MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport) network interface
Presents a MOST150 automotive infotainment bus as an ordinary Linux network interface, letting cars built around Microchip's MOST silicon (OS81118 and similar INICs) carry IP traffic alongside the audio and video streams the bus was designed for. MOST was widely adopted by Daimler and other carmakers for in-vehicle infotainment networks in the 2000s and 2010s.
recommendation
Worth keeping but flagging as legacy: Microchip still sells the underlying MOST150 chips and documents the surrounding software stack in 2025, so removal would be premature. However the code lives in staging, has only seen sparse cleanup work (the last meaningful change was in 2022), and real-world deployments are niche and automotive rather than growing, so it should be labelled as low-activity legacy hardware support.
repository signals
sources
- cateee.net
CONFIG_MOST_NET is still present through 6.19-rc+HEAD and builds module most_net from drivers/staging/most/net/Kconfig.
- lkml.iu.edu
A 2022 mailing-list entry exists for "[PATCH] staging: most: net: Make use of the helper macro LIST_HEAD()", matching the directory's last substantive touch timeframe.
- microchip.com
Microchip lists OS81118 MOST150 INIC as "In Production," indicating related MOST150 hardware was still sold new in 2025.
- microchip.com
Microchip still documents active MOST25/MOST50/MOST150 NetServices and names current INIC families including OS81118/OS81119, showing the ecosystem persists.
- microchip.com
MOST150 was used for automotive infotainment platforms and had broad historical OEM deployment, but the cited adoption evidence is from the 2010s rather than recent mass-market rollouts.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: net.c implements a Linux net_device over the MOST core. Local shell inspection of Kconfig/net.c identified it as the networking AIM for MOST; local git log showed only sparse maintenance, with the last meaningful touch in 2022 and no sign of sustained development. Web search on lore/lkml found 2020-2022 cleanup traffic and no obvious active removal series; cited LKML URL was obtained via web search. LKDDb URL was obtained via web search and supports that the config still exists at HEAD. Microchip product and NetServices URLs were obtained via web search and show MOST150 silicon/software remains offered, so removal looks premature; however deployments appear niche automotive/legacy rather than growing, so keep the driver but annotate it as low-activity legacy hardware support.