STMicroelectronics STi and STM32 SoC thermal sensors
On-chip temperature sensors built into STMicroelectronics system-on-chip parts: the older STi set-top-box and consumer SoCs (such as the STiH407 family) and the newer STM32MP1 microprocessors used in industrial, IoT, smart-home, medical, and smart-city products. The kernel reads these sensors so the system can throttle or shut down when the silicon overheats.
recommendation
It should stay because the STM32MP157 line it supports is still in volume production and actively sold by ST in 2025, and the code itself is still being maintained upstream, with cleanup patches landing as recently as mid-2025 and early 2026. Because these sensors are baked into the SoC silicon, no other driver can replace them, so removing the directory would leave current ST-based boards without thermal protection.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
`drivers/thermal/st/stm_thermal.c` was still receiving upstream maintenance in January 2026, indicating the STM32 thermal driver is active rather than abandoned.
- lore.kernel.org
`drivers/thermal/st/st_thermal_memmap.c` was still being refactored in June 2025, showing the older ST path also still sees upstream care.
- st.com
STM32MP157 is an STMicroelectronics MPU line aimed at industrial, smart city, smart home, medical, and IoT applications, supporting ongoing real deployments.
- st.com
STM32MP157F-EV1 is marked Active and in volume production, supporting that STM32MP157-based hardware was still sold new beyond 2025.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local file/Kconfig inspection shows this directory covers two real hardware families: legacy STi SoC thermal blocks (`st,stih407-thermal`) and STM32 thermal (`st,stm32-thermal`, Kconfig tied to STM32MP157). `lore_file_timeline` produced the cited 2025-06 and 2026-01 lore URLs, showing continuing maintenance rather than removal. ST product pages were obtained by `web.search_query` on official `st.com` pages and show STM32MP157 remains an active deployment target; that keeps the whole directory relevant even if STi is older. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-integrated thermal sensors, so recommendation is keep.