SPI NAND flash framework and vendor chip support
The generic Linux stack for serial-peripheral-interface NAND flash chips, plus per-vendor ID tables covering parts from GigaDevice, Macronix, Micron, Winbond, Kioxia, ESMT, Foresee and others. SPI NAND is the small, cheap raw-flash storage commonly soldered into routers, IoT gateways, set-top boxes, and other embedded Linux devices.
recommendation
It should stay because this is the kernel's current generic SPI NAND subsystem, not a legacy holdover, and the hardware is still being designed in. New chip support and core features such as Octal DTR mode were posted upstream in January 2026, and parts like Macronix MX35LF2G24AD and Winbond's W25N01GV and W35N02JW OctalNAND are still in mass production and stocked by major distributors.
repository signals
sources
- spinics.net
An Octal DTR support series for SPI NAND was posted in January 2026, indicating active upstream feature development rather than retirement.
- spinics.net
The SPI NAND core itself received a dedicated 'Add octal DTR support' patch in January 2026.
- spinics.net
A new Foresee SPI NAND chip support patch was reviewed and applied in January 2026, showing ongoing enablement of new hardware.
- winbond.com
Winbond listed the W35N02JW OctalNAND part as 'Mass Production', showing this class of SPI NAND hardware is still shipping in the mid-2020s.
- digikey.com
Macronix MX35LF2G24AD SPI NAND was listed by a major distributor as an active product, supporting continued market availability.
- digikey.com
Winbond W25N01GV SPI NAND was listed by a major distributor as an active product, supporting continued deployment in embedded designs.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
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.