, Intel PMC-controlled muxes)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/usb/typec/mux", "claim": "Upstream Linux keeps this as a live directory of multiple chip-specific USB Type-C mux/redriver/retimer drivers rather than a legacy one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/usb/typec.html", "claim": "The Type-C subsystem still exposes current mux/switch APIs; these drivers implement present-day USB-C orientation/Alt Mode routing support." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TUSB1046-DCI", "claim": "TI lists TUSB1046-DCI as ACTIVE, showing at least one supported chip family in this directory is still sold for new designs." }, { "url": "https://www.paradetech.com/zh-hant/%E7%94%A2%E5%93%81%E4%BB%8B%E7%B4%B9/ps8830/", "claim": "Parade markets PS8830 as a USB4/DisplayPort 2.0/Thunderbolt 4 retimer for notebooks, desktops and tablets, indicating ongoing relevance of this driver class in modern platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/no-longer-manufactured/type-c-usb-3-1-gen-1-and-displayport-v1-2-combo-redriver%3APTN36502", "claim": "At least one older chip covered here, PTN36502, is discontinued, showing the directory spans both aging and current Type-C mux/redriver parts rather than only brand-new silicon." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed 10 real module drivers under this directory across several vendors; Kconfig/help text identifies active Type-C mux/redriver/retimer use cases. Prompt metadata shows strong current upstream activity (62 substantive commits in 5y, 26 authors, most recent substantive touch 2025-10-23), which argues against deprecation and gives no sign of abandonment. No lore MCP/lei access was available in this environment, so removal-talk checking fell back to the provided history metadata plus absence of any deprecation signal in the live upstream tree. URLs were obtained via web search for vendor/product pages and kernel docs; the git.kernel.org tree URL is canonical recall. Net: some individual parts are obsolete, but the directory as a whole serves currently deployed and still-sold USB-C mux/retimer hardware with no natural single replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09809575341948684, "commits_5y": 64, "substantive_commits_5y": 62, "first_touch_ts": 1521722968, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761208947, "top_author": "Neil Armstrong", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/tcpm", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB Type-C Port Manager / TCPCI controller family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/usb/typec/tcpm", "claim": "This directory is the in-tree TCPM/TCPCI Type-C/USB-PD driver stack, with multiple chip-specific drivers plus the shared tcpm/tcpci core; it is not a legacy one-off driver." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/typec/tcpm", "claim": "The directory has ongoing upstream maintenance, including multiple non-mechanical fixes and feature work through 2025-2026 rather than removal-only churn." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/onsemi/FUSB302B01MPX/6152750", "claim": "A directly supported controller family member, onsemi FUSB302B, is still sold as an active part with current distributor availability metadata." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/htmldatasheets/production/1946180/0/0/1/fusb302b-datasheet.html", "claim": "FUSB302B is a USB Type-C/PD controller aimed at contemporary products such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, adapters, dongles, and automotive systems, supporting continued real-world deployment relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Static signals already showed very high recent activity (211 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-03-11, 52 authors), and local shell inspection confirmed this is active Type-C/PD driver code spanning tcpm/tcpci core plus current vendor integrations. No removal discussion signal was found from lore-targeted web searches, while the local git log showed fresh functional fixes/features in 2025-2026, so there is no basis to deprecate. URLs: two kernel.org pages are canonical-recall stable URLs for the inspected tree/log; the DigiKey URLs were obtained via web search. No replacement driver exists for the same use case because this directory is itself the upstream TCPM/TCPCI stack rather than a redundant legacy implementation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.021544010885673485, "commits_5y": 217, "substantive_commits_5y": 211, "first_touch_ts": 1537443449, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1773242538, "top_author": "Kyle Tso", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/tcpm/qcom", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "Qualcomm PM8150B / PMI632 PMIC Type-C/PD", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/typec/tcpm/qcom", "claim": "Upstream path is active, with regular changes across 2023-2025 rather than abandoned code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1f43a3401deb", "claim": "The directory received a substantive touch on 2025-08-21, showing ongoing maintenance." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cf92b9df3dcf", "claim": "PMI632 support was added after initial merge, indicating the driver is still expanding to additional Qualcomm PMIC variants." }, { "url": "https://linaro.github.io/msm/pmic/pmi632", "claim": "Linaro's Qualcomm mainline status page lists PMI632 Type-C/PD support and says PMI632 is usually used with MSM8953 or SM6115." }, { "url": "https://linaro.github.io/msm/soc/sm8250", "claim": "Linaro's SM8250 platform page lists PM8150B among supported PMICs, tying the driver to real Qualcomm production platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.thundercomm.com/product/qualcomm-robotics-rb5-development-kit/", "claim": "Thundercomm still lists the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 development kit for sale, showing an SM8250/PM8150B-class platform remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.onyxboox.com/boox_go6", "claim": "ONYX still markets the Go 6 device, providing evidence that SM6115-class PMI632-based hardware remains present in new-device channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `exec_command` inspection showed this is a real platform driver with OF matches for `qcom,pm8150b-typec` and `qcom,pmi632-typec`; local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed sustained multi-author activity through 2025 and no visible removal trend. The three `git.kernel.org` URLs are canonical-recall commit/log pages built from hashes/path obtained via `exec_command`. The Linaro, Thundercomm, and ONYX URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`. Conclusion: actively maintained, no natural successor driver, and hardware is still present in current niche/mobile/embedded deployments, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1683972226, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755756537, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/tipd", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "TI TPS6598x / TPS25750 USB Type-C Power Delivery controllers and Apple CD321x", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS65987D", "claim": "TI lists TPS65987D as 'Order now' and 'not recommended for new designs', meaning it is still sold for existing designs." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPS25750", "claim": "TI lists TPS25750 as 'Order now' and 'not recommended for new designs', so at least one supported family member is still commercially available." }, { "url": "https://e2e.ti.com/support/power-management-group/power-management/f/power-management-forum/1518249/tps65987d-about-not-recommended-for-new-designs", "claim": "TI support stated in 2025 that TPS65987D is still widely used and TI had no plans to discontinue production at that time." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/support-quality/quality-policies-procedures/product-life-cycle.html", "claim": "TI's lifecycle policy describes NRND as available for existing designs, distinct from last-time-buy or obsolete." }, { "url": "https://lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org/linux-arm-kernel/20250906-atcphy-6-17-v2-19-52c348623ef6%40kernel.org/T/", "claim": "Public mailing-list archive shows a large 2025 patch series adding TIPD/CD321x functionality, indicating active upstream development rather than removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/usb/typec/tipd/core.c showed an active I2C driver with OF matches for ti,tps6598x, ti,tps25750, and apple,cd321x; no separate replacement driver exists for this mixed TI/Apple PD-controller family. TI product pages and lifecycle page were obtained via web search/open/find; they show the chips are NRND but still orderable in 2025, so hardware is still sold new even if not preferred for fresh designs. The TI E2E forum URL was obtained via web search/open/find and says the TPS65987D is still widely used with no discontinuation plans at that time. Lore evidence was obtained via web search/open/find on the public archive mirror; it shows substantial 2025 feature work for CD321x/TIPD and no removal discussion surfaced, so deprecate/remove is not justified. Medium deployments fits embedded/industrial USB-C PD designs and Apple Silicon laptops, but this is not a mass generic bus controller like xHCI.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.08260774668623384, "commits_5y": 71, "substantive_commits_5y": 70, "first_touch_ts": 1615559540, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763734258, "top_author": "Sven Peter", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/typec/ucsi", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "UCSI USB Type-C PPM controllers", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/usb/typec/ucsi/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes UCSI as the USB Type-C Connector System Software Interface, says it is available on most new Intel-based systems, and lists current platform bindings including ACPI, Cypress CCGx, STM32G0, Qualcomm PMIC GLINK, ChromeOS EC, Lenovo Yoga C630, and Huawei Matebook E Go." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/usb/typec/ucsi", "claim": "The directory is seeing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment; local git history for this path shows substantive 2025-2026 fixes and feature work, including April 2026 UCSI fixes and Thunderbolt/altmode work." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/usbcon/ucsi", "claim": "Microsoft documents a current in-box UCSI driver model and notes Windows 11 22H2 September Update support for UCSI 2.0/2.1, indicating UCSI remains part of current PC platform designs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/io/universal-serial-bus/universal-serial-bus-specifications.html", "claim": "Intel continues to publish the UCSI specification on its USB specifications page, consistent with UCSI being an active platform interface for modern USB Type-C systems." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep: static metadata already shows very high recent activity (240 substantive commits in 5y, most recent 2026-04-07) and local inspection confirmed this is the core UCSI driver stack with multiple actively relevant transports/platforms. Sources obtained via local shell `rg`/`sed` on Kconfig, local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log` for recent path activity, and web search for current vendor/platform documentation. Attempted lore-first via shell `lei q`, but `lei` was unavailable in this environment; a follow-up web lore search did not surface any removal/deprecation discussion. No natural replacement exists because this directory implements the current UCSI standard interface itself rather than a superseded legacy chipset driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.008706108191789162, "commits_5y": 248, "substantive_commits_5y": 240, "first_touch_ts": 1498578945, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1775561744, "top_author": "Dmitry Baryshkov", "top_author_commits": 39, "c_file_count": 13, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/usb/usbip", "subsystem": "usb", "chipset_family": "USB/IP virtual USB transport (usbip-host, vhci-hcd, vudc)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/usb/usbip_protocol.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes USB/IP as a client/server mechanism for exporting and importing USB devices over IP, confirming this is an in-tree virtual USB transport rather than a vendor chipset driver." }, { "url": "https://packages.debian.org/stable/admin/usbip", "claim": "Debian stable still ships usbip/usbipd in 2026, indicating ongoing distro-level deployment and maintenance for the userspace side." }, { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/connect-usb", "claim": "Microsoft's WSL documentation recommends USB/IP via usbipd-win for current developer scenarios such as Arduino flashing and smart-card access, showing present-day niche deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6016413.html", "claim": "A January 2026 usbip patch thread shows active upstream review and maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Used exec_command to inspect drivers/usb/usbip/Kconfig and local git history; Kconfig shows active usbip-host/vhci-hcd/vudc driver roles, and local git log shows substantive fixes through 2026-01-23 with many distinct authors. Used web search/open to obtain docs.kernel.org, Debian package, Microsoft WSL, and spinics patch URLs. Web searches for usbip removal/deprecation found no active removal discussion; evidence instead points to ongoing bug-fix traffic and niche but real deployments in remote-access/dev/virtualized workflows. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same USB-over-IP use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.059543370952522476, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1408988406, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769185006, "top_author": "Shuah Khan", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 16, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "vDPA accelerators for virtio offload NICs/DPUs (Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX-6+ and BlueField, AMD/Pensando DSC, Marvell Octeon, Intel IFC VF, Alibaba ENI, SolidRun SolidNET)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/virtualization/20260324005919.2408620-9-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent upstream work still lands in the core vDPA bus code; the subsystem was touched in March 2026 by a cleanup/update series rather than retirement work." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/amd/pds_vdpa.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes active use of the AMD/Pensando DSC vDPA driver, including setup steps for creating vDPA devices for virtio networking." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/archive/3-2-1/openvswitch-acceleration---ovs-in-doca/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA’s 2026 DOCA docs describe current vDPA deployments on ConnectX-6 Lx/Dx and BlueField-2-and-later hardware for VM virtio connectivity and hardware offload." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/vduse.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes VDUSE as an in-tree userspace-backed vDPA framework, showing the subsystem also serves ongoing software-emulated/prototyping use cases rather than only legacy hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/vdpa` is an active driver subsystem, not a dead single-device driver: local tree inspection via shell showed a core bus plus vendor drivers and simulators. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/vdpa/vdpa.c`, which showed fresh 2026 activity and no obvious removal signal in the sample. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` + `web.open` on official kernel docs and NVIDIA docs, which show current vendor-backed vDPA products and continued VM/DPU deployment. Because the directory covers an active virtualization offload subsystem with current hardware and no natural successor, the right hint is `keep`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10116784638965604, "commits_5y": 83, "substantive_commits_5y": 81, "first_touch_ts": 1585838500, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317895, "top_author": "Zhu Lingshan", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/alibaba", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "Alibaba ENI vDPA", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/ecs/user-guide/eni-overview", "claim": "Alibaba Cloud documents ENIs as a current ECS networking feature and the page was updated on April 23, 2025, indicating ongoing deployment in new cloud instances rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ALIBABA_ENI_VDPA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_ALIBABA_ENI_VDPA as the 'vDPA driver for Alibaba ENI', module `eni_vdpa`, present in mainline kernel ranges through current releases." }, { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/871198/", "claim": "LWN archives the 2021 patch series introducing the Alibaba ENI vDPA driver, confirming the driver’s intended hardware/use-case and upstream origin." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`) shows this directory is a real PCI vDPA driver: `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Alibaba ENI vDPA driver\")` and `module_pci_driver(eni_vdpa_driver)`. Local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/vdpa/alibaba/eni_vdpa.c` shows substantive upstream touches as recently as 2025-09-24 (`vdpa: introduce map ops`) and 2025-08-21 (`vdpa: support virtio_map`), so this is not dormant. MCP lore endpoints were unavailable and `lei` was not installed; I therefore used web search against lore-related terms plus the LWN archive entry obtained via web search. That search surfaced no removal/deprecation discussion, so I back off from any deprecation recommendation. Alibaba ENI is a cloud ENI feature, not a retail standalone adapter family, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is `false` and `last_widely_available_year` is `null`; however deployments are still plausible at medium scale inside Alibaba Cloud infrastructure and guest/host vDPA setups. No natural upstream replacement covers the same Alibaba-specific ENI vDPA bridge, so `replacement_driver` is `null`. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: keep it, but note that it is niche/cloud-specific rather than broadly deployed commodity hardware.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 9, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1635758621, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317895, "top_author": "Jason Wang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/ifcvf", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "Intel FPGA SmartNIC/IPU vDPA VF (N3000, C5000X-PL, F2000X-PL)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/virtualization/20260226152924.38790-1-evg28bur@yandex.ru/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance continued into 2026 for drivers/vdpa/ifcvf/ifcvf_main.c, indicating the driver is active rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/193920/intel-fpga-pac-n3000/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists the FPGA PAC N3000, one of the cards explicitly matched by the driver, as Discontinued." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/fpga/platforms/ipu/c5000x-pl-platform.html", "claim": "Intel still markets the C5000X-PL IPU platform, which matches a device family named in the driver PCI ID table." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/fpga/platforms/ipu/f2000x-pl-platform.html", "claim": "Intel still markets the F2000X-PL IPU platform, which matches a device family named in the driver PCI ID table." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/vdpa/ifcvf/ifcvf_main.c identified supported devices as N3000, C5000X-PL, and F2000X-PL and described the module as an Intel IFC VF virtio dataplane offload driver. lore_file_timeline on ifcvf_main.c showed substantive patches through 2025-2026 and no evident removal trend, so this is not a stale candidate. Web search on intel.com found N3000 marked discontinued, but C5000X-PL and F2000X-PL product pages were still live as current offerings, so the family is still sold new in 2025, albeit in a narrow CSP/IPU niche. Because the hardware is niche and part of the supported set is already discontinued, but upstream support remains active and there is no clear in-tree replacement for the same Intel cards, keep with annotation is the best fit.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10558180039745188, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 67, "first_touch_ts": 1585838500, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317895, "top_author": "Zhu Lingshan", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/mlx5/core", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox ConnectX-6+ / BlueField mlx5 vDPA", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/vdpa/Kconfig", "claim": "Kernel Kconfig describes `MLX5_VDPA_NET` as the vDPA driver for ConnectX devices, specifically ConnectX-6 and newer." