Marvell OCTEON 10 CN20K Admin Function networking support
Admin Function support code for the networking blocks (NIX packet interface, NPA buffer allocator, and mailbox paths) on Marvell's OCTEON 10 CN20K family of DPUs and infrastructure processors. These chips power current-generation carrier, enterprise, edge, and cloud networking gear that Marvell actively sells to OEMs.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because the code is brand new, actively maintained, and supports hardware Marvell is still selling. The subtree landed in June 2025 with follow-up NIX, NPA, and debugfs work as recently as October 2025, and the underlying OCTEON 10 family is positioned by Marvell as a current product line for networking devices. No removal discussions are visible upstream.
repository signals
sources
- kernel.org
Kernel documentation describes Marvell OcteonTX2 RVU AF/PF/VF networking drivers and explicitly discusses CN10K-era hardware support in the same driver family.
- marvell.com
Marvell product page lists OCTEON 10 DPU family members including CN102/CN103/CN106/CN106S and positions the family for current edge, carrier, enterprise, and cloud deployments.
- marvell.com
Marvell announced OCTEON 10 CN102/CN103 as broadly available to OEMs for product design and pilot production, indicating active commercialization of the CN10K family.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local inspection (`rg` in the directory) shows real hardware-specific AF support code for CN20K NIX/NPA/mailbox paths, not tests or docs. Local git history (`git -c safe.directory=... log`) shows the subtree was introduced in June 2025 and received follow-up debugfs/NPA/NIX work in October 2025, which is recent maintenance rather than abandonment. I attempted lore-first evidence via `lei q`, but `lei` is unavailable in this environment; fallback web searches on lore produced no indexed removal-thread hits. URLs were obtained by web search (`site:marvell.com OCTEON 10...`) and direct search result selection for kernel.org docs. Given very recent upstream activity, no visible removal discussion, and Marvell's still-marketed OCTEON 10 family, this should be kept rather than deprecated.