linux-drivers/
drivers/gpu/drm/renesas/rcar-du

Renesas R-Car and RZ/G Display Unit (DU)

The display controller block built into Renesas R-Car Gen3 automotive SoCs and RZ/G1 and RZ/G2 industrial application processors, which drives LCD panels, HDMI outputs, and DSI displays in cars, factory HMIs, and building-automation gear from the mid-2010s through today.

keep conf=0.90 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=gpu category=graphics-display
90%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because the hardware is current: Renesas still actively sells RZ/G2 SoCs for industrial and HMI use in 2025, and the driver itself sees ongoing upstream development (a 2025 DSI command patch series and 2026 bridge/encoder cleanup work), with no removal discussion in sight.

repository signals

28 files
9,712 source lines
53 commits, 5y
+11,129 / −1,311 lines added / removed, 5y
20 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 53 total · active in 21/61 months
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sources

  1. spinics.net

    August 31, 2025 patch series adds DSI command support for drm/rcar-du, indicating active feature work rather than maintenance-only status.

  2. spinics.net

    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.

  3. renesas.com

    Renesas markets RZ/G2 MPUs for industrial/building-automation HMI systems and highlights long-term Linux support, implying ongoing deployments.

  4. renesas.com

    A specific supported SoC family member (R8A774B1 / RZ/G2N) is listed as Active by Renesas, with display-oriented attributes and distributor purchasing path.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

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.