MONTREAL, Aug. 8, 2025 – Intel‘s ongoing corporate restructuring has lead too more Linux drivers being marked as “orphaned,” signaling a potential reduction in maintenance and support for these components.This follows recent news about Intel’