Xilinx/AMD FPGA soft Ethernet MAC cores (AXI Ethernet, EmacLite, LL TEMAC)
Configurable Ethernet MAC IP cores instantiated inside Xilinx (now AMD) FPGAs and adaptive SoCs such as Zynq, Zynq UltraScale+, and Versal. The family covers the lightweight EmacLite, the higher-performance AXI 1G/2.5G Ethernet Subsystem, and the older Tri-Mode LL TEMAC, used in embedded, industrial, and networking FPGA designs from the mid-2000s to today.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because all three drivers are actively maintained, with fixes landing in netdev as recently as 2025 and 2026, and AMD continues to sell the underlying Ethernet IP cores for current Zynq UltraScale+ and Versal FPGA and SoC families. Deployment is niche compared to mass-market NICs but meaningful across embedded, industrial, and networking FPGA designs, so there is no case for deprecation.
repository signals
sources
- spinics.net
AXI Ethernet is still receiving netdev fixes in 2026, and a March 31, 2026 series was applied to netdev/net.
- spinics.net
EmacLite received a bug fix in July 2025 which patchwork-bot reports as applied to netdev/net.
- spinics.net
LL TEMAC received a fix in July 2025 which patchwork-bot reports as applied to netdev/net-next.
- amd.com
AMD still markets the AXI 1G/2.5G Ethernet Subsystem for current FPGA/SoC families including Versal and Zynq UltraScale+.
- amd.com
AMD still markets the Tri-Mode Ethernet MAC IP core for current and recent FPGA/SoC families, indicating ongoing availability.
- cateee.net
EmacLite remains present in current kernel configuration data through 7.0 and supports multiple Xilinx Ethernet Lite compatibles.
- cateee.net
AXI Ethernet remains present in current kernel configuration data through 7.0-rc+HEAD.
- cateee.net
LL TEMAC remains present in current kernel configuration data through 6.19-rc+HEAD.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local `exec_command` inspection showed this directory contains three real platform drivers (`xilinx_emaclite`, `xilinx_axienet`, `ll_temac`) with active entry points, not helper-only code. Local `git -c safe.directory=... log` showed substantial 2024-2026 maintenance, including March 2026 axienet fixes plus 2025 ll_temac and emaclite fixes. `lei` was unavailable in shell, so upstream-activity URLs were obtained with `web.search_query` on public mailing-list mirrors (spinics); those show applied patch traffic and no removal/deprecation thread surfaced in the available search results. AMD product URLs were obtained via `web.search_query`; LKDDb URLs were obtained via direct `web.open`. Because the hardware is still sold as AMD FPGA IP and the drivers are actively maintained, there is no supportable case for deprecation or removal. Deployment is not mass-market NIC scale, but remains meaningful in embedded/industrial/networking FPGA designs, so `medium` fits best.