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/vdpa/mlx5", "claim": "Canonical upstream history page for the mlx5 vDPA subtree; consistent with the supplied metadata showing sustained activity rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx6dxen/introduction", "claim": "NVIDIA's ConnectX-6 Dx adapter manual lists current adapter SKUs and positions ConnectX-6 Dx as a modern cloud/data-center SmartNIC." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/products/data-processing-unit/", "claim": "NVIDIA markets BlueField-3 DPU and BlueField-3 SuperNIC as active products for current data-center deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/software/snap/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA still publishes BlueField SNAP and virtio-blk SNAP documentation, showing ongoing virtualization/offload deployments on BlueField platforms." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is active hardware-specific vDPA offload support under mlx5, not a legacy orphan. Upstream-health signal comes primarily from the task's supplied static history (55 substantive commits in the last 5 years, latest touch 2025-10-01, 8 authors) plus the canonical kernel log URL (canonical recall); no removal/deprecation discussion was found, and lore-http/`lei` were unavailable in this environment. The Kconfig URL was added by canonical recall to identify the supported family ('ConnectX-6 and newer'). NVIDIA product/docs URLs were obtained via web search and open/find: ConnectX-6 Dx and BlueField-3 are still marketed/current, and SNAP docs show live virtio/vDPA-adjacent deployment usage. Because the hardware is still sold and upstream activity is healthy, this should be kept, not deprecated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 57, "substantive_commits_5y": 55, "first_touch_ts": 1596668423, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317883, "top_author": "Dragos Tatulea", "top_author_commits": 26, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/mlx5/net", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox BlueField mlx5 vDPA virtio-net offload", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/vdpa/mlx5/net", "claim": "Upstream directory has ongoing mainline development; local git history in this tree shows substantive fixes/features continuing into 2026, which is inconsistent with deprecation or removal." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/vdpa/mlx5/net", "claim": "The directory is a real in-tree kernel driver implementation for mlx5 vDPA net, not helper-only code." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/bluefielddpubspv403/virtio-net%2Bemulated%2Bdevices", "claim": "Recent NVIDIA BlueField-2 documentation still describes virtio-net emulated devices and a 'vDPA over VirtIO Full Emulation' flow, indicating contemporary deployment of this capability." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/doca/archive/2-9-0/nvidia%2Bdoca%2Bvirtio-net%2Bservice%2Bguide/index.html", "claim": "NVIDIA's 2025-era DOCA virtio-net service guide documents BlueField-3 virtio-net service as a current product capability, supporting ongoing deployments rather than legacy-only use." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/products/data-processing-unit/", "claim": "NVIDIA's current product page lists BlueField-3 and BlueField-4 as active platform offerings, so mlx5-backed BlueField hardware is still sold new in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local `rg` confirmed a loadable module entry point in `mlx5_vnet.c` (`module_auxiliary_driver`). Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed active substantive maintenance through 2026 with many recent vdpa/mlx5 fixes, so no dead-driver signal. `lei` was unavailable, and web searches did not surface any lore removal/deprecation thread; I therefore used canonical-recall kernel.org tree/log URLs for stable upstream references, plus NVIDIA docs/product pages obtained via web search (`turn0search5`, `turn0search8`, `turn6search0`). Hardware is current BlueField/related mlx5 infrastructure, so the driver should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03878165025348198, "commits_5y": 163, "substantive_commits_5y": 159, "first_touch_ts": 1596668424, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770232423, "top_author": "Dragos Tatulea", "top_author_commits": 60, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/octeon_ep", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "Marvell OCTEON DPU (Octeon EP vDPA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-virtualization/msg70680.html", "claim": "Initial upstream posting in June 2024 adds this as a vDPA driver for Marvell OCTEON DPU devices, showing it is a new driver rather than legacy carryover." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-virtualization/msg77609.html", "claim": "A 2025 patch updates the driver for PCI devres API changes, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-kernel%40vger.kernel.org/msg2602892.html", "claim": "An October 2025 fix for a reference-count leak in octep_sriov_enable() shows continued bug-fix traffic after merge." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/OCTEONEP_VDPA.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_OCTEONEP_VDPA in kernels 6.11 through current generated data, with PCI IDs tied to this driver." }, { "url": "http://www.marvell.com/products/data-processing-units.html", "claim": "Marvell still markets OCTEON DPU products for data-center, carrier, 5G, and SmartNIC use, so the hardware family is still sold for new deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.bell-sw.com/security/cves/CVE-2026-23046/", "claim": "A 2026 kernel advisory includes runtime logs from a Marvell CN106XX board with octep_vdpa loaded, evidencing present-day deployment/testing activity." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection confirmed a real PCI vDPA driver with module entrypoints and Marvell/Cavium PCI IDs. URLs were obtained via web search/open: spinics initial submission and 2025 maintenance patch, mail-archive 2025 fix, LKDDb current config page, Marvell product page, and BellSoft CVE page with CN106XX runtime logs. Spinics/lore-targeted searches for remove/deprecate returned maintenance threads, not removal discussion. The driver is only 2024-vintage, has post-merge fixes in 2025, and targets currently marketed OCTEON DPU hardware; deployment is niche vDPA/DPU infrastructure, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1720528959, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764226986, "top_author": "Jason Wang", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/pds", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "AMD/Pensando DSC", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/amd/pds_vdpa.html", "claim": "Official kernel documentation says pds_vdpa is the PCI vDPA driver for the AMD/Pensando DSC adapter family and depends on pds_core-created SR-IOV VFs." }, { "url": "https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-kernel%40vger.kernel.org/msg2602751.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list archive shows a 2025 pds_vdpa patch review, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment or removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PDS_VDPA.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_PDS_VDPA as present from Linux 6.5 onward for AMD/Pensando DSC devices, confirming it is a current upstream-supported driver." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD's current Pensando DPU page markets active Pensando product generations and says the technology is adopted across hyperscale and enterprise data centers." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/pensando-technical-docs/product-briefs/pensando-dsc3-product-brief.pdf", "claim": "AMD published a DSC3-400 product brief in 2026, showing the underlying hardware family remains an actively sold/current product line beyond 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`) identified this as `AMD/Pensando vDPA VF Device Driver` tied to `PCI_DEVICE_ID_PENSANDO_VDPA_VF`. Web search found the official kernel doc confirming the device family/use case, a 2025 mailing-list patch archive showing active maintenance, LKDDb confirming current upstream presence since 6.5, and AMD product pages/product briefs showing Pensando DSC/DPU hardware is still current. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same Pensando-specific vDPA VF path, and nothing in gathered evidence suggests deprecation or removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 20, "first_touch_ts": 1687877228, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764226987, "top_author": "Shannon Nelson", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/solidrun", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "SolidRun SolidNET DPU (LX2162A-based PCIe DPU)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2022, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20241028074357.9104-3-phasta@kernel.org/", "claim": "2024 upstream patch series fixed a real UB/devres bug in vdpa: solidrun, showing the driver still receives targeted maintenance rather than being abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/74e9109a-ac59-49e2-9b1d-d825c9c9f891@wanadoo.fr/", "claim": "A lore-reported bug was filed against this driver and later closed by the 2024 fix, indicating real review/bug-fix traffic." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250924070045.10361-2-jasowang@redhat.com/", "claim": "The vDPA subsystem was still being actively evolved in late 2025, matching the local history that this directory was touched by current vDPA integration work rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://www.solid-run.com/news/the-first-software-defined-dpu/", "claim": "SolidRun describes SolidNET as a PCIe HHHL software-defined DPU based on NXP LX2162A, aimed at cloud/edge/enterprise server offload use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.solid-run.com/press-room/", "claim": "SolidRun's 2025-2026 press room highlights many newer product lines but shows no fresh SolidNET/DPU announcements, consistent with a niche product with limited current-market visibility." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell inspection showed a PCI vDPA driver with module_pci_driver() and SolidRun PCI IDs in snet_main.c. Upstream activity came from local git log via shell: initial merge in 2023, driver-specific fix in 2024, and subtree touches in 2025; I found no remove/deprecate discussion in local history. The two lore URLs were obtained from commit metadata/body in local git log (one explicit Closes URL, one Message-Id converted to canonical lore URL); the 2025 lore URL was built from a Message-Id seen in local git log using canonical lore URL form. Web search/open provided the SolidRun product/news pages. Recommendation is keep-annotate: the driver is young and still maintained, but hardware appears specialized and current deployments are likely low/niche, with no natural upstream replacement for SolidNET-specific host control.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 11, "first_touch_ts": 1676939216, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317895, "top_author": "Alvaro Karsz", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/vdpa_sim", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: vDPA simulator code for synthetic/software devices, not a hardware-bound chipset driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04938564197513348, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 72, "first_touch_ts": 1585838500, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769632336, "top_author": "Stefano Garzarella", "top_author_commits": 25, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/vdpa_user", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "VDUSE", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/userspace-api/vduse.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation describes VDUSE as a supported framework for implementing software-emulated vDPA devices in userspace, with current uAPI details including ASID support." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/tools/qemu-storage-daemon.html", "claim": "Current QEMU storage-daemon documentation exposes a `vduse-blk` export type and documents attaching the resulting device to the vDPA bus via `vdpa dev add ... mgmtdev vduse`, indicating ongoing real-world virtualization/storage use." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/interop/qemu-storage-daemon-qmp-ref.html", "claim": "Current QEMU QMP reference lists `BlockExportOptionsVduseBlk` and records `vduse-blk` support since QEMU 7.1, showing the userspace ecosystem still carries first-class support for this path." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/vdpa/vdpa_user", "claim": "Canonical kernel git log location for this directory; local tree history sample shows nontrivial VDUSE changes landing through 2026 rather than abandonment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/vdpa/vdpa_user` is a real driver directory, but it is not tied to a physical chipset: local inspection via `exec_command` showed `vduse_dev.c`, char-device plumbing, and `module_init`, matching the VDUSE userspace-backed vDPA framework. No lore removal/deprecation evidence was found from `web.search_query` attempts against `lore.kernel.org`; local git history gathered with `exec_command` instead showed active 2025-2026 feature/fix traffic (`vq group support`, `asid support`, `virtio_fs` allowance, map API work), so this is not a dead legacy driver. The kernel-doc URL was obtained via `web.search_query`; the two QEMU URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; the git.kernel.org log URL is a canonical stable page included by canonical recall and used to anchor the local-history claim. Because VDUSE serves a specialized virtual-device/storage niche rather than shipping hardware, `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is false, deployments are `low` rather than none, and there is no direct upstream replacement driver for the same kernel role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 69, "substantive_commits_5y": 64, "first_touch_ts": 1630927258, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770657692, "top_author": "Xie Yongji", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vdpa/virtio_pci", "subsystem": "vdpa", "chipset_family": "Virtio PCI vDPA bridge (modern virtio-pci devices)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/vdpa/virtio_pci/vp_vdpa.c", "claim": "The directory contains a real kernel PCI driver, and the file header describes it as a vDPA bridge driver for modern virtio-pci devices." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0d16cc439f36", "claim": "The driver/subsystem was still receiving substantive upstream feature work on 2025-10-01 ('vdpa: introduce map ops')." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=33bb2d16063b", "claim": "The driver received functional work in 2025 ('implement kick_vq_with_data callback'), indicating ongoing maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/interop/vhost-vdpa.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation describes active vDPA support and notes vDPA devices may be physical hardware or software-emulated, showing present-day deployment relevance." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation presents VirtIO devices as the recommended device models for virtual machines, supporting continued new deployments of modern virtio-pci based environments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local shell inspection (`sed`) showed `vp_vdpa.c` is a real PCI-backed vDPA bridge for modern virtio-pci, not legacy hardware. Local `git log` showed substantive touches through 2025-10-01 plus later treewide cleanups, with no sign of stagnation; canonical kernel.org commit URLs were formed from SHAs obtained via shell. Direct lore access was unavailable in this environment (`lore-http` MCP absent, `lei` not installed), so upstream-activity evidence is approximated from local git history rather than lore threads. Web search found current QEMU vhost-vdpa and VirtIO docs, which indicate this is tied to ongoing virtualization/vDPA deployments rather than obsolete silicon. Because the driver is generic and dynamically bound (`id_table = NULL`), it is niche compared with mainstream virtio, but it remains relevant in new virtualized deployments; no natural in-tree replacement supersedes the same use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 26, "first_touch_ts": 1620032151, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759317895, "top_author": "Jason Wang", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "VFIO (Virtual Function I/O)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.95, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/20260425084607.53825-1-fengchengwen@huawei.com/", "claim": "April 25, 2026 patch series adds new vfio/pci PCIe TPH support, showing active feature development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260424180505.GE3444440@nvidia.com/", "claim": "April 24, 2026 vfio/pci bug-fix patch shows ongoing maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/vfio.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes VFIO as the in-kernel framework and API used by VFIO bus drivers such as vfio-pci." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/devel/migration/vfio.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation covers live migration for VFIO devices, indicating present-day virtualization deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/vfio` is an active driver/framework directory, not an obsolete leaf driver: the prompt already shows 252 substantive commits in 5y with a latest touch on 2025-11-28. I obtained the two lore URLs via `lore_path_mentions(path=\"drivers/vfio/\", match=\"prefix\", since=\"5y\")`, which returned fresh Apr 2026 VFIO feature and fix patches. I obtained the kernel-docs and QEMU URLs via web search on `kernel.org`/`qemu.org`. VFIO is a generic passthrough framework used with current PCI/accelerator devices and current VMM stacks, so it is still relevant for new 2025 deployments; there is no natural replacement for the directory as a whole beyond VFIO itself evolving.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0613894909436299, "commits_5y": 256, "substantive_commits_5y": 252, "first_touch_ts": 1343744182, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764330156, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 87, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/cdx", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "AMD/Xilinx CDX bus devices on Adaptive SoCs (notably Versal-class platforms)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6159582.html", "claim": "Public mailing-list traffic shows active 2026 maintenance for vfio/cdx, including race and NULL-dereference fixes." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VFIO_CDX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VFIO_CDX exists from Linux 6.5 through current development kernels, indicating an actively carried in-tree driver rather than abandoned legacy code." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.19/admin-guide/abi-testing-files.html", "claim": "Kernel ABI docs still document sysfs for the CDX bus, showing the underlying bus/subsystem remains part of current kernel interfaces." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/adaptive-socs-and-fpgas/versal.html", "claim": "AMD still markets current Versal Adaptive SoCs, a contemporary product family plausibly hosting CDX-based devices." }, { "url": "https://edf.amd.com/sswreleases/rel-v2024/generic/rpm/zynqmp_generic/", "claim": "AMD/Xilinx release artifacts include a cdx-controller kernel module package, indicating vendor-supported deployments rather than purely historical hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in-tree) confirmed this is a real driver: Kconfig entry, `module_driver(...)`, and VFIO ops for CDX bus devices. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/cdx drivers/vfio/cdx` showed creation in 2023 and substantive updates through 2026-02, so there is no sign of stagnation. Web search found the spinics thread with active 2026 bug-fix work and no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search also found LKDDb and current kernel ABI docs showing CDX remains present upstream. AMD product pages and release-package indexes obtained via web search indicate the surrounding AMD/Xilinx adaptive-SoC ecosystem is still current, but specialized; that supports `deployments_today = low` rather than medium/high. No natural replacement driver exists for VFIO access to CDX-bus devices, so removal/deprecation is not justified.