linux-drivers/
drivers/hwtracing/coresight

Arm CoreSight on-chip debug and trace IP

CoreSight is Arm's family of on-chip debug and trace hardware blocks (ETM, ETE, TRBE, STM, CTI, TMC, TPDM/TPDA, CPU debug and more) embedded across the SoC fabric of nearly every modern Arm and Arm64 processor. It lets developers capture instruction traces, system events, and performance data from running CPUs, used heavily in mobile, server, embedded, and automotive Arm platforms.

keep conf=0.95 deploy=high replacement=none subsystem=hwtracing category=infrastructure
95%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because CoreSight is the standard on-chip debug and tracing framework built into virtually every modern Arm SoC, and the subsystem is under active development with hundreds of recent commits, dozens of contributors, and ongoing patch traffic from Qualcomm, Renesas, and others as of 2026. Arm still sells CoreSight components like SoC-600 and STM-500 for new silicon, so the upstream support remains essential for performance analysis and debugging on current Arm hardware.

repository signals

59 files
35,934 source lines
428 commits, 5y
+16,458 / −5,280 lines added / removed, 5y
70 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 428 total · active in 54/61 months
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sources

  1. lore.kernel.org

    Active upstream feature work for CoreSight continued in April 2026, including a v17 patch series touching CTCU/TMC/ETR code.

  2. lore.kernel.org

    New SoC enablement for CoreSight was still being added in April 2026 via Renesas device-tree support.

  3. docs.kernel.org

    Upstream kernel documentation treats CoreSight as a current, supported tracing subsystem with multiple active component drivers and user documentation.

  4. arm.com

    Arm still markets CoreSight SoC-600 as a current debug/trace IP product, indicating the hardware family remains relevant for new designs.

  5. arm.com

    Arm still markets current CoreSight components such as STM-500, supporting the conclusion that CoreSight-based hardware is still sold for new systems.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Recommendation is keep: prompt metadata already shows 422 substantive commits in 5y, 62 authors, and a most recent touch on 2026-01-21. I confirmed live upstream activity with lore_activity on drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-core.c, which surfaced April 2026 CoreSight patches, and lore_substr_subject on 'coresight' showed current Qualcomm and Renesas patch traffic. Removal/deprecation-specific lore queries timed out rather than producing evidence of a removal series. Shell rg over drivers/hwtracing/coresight/Kconfig shows broad ARM/ARM64 support and many active component drivers (ETM4x/ETE, TRBE, STM, CTI, TMC, TPDM/TPDA, CPU debug). Web search provided the kernel docs URL and current Arm product pages for CoreSight SoC-600 and STM-500. This is not a legacy one-off chipset driver; it is the upstream Linux framework for contemporary Arm on-chip trace/debug IP, with no natural replacement beyond the same subsystem.