Broadcom BCM2711, BCM2835, BRCMSTB, Northstar and Stingray on-chip thermal sensors
On-chip temperature sensors built into several generations of Broadcom system-on-chip processors, including the BCM2835 and BCM2711 used in the Raspberry Pi line, the BRCMSTB chips used in set-top boxes, and the Northstar and Stingray families used in networking gear. They let the kernel read die temperature so thermal throttling and fan control can react before the chip overheats.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because the underlying hardware is still manufactured and sold new in 2025 — Raspberry Pi has publicly committed to producing BCM2711-based boards through at least January 2034 — and the code is still receiving routine cleanup work upstream as recently as early 2026. Because each thermal block is baked into the SoC, there is no alternative driver that could replace it.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
bcm2835_thermal.c still received upstream cleanup work in January 2026, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
Broadcom thermal code in this directory was part of a wider thermal cleanup series in September 2025; this is maintenance activity, not a removal/deprecation series.
- raspberrypi.com
Raspberry Pi 4 uses Broadcom BCM2711 and the page states production continues until at least January 2034, showing covered hardware is still sold new well beyond 2025.
- raspberrypi.com
Compute Module 4S is also BCM2711-based and marked in production until at least January 2034, supporting ongoing embedded/industrial deployments for this driver family.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: local Kconfig/c-file inspection shows five platform thermal drivers for BCM2711, BCM2835, BRCMSTB, Northstar, and Stingray SoCs. lore_activity(tool) on bcm2835_thermal.c and bcm2711_thermal.c showed 2025-2026 patches; sampled lore showed cleanup traffic, not removal. Web search(tool) found official Raspberry Pi BCM2711 product pages with explicit production-through-2034 statements, so hardware is still sold new in 2025 and deployments remain substantial. No natural replacement driver exists because these are SoC-specific on-chip thermal blocks.