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 12, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1686940024, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762985201, "top_author": "Nipun Gupta", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/fsl-mc", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "NXP QorIQ/Layerscape DPAA2 (fsl-mc)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250806170314.3768750-2-alex.williamson@redhat.com", "claim": "Upstream marked vfio/fsl-mc for removal in August 2025 because it had been orphaned for over a year." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260204100913.3197966-1-ioana.ciornei@nxp.com", "claim": "In February 2026 NXP took maintainership and stated the driver is still highly in use on Layerscape DPAA2 SoCs." }, { "url": "https://www.nxp.com/products/LX2160A", "claim": "NXP still lists the LX2160A Layerscape processor as Active and describes DPAA2-based networking/edge use cases, indicating the hardware family remains sold for new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: Kconfig names 'VFIO support for QorIQ DPAA2 fsl-mc bus devices' and local source uses module_fsl_mc_driver. Removal evidence came from local git commit inspection via exec_command, which exposed the lore URL for the 2025 'Mark for removal' patch. Counter-evidence also came from local git commit inspection via exec_command, which exposed the lore URL for the 2026 maintainer addition stating the driver is still highly in use. Hardware-market evidence came from web search on NXP's official LX2160A page. Net: niche but current DPAA2 passthrough support with active upstream attention after a removal scare, so keep it but annotate the prior removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.05710377088767607, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 27, "first_touch_ts": 1602101853, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770415686, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/mdev", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: VFIO mediated-device core/framework code, not a hardware-specific kernel driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06441452259429983, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 35, "first_touch_ts": 1479396288, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768842389, "top_author": "Christoph Hellwig", "top_author_commits": 14, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Generic PCI device passthrough (VFIO PCI)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.97, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/vfio.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes VFIO bus drivers such as vfio-pci as the userspace-facing framework for secure direct device access, especially VM device assignment and HPC/accelerator use cases." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/devel/vfio-iommufd.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation still documents vfio-pci as the standard assigned-PCI-device frontend, now with optional iommufd backend integration rather than replacement of the vfio-pci driver itself." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg6164384.html", "claim": "Mailing-list traffic in April 2026 shows active vfio/pci review and bug-fix discussion, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5949410.html", "claim": "Mailing-list traffic in November 2025 shows vfio/pci fixes being applied to the vfio next branch for v6.19, confirming active upstream development." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this is real driver code (`pci_register_driver`, Kconfig entry 'Generic VFIO support for any PCI device') and local git history shows many recent substantive commits through 2026-03-23, so it is not dormant. URLs were obtained via web search: kernel docs (`turn0search0`), QEMU vfio-iommufd docs (`turn1search1`), and spinics mailing-list archive hits for recent vfio/pci patch traffic (`turn3search6`, `turn3search5`). No removal/deprecation series was found; current docs instead point to backend evolution around iommufd while vfio-pci remains the front-end for PCI passthrough. Because vfio-pci is a generic passthrough driver for still-sold PCIe devices used in virtualization/cloud/HPC, deployments remain high and there is no direct replacement driver for the same role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015202502945719322, "commits_5y": 177, "substantive_commits_5y": 173, "first_touch_ts": 1343744184, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774528707, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 27, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/hisilicon", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "HiSilicon Kunpeng 920 ACC VF (SEC/HPRE/ZIP)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/vfio/pci/hisilicon", "claim": "Upstream directory remains actively maintained; recent fixes/features in 2024-2026 indicate continued support rather than removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.openeuler.org/en/docs/24.03_LTS/docs/Virtualization/managing-devices.html", "claim": "Current virtualization docs describe SR-IOV passthrough of the HiSilicon HPRE accelerator VF on Kunpeng/TaiShan systems, showing ongoing deployment in VM use cases." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.com/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100088647/ff9304b9/misc-config", "claim": "Huawei Kunpeng 920 BIOS reference updated on 2025-03-20 still lists SEC, HPRE, RDE, and ZIP accelerator status controls, indicating platform support remains current." }, { "url": "https://support.huawei.cn/enterprise/en/doc/EDOC1100297714/a27754d9/overview", "claim": "Huawei product documentation updated on 2025-07-11 covers a TaiShan 200 server model using Kunpeng 920 processors, supporting that the surrounding hardware platform was still current in 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.hikunpeng.com/document/detail/zh/kunpengaccel/kae/faq/kunpengaccel_16_0030.html", "claim": "Kunpeng accelerator documentation shows SEC/HPRE/ZIP engines present in lspci on supported systems, matching the devices this VFIO migration driver targets." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver: local shell inspection of hisi_acc_vfio_pci.c showed a module_pci_driver for Huawei SEC/HPRE/ZIP VF device IDs and live-migration support. Shell `git -c safe.directory log -- drivers/vfio/pci/hisilicon` showed substantive fixes through 2026-01-29, so activity is current. A lore-first attempt via shell `lei q` was blocked because `lei` is not installed; follow-up lore-targeted web searches found no removal/deprecation discussion. Web search produced the cited Huawei/openEuler/Kunpeng URLs showing the hardware family and VM passthrough use remain documented in 2025. This is niche VFIO migration support for Huawei accelerator VFs, so deployments are low, but there is no clear upstream replacement for the same live-migration use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1647365648, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769721060, "top_author": "Longfang Liu", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/ism", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "IBM ISM (Internal Shared Memory) vPCI adapter", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://patchew.org/linux/20260319-vfio._5Fpci._5Fism-v6-0-c6bab675bc0a%40linux.ibm.com/20260319-vfio._5Fpci._5Fism-v6-2-c6bab675bc0a%40linux.ibm.com/", "claim": "March 2026 patch series introduces a vfio_pci driver for ISM devices, indicating active upstream development rather than removal or abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/linux-on-systems?topic=networking-ism-device-driver", "claim": "IBM documents ISM as an internal shared memory virtual PCI device used for SMC-D on Linux on IBM Z/LinuxONE." }, { "url": "https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/help-ibm-hmc-z17?topic=links-configure-partition", "claim": "Current IBM z17 HMC documentation describes SMC-D partition links built on ISM adapters, showing the feature exists on current-generation systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ISM.html", "claim": "LKDDb lists CONFIG_ISM support across current kernel series and identifies IBM PCI device 1014:04ed as the ISM virtual PCI device." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection found no merged drivers/vfio/pci/ism directory in this snapshot, but did find the established base ISM support in drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c, so this dossier appears to target a pending/new VFIO variant rather than stale code. Upstream activity evidence came from web search result turn0search3 (Patchew patch series for vfio_pci ISM). Deployment and hardware-status evidence came from web search results turn1search0 and turn1search10 plus IBM's current Linux on IBM Z/z17 docs; LKDDb data came from web search result turn0search2. Conclusion: niche s390/LinuxONE virtualization support, still relevant on currently sold IBM Z/LinuxONE systems, with low-volume but real enterprise deployment and no obvious replacement for the same mediated/pass-through ISM use case.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 0, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": null, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/mlx5", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA/Mellanox mlx5 Ethernet VF live-migration devices (ConnectX-7, BlueField-3)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5764650.html", "claim": "July 2025 LKML review thread for \"[PATCH v2] vfio/mlx5: fix possible overflow in tracking max message size\" shows active upstream maintenance of this driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/nvidiamlnxofeddocumentationv24101140105lts/sr-iov%2Blive%2Bmigration", "claim": "NVIDIA's MLX5 VF live-migration documentation explicitly requires CONFIG_MLX5_VFIO_PCI / mlx5_vfio_pci and lists ConnectX-7 ETH and BlueField-3 ETH as supported adapter families." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/connectx7firmwarev28451200/Firmware%2BCompatible%2BProducts", "claim": "Recent NVIDIA ConnectX-7 firmware release notes list multiple current ConnectX-7 SKUs, supporting that the hardware family was still an actively shipped product line into 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate. Shell inspection (`rg`, local source read) confirmed this is a real PCI driver module (`module_pci_driver(mlx5vf_pci_driver)`) for mlx5 VFIO live migration, not helper-only code. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed nontrivial 2024-2025 activity in the directory, consistent with the provided commit stats. All cited URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`: Spinics/LKML thread for 2025 maintenance evidence, and NVIDIA docs for supported MLX5 VF live-migration deployments and current ConnectX-7 product availability. No removal/deprecation thread was found in the lore-targeted web searches, so active maintenance plus current supported hardware points to `keep` rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 76, "substantive_commits_5y": 73, "first_touch_ts": 1646305279, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762985200, "top_author": "Yishai Hadas", "top_author_commits": 48, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/nvgrace-gpu", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA Grace Hopper / Grace Blackwell GPU VFIO", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=701ab935859f", "claim": "Driver was added in 2024 specifically for Grace Hopper GPU assignment via VFIO, indicating a new-generation platform rather than legacy carryover." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=407aa63018d1", "claim": "Upstream added GB300 device IDs in 2025, showing ongoing enablement for newer Grace Blackwell SKUs rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e5f19b619fa0", "claim": "The directory received substantive maintenance in 2026, including poison-handling support, with no sign of removal-only churn." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/es-la/data-center/grace-hopper-superchip/", "claim": "NVIDIA’s Grace Hopper product page says GH200 is currently available." }, { "url": "https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb200-nvl72/", "claim": "NVIDIA markets GB200 Grace Blackwell systems as current products, confirming the hardware family remains in new deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig/main.c identified this as a real VFIO PCI driver for NVIDIA Grace Hopper/Blackwell GPU passthrough to KVM/QEMU. `lei` was unavailable and MCP lore tools were not exposed here, so upstream activity was established from local `git log` and mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall. NVIDIA product URLs were obtained via web search results. Evidence points to active development, new SKU additions (GB200/GB300), and current product availability; deployment is likely niche/enterprise AI virtualization rather than mass-market, so keep rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1708629817, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768842809, "top_author": "Ankit Agrawal", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/pds", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "AMD/Pensando DSC DPU adapter family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2026, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/networking/device_drivers/ethernet/amd/pds_vfio_pci.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation describes pds-vfio-pci as the VFIO driver for AMD/Pensando DSC hardware, specifically for live-migration-capable SR-IOV VFs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=665077d78dc7", "claim": "Mainline carried a vfio/pds bug-fix commit in late 2025, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=38fe3975b4c2", "claim": "The driver was introduced upstream in 2023, so it is a recent addition rather than legacy carry-over code." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/data-processing-units/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD still markets current Pensando DPU generations and describes deployment in hyperscale and enterprise data centers." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/support/accelerators/pensando.html", "claim": "AMD still publishes Pensando software/support downloads and states Pensando Distributed Services Cards are available through current HPE and Dell channels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep: this is a young, actively maintained vendor-specific VFIO migration driver, with substantive local git activity through 2025-12-28 and no removal signal found. Sources obtained via web search (`docs.kernel.org`, `amd.com`) plus canonical-recall kernel.org commit URLs derived from local `git log`; lore MCP/resources were unavailable in-session, and web search over lore returned no indexed removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 36, "substantive_commits_5y": 31, "first_touch_ts": 1692204780, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766950420, "top_author": "Brett Creeley", "top_author_commits": 19, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/qat", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Intel QAT Gen4/Gen6 SR-IOV VF", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lwn.net/Articles/970367/", "claim": "The driver was introduced in April 2024 specifically to provide VFIO live-migration support for Intel QAT SR-IOV virtual functions." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1e9c0f1da562", "claim": "Upstream added Intel QAT 6xxx virtual-function support in August 2025, showing the driver is still expanding to newer hardware rather than being retired." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1b0ecb5baf4a", "claim": "The driver received substantive VFIO API maintenance in November 2025, indicating active upstream upkeep and no visible removal trajectory." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/what-is-intel-qat.html", "claim": "Intel states QAT is present on 4th Gen Xeon, 5th Gen Xeon, and Xeon 6 processors, so the underlying hardware family is still current in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/vfio/pci/qat/main.c and Kconfig showed a real module_pci_driver for Intel QAT GEN4/GEN6 VF devices and that its purpose is VFIO live migration for QAT VFs. Local git log showed first merge in 2024-04-29 plus substantive 2025-08-05 and 2025-11-12 updates. The LWN URL was obtained via web search and reflects the original lore-thread patch posting. The git.kernel.org commit URLs are canonical recall constructed from hashes obtained via local git log. The Intel QAT product URL was obtained via web search. Overall this is a young, niche virtualization driver for still-current Intel server hardware; deployment is specialized rather than broad, but the evidence points to active maintenance, not deprecation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 10, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1714418741, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762985200, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/virtio", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Virtio PCI VF (virtio-net / virtio-block)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20231219093247.170936-10-yishaih@nvidia.com", "claim": "Initial upstream series introduced this driver for virtio-net VFs, exposing legacy I/O via VFIO rather than removing legacy-only functionality." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250302162723.82578-1-yishaih@nvidia.com", "claim": "Upstream expanded the driver in 2025 to support virtio-block live migration, showing feature growth rather than obsolescence." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/3-v2-2a9e24d62f1b+e10a-vfio_get_region_info_op_jgg@nvidia.com", "claim": "The driver received substantive VFIO API maintenance in late 2025 as part of active subsystem work." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/bluefieldvirtionetv2410/live%2Bmigration", "claim": "Current vendor documentation describes live migration using Virtio VF PCIe devices and VFIO on BlueField-era deployments." }, { "url": "https://docs.nvidia.com/networking/display/bluefieldvirtionetv2407/virtio-net%2Bdeployment", "claim": "Current vendor deployment documentation shows SR-IOV virtio-net PF/VF provisioning and assignment of virtio VFs to VMs, indicating ongoing real-world deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver confirmed locally via shell (`rg`, `sed`) in Kconfig/main.c: PCI driver with module_pci_driver() for virtio-net/block VFs. Lore evidence came from local `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/vfio/pci/virtio`, which exposed canonical lore Link URLs for 2023 introduction, 2025 virtio-block enablement, and 2025 VFIO API conversion. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` to NVIDIA docs showing current BlueField virtio-net/VF live-migration and SR-IOV VF deployment guidance. Additional `web.search_query` against lore for removal/deprecate terms returned no hits; combined with substantive 2025 maintenance, that argues against deprecation. This is niche virtualization infrastructure, so deployments are low rather than medium/high, but it is clearly not obsolete.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1703011894, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762985200, "top_author": "Yishai Hadas", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/pci/xe", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Intel Xe SR-IOV graphics virtual functions", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5905522.html", "claim": "Patch v3 for this exact driver was posted in late October 2025, showing active upstream development rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5945735.html", "claim": "A later v6 review thread for the same driver in late November 2025 shows the code was still being iterated immediately before merge." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/discrete-gpus/data-center-gpu/flex-series.html", "claim": "Intel still markets Flex-series GPUs for virtualization/VDI and explicitly advertises SR-IOV virtual functions, matching this driver's niche use case." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230020/intel-data-center-gpu-flex-140/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists Flex 140 as a launched server/enterprise product, indicating relevant Xe SR-IOV-capable hardware remains commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/243916/intel-arc-pro-b60-graphics/specifications.html", "claim": "Intel lists Arc Pro B60 (Battlemage) as launched in Q2 2025, and this driver's PCI ID table includes Battlemage IDs." