linux-drivers/
drivers/gpu/drm/vc4

Broadcom VideoCore IV/V GPU and display driver for Raspberry Pi

Drives the Broadcom VideoCore IV and VideoCore VI GPUs and HDMI/composite display controllers found on Raspberry Pi single-board computers, handling everything from the framebuffer and HDMI output to OpenGL acceleration. It is the graphics backbone of the Raspberry Pi platform from the original Pi through the Pi 4 and related VideoCore-based boards.

keep conf=0.96 deploy=high replacement=none subsystem=gpu category=graphics-display
96%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because it powers the display pipeline and 3D graphics on every mainstream Raspberry Pi board, hardware that Raspberry Pi Ltd. is still manufacturing and selling new in 2025-2026. Upstream activity is healthy, with fresh patch series landing on dri-devel as recently as March 2026, and there is no alternative in-tree driver that covers the same Broadcom VideoCore hardware.

repository signals

37 files
28,327 source lines
533 commits, 5y
+13,784 / −5,616 lines added / removed, 5y
70 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 533 total · active in 54/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 3 commits · +65 −3 2021-05: 25 commits · +499 −248 2021-06: 5 commits · +11 −11 2021-07: 7 commits · +102 −72 2021-08: 8 commits · +144 −75 2021-09: 9 commits · +114 −125 2021-10: 19 commits · +680 −132 2021-11: 13 commits · +33 −39 2021-12: 5 commits · +207 −43 2022-01: 14 commits · +126 −98 2022-02: 15 commits · +578 −105 2022-03: 15 commits · +202 −90 2022-04: 10 commits · +36 −57 2022-05: 1 commit · +1 −0 2022-06: 61 commits · +1,035 −331 2022-07: 59 commits · +1,192 −620 2022-08: 21 commits · +416 −328 2022-09: 5 commits · +35 −5 2022-10: 8 commits · +104 −40 2022-11: 21 commits · +469 −160 2022-12: 35 commits · +2,351 −423 2023-01: 11 commits · +34 −52 2023-02: 3 commits · +23 −65 2023-03: 11 commits · +366 −186 2023-04: 3 commits · +13 −12 2023-05: 1 commit · +18 −29 2023-06: 0 commits · +0 −0 2023-07: 6 commits · +73 −90 2023-08: 1 commit · +5 −1 2023-09: 2 commits · +24 −14 2023-10: 2 commits · +3 −3 2023-11: 1 commit · +3 −6 2023-12: 2 commits · +15 −2 2024-01: 2 commits · +2 −4 2024-02: 0 commits · +0 −0 2024-03: 3 commits · +6 −6 2024-04: 5 commits · +33 −26 2024-05: 3 commits · +109 −649 2024-06: 33 commits · +698 −474 2024-07: 0 commits · +0 −0 2024-08: 3 commits · +80 −83 2024-09: 2 commits · +7 −3 2024-10: 28 commits · +3,228 −263 2024-11: 2 commits · +3 −4 2024-12: 12 commits · +93 −303 2025-01: 1 commit · +1 −1 2025-02: 8 commits · +64 −102 2025-03: 4 commits · +30 −4 2025-04: 6 commits · +195 −57 2025-05: 2 commits · +3 −3 2025-06: 1 commit · +6 −6 2025-07: 2 commits · +57 −85 2025-08: 0 commits · +0 −0 2025-09: 1 commit · +2 −4 2025-10: 1 commit · +23 −0 2025-11: 0 commits · +0 −0 2025-12: 0 commits · +0 −0 2026-01: 3 commits · +108 −16 2026-02: 4 commits · +43 −47 2026-03: 4 commits · +15 −8 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. spinics.net

    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.

  2. raspberrypi.com

    Official Raspberry Pi product page shows Raspberry Pi 4 hardware still being sold and states production through at least January 2026.

  3. kernel.org

    Kernel documentation identifies vc4 as the Broadcom VideoCore graphics/display driver used on Raspberry Pi hardware.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

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.