drivers/char

Character device drivers subsystem directory

A top-level kernel source directory that collects dozens of unrelated character-device drivers, ranging from hardware random number generators and IPMI interfaces to legacy TTY helpers, NVRAM access, and various miscellaneous chips. It is an organisational bucket rather than a single piece of hardware support.

not-a-driver conf=1.00 deploy=none replacement=none subsystem=char category=not-a-driver
100%

recommendation

This is not actually a driver directory; it is a container holding many independent character-device drivers under one roof. Any keep-or-remove decisions need to happen at the level of the individual subdirectories and files inside it, not the directory as a whole.

repository signals

216 files
91,821 source lines
1,130 commits, 5y
+24,578 / −28,507 lines added / removed, 5y
307 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 1,130 total · active in 59/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 5 commits · +31 −38 2021-05: 40 commits · +2,724 −927 2021-06: 21 commits · +1,919 −1,100 2021-07: 10 commits · +182 −57 2021-08: 10 commits · +52 −65 2021-09: 18 commits · +962 −362 2021-10: 18 commits · +380 −193 2021-11: 11 commits · +41 −186 2021-12: 33 commits · +437 −165 2022-01: 38 commits · +520 −827 2022-02: 68 commits · +2,254 −2,458 2022-03: 29 commits · +474 −336 2022-04: 35 commits · +463 −441 2022-05: 30 commits · +605 −700 2022-06: 18 commits · +524 −88 2022-07: 15 commits · +65 −416 2022-08: 12 commits · +65 −72 2022-09: 19 commits · +167 −117 2022-10: 31 commits · +1,108 −1,994 2022-11: 49 commits · +498 −383 2022-12: 7 commits · +133 −46 2023-01: 18 commits · +538 −104 2023-02: 15 commits · +170 −7,443 2023-03: 15 commits · +44 −61 2023-04: 11 commits · +385 −44 2023-05: 22 commits · +190 −102 2023-06: 32 commits · +242 −208 2023-07: 37 commits · +264 −318 2023-08: 25 commits · +108 −227 2023-09: 19 commits · +561 −150 2023-10: 7 commits · +33 −138 2023-11: 7 commits · +12 −1,566 2023-12: 23 commits · +73 −87 2024-01: 5 commits · +8 −4 2024-02: 7 commits · +18 −23 2024-03: 14 commits · +36 −51 2024-04: 29 commits · +1,734 −129 2024-05: 12 commits · +59 −100 2024-06: 23 commits · +244 −72 2024-07: 14 commits · +525 −232 2024-08: 16 commits · +96 −46 2024-09: 10 commits · +58 −34 2024-10: 17 commits · +532 −167 2024-11: 6 commits · +277 −179 2024-12: 4 commits · +28 −27 2025-01: 6 commits · +14 −13 2025-02: 15 commits · +316 −106 2025-03: 33 commits · +986 −465 2025-04: 24 commits · +524 −282 2025-05: 9 commits · +43 −37 2025-06: 13 commits · +188 −184 2025-07: 21 commits · +941 −103 2025-08: 18 commits · +219 −197 2025-09: 17 commits · +560 −376 2025-10: 10 commits · +98 −62 2025-11: 23 commits · +343 −3,759 2025-12: 11 commits · +112 −87 2026-01: 11 commits · +158 −101 2026-02: 10 commits · +218 −192 2026-03: 0 commits · +0 −0 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

No sources cited.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Not a driver directory: top-level character-device subsystem directory containing many unrelated drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.