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/vfio/pci/xe/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream Kconfig describes this as a device-specific VFIO PCI driver variant for Intel Graphics with migration support for Xe SR-IOV virtual functions." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of main.c and Kconfig shows a real PCI driver (`module_pci_driver`) for Intel Xe SR-IOV VFs, not a helper library. Local git log shows it was introduced on 2025-12-01 and got substantive fixes on 2025-12-23 and 2025-12-28, so it is newly active code. The two spinics URLs were obtained via web search for the exact patch subjects; they show active patch-series traffic and no removal discussion surfaced. The Intel product URLs were obtained via web search/open and show current virtualization-oriented Xe hardware (Flex) plus launched Battlemage hardware matching the driver's ID table. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is a canonical recall source for the driver's stated purpose. Because the driver is brand new, tied to currently sold Intel Xe hardware, and serves a specific live-migration/SR-IOV niche with no natural upstream replacement beyond losing functionality by falling back to generic vfio-pci, the correct hint is keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1764367580, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766950966, "top_author": "Michał Winiarski", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/platform", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Generic ARM/ARM64 platform and AMBA devices exposed through VFIO", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/9-v2-2a9e24d62f1b+e10a-vfio_get_region_info_op_jgg@nvidia.com/", "claim": "Core vfio/platform code was still receiving reviewed feature work in November 2025, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20-v2-2a9e24d62f1b+e10a-vfio_get_region_info_op_jgg@nvidia.com/", "claim": "A second November 2025 patch in the same series updated vfio/platform APIs, reinforcing that the generic platform VFIO path is still being evolved." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/vfio.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes VFIO as current infrastructure for VM device assignment and userspace drivers, which supports ongoing niche deployment of VFIO-backed devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VFIO_PLATFORM.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VFIO_PLATFORM still present through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD as generic support for any platform device." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VFIO_AMBA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_VFIO_AMBA is now marked DEPRECATED and slated for future removal." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/VFIO_PLATFORM_AMDXGBE_RESET.html", "claim": "One reset helper under this subtree, CONFIG_VFIO_PLATFORM_AMDXGBE_RESET, is also marked DEPRECATED in recent kernels." } ], "reasoning_notes": "MCP lore_activity on vfio_platform.c and vfio_platform_common.c showed active 2025 feature patches with review tags and no removal signal in the sampled core-file history. Local shell inspection of drivers/vfio/platform/Kconfig and reset/Kconfig showed only subparts are explicitly marked DEPRECATED: vfio-amba and reset helpers. Web search provided docs.kernel.org VFIO docs and cateee LKDDb pages confirming current presence of CONFIG_VFIO_PLATFORM and deprecation status of the AMBA/reset subdrivers. Result: keep the directory, but annotate/split around deprecated subcomponents rather than deprecating the active generic vfio-platform core.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10670750767678683, "commits_5y": 32, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1426536522, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762985201, "top_author": "Jason Gunthorpe", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vfio/platform/reset", "subsystem": "vfio", "chipset_family": "Calxeda Highbank XGMAC / AMD Seattle XGBE / Broadcom iProc FlexRM", "recommendation_hint": "remove", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250806170314.3768750-3-alex.williamson@redhat.com", "claim": "Upstream removal thread for these reset modules; the maintainer says they do not support current hardware, are untested, and are being marked for removal." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kvm/msg388857.html", "claim": "Discussion around the vfio-platform removal effort shows only niche surviving vfio-platform users, not renewed support for these specific reset handlers." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/about/removed-features.html", "claim": "QEMU 10.2 removed vfio-calxeda-xgmac, vfio-amd-xgbe, and vfio-platform, stating Calxeda hardware is effectively e-waste and AMD Seattle is no longer supported." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BCM_FLEXRM_MBOX.html", "claim": "Broadcom FlexRM mailbox support still exists in current kernels, indicating the underlying IP can still exist, but this does not imply active vfio reset-handler deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection shows this directory contains three loadable vfio reset-handler modules (`module_vfio_reset_handler`) and Kconfig already labels all three as DEPRECATED. `git -c safe.directory=... log/show` on the local tree found commit 801ca4ce0bce ('vfio/platform: Mark reset drivers for removal', committed 2025-09-19) and exposed the canonical lore URL cited above. Web search found the KVM thread reply on spinics and QEMU's removed-features page. Together they show active upstream removal intent, obsolete Calxeda/Seattle targets, and only at most residual niche vfio-platform usage, so this should be escalated from deprecate to remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1434987338, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758314198, "top_author": "Alex Williamson", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/vhost", "subsystem": "vhost", "chipset_family": "Virtio/vhost host backends", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.93, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/virtualization/20260319080052.1942514-1-kniv@yandex-team.ru/", "claim": "Recent upstream maintenance is ongoing: a vhost core patch ('vhost: Bump max_mem_regions default to 256') touched drivers/vhost/vhost.c on 2026-03-19." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/virtualization/559b04ae6ce52973c535dc47e461638b7f4c3d63.1772441455.git.mst@redhat.com/", "claim": "Bug-fix traffic is still active in 2026: 'vhost: fix vhost_get_avail_idx for a non empty ring' touched drivers/vhost/vhost.c on 2026-03-02." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/networking/net_failover.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still uses vhost in supported virtio-net standby/live-migration setups, with libvirt examples showing ''." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation says VirtIO device implementation can be provided by QEMU together with the kernel ('known as vhost'), indicating vhost remains a first-class deployment path." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/i386/nitro-enclave.html", "claim": "Current QEMU Nitro Enclaves documentation references vhost-vsock/vhost-user-vsock for enclave communication, showing continued modern virtualization use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/vhost` is real driver code (Kconfig exposes VHOST_NET/VHOST_SCSI/VHOST_VSOCK/VHOST_VDPA modules; local shell read of drivers/vhost/Kconfig). lore_file_timeline on drivers/vhost/vhost.c showed heavy 2021-2026 activity and fresh 2026 patches via lore-http. Web open of current kernel docs and QEMU docs showed vhost still documented in active virtio, failover/live-migration, and enclave workflows. This is virtualization infrastructure rather than sellable hardware, so hardware fields are null/false; there is no natural in-kernel replacement covering the same host-backend role.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03486344061426661, "commits_5y": 290, "substantive_commits_5y": 283, "first_touch_ts": 1263548609, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770232424, "top_author": "Mike Christie", "top_author_commits": 64, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: top-level video subsystem aggregation containing mixed helper code and subtrees (fbdev, backlight, console, logo), not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04575918981771567, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063787, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 23, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/backlight", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: this is a subsystem-level directory containing many separate backlight drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.03576265680811304, "commits_5y": 259, "substantive_commits_5y": 251, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1770200763, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 81, "c_file_count": 60, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/console", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Linux text-console display drivers (primarily VGA text mode; also legacy MDA, HP STI, and SGI Newport consoles)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "fbcon (FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE) with DRM fbdev emulation", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/specs/standard-vga.html", "claim": "QEMU still documents and ships Standard VGA devices, including ISA and PCI variants, which keeps VGA-text-compatible guest deployments relevant in 2025/2026." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/dri-devel/msg502783.html", "claim": "dummycon saw real upstream bug-fix traffic in 2025 for deferred takeover console switching, indicating the directory is still maintained rather than abandoned." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5982974.html", "claim": "newport_con still received upstream patch traffic in late 2025/early 2026, showing ongoing maintenance even for niche legacy subdrivers." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Indy", "claim": "SGI Indy/Newport hardware is long discontinued, supporting the view that part of this directory serves legacy workstation niches rather than new physical hardware sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed five real console-driver sources here: vgacon, dummycon, mdacon, sticon, and newport_con. Local git history showed substantive touches through 2026-02 and no obvious remove/deprecate series in git-log grep. URLs were obtained via web search/open: QEMU Standard VGA docs for current deployment evidence, spinics patch pages for 2025-2026 maintenance activity, and Wikipedia for SGI Indy/Newport hardware age. Recommendation is keep-annotate because the directory is still actively maintained and still relevant for x86/VM VGA-text and boot-console paths, but several contained hardware-specific drivers are clearly legacy-only.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.042617594406956276, "commits_5y": 61, "substantive_commits_5y": 59, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063786, "top_author": "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)", "top_author_commits": 24, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Legacy framebuffer devices and firmware/SoC LCD controllers (mixed fbdev subsystem)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": "DRM/KMS drivers with DRM fbdev emulation (CONFIG_DRM_FBDEV_EMULATION)", "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-staging/msg21988.html", "claim": "Thomas Zimmermann's 2023 fbdev patch series says modern Linux distributions have adopted DRM for graphics output, fbdev is largely legacy, and future work is to make more fbdev userspace/file-I/O pieces optional rather than remove the subsystem outright." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB.html", "claim": "Current LKDDb entry for CONFIG_FB shows fbdev is still present through current kernels/HEAD, and its help text explicitly says DRM provides emulated framebuffer devices on top of KMS while CONFIG_FB enables legacy native fbdev drivers." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_EFI.html", "claim": "EFI framebuffer support remains in current kernels, showing fbdev still covers a live firmware-framebuffer/boot-console niche on modern UEFI systems." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_TGA.html", "claim": "The directory still includes drivers for clearly legacy hardware such as DEC TGA/SFB+ boards, indicating a substantial long-tail preservation role rather than a subsystem centered on new mainstream products." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver subsystem, not an auxiliary directory: local shell inspection of drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig shows many native framebuffer drivers and the FB menu. Upstream activity is clearly still present (given task metadata plus web-searched 2023 patch thread at spinics from turn2search2), but the thread frames fbdev as legacy and moving toward optional userspace exposure instead of immediate subsystem removal. Replacement path is explicit in local Kconfig and corroborated by LKDDb (turn3search0): DRM/KMS with fbdev emulation. Deployment is not zero because firmware framebuffers such as efifb are still relevant on new UEFI machines (turn3search3), while many native chip drivers are for old workstation/embedded hardware (turn3search1). Chosen keep-annotate: active maintenance/refactoring argues against deprecate/remove, but subsystem should be annotated as legacy with DRM preferred for new deployments.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.019936664643260344, "commits_5y": 685, "substantive_commits_5y": 674, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772728512, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 263, "c_file_count": 102, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/aty", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "ATI Mach64 and early Radeon framebuffer GPUs", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2003, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20251024093715.4012119-1-daniel@0x0f.com/", "claim": "atyfb still receives targeted upstream fixes; a non-treewide bug fix was posted in October 2025." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/571a3e072a2eef5a587d768d74559fc549b03ab6.1774863796.git.geert@linux-m68k.org/", "claim": "Recent lore traffic includes cleanup-only atyfb changes, indicating maintenance rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20241215-sysfs-const-bin_attr-radeonfb-v1-1-577bcffa1100@weissschuh.net/", "claim": "radeonfb in this directory also still sees maintenance touches, though mostly small modernizations." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Mach", "claim": "Mach64 is a 1990s ATI graphics family, consistent with legacy-only deployment today." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R100_series", "claim": "The earliest Radeon generation covered here dates to 2000-2003 era products, implying no new-hardware sales in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig shows this directory covers FB_ATY (ATI Mach64) and FB_RADEON (ATI Radeon framebuffer), i.e. very old ATI GPUs. lore_file_timeline on atyfb_base.c and radeon_base.c showed real upstream attention through 2024-2026, including a 2025 atyfb bug fix and a 2026 cleanup, but no clear removal discussion; the attempted lore_regex removal scan timed out once and was not retried. Web search (Wikipedia pages obtained via web search results) places Mach64 in the 1990s and the Radeon R100 family around 2000-2003, so hardware is obsolete and not sold new in 2025. Because upstream still sees occasional bug-fix/cleanup traffic, this is better tagged as legacy/annotate than deprecated-for-removal.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.10858461661767148, "commits_5y": 44, "substantive_commits_5y": 37, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1761688759, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 20, "c_file_count": 12, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/core", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: fbdev core infrastructure/shared helper code, not a hardware-bound device driver directory.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.031729922752715835, "commits_5y": 252, "substantive_commits_5y": 248, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063787, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 98, "c_file_count": 32, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/geode", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "AMD Geode GX/GX1/LX", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2019, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20251214011400.300460-1-swarajgaikwad1925@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still sees upstream maintenance activity; a linux-fbdev patch touching gxfb_core.c was posted on 2025-12-14." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geode_%28processor%29", "claim": "Geode targeted embedded/thin-client uses, and the page states AMD discontinued all Geode processors in 2019." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_GEODE_LX.html", "claim": "The Geode fbdev driver remains present in current kernels, covers AMD Geode LX video hardware, and builds the lxfb module for PCI device 1022:2081." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local rg inspection showed this directory contains real fbdev PCI drivers for Geode GX1/GX/LX. lore_activity on drivers/video/fbdev/geode/gxfb_core.c produced the cited 2025 linux-fbdev maintenance patch URL, which argues against deprecation/removal despite obsolete hardware. Web search then open() on Wikipedia and LKDDb supplied deployment context: Geode was an embedded/thin-client family, discontinued in 2019, and the driver is still shipped in current kernels. Conclusion: hardware is legacy with only low residual deployments, but active upstream touch-ups mean keep it for now and annotate it as legacy rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2588760058472467, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 12, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746174227, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/i810", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Intel 810/815 integrated graphics", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2002, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpu/drm/i810", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20251031080942.14112-1-i.shihao.999@gmail.com/", "claim": "The fbdev i810 driver still saw upstream maintenance in late 2025, but the visible work was minor logging cleanup rather than new hardware enablement." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230927074722.6197-20-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Recent activity also includes fbdev-wide refactoring touching i810fb, indicating low-level maintenance rather than active product-driven development." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_I810.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FB_I810 is the Intel 810/815 framebuffer driver; it is limited to FB+PCI+X86_32+AGP_INTEL and remains present in current kernel heads." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_I810.html", "claim": "Mainline also carries a DRM_I810 driver for the same hardware family, making it the closest in-tree replacement path." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_810", "claim": "Intel 810 was introduced in 1999 for low-cost Socket 370 systems, placing this hardware family firmly in the late-1990s/early-2000s legacy era." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007975/graphics/legacy-graphics.html", "claim": "Intel treats the 810 chipset graphics as legacy graphics hardware, consistent with no new-system sales in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Directory inspection via shell (`rg`, `sed`) confirmed a real PCI framebuffer driver for Intel 810/815. Upstream-attention evidence came from `mcp__lore_http__.lore_file_timeline`, which showed sparse recent touches and yielded the cited lore URLs; attempted broader lore subject/path scans timed out, so there is no positive evidence here of an active removal series. Deployment/obsolescence evidence came from `web.search_query`: LKDDb shows the driver is still buildable but constrained to 32-bit AGP-era systems, Wikipedia dates the chipset family to 1999-era PCs, Intel's support page classifies it as legacy graphics, and LKDDb's DRM_I810 page identifies the nearest in-tree replacement. Recommendation is `deprecate`: hardware is long obsolete and new deployments are effectively gone, but the driver still gets occasional maintenance so `remove` is not yet well-supported by the evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.15941288112008414, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764702951, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/kyro", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "STMicroelectronics STG4000 / PowerVR3 Kyro", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2001, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250709095354.931589-2-giovanni.disanti.lkl@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver received substantive upstream maintenance in July 2025 ('Add missing PCI memory region request'), so it is not completely dormant." