TI PRU-ICSSG Industrial Ethernet for AM64x/AM65x Sitara SoCs
The on-chip Programmable Real-Time Unit Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSSG) Ethernet ports built into Texas Instruments' AM64x and AM65x Sitara processors. These provide gigabit Ethernet with time-sensitive networking and industrial protocol offloads (HSR/PRP, PROFINET, EtherCAT-style use cases) on factory-automation and motor-control boards shipping from roughly 2020 onward.
recommendation
It should stay because the underlying TI Sitara AM64x and AM65x parts are still marketed as actively-sold products in 2025 and the driver is seeing steady upstream maintenance, including 2026 bug fixes for offload-mode pings, HSR dependency handling, and an XDP memory leak. No alternative driver can replace it since the PRU-ICSSG Ethernet block is an on-SoC peripheral specific to these chips.
repository signals
sources
- docs.kernel.org
Upstream kernel documentation identifies this as the Texas Instruments ICSSG PRUETH Ethernet driver and documents current features/firmware integration.
- software-dl.ti.com
TI SDK documentation lists PRU_ICSSG Ethernet supported platforms as AM64X and AM65X and describes the driver as a maintained Linux netdev/NAPI driver.
- ti.com
TI lists AM6442 as ACTIVE and its product page advertises 2x PRU_ICSSG industrial communication subsystems, showing the underlying hardware is still sold.
- ti.com
TI lists AM6548 as ACTIVE and describes three PRU_ICSSG subsystems with industrial Ethernet use cases, showing the AM65x family is still sold.
- spinics.net
A February 26, 2026 netdev patch fixes an ICSSG offload-mode ping failure, indicating active upstream bug-fix traffic rather than retirement.
- spinics.net
A February 11, 2026 net/stable thread shows an ICSSG optional-HSR dependency patch applied to netdev/net.git, indicating ongoing upstream integration work.
- spinics.net
A March 13, 2026 review on an ICSSG XDP memory-leak fix shows current maintenance activity in the driver.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: local `rg` inspection found platform compatibles `ti,am654-icssg-prueth` and `ti,am642-icssg-prueth` in `icssg_prueth.c`. `lei` was unavailable in the sandbox, so upstream-history evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` on public mailing-list mirrors (Spinics) plus kernel/TI docs opened from search results. Evidence shows fresh 2026 bug-fix and stable-backport traffic, no removal/deprecation discussion, and vendor product pages still mark AM64x/AM65x parts ACTIVE. No natural replacement exists for the same on-SoC PRU_ICSSG Ethernet/TSN/offload function, so `keep` is the defensible recommendation.