linux-drivers/
drivers/mtd/nand/raw

Raw/parallel NAND flash controllers

Controllers that talk to raw (parallel) NAND flash chips — bare memory dies without an embedded controller like an SSD or eMMC. They are ubiquitous in embedded and industrial systems: routers, set-top boxes, IoT gateways, and OEM boards from vendors like Broadcom, Marvell, NXP, TI, and Qualcomm, where a small SoC drives NAND directly to hold firmware and root filesystems.

keep conf=0.89 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=mtd category=storage-flash
89%

recommendation

It should stay because the subtree is actively maintained, with substantive fixes landing across multiple controllers in 2025 and stable backports flowing as recently as 2026 (for example the brcmnand controller). Raw NAND parts are still sold new in 2025 by vendors like KIOXIA for industrial and OEM designs, so a meaningful population of shipping embedded Linux devices depends on this code.

repository signals

102 files
81,346 source lines
579 commits, 5y
+13,549 / −9,007 lines added / removed, 5y
163 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 579 total · active in 60/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 11 commits · +70 −17 2021-05: 26 commits · +963 −175 2021-06: 14 commits · +1,422 −130 2021-07: 2 commits · +8 −2 2021-08: 4 commits · +24 −13 2021-09: 36 commits · +144 −143 2021-10: 6 commits · +94 −78 2021-11: 12 commits · +126 −36 2021-12: 16 commits · +1,694 −341 2022-01: 22 commits · +355 −106 2022-02: 4 commits · +61 −28 2022-03: 5 commits · +18 −9 2022-04: 15 commits · +318 −726 2022-05: 6 commits · +34 −43 2022-06: 14 commits · +293 −87 2022-07: 14 commits · +92 −58 2022-08: 6 commits · +19 −21 2022-09: 13 commits · +107 −165 2022-10: 11 commits · +79 −43 2022-11: 2 commits · +6 −4 2022-12: 5 commits · +29 −27 2023-01: 7 commits · +192 −579 2023-02: 5 commits · +25 −60 2023-03: 11 commits · +49 −24 2023-04: 1 commit · +91 −175 2023-05: 3 commits · +10 −8 2023-06: 11 commits · +336 −256 2023-07: 38 commits · +827 −545 2023-08: 30 commits · +210 −359 2023-09: 11 commits · +18 −21 2023-10: 7 commits · +28 −19 2023-11: 11 commits · +203 −254 2023-12: 9 commits · +86 −24 2024-01: 1 commit · +2 −1 2024-02: 19 commits · +299 −181 2024-03: 6 commits · +97 −10 2024-04: 2 commits · +5 −6 2024-05: 13 commits · +476 −426 2024-06: 3 commits · +36 −28 2024-07: 1 commit · +2 −2 2024-08: 17 commits · +124 −97 2024-09: 3 commits · +239 −10 2024-10: 10 commits · +123 −128 2024-11: 6 commits · +463 −1,571 2024-12: 7 commits · +1,151 −4 2025-01: 2 commits · +44 −3 2025-02: 8 commits · +68 −46 2025-03: 2 commits · +849 −2 2025-04: 8 commits · +30 −17 2025-05: 7 commits · +231 −35 2025-06: 1 commit · +5 −4 2025-07: 9 commits · +75 −23 2025-08: 7 commits · +41 −1,287 2025-09: 17 commits · +439 −355 2025-10: 20 commits · +621 −95 2025-11: 3 commits · +7 −4 2025-12: 1 commit · +1 −1 2026-01: 9 commits · +23 −42 2026-02: 6 commits · +50 −47 2026-03: 3 commits · +17 −6 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. cateee.net

    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.

  2. spinics.net

    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.

  3. americas.kioxia.com

    KIOXIA markets RAW SLC NAND for OEM and industrial use, showing raw NAND hardware is still sold for new embedded deployments.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

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.