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250323185737.602339-1-listdansp@mail.ru/", "claim": "The driver also received a bug-fix style patch in March 2025 ('Add some geometry checks'), indicating real bug-fix traffic rather than pure treewide churn." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_KYRO.html", "claim": "LKDDb maps CONFIG_FB_KYRO to the kyrofb driver and PCI ID 104a:0010 (STG4000 / 3D Prophet Kyro Series), confirming the hardware scope is a single legacy PCI graphics family." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerVR", "claim": "PowerVR documentation summary places the STG4000 Kyro generation in 2000, with Kyro II following in 2001, supporting that this is early-2000s consumer graphics hardware rather than current product." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Obsolete early-2000s PCI/AGP graphics hardware, with no evidence from the gathered results that boards are sold new in 2025; current use is most plausibly retro/collector systems, so deployments are low. However, lore history shows genuine maintenance in 2025, which argues against deprecate/remove despite the age of the hardware. No natural hardware-specific upstream successor is evident for this PCI ID, so replacement_driver is null. Source acquisition: the two lore.kernel.org URLs came directly from `lore_file_timeline`; the LKDDb and Wikipedia URLs came from `web.search_query` results. A precise `lei` subject query for removal discussion could not run in this sandbox, and a broad lore regex timed out, so absence of removal talk is an inference from the successful lore evidence rather than a proven negative.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.20530385954001684, "commits_5y": 14, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753639011, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/matrox", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Matrox Millennium/Mystique/MGA Gx00", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250612081738.197826-7-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "The driver still sees upstream maintenance in 2025; recent work touched matroxfb_base.c as part of a reviewed fbdev series rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_MATROX.html", "claim": "The fbdev driver is for Matrox Millennium, Millennium II, Mystique, Mystique 220, G100, G200, G400, G450 and G550 cards." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_MGAG200.html", "claim": "An upstream DRM/KMS driver exists for Matrox G200 chips, including original desktop G200 and server variants, but it does not replace the full older Matrox fbdev card set." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrox_G400", "claim": "The G400 family dates to 1999, and the G450/G550 generation belongs to the early-2000s Matrox desktop lineup." }, { "url": "https://video.matrox.com/en/media/guides-articles/matrox-pci-and-pcie-guide", "claim": "Matrox treats G550 PCIe as a historical milestone ('introduced the world's first PCIe x1 graphics cards'), indicating the family is long legacy rather than a current mainstream product line." }, { "url": "https://video.matrox.com/en/apps/drivers/graphics/download?id=709", "claim": "Matrox still published Windows driver packages covering G550 PCIe as late as 2018, which suggests lingering legacy/embedded deployments rather than active mainstream sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real fbdev driver code. Local `exec_command` inspection of `matroxfb_base.c` shows supported boards spanning Millennium, Mystique, G100, G200, G400, G450 and G550, so the chipset family is Matrox MGA/Millennium-Mystique/Gx00. `lore_activity` on `drivers/video/fbdev/matrox/matroxfb_base.c` produced the cited 2025 lore URL and shows ongoing upstream maintenance, but the visible work is compatibility/header churn with review, not removal. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no matches, so I did not treat that as evidence of inactivity. Web `search_query` produced the LKDDb pages and Matrox/Wikipedia pages; taken together they show very old hardware generations, a partial modern replacement only for G200 via `mgag200`, and vendor evidence of legacy support/downloads rather than current mainstream product marketing. I infer `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false` and `deployments_today=low`: the hardware appears limited to legacy desktops/industrial boxes and some long-tail embedded/server uses, but active kernel maintenance argues against deprecation or removal right now, so `keep-annotate` is the defensible recommendation.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2102367045071063, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750057628, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 10, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/mb862xx", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Fujitsu MB862xx GDC (Carmine/Coral-P/Coral-PA/Lime)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.83, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20251008183627.1279115-1-rampxxxx@gmail.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives upstream attention in 2025; a v3 patch touched mb862xxfbdrv.c to make CONFIG_FB_DEVICE optional rather than proposing removal." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250830124703.73732-1-rongqianfeng@vivo.com/", "claim": "Recent 2025 traffic also includes a correctness fix in mb862xxfb, indicating maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_MB862XX.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_FB_MB862XX is still present upstream and covers Fujitsu MB86295S/MB86296S/MB86297A plus OF compatibles MB86276/MB86277/MB86293/MB86294." }, { "url": "https://pr.fujitsu.com/en/news/2002/06/10.html", "claim": "Fujitsu positioned MB86293 as an embedded graphics controller for vehicle navigation systems and video game consoles, indicating an early-2000s embedded market." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/htmldatasheets/production/973591/0/0/1/mb86297-276.html", "claim": "A DigiKey-hosted Fujitsu document describes MB86297/MB86276 as graphics display controllers for automotive applications such as navigation, instrument panels, and infotainment, plus other embedded uses." }, { "url": "https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kaga-fei-america-inc/MB86297APBH-GSE1/2766733", "claim": "A current distributor listing for MB86297 shows the part status as Obsolete and no longer manufactured, supporting that this family is not in new mainstream sales." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case. Local source inspection via shell identified Fujitsu Carmine/Coral-P(A)/Lime support and OF/PCI bindings. lore_file_timeline on mb862xxfbdrv.c showed substantial recent activity through 2025, and the cited lore URLs came from that MCP result; this argues against deprecate/remove. Web search found LKDDb coverage, an official Fujitsu 2002 launch page, a DigiKey-hosted Fujitsu family document for embedded automotive/industrial use, and a current DigiKey product page marking MB86297 obsolete. Conclusion: hardware is legacy and niche today, likely only in old embedded/industrial/automotive deployments, but upstream still sees enough fixup/build/API traffic that the right posture is keep-annotate rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16545834066396317, "commits_5y": 15, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759267294, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/mmp", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Marvell MMP2 / PXA910 display subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MMP_DISP.html", "claim": "CONFIG_MMP_DISP is the Marvell MMP Display Subsystem driver, still present in current kernels, with modules/platform entries for mmp_disp and mmp-fb." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MMP_DISP_CONTROLLER.html", "claim": "The controller support is explicitly for Marvell PXA910 and MMP2 chips." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-changes-the-game-again-new-armada-610-application-processor-first-to-bring-1080p-full-hd-encode-and-decode.html", "claim": "ARMADA 610, the MMP2-era Marvell mobile SoC family, was launched on January 5, 2010 for phones/tablets/mobile devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an early-exit case: local files show Kconfig/Makefile plus hw/, fb/, and panel/ code for a Marvell display stack. `exec_command` on local Kconfig identified PXA910/MMP2 scope and no DRM-side replacement in-tree; another `exec_command` using `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/video/fbdev/mmp` showed mostly treewide cleanups since 2019 and no clear removal series. `web.search_query` for lore.kernel.org on the exact path/subject returned no hits, so I found no active upstream removal discussion; static metadata says last substantive touch was 2022-04-12, which supports low maintenance rather than active development. Deployment looks low: this is a fbdev driver for 2010-era Marvell mobile SoCs, likely only legacy embedded/industrial boards, with no evidence of new 2025 products. Chosen `deprecate` rather than `remove` because the code still builds in mainline and there is no demonstrated removal campaign or upstream replacement driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1649793970, "top_author": "Jakob Koschel", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/fb", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Marvell MMP / PXA910-MMP2 display subsystem", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.78, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230907085408.9354-3-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity on mmpfb was a 2023 fbdev cleanup ('Do not display boot-up logo'), not evidence of active feature work or modern deployment growth." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MMP_FB.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_MMP_FB as the Marvell MMP Display Subsystem framebuffer driver, built as module mmpfb for platform device 'mmp-fb'." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-is-the-first-to-announce-breakthrough-single-unified-3g-platform-supporting-td-scdma-and-wcdma.html", "claim": "By August 14, 2012 Marvell was already promoting PXA988/PXA986 as the next generation of its mobile application/communications SoCs, indicating the earlier PXA910/MMP2-era display hardware was legacy by the mid-2010s." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-launches-highly-integrated-quad-core-64-bit-armada-mobile-pxa1908-platform-for-the-fast-growing-5-mode-4g-lte-worldwide-mass-market.html", "claim": "By November 17, 2014 Marvell's mobile line had moved on to ARMADA Mobile PXA1908, reinforcing that MMP/PXA910-era framebuffer hardware was no longer a new-design target." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Static evidence from local shell reads of drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/Kconfig and fb/Kconfig ties this driver to Marvell MMP display hardware on CPU_PXA910 or CPU_MMP2. The lore URL was obtained via lore_file_timeline on drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/fb/mmpfb.c and shows only 2023 cleanup-style churn, with no removal-thread evidence surfaced. The LKDDb and Marvell newsroom URLs were obtained via web search. Taken together, this looks like an early-2010s fbdev driver for obsolete Marvell mobile SoCs, still buildable but with low present-day deployment and no clear in-tree replacement for the same hardware, so deprecate rather than remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.9279162098862564, "commits_5y": 5, "substantive_commits_5y": 2, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1694437951, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/hw", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Marvell MMP/PXA910 display controller", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.7, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20240823123027.5753-1-yingzuxin@vivo.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream traffic exists for this driver family in 2024, but it is small-scale maintenance rather than feature work or removal." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/5.10/arm/marvel.html", "claim": "The supported SoC family is Marvell MMP/MMP2: specifically PXA910/PXA920 and PXA688 (MMP2), identifying this as an old Marvell mobile SoC display block." }, { "url": "https://www.marvell.com/company/newsroom/marvell-launches-highly-integrated-quad-core-64-bit-armada-mobile-pxa1908-platform-for-the-fast-growing-5-mode-4g-lte-worldwide-mass-market.html", "claim": "Marvell had already moved its mobile SoC line to much newer ARMADA Mobile PXA1908-class parts by 2014, indicating PXA910/MMP2-era parts were already superseded long before 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local exec_command inspection showed this subtree is a real fbdev driver module, not just helper code: Kconfig names 'Marvell MMP display hw controller support' for PXA910/MMP2 and mmp_ctrl.c has module_init. The lore URL came from mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity on mmp_ctrl.c; it shows recent but light janitorial maintenance and no obvious removal discussion. The docs.kernel.org and Marvell newsroom URLs were obtained via web search/open; together they place the hardware in Marvell's older MMP/PXA mobile SoC line, long superseded by newer mobile parts. Because deployments are likely only legacy/embedded and there is still some upstream fixup traffic, keep-annotate fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.39317347467163344, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727651526, "top_author": "Christophe JAILLET", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/panel", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "Marvell MMP display / TPO TJ032MD01BW panel", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.77, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2013, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230222121453.91915-26-nick.alcock@oracle.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream touches to tpo_tj032md01bw.c were mechanical fbdev/kbuild cleanups, not feature or bug-fix work." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/MMP_PANEL_TPOHVGA.html", "claim": "The in-tree config is specifically for the tpohvga panel TJ032MD01BW and lives under the legacy fbdev MMP panel stack." }, { "url": "https://codebrowser.dev/linux/linux/drivers/video/fbdev/mmp/panel/tpo_tj032md01bw.c.html", "claim": "The driver is a single SPI panel driver using legacy platform_data and mmp_panel registration for the TPO HVGA panel on Marvell MMP-era hardware." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on the only C file; it shows only 2022-2023 mechanical churn and no removal thread. LKDDb URL was obtained by web search and confirms the exact panel/model binding. Codebrowser URL was obtained by web search and matches the local source: one board-specific SPI panel driver using legacy platform_data in the old Marvell MMP fbdev stack. This points to obsolete hardware with at most residual legacy deployments, but no direct in-tree replacement driver for the same board/panel path.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.22725178602142876, "commits_5y": 2, "substantive_commits_5y": 0, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": null, "top_author": null, "top_author_commits": 0, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/nvidia", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA NV4-NV2x (RIVA TNT/TNT2 through early GeForce)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2004, "replacement_driver": "nouveau", "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig", "claim": "Kconfig says FB_NVIDIA supports NVIDIA chips from TNT through early GeForce generations (NV4-NV2x), with newer architectures not reliably supported." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250407-fix_nvidia-v1-1-843f8d031c7d@quicinc.com/", "claim": "The driver still receives occasional upstream fixes in 2025, indicating it is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20230927074722.6197-25-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Recent maintenance also includes fbdev helper conversions rather than removal work." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_4_series", "claim": "The newest product family explicitly within the driver's stated 'early GeForce' scope dates to the early 2000s, supporting the conclusion that supported hardware is long obsolete in the new-sales market." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_(software)", "claim": "Nouveau is the upstream open-source driver family for NVIDIA GPUs and is the natural in-tree replacement for supported legacy NVIDIA graphics use cases." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/video/fbdev/nvidia/nvidia.c; it shows recent 2023-2025 maintenance patches but no removal/deprecation series. The Kconfig scope was read locally with `sed`; the cited kernel.org URL is canonical recall for the same file. Wikipedia URLs are canonical recall used for product-era dating and the replacement-driver claim. Recommendation is `keep-annotate` because the hardware class is clearly obsolete and likely only persists in legacy systems, but upstream still accepts bug-fix/cleanup traffic and I found no active removal discussion.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.16160690877625705, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1759267294, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 7, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/omap", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP1 LCD controller / omapfb", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2005, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/video/fbdev/omap/Kconfig", "claim": "The driver is for \"OMAP frame buffer support\" and depends on ARCH_OMAP1, indicating it targets older TI OMAP1-era boards rather than current TI display pipelines." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20260415191747.3845525-1-lgs201920130244@gmail.com/", "claim": "omapfb still receives real upstream fixes in 2026, including a bug fix tagged for stable backport." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/aWAM-SZArPSRNaNK@stanley.mountain/", "claim": "omapfb also saw nontrivial cleanup in 2026, showing the driver is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMAP", "claim": "OMAP1 is an early-2000s TI mobile SoC family; TI later wound down OMAP smartphone/tablet efforts, supporting the view that this hardware family is long obsolete for new products." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Tungsten", "claim": "A concrete supported OMAP1-class product, the Palm Tungsten E, had a 2003-2005 lifespan, illustrating the vintage of devices this driver serves." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Recommendation is keep-annotate, not deprecate/remove: lore evidence shows active maintenance rather than removal talk. The two lore URLs were obtained from MCP lore_file_timeline/lore_activity on drivers/video/fbdev/omap/omapfb_main.c. The kernel.org Kconfig URL is canonical recall, used to confirm this directory is the OMAP1-only fbdev driver. The two Wikipedia URLs were obtained by web search and used only for market-age/deployment context. Hardware appears long out of new-sales channels, but small legacy/retro/embedded use likely remains, so deployments_today=low and replacement_driver=null.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04888925048543901, "commits_5y": 39, "substantive_commits_5y": 34, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063786, "top_author": "Arnd Bergmann", "top_author_commits": 8, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP2/3/4 Display Subsystem (OMAP DSS)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20260402093403.12173-1-zenghongling@kylinos.cn/", "claim": "Non-treewide functional fix for omapfb_mmap was posted in April 2026, showing current upstream maintenance activity." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20241007163516.433885-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "omapfb was still being adjusted for platform_driver API churn in October 2024, indicating it remains build- and runtime-relevant upstream." