NXP i.MX8M and i.MX9 application processor SoC support
SoC-level glue code for NXP's i.MX8M and i.MX9 families of ARM application processors, widely used in industrial gateways, single-board computers, automotive infotainment, and embedded Linux products. It handles chip identification, system reset control, and other platform plumbing that the rest of the kernel relies on when running on these chips.
recommendation
It should stay because both chip families are currently in production: NXP markets the i.MX93 and i.MX8M lines as active and under its long-term longevity program, so new boards keep shipping in 2025. Upstream maintenance is healthy too, with stable backports and cleanup patches landing as recently as 2026, and there is no replacement driver because this is the native mainline support for the silicon.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Recent 2026 stable-bound fix touched drivers/soc/imx/soc-imx8m.c, showing ongoing upstream maintenance rather than retirement.
- lore.kernel.org
Recent 2026 cleanup patch touched drivers/soc/imx/soc-imx9.c, showing active mainline attention for i.MX9 support.
- nxp.com
NXP lists the i.MX93 family as Active, indicating the supported i.MX9 hardware remains current.
- nxp.com
NXP lists the i.MX8M family as Active and under its longevity program, indicating continued new-market relevance for i.MX8M parts.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real SoC driver code (task metadata plus local shell inspection found module_platform_driver in imx93-src.c and MODULE_DESCRIPTION strings for i.MX8M/i.MX9). lore_file_timeline showed sustained activity on soc-imx8m.c through 2026 with a real bug-fix/stable backport; lore_file_timeline also showed recent 2025-2026 maintenance and feature support work on soc-imx9.c. No removal/deprecation evidence was found; a lore_regex removal search timed out rather than producing hits, so there is no positive removal signal. Web search on official NXP product pages shows both i.MX93 and i.MX8M families marked Active, so hardware is still sold and used in ongoing embedded/industrial deployments. Replacement driver: none; this code is the native upstream support for these SoC families. Source acquisition: lore URLs via lore_file_timeline / lore_regex, NXP URLs via web search.