drivers/net/ethernet/cirrus · deprecate

Cirrus Logic CS89x0 and EP93xx Ethernet controllers

Support for Cirrus Logic's CS8900/CS8920 ISA Ethernet chips that were common in embedded boards and older Macs from the late 1990s, plus the Ethernet MAC built into the EP93xx family of ARM9 system-on-chips that Cirrus shipped through the 2000s for industrial and point-of-sale gear.

deprecate conf=0.82 last_sold=2022 deploy=low replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-ethernet

82%

recommendation

A candidate for future removal because the underlying silicon is no longer manufactured: Cirrus formally end-of-lifed the CS8900A line in 2022 and the EP9302 SoC is marked obsolete at distributors. Andrew Lunn has already floated netdev patches to delete the cs89x0 and mac89x0 drivers, but the EP93xx Ethernet code still received fresh device-tree work in 2024, so the directory cannot be deleted wholesale yet — the legacy halves should be retired while EP93xx support continues for the remaining embedded users.

repository signals

6 files

3,829 source lines

21 commits, 5y

+103 / −90 lines added / removed, 5y

11 authors, 5y

monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 21 total · active in 16/61 months

sources

lore.kernel.org
Andrew Lunn posted a 2026 netdev patch to remove the cs89x0 driver, showing active upstream removal discussion for part of this directory.
lore.kernel.org
Andrew Lunn also posted a 2026 netdev patch to remove the mac89x0 driver, covering another legacy driver in this directory.
lore.kernel.org
EP93xx Ethernet still saw non-trivial upstream work in 2024 via a device-tree support series, so the whole directory is not uniformly dead.
jp.cirrus.com
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.
digikey.com
DigiKey marks EP9302-CQZ (an EP93xx SoC with integrated Ethernet) as obsolete and no longer manufactured.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

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.