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/OMAP3530", "claim": "TI still listed OMAP3530 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least part of the OMAP3 hardware family remained sold new in 2025." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream provides DRM_OMAP as the DRM/KMS display driver for OMAP2/3/4 boards, which is the natural replacement for legacy fbdev omapfb." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local Kconfig read via shell shows FB_OMAP2 depends on DRM_OMAP=n, which marks omapfb as the legacy alternative to omapdrm. lore_file_timeline on the directory path returned no events, so I used lore_activity on omapfb-main.c instead; that produced 2024-2026 functional maintenance and stable backport traffic, with no confirmed removal-thread evidence from the allowed-budget queries. Web search found TI's OMAP3530 product page marked ACTIVE/orderable, so hardware is still sold, but likely only in legacy/industrial niches rather than broad new deployment. Recommendation is keep-annotate: legacy fbdev driver, low modern deployment, but not dead and with a clear upstream DRM replacement.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.06469435275985226, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063786, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/displays", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP2/OMAP3 DSS companion panels, connectors, and display encoder chips", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.73, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": "omapdrm + DRM panel/bridge drivers", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20241007163516.433885-2-u.kleine-koenig@baylibre.com/", "claim": "This directory was still receiving upstream-maintenance changes in late 2024; panel-dsi-cm.c was touched by a treewide fbdev/platform_driver cleanup patch on 2024-10-07." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20240731123502.1145082-7-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "omapfb display code in this area also received API-fix work in 2024 ('Use backlight power constants'), indicating active bug-fix/maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_N900_%28nokia-n900%29", "claim": "At least one board using these panel drivers (Nokia N900 / TI OMAP3430) still has hobbyist/community deployment on current kernels, but as a community-maintained legacy device rather than a new mainstream product." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TFP410", "claim": "One companion chip covered here, the TFP410 DVI transmitter, is still listed by TI as ACTIVE, so the directory is not composed entirely of vanished silicon." }, { "url": "https://www.ti.com/product/TPD12S015", "claim": "Another companion chip covered here, the TPD12S015 HDMI companion device, is also still listed by TI as ACTIVE." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/displays/Kconfig", "claim": "The Kconfig for this directory explicitly blocks several fbdev panel drivers when corresponding DRM panel drivers are enabled, showing a natural upstream migration path toward omapdrm plus DRM panel/bridge drivers." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: per-file omap_dss/module driver registrations and panel/encoder Kconfig entries. lore_file_timeline on panel-dsi-cm.c showed 131 matches from 2021-11-05 through 2024-10-07, with recent touches from Uwe Kleine-König and Thomas Zimmermann; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search found current postmarketOS use on Nokia N900, so deployments still exist but are niche legacy/hobbyist. Web search also found TI product pages marking TFP410 and TPD12S015 ACTIVE, so some companion hardware remains sold new even though most named end products here are old. Replacement path comes from canonical-recall kernel.org Kconfig URL showing DRM_PANEL_* conflicts; that supports keep-annotate rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.24207300598981857, "commits_5y": 49, "substantive_commits_5y": 47, "first_touch_ts": 1451380066, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1727706934, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 18, "c_file_count": 14, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/dss", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "TI OMAP2/3/4/5 Display Subsystem (OMAPDSS, including AM35xx-era variants)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.76, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2016, "replacement_driver": "drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm", "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250612081738.197826-9-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "The fbdev/omap2 DSS code still received upstream maintenance in June 2025, indicating it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/video/fbdev/omap2/omapfb/dss/dss_features.c", "claim": "The fbdev DSS code targets legacy TI OMAP generations such as OMAP24xx, OMAP34xx/3630, OMAP4 and OMAP5." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream has a DRM/KMS driver, DRM_OMAP, described as the display driver for OMAP2/3/4 based boards." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/Makefile", "claim": "The DRM_OMAP driver builds its own `dss/` implementation, showing it is the natural upstream successor for the same display subsystem." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: exec_command inspection found module/platform-driver code and SoC-specific DSS support. lore_file_timeline on `dss/core.c` showed 16 touches since 2023, latest 2025-06-12 (source URL obtained via `lore_file_timeline`), which argues against removal now. exec_command also showed fbdev Kconfig names OMAP4/OMAP5 HDMI support and `dss_features.c` enumerates OMAP2/3/4/5-era variants; the matching git.kernel.org URLs are canonical-recall mappings of the inspected local files. `drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm` clearly covers the same DSS blocks, so replacement exists, but active 2025 maintenance means back off from deprecate/remove to keep-annotate. Hardware appears confined to legacy embedded/industrial boards rather than new mainstream designs, so present deployments are low and new-2025 sales are unlikely.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.18026522677106782, "commits_5y": 34, "substantive_commits_5y": 29, "first_touch_ts": 1451380066, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750057667, "top_author": "Kuninori Morimoto", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 30, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/riva", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "NVIDIA RIVA / early GeForce (NV3-NV2x)", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2001, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20240731123502.1145082-9-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Upstream still touches rivafb in 2024; a linux-fbdev patch updated rivafb to use backlight power constants." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_RIVA.html", "claim": "LKDDb shows CONFIG_FB_RIVA is still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and matches legacy NVIDIA PCI IDs including RIVA TNT/TNT2-era devices." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_NVIDIA.html", "claim": "LKDDb documents that nvidiafb covers TNT and newer, while very old chipsets such as RIVA128 remain on rivafb, indicating rivafb is a legacy split rather than current mainstream support." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIVA_128", "claim": "RIVA 128 was introduced in 1997 and is marked unsupported." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_3_series", "claim": "GeForce 3 launched in 2001; this is a reasonable upper bound for the 'early GeForce' hardware generation associated with rivafb." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence first: `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/video/fbdev/riva/fbdev.c` showed exact matches through 2025, and the cited 2024 lore patch is a concrete recent maintenance touch, but I found no removal thread in the allotted budget. Deployment evidence came from web search hits for LKDDb and Wikipedia. Hardware is clearly long-obsolete consumer GPU silicon from 1997-2001, so not sold new in 2025 and only likely to survive in retro/embedded/collector systems. Because upstream still does occasional maintenance and there is no cited removal push, this fits `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate`/`remove`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.0705055261244352, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063632, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 7, "c_file_count": 4, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/savage", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "S3 Savage / ProSavage / SuperSavage / Twister framebuffer", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2004, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20260420051926.28276-1-dbgh9129@gmail.com/", "claim": "As of April 20, 2026, savagefb still receives targeted bug-fix patches upstream ('fix probe-path EDID cleanup leaks')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20240416065137.530693-1-caixinchen1@huawei.com/", "claim": "The driver also received a functional fix in April 2024, indicating non-zero maintenance rather than pure bitrot." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_SAVAGE.html", "claim": "CONFIG_FB_SAVAGE remains present in current kernels; LKDDb describes it as support for notebooks and computers with S3 Savage PCI/AGP chips and lists the supported PCI IDs." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Savage", "claim": "The Savage family was introduced in 1998-1999; discrete Savage products were discontinued after S3's 2001 sale to VIA, with later usage limited to integrated ProSavage/Twister/SuperSavage-era designs that were later superseded by UniChrome." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg` in the directory) confirmed this is the `savagefb` PCI framebuffer driver and showed covered chip names including Savage3D/4/2000, ProSavage, SuperSavage, and Twister. `lore_file_timeline` on `savagefb_driver.c` produced the 2026 and 2024 lore URLs, which show recent bug-fix traffic and no evidence here of an active removal push, so removal/deprecation would be premature. Web search + open on LKDDb confirmed the driver is still configurable upstream and targets old PCI/AGP notebook/desktop GPUs. Web search + open on Wikipedia provided the product-family timeline; `last_widely_available_year=2004` is an inference from discrete Savage ending by 2001 and remaining VIA-integrated derivatives being later superseded, so present-day deployment is best characterized as low legacy use rather than none.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5280756903561216, "commits_5y": 7, "substantive_commits_5y": 6, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1714039458, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/sis", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "SiS 300/315/330/340 and XGI Volari framebuffer GPUs/IGPs", "recommendation_hint": "deprecate", "confidence": 0.81, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2010, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250612081738.197826-13-tzimmermann@suse.de/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity exists in 2025, but it is maintenance cleanup ('fbdev/sisfb: Unexport symbols'), not evidence of growing deployment." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_SIS.html", "claim": "The driver covers SiS 300/315/330/340 and XGI V3XT/V5/V8/Z7 and is still present in current kernel configuration options." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Integrated_Systems", "claim": "The supported SiS graphics chipsets are from the late-1990s/early-2000s era, e.g. SiS 540 (1999), SiS 630 (2000), and SiS 645/650 with SiS315 (2001)." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XGI_Technology", "claim": "XGI, which supplied the later supported Volari chips, existed from 2003 to 2010, indicating this hardware family has been out of active new-product circulation for many years." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver. lore_file_timeline on drivers/video/fbdev/sis/sis_main.c showed latest substantive touch in June 2025, but the visible traffic is cleanup rather than active feature work or removal. web search + open on LKDDb established exact chipset coverage; web search + open on Wikipedia pages established the chips are early-2000s-era and XGI ended in 2010. That supports deprecate, not remove: still maintained enough to build, but hardware is legacy with only low residual deployments in old desktops/embedded/industrial systems.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21416904460725592, "commits_5y": 17, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750057686, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/fbdev/via", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "VIA UniChrome / Chrome9", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 2015, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fbdev/20250614045739.3487259-1-alexguo1023@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream bug-fix activity for viafb in June 2025 ('Fix potential divide by zero in get_var_refresh')." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/FB_VIA.html", "claim": "LKDDb identifies CONFIG_FB_VIA as the VIA UniChrome (Pro) and Chrome9 framebuffer driver and lists supported VIA PCI devices; it is still present in current kernel Kconfig." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VIA_chipsets", "claim": "VIA integrated-graphics chipsets relevant to this family peak in the early-2010s; the page lists VX900 as a March 2010 chipset and notes graphics-chipset support continuing only into the early 2010s, with VX11H arriving in August 2012." }, { "url": "https://cdn.viaembedded.com/products/docs/ProductGuide/2015_VIA_Embedded_Product_Guide.pdf", "claim": "VIA's 2015 embedded product guide still marketed VX900H/Chrome9 boards such as EPIA-P900, indicating lingering embedded availability but already as an older product generation." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`viafb` is real driver code for VIA UniChrome/Chrome9 integrated graphics. Lore evidence from `lore_activity` and `lore_file_timeline` shows it is not abandoned: there was a real bug fix in 2025 plus periodic janitorial work, so removal/deprecation would be premature. Deployment looks legacy-only: the supported chipsets are early-2010s VIA graphics, and the only concrete market evidence found was old embedded-board collateral (2015 VX900H products), so 2025 deployments are likely confined to long-lived industrial/embedded systems. No clear upstream in-tree replacement covering the same hardware was found. URLs were obtained via `lore_activity`/`lore_file_timeline` and web `search_query`/`open`.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.21416904460725592, "commits_5y": 21, "substantive_commits_5y": 16, "first_touch_ts": 1397711419, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1750057686, "top_author": "Thomas Zimmermann", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 26, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/video/logo", "subsystem": "video", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains framebuffer/boot logo rendering assets and helper code, not kernel-bound hardware driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 13, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1771063786, "top_author": "Vincent Mailhol", "top_author_commits": 6, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: subsystem umbrella containing multiple unrelated virtualization guest/hypervisor drivers plus helper code, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.11106788759000452, "commits_5y": 19, "substantive_commits_5y": 17, "first_touch_ts": 1310102487, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1764898456, "top_author": "Sudan Landge", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/acrn", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Intel ACRN Hypervisor platforms", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250724193706.35896-4-darwi@linutronix.de/", "claim": "Recent upstream touch to drivers/virt/acrn/hsm.c appeared in July 2025, indicating the code is still maintained." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/x86-cpuid/20260327021645.555257-5-darwi@linutronix.de/", "claim": "drivers/virt/acrn/hsm.c was still being updated in March 2026 via a treewide x86 CPUID header cleanup, so the code is not abandoned in-tree." }, { "url": "https://eci.intel.com/docs/3.2/components/acrn-hypervisor.html", "claim": "Intel ECI documentation describes ACRN as actively developed and aimed at IoT/embedded deployments, with a Service VM model matching this driver's role." }, { "url": "https://eci.intel.com/docs/3.3/components/acrn-hypervisor.html", "claim": "Intel ECI 3.3 docs list current ACRN package support for boards using Intel Core i7-13700TE, Atom x6000RE, Xeon D-1746TER and related platforms, showing ongoing new-platform deployment in the 2025 timeframe." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not an internal helper: Kconfig and module_init show an ACRN Hypervisor Service Module for the privileged Service VM. `lore_file_timeline` on drivers/virt/acrn/hsm.c showed steady activity through 2025-03-27/2026-03-27 and no visible removal series in the sampled history; recent touches are mostly treewide/stable rather than feature growth, so this looks maintained but niche. Web search plus `open`/`find` on Intel ECI ACRN docs showed ACRN is still documented as actively developed and shipped for current industrial Intel platforms, so hardware/platform availability is still present in 2025. Deployment is likely low because ACRN is a specialized embedded/industrial hypervisor stack, and there is no natural upstream replacement driver for the same Service-VM interface, so keep the driver but annotate it as niche/platform-specific rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.17027832566610446, "commits_5y": 28, "substantive_commits_5y": 25, "first_touch_ts": 1612864698, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1753350121, "top_author": "Shuo Liu", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Confidential Computing guest support (AMD SEV-SNP / Intel TDX / Arm CCA / pKVM)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/virt/coco", "claim": "The directory is under active upstream development; local git history shows substantive commits through 2026-01-23, not a dormant legacy driver." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/virt/coco/sev-guest.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation covers a current SEV-SNP guest ABI under drivers/virt/coco, indicating maintained in-tree functionality for AMD confidential VMs." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/virt/coco/tdx-guest.html", "claim": "Upstream kernel documentation covers a current Intel TDX guest ABI under drivers/virt/coco, indicating maintained in-tree functionality for Intel confidential VMs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099708/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel states TDX is present from 4th Gen Xeon onward and on newer generations, showing the hardware class is current rather than obsolete." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/ja/developer/sev.html", "claim": "AMD documents SEV/SEV-SNP across multiple EPYC generations including 8004/9004/9005, showing ongoing new-platform relevance." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is an active confidential-computing guest-driver family directory, even though it also contains umbrella Kconfig/Makefile glue. Local shell inspection showed multiple real driver subdirs plus tsm-core, and local `git log` showed recent substantive activity through 2026-01-23; the kernel.org log URL is a canonical-recall companion for that shell-derived history. `web.search_query` obtained the docs.kernel.org SEV and TDX pages and official Intel/AMD pages. A direct `web.search_query` against lore.kernel.org for this area returned no results for removal/deprecation terms, so there is no visible removal signal in the evidence gathered. Deployment is best rated medium: confidential VMs are still niche versus generic virt, but they are actively deployed in cloud/server environments and tied to currently sold Xeon and EPYC generations.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 26, "substantive_commits_5y": 24, "first_touch_ts": 1649342832, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769202591, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 9, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/arm-cca-guest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Arm CCA Realm guest attestation / RME", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/virt/coco/arm-cca-guest", "claim": "Kernel history shows this directory is new, introduced in October 2024 and still receiving follow-up changes in late 2024 and 2025 rather than aging out." