AMD EPYC Side-Band Remote Management Interface (SB-RMI/APML)
Provides BMC-side access to AMD's Side-Band Remote Management Interface and Advanced Platform Management Link on EPYC server processors, letting a server's management controller read telemetry and control power, thermals, and other platform features over an I2C or I3C side-band bus. It is used in modern AMD EPYC server platforms, including 4th and 5th Gen (Turin/9005-series) systems.
recommendation
It should stay because this is an actively developed driver for managing current AMD EPYC server processors out-of-band from a baseboard management controller. Commits through late 2025 added support for 5th Gen EPYC (Turin) parts, the newer protocol revision, and I3C alongside I2C, and AMD continues to sell the server CPUs it manages. There is no sign of a removal trajectory.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Local git history shows an October 22, 2025 commit adding Turin platform support to this driver, indicating ongoing enablement for then-current EPYC server hardware.
- git.kernel.org
Local git history shows a substantive touch on February 27, 2026 related to the combined I3C/I2C dependency path used by this driver, indicating active upstream maintenance rather than retirement.
- cateee.net
LKDDb lists CONFIG_AMD_SBRMI_I2C in kernels 6.16-6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, with module sbrmi-i2c and help text stating it is for AMD out-of-band management on the BMC.
- amd.com
AMD announced availability of 5th Gen EPYC processors, formerly codenamed Turin, on October 10, 2024.
- amd.com
AMD still markets 5th Gen EPYC 9005 server CPUs on its current product site, supporting the conclusion that the managed-node hardware family remained sold new in 2025 and beyond.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Keep. This is a very new BMC-side management driver, not legacy baggage: local source inspection via exec_command shows Kconfig help explicitly targets AMD out-of-band management on the BMC and rmi-i2c.c supports both I2C and I3C. Upstream activity evidence came from exec_command git log; SHAs were then mapped to canonical kernel.org commit URLs by stable URL recall. That log shows feature growth in late 2025 (I3C, Turin, rev 0x21 protocol work, BMC clarification) and another substantive touch on 2026-02-27, with no sign of a removal trajectory. Deployment is niche versus mainstream client hardware, but relevant for current AMD EPYC server/BMC fleets, so 'medium' fits better than 'low'. URL acquisition: AMD and LKDDb pages were obtained via web search; kernel.org commit URLs were canonical recall built from SHAs gathered with exec_command.