The kernel's TTY layer, which provides the shared plumbing behind text terminals, virtual consoles, serial ports, pseudo-terminals, and line disciplines. Almost every interactive Linux session — from a login prompt on a serial console to an xterm running bash — passes through this code.
This is not a single hardware driver; it is the top-level directory housing the core TTY/serial framework along with many individual drivers built on top of it. It cannot be evaluated for keep-or-remove as one unit, since removing it would take out essentially all terminal and serial-port functionality in Linux.
repository signals
239files
191,493source lines
2,977commits, 5y
+58,243 / −41,441lines added / removed, 5y
508authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 2,977 total · active in 60/61 months
sources
No sources cited.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not a driver directory: top-level TTY subsystem directory containing core TTY/serial infrastructure and multiple drivers, not one kernel-bound hardware driver.