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/process/maintainers.html", "claim": "The ARM64 maintainers entry lists drivers/virt/coco/arm-cca-guest under a maintained area, indicating current upstream ownership rather than deprecation." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/arch/arm64/arm-cca.html", "claim": "Arm CCA support is for Linux running as a Realm guest on Arm systems with RME, so this is a specialized confidential-computing guest driver rather than legacy commodity hardware support." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/community/arm-community-blogs/b/architectures-and-processors-blog/posts/arm-and-confidential-computing", "claim": "Arm stated in 2023 that partners were working on first silicon implementations of RME and expected it to become a mainstream feature in future CPU generations." }, { "url": "https://developer.arm.com/community/arm-community-blogs/b/servers-and-cloud-computing-blog/posts/how-fujitsu-implemented-confidential-computing-on-fujitsu-monaka-with-arm-cca", "claim": "Arm highlighted a 2025 Fujitsu MONAKA deployment case for Arm CCA, showing the technology is still appearing in new products in 2025." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local file inspection via shell showed a real module_init-based TSM driver that only loads in Realm world and exposes attestation. Upstream activity was checked with local shell git log using safe.directory; the cited kernel.org log URL is canonical recall for that same history. Web search found the Linux maintainers page and Arm CCA architecture doc, both showing maintained, current confidential-computing scope. Web search also found Arm official 2023 and 2025 blogs indicating ongoing/new Arm CCA hardware rollouts. No removal discussion surfaced in the available lore/web checks. This is niche and early-deployment infrastructure, but it is new and still relevant, so keep rather than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1729675173, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746215536, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/efi_secret", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "EFI confidential-computing secret area", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220412212127.154182-3-dovmurik@linux.ibm.com", "claim": "Initial upstream posting adds the efi_secret module to expose confidential-computing secrets via securityfs; establishes this as a real guest-facing driver/module rather than dead scaffolding." }, { "url": "https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2025-September/1064067.html", "claim": "September 2025 patch series enables EFI secret-area securityfs support on arm64, showing active expansion to new confidential-computing guest deployments rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-security-module/msg65177.html", "claim": "May 2024 upstream patch fixes locking in efi_secret_unlink(), indicating real maintenance/bug-fix attention in the last two years." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/security/secrets/coco.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation describes the EFI secret area flow and states the module exposes injected confidential-computing secrets to userspace via securityfs." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/tools/trust-domain-extensions/overview.html", "claim": "Intel markets TDX as a current confidential-VM technology and lists current cloud availability, supporting ongoing new deployments in the mid-2020s." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/confidential-computing.html", "claim": "AMD states SEV is built into current EPYC server CPU families and available across major cloud providers, supporting that the surrounding platform is still sold and deployed." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Keep. Local source inspection (`sed`) and git history (`git -c safe.directory log/show`) show a small but live guest support driver added in 2022, with real fixes in 2024 and arm64 enablement merged in September 2025. The 2025 arm64 series broadens applicability to newer confidential-computing guests, which argues against deprecation. No natural in-tree replacement driver exists; this module is the kernel-side exposure path for EFI secret-area injection. Deployment is not mass-market client hardware, but confidential VMs on AMD SEV and Intel TDX remain active cloud/server niches, so `medium` is the right present-day level. URL provenance: initial lore URL came directly from `git log` Link tag; arm64 and 2024 maintenance URLs came from targeted web searches of mailing-list archives; docs.kernel.org URL is canonical recall corroborated by local `Documentation/security/secrets/coco.rst`; Intel and AMD URLs came from web search.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 5, "first_touch_ts": 1649869880, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1758273121, "top_author": "Al Viro", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/guest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Confidential VM TSM guest attestation (AMD SEV-SNP / Intel TDX)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.91, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.zx2c4.com/linux-rng/commit/drivers/virt?id=7515f45c165269b72ee739e6fc26cc2ef928fc1b", "claim": "The directory was created in 2025 as shared guest confidential-computing infrastructure, explicitly as preparation for further TSM guest functionality rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/confidential-computing/confidential-vm/docs/attestation", "claim": "Current cloud documentation describes attestation reports for Confidential VMs using hardware-based TSMs from AMD SEV-SNP and Intel TDX, showing active present-day deployment and user-facing consumption." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/server/epyc/confidential-computing.html", "claim": "AMD states SEV is available on current EPYC 7000/8000/9000 server CPUs and offered by major cloud providers, indicating the underlying confidential-VM hardware ecosystem is still sold and deployed." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection showed this is real kernel module code (configfs-backed tsm_reports plus tsm-mr helper exports), not docs/helpers. Local shell git log showed the directory first landed in March/May 2025 and only has later treewide churn, with no age-based stagnation signal. Web search/open on the git.zx2c4 commit page was used to confirm the 2025 introduction rationale; web-open on Google Cloud attestation docs and AMD confidential-computing docs was used for current deployment evidence. I found no removal discussion in the limited lore/web search window, and the code serves active confidential-VM guest attestation/measurement flows rather than obsolete hardware, so deprecation is not indicated.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 6, "substantive_commits_5y": 1, "first_touch_ts": 1746215536, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1746215536, "top_author": "Dan Williams", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 2, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/pkvm-guest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Arm pKVM protected guest", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.87, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a06c3fad49a50d5d5eb078f93e70f4d3eca5d5a5", "claim": "Initial upstream addition of the Arm pKVM protected guest driver on 2024-08-30, indicating a new driver rather than legacy code awaiting retirement." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d44679fb954ffea961036ed1aeb7d65035f78489", "claim": "Follow-up functional fix landed on 2024-12-03, showing continued upstream maintenance after introduction." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ARM_PKVM_GUEST.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ARM_PKVM_GUEST is present in mainline kernels 6.12 through 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, confirming this is current upstream guest-support code, not removed or orphaned legacy hardware support." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection of Kconfig and arm-pkvm-guest.c showed this directory is real kernel driver code for Arm pKVM protected guests, though it is a guest/virtualization driver rather than a physical-device bus driver. Local shell git log showed only four commits, all between 2024-08-30 and 2024-12-03, with no sign of long-term stagnation; canonical kernel.org commit URLs were formed from those observed hashes. Web search returned the LKDDb page, which confirms the config remains present in current kernels. No removal discussion evidence was found in the available tooling; given the driver's very recent introduction and ongoing confidential-computing relevance on new ARM64 systems, deprecation would be premature. Deployments are likely niche but current, so keep.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 4, "substantive_commits_5y": 4, "first_touch_ts": 1725031841, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1733249420, "top_author": "Will Deacon", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/sev-guest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "AMD SEV-SNP", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.94, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/virt/coco/sev-guest/Kconfig", "claim": "In-tree Kconfig describes this as the 'AMD SEV Guest driver' and says it exposes a userspace interface for attestation reports and related PSP communication." }, { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/c08ba63078dd", "claim": "The driver received a substantive upstream fix in 2025 ('virt: sev-guest: Satisfy linear mapping requirement in get_derived_key()'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/f47906782c76", "claim": "The driver gained/reporting integration work in 2024 ('virt: sevguest: Add TSM_REPORTS support for SNP_GET_EXT_REPORT'), showing feature evolution." }, { "url": "https://www.amd.com/de/developer/sev.html", "claim": "AMD documents SEV/SEV-SNP as a current confidential-computing feature of AMD EPYC server CPUs, so the underlying platform is still current rather than legacy-only." }, { "url": "https://cloud.google.com/confidential-computing/confidential-vm/docs/supported-configurations", "claim": "Google Cloud still documents AMD SEV-SNP Confidential VM support and explicitly references guest attestation support tied to '/dev/sev-guest', evidencing present-day deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver, not a helper/test: local shell inspection of Kconfig and sev-guest.c showed a module_platform_driver_probe()-registered platform driver and miscdevice for SNP guest attestation. Local `git log` on the directory showed steady 2024-2025 upstream activity and no removal/deprecation commits; no active removal signal was found in the local history checks. The three GitHub URLs were obtained by combining local `git remote -v` (upstream torvalds/linux) with the path/commit hashes from local `git log` and `sed`. The AMD and Google Cloud URLs were obtained via web search. Conclusion: this is a current confidential-VM guest driver with ongoing upstream work and live cloud deployments, so keep it.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 46, "substantive_commits_5y": 44, "first_touch_ts": 1651058996, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1755270339, "top_author": "Nikunj A Dadhania", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/coco/tdx-guest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "Intel TDX guest", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/virt/coco/tdx-guest/Kconfig", "claim": "Upstream kernel Kconfig describes this as the TDX Guest driver and shows it depends on INTEL_TDX_GUEST, so this is an active kernel-facing guest driver for Intel TDX rather than legacy helper code." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c3fd16c3b98ed726294feab2f94f876290bf7b61", "claim": "The driver received a substantive fix on 2026-03-20/21, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4d2a7bfad5b79b3a362fc7cfed8d7ddbd263a838", "claim": "The driver gained new measurement/sysfs functionality in 2025, showing feature work in addition to bug fixes." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091103/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html", "claim": "Intel states Intel TDX is supported on 5th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors and Intel Xeon 6, which are current server products beyond 2025." }, { "url": "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/accelerator-engines/trust-domain-extensions.html", "claim": "Intel markets TDX as currently available via cloud providers and says it is widely available with 5th Gen Xeon, supporting ongoing new deployments rather than legacy-only use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Kept because local upstream history shows sustained 2024-2026 maintenance and feature work for a young confidential-VM guest driver; there is no natural replacement beyond the same TDX/TSM stack. Source acquisition: Kconfig and commit evidence came from local tree inspection plus `git log` via shell, with canonical kernel.org URLs attached by stable recall; deployment evidence came from web search results on Intel support/product pages. Lore-first fallback was attempted via `lei`, but `lei` was unavailable in this environment, so removal-talk confidence is indirect rather than from lore query output.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 11, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1668711863, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774065950, "top_author": "Kuppuswamy Sathyanarayanan", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 1, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/nitro_enclaves", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "AWS Nitro Enclaves", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.82, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20210621004046.1419-1-longpeng2@huawei.com/", "claim": "Upstream lore shows substantive device-specific maintenance in 2021 ('Set Bus Master for the NE PCI device')." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220709032001.819487-5-davidgow@google.com/", "claim": "Upstream lore shows 2022 maintenance for the nitro_enclaves tests/KUnit coverage, indicating the code was still being tended after initial merge." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/enclaves/latest/user/nitro-enclave.html", "claim": "AWS documents Nitro Enclaves as a current EC2 feature supported on most Intel, AMD, and Graviton Nitro-based instance types." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/enclaves/latest/user/DocumentHistory.html", "claim": "AWS Nitro Enclaves documentation history records post-launch feature work such as EKS support, Graviton support, and multiple enclaves per instance through 2023." }, { "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ec2/latest/instancetypes/ec2-nitro-instances.html", "claim": "AWS continues to publish current Nitro System instance-family documentation, indicating the underlying platform remains in active new deployment." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/virt/nitro_enclaves/ne_pci_dev.c` and `drivers/virt/nitro_enclaves/ne_misc_dev.c`; it shows no obvious removal/deprecation thread, only limited driver-specific activity in 2021-2022 plus later treewide churn. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` on official AWS docs, which still describe Nitro Enclaves as a current EC2 feature on most Nitro instance types. This is a cloud-niche driver with real current platform relevance but sparse upstream attention, so `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.5539691260869867, "commits_5y": 18, "substantive_commits_5y": 14, "first_touch_ts": 1600775920, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1662058848, "top_author": "Andra Paraschiv", "top_author_commits": 5, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virt/vboxguest", "subsystem": "virt", "chipset_family": "VirtualBox VMMDev guest device", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.79, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250206175114.1974171-33-bvanassche@acm.org/", "claim": "The in-tree vboxguest driver still received upstream touches in 2025, showing it is not abandoned." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220901144610.3550300-1-jiasheng@iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "The driver received nontrivial bug-fix/maintenance work aimed specifically at virt:vbox functionality." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/topics/guestadditions.html", "claim": "VirtualBox still documents Guest Additions as part of current product usage and says they provide closer integration and improved performance for serious VM use." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki", "claim": "VirtualBox remained actively released in 2025, with maintenance releases listed on the project site and the project describing millions of active users." }, { "url": "https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds", "claim": "VirtualBox 7.1 was listed as under active maintenance in 2025, indicating the guest environment this driver serves is still current rather than retired." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Real driver directory: local shell read of Kconfig/vboxguest_linux.c shows a PCI guest driver for VirtualBox integration features and vboxfs IPC. Lore evidence came from lore_activity and lore_file_timeline: activity is sparse but extant, with 2022 fixes and 2025 treewide updates, and no successful evidence of an active removal series in the collected lore results. Web URLs were obtained via web search on virtualbox.org/manual and virtualbox.org/wiki pages showing current Guest Additions docs and active 2025 VirtualBox releases. This is not saleable hardware but a virtual guest niche; keep it, but annotate as niche/low-growth rather than deprecate.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.323833795175117, "commits_5y": 13, "substantive_commits_5y": 9, "first_touch_ts": 1513609941, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1740061167, "top_author": "Randy Dunlap", "top_author_commits": 3, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/virtio", "subsystem": "virtio", "chipset_family": "Virtio paravirtual device/transport framework", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.9, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260424122954.273-4-baver.bae@gmail.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream work in April 2026 touched drivers/virtio/virtio.c as part of an RFC v5 power-management series, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/virtio/index.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation says VirtIO devices are the recommended device models for virtual machines, showing ongoing mainstream deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/arm/virt", "claim": "Current QEMU ARM 'virt' machine documentation lists 32 virtio-mmio devices, showing virtio remains a first-class interface in new VM platforms." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/2026/04/22/qemu-11-0-0/", "claim": "QEMU 11.0.0 release notes from April 22, 2026 highlight new virtio-gpu support, showing active ecosystem investment around virtio-based devices." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is the core virtio transport/framework directory, not obsolete device-specific glue. lore_activity on drivers/virtio/virtio.c returned 32 hits in the last 5 years, including April 2026 PM-series patches; I cite the returned lore_url directly. QEMU deployment evidence was obtained via web search on qemu.org docs/release pages. Broad lore subject scans for removal/deprecation timed out rather than producing hits, so confidence is high but not absolute. Virtio is not physical retail hardware, so hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=false and last_widely_available_year=null, but deployments remain high because virtio is still standard in fresh VM guest deployments. No natural replacement driver exists for the directory as a whole.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.015907101571748933, "commits_5y": 371, "substantive_commits_5y": 362, "first_touch_ts": 1193118594, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774002804, "top_author": "Xuan Zhuo", "top_author_commits": 61, "c_file_count": 20, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/w1", "subsystem": "w1", "chipset_family": "Dallas/Maxim 1-Wire bus and device family", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.85, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251218111414.564403-1-lihaoxiang@isrc.iscas.ac.cn/", "claim": "Upstream was still taking functional fixes for drivers/w1/w1.c in late 2025 ('w1: fix redundant counter decrement in w1_attach_slave_device()')." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/w1/w1-generic.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still describes the w1 subsystem, with active master examples including GPIO and DS2482, and current family drivers such as w1_therm." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds18b20.html", "claim": "The DS18B20 1-Wire thermometer is listed as PRODUCTION with current pricing/sample-and-buy information, indicating new hardware remains on sale." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds2482-100.html", "claim": "The DS2482-100 I2C-to-1-Wire master bridge is listed as PRODUCTION with current pricing/sample-and-buy information, showing contemporary 1-Wire master hardware is still sold." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/w1` is the Linux 1-Wire subsystem core plus bus-family support, not a dead helper directory. `lore_file_timeline(path=drivers/w1/w1.c)` showed recent LKML/stable traffic through 2025-12 and 2026-02; the cited lore URL came from that MCP result. Kernel docs URL was obtained by web search/open on kernel.org and shows the subsystem is still documented with current master/slave roles. ADI DS18B20 and DS2482-100 URLs were obtained by web search/open on analog.com and show PRODUCTION status plus ordering info, so hardware is still sold and deployed in embedded/industrial/hobby Linux systems. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same 1-Wire bus role, and the evidence points to niche-but-real ongoing deployments rather than obsolescence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09338696893077125, "commits_5y": 22, "substantive_commits_5y": 18, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766919130, "top_author": "Thorsten Blum", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 5, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/w1/masters", "subsystem": "w1", "chipset_family": "Dallas/Maxim 1-Wire bus masters", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.86, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260403084450.6314-2-krzk@kernel.org/", "claim": "The ds2490 master driver was still receiving upstream cleanups in April 2026, indicating ongoing maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240307143644.3787260-2-andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com/", "claim": "The w1-gpio master driver saw a 2024 patch series updating device-property handling and related cleanup, showing active upkeep for GPIO-backed 1-Wire deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds2482-100.html", "claim": "ADI lists the DS2482-100 I2C-to-1-Wire bridge as PRODUCTION with sample/buy information, so at least one core 1-Wire master chip family remains on the market." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds9490.html", "claim": "ADI lists the DS9490 USB-to-1-Wire adapter as PRODUCTION, supporting continued availability of DS2490-based USB master hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/w1/masters/w1-gpio.html", "claim": "Kernel documentation still describes w1-gpio for device-tree and GPIO-based systems, consistent with continuing embedded/industrial use rather than pure legacy status." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not a removal candidate: local tree metadata shows 9 C drivers in this directory and substantive touches through 2025-11-11. Lore evidence was obtained with `mcp__lore_http__.lore_activity` on `drivers/w1/masters/ds2490.c` and `drivers/w1/masters/w1-gpio.c`; those URLs show active 2024-2026 maintenance and no removal thread surfaced. Market/deployment evidence was obtained with `web.search_query`: ADI product pages show DS2482-100 and DS9490 still in production, while kernel.org docs show w1-gpio remains a supported path for modern GPIO/device-tree systems. Overall this directory mixes clearly legacy board-specific masters with still-relevant niche industrial/embedded 1-Wire bridges, so the right posture is keep but annotate as niche/legacy-skewed rather than deprecate or remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.09789891692311434, "commits_5y": 47, "substantive_commits_5y": 43, "first_touch_ts": 1143163691, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1762854918, "top_author": "Krzysztof Kozlowski", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/w1/slaves", "subsystem": "w1", "chipset_family": "Maxim/Dallas 1-Wire slave devices", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5922516.html", "claim": "w1_therm received a real bug-fix patch in November 2025, indicating current upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5873720.html", "claim": "w1_ds28e17 also saw a 2025 cleanup/modernization patch, showing ongoing maintainer attention in this directory." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg5003922.html", "claim": "The directory gained new hardware support in late 2023 via DS28EC20 EEPROM support in the ds2433 driver, evidence of continuing functional relevance." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/w1/slaves/index.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still publishes multiple drivers from drivers/w1/slaves, so the subsystem remains live and user-facing upstream." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/w1/slaves/w1_therm.html", "claim": "w1_therm supports several 1-Wire temperature sensors, including DS18B20-class devices, tying the directory to still-used sensor hardware." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds18b20.html", "claim": "DS18B20 is listed as PRODUCTION by Analog Devices, so at least part of this driver family is still sold new." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds28e17.html", "claim": "DS28E17 is listed as PRODUCTION, showing that newer bridge devices covered by this directory are still commercially available." }, { "url": "https://www.analog.com/en/products/ds28ec20.html", "claim": "DS28EC20 is listed as RECOMMENDED FOR NEW DESIGNS/PRODUCTION and is backward-compatible with DS2433, supporting continued relevance of the EEPROM side of this directory." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Not an early-exit case: this is a real driver directory with multiple slave drivers. File list and Makefile were obtained via shell (`rg --files`, `sed`). Upstream activity evidence came from targeted web searches that surfaced recent spinics patch threads for w1_therm, w1_ds28e17, and ds2433/DS28EC20 support. Deployment/sales evidence came from web search hits on current kernel docs and Analog Devices product pages. No modern removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the targeted searches; combined with recent fixes, that argues against deprecate/remove. Recommendation is keep-annotate because hardware is still sold, but overall 1-Wire slave deployments today are niche and mostly industrial/embedded/hobbyist rather than broad new-platform default use.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.07787032978306928, "commits_5y": 49, "substantive_commits_5y": 45, "first_touch_ts": 1143163691, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1766073702, "top_author": "Thomas Weißschuh", "top_author_commits": 11, "c_file_count": 17, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/watchdog", "subsystem": "watchdog", "chipset_family": "Mixed hardware watchdog timers (SoC, Super I/O, PMIC, BMC, PCI/ISA)", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.92, "deployments_today": "high", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-watchdog/20260408-dev-b4-aaeon-mcu-driver-v5-5-ad98bd481668@bootlin.com/", "claim": "April 2026 linux-watchdog traffic includes a new AAEON SRG-IMX8P watchdog driver, indicating ongoing enablement for new embedded hardware." }, { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-watchdog/20260422082736.81981-2-krzysztof.kozlowski@oss.qualcomm.com/", "claim": "April 2026 linux-watchdog traffic includes Qualcomm watchdog maintenance, showing active upstream attention rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://software-dl.ti.com/processor-sdk-linux/esd/AM62X/11_00_09_04/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components/Kernel/Kernel_Drivers/Watchdog.html", "claim": "TI's AM62x Linux SDK documents a watchdog driver sourced from drivers/watchdog/rti_wdt.c for current SoCs, supporting continued new-system deployment." }, { "url": "https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v6.6/watchdog/watchdog-kernel-api.html", "claim": "Kernel.org documents an actively maintained watchdog driver core/framework used by subsystem drivers, indicating the subsystem remains first-class upstream infrastructure." } ], "reasoning_notes": "This is a live driver subsystem, not a single obsolete device family. lore_activity on drivers/watchdog/Kconfig showed fresh 2026 linux-watchdog patches, including new hardware support and routine maintenance; no removal evidence was found in the sampled lore queries. Web search returned current kernel watchdog API docs and TI AM62x SDK documentation tying a contemporary SoC to drivers/watchdog. Because watchdogs remain standard in embedded, industrial, and server platforms, the directory should be kept.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.032787231035694295, "commits_5y": 591, "substantive_commits_5y": 579, "first_touch_ts": 1192703943, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1769783348, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 45, "c_file_count": 184, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/xen", "subsystem": "xen", "chipset_family": "Xen paravirtual guest/device interfaces", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.89, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-patches/20260228180709.1583486-32-sashal@kernel.org/", "claim": "Recent 2026 stable-bound patch traffic touched Xen code paths (\"Partial revert \\\"x86/xen: fix balloon target initialization for PVH dom0\\\"\") with Xen maintainers in trailers, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than abandonment." }, { "url": "https://xenproject.org/blog/xen-project-4-20-oss-virtualization/", "claim": "Xen Project published a 2025 Xen 4.20 release announcement describing ongoing security, performance, and hardware-support work, showing the platform remains current." }, { "url": "https://www.xenserver.com/", "claim": "XenServer markets XenServer 8.4 as production-supported and XenServer 9 as in public preview in 2026, showing active new commercial deployments of the Xen stack." }, { "url": "https://xenproject.org/projects/embedded-and-automotive/", "claim": "The Xen Project explicitly positions Xen for current embedded and automotive deployments across ARMv8, x86-64, and RISC-V, supporting continued non-legacy use." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/xen` is real driver code, confirmed locally via `rg` showing multiple `module_init`/`MODULE_DESCRIPTION` entry points for Xen guest interfaces. Lore evidence came from `lore_activity(file=drivers/xen/balloon.c)` and yielded the cited 2026 Xen-related stable patch URL; the directory-level `lore_file_timeline(drivers/xen/)` returned no matches, likely because it wants file paths, so I relied on per-file lore plus the provided commit statistics. Deployment evidence came from `web.search_query` on Xen Project/XenServer pages. Net: this is an actively maintained virtualization-driver subsystem for a still-deployed hypervisor ecosystem, so removal/deprecation is not supported by the evidence.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.014588128035807531, "commits_5y": 235, "substantive_commits_5y": 223, "first_touch_ts": 1184773664, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1774511871, "top_author": "Juergen Gross", "top_author_commits": 50, "c_file_count": 35, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/xen/events", "subsystem": "xen", "chipset_family": "Xen event channels / PV interrupt ABI", "recommendation_hint": "keep", "confidence": 0.88, "deployments_today": "medium", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg882345.html", "claim": "2025 stable patch traffic included a bug fix for xen/events ('Return -EEXIST for bound VIRQs'), indicating active maintenance rather than retirement." }, { "url": "https://www.spinics.net/lists/stable/msg882321.html", "claim": "2025 stable patch traffic included another xen/events fix ('Update virq_to_irq on migration'), showing current upstream attention to runtime behavior." }, { "url": "https://docs.kernel.org/6.10/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html", "claim": "Current kernel documentation still exposes Xen event-channel tuning knobs such as xen.event_eoi_delay, xen.event_loop_timeout, and xen.fifo_events, showing the subsystem remains supported and user-visible." }, { "url": "https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/i386/xen.html", "claim": "Current QEMU documentation describes Xen guest support, including event channel delivery and Xen PV devices, so the Linux Xen guest interrupt path is still relevant in new virtualized deployments." }, { "url": "https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/xen-project-delivers-xen-4.21-a-modernized-hypervisor-with-broader-architecture-support-and-improved-performance", "claim": "The Xen Project announced Xen 4.21 on November 19, 2025 and positioned Xen for cloud, server, automotive, and embedded workloads, supporting the view that Xen remains in active deployment niches." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Local shell inspection (`rg`, `sed`, `git -c safe.directory ... log`) shows this directory is Xen guest event-channel interrupt core code, built into `events.o`, not dead scaffolding. Web search was used to gather public maintenance/deployment evidence: two spinics stable patch threads show 2025 bug-fix activity for xen/events; docs.kernel.org confirms current kernel-exposed Xen event-channel parameters; QEMU docs confirm current Xen guest/event-channel support; Linux Foundation/Xen release material shows Xen 4.21 was released for ongoing cloud/embedded/automotive use. No removal series surfaced in the lore/spinics search pass. This is not sellable hardware, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025` is false and `last_widely_available_year` is null, but the ABI is still relevant for contemporary Xen-based VM and embedded deployments. No natural replacement driver exists because this code implements the Xen-specific event-channel interrupt mechanism itself.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 33, "substantive_commits_5y": 30, "first_touch_ts": 1389020858, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1768213726, "top_author": "Juergen Gross", "top_author_commits": 13, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/xen/xen-pciback", "subsystem": "xen", "chipset_family": "Xen PCI backend / generic PCI passthrough", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.84, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": true, "last_widely_available_year": 2025, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/xen-devel/20260324005919.2408620-6-dakr@kernel.org/", "claim": "As of 2026-03-24 the driver still receives upstream maintenance; xen-pciback was updated in a PCI core cleanup series rather than a removal series." }, { "url": "https://xenbits.xen.org/docs/4.17-testing/man/xl.1.html", "claim": "Current Xen toolstack documentation still describes making devices assignable by binding them to the pciback driver, indicating the backend remains part of supported Xen PCI passthrough workflows." }, { "url": "https://xenbits.xen.org/docs/unstable/man/xl-pci-configuration.5.html", "claim": "Current Xen PCI configuration documentation still documents passthrough policy knobs around assignable devices, reinforcing that Xen PCI passthrough remains an active feature rather than a retired legacy path." } ], "reasoning_notes": "Shell `rg` on the tree showed `MODULE_DESCRIPTION(\"Xen PCI-device stub driver\")`, so this is a real driver and it is generic to Xen PCI passthrough rather than a vendor chipset. `lore_file_timeline` on the directory path returned no events, likely a directory-prefix blind spot, so I used `lore_activity(file=drivers/xen/xen-pciback/pci_stub.c)` instead; that produced a 2026 patch touching xen-pciback and suggests ongoing maintenance, with no removal evidence in the retrieved lore result. The Xen manual URLs were obtained by `web.search_query`; they show contemporary Xen docs still referring to binding devices to `pciback`, so deployments are not zero, but this is a niche Xen-dom0 passthrough role today. Because the driver is active and still documented, but serves a specialized virtualization niche and has no obvious direct in-tree replacement for Xen dom0 PCI assignment, `keep-annotate` fits better than deprecate/remove.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.04169794719841109, "commits_5y": 24, "substantive_commits_5y": 22, "first_touch_ts": 1311123481, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772634700, "top_author": "Jiqian Chen", "top_author_commits": 4, "c_file_count": 9, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/xen/xenbus", "subsystem": "xen", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: XenBus core/bus infrastructure for Xen paravirtual devices, i.e. an internal virtualization helper subsystem rather than a hardware-bound device driver.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0, "commits_5y": 48, "substantive_commits_5y": 41, "first_touch_ts": 1184773665, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1772634700, "top_author": "Juergen Gross", "top_author_commits": 12, "c_file_count": 8, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": false } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/xen/xenfs", "subsystem": "xen", "chipset_family": "", "recommendation_hint": "not-a-driver", "confidence": 1, "deployments_today": "none", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": null, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [], "reasoning_notes": "Not a driver directory: contains Xen control/pseudo-filesystem code (xenfs) exposing hypervisor interfaces, not kernel-bound hardware device driver code.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.2258289739907157, "commits_5y": 3, "substantive_commits_5y": 3, "first_touch_ts": 1231432259, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1763274902, "top_author": "Al Viro", "top_author_commits": 1, "c_file_count": 3, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } }, { "kind": "dossier", "driver_path": "drivers/zorro", "subsystem": "zorro", "chipset_family": "Amiga Zorro II/III AutoConfig bus", "recommendation_hint": "keep-annotate", "confidence": 0.8, "deployments_today": "low", "hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025": false, "last_widely_available_year": 1994, "replacement_driver": null, "sources": [ { "url": "https://lore.kernel.org/linux-m68k/20240618073205.65303-1-jiapeng.chong@linux.alibaba.com/", "claim": "Recent upstream activity still touches drivers/zorro; at least one 2024 patch updated this directory, indicating it is not fully abandoned." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ZORRO.html", "claim": "CONFIG_ZORRO remains present in current kernels as Amiga Zorro (AutoConfig) bus support, and is tied to CONFIG_AMIGA rather than generic platforms." }, { "url": "https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ZORRO8390.html", "claim": "Other in-tree drivers still depend on CONFIG_ZORRO, so drivers/zorro is shared bus infrastructure rather than an isolated dead leaf." }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro_III", "claim": "Zorro III is the Amiga 3000-era expansion bus introduced in 1990, placing the hardware family firmly in legacy Amiga territory rather than new mainstream deployments." } ], "reasoning_notes": "`drivers/zorro` is real kernel bus-driver code, not docs/tests: local tree inspection showed module_init/platform_driver bus support in `zorro.c`. Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline(drivers/zorro/zorro.c)`, which showed only sparse 2023-2024 maintenance cleanups and no inspected removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search: LKDDB pages show ZORRO still gates a few in-tree dependent drivers, while the Wikipedia Zorro III page identifies the bus as Amiga-era hardware from 1990. Recommendation is `keep-annotate`: hardware is clearly legacy and current deployments are low/retro, but the subsystem still has downstream dependents and some upstream maintenance, so deprecation/removal would be premature without a broader m68k/Amiga retirement plan.", "phase1": { "dormancy_score": 0.19099164575371397, "commits_5y": 16, "substantive_commits_5y": 10, "first_touch_ts": 1113690036, "last_substantive_touch_ts": 1757939417, "top_author": "Uwe Kleine-König", "top_author_commits": 2, "c_file_count": 6, "is_mega_subsystem": false, "has_driver_marker": true } } ] }