For the current Linux 7.3 kernel [1]many older 32-bit ARM platforms are deprecated and in turn orphaning hundreds of drivers only relevant to those out-of-date ARM platforms. The removal of that now deprecated code is planned for the next kernel cycle or two.

A lot of old 32-bit ARM code is on the chopping block after being deprecated. This is happening since a lot of this old kernel code has become a burden to upstream kernel developers in getting in the way of further code clean-ups and delivering new kernel features. While the likelihood of anyone still running a very dated 32-bit ARM platform and running a mainline, upstream Linux kernel release in 2026+ is likely very miniscule.

Arnd Bergmann sent out today a set of 13 patches dropping the deprecated ARM platforms and in turn freeing up more than 55k lines of code and Device Tree files. After that more of those orphaned drivers can be removed for even greater code savings.

ARM platforms removed include SA1100, Footbridge, RISCPC, Orion / Dove / MV78xx0, OMAP24xx, i.MX31, i.MX targets without an MMU, LPC18xx, STM32f4/f7/h7 MCUs, Versatile MPS2, AT91 SAMV7, Axxia, and legacy PXA board files.

Arnd noted in [2]the patches sent out today while they could be merged for the upcoming Linux 7.4 kernel, he's leaning towards seeing them all removed for Linux 7.5 to keep the dependencies simple and also being past this year's Long Term Support (LTS) kernel version. Delaying the removals until Linux 7.5 also provides more time for any lingering users to argue the case for justifying any of these to-be-removed targets.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.3-SoC

[2] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260908152808.3928630-1-arnd@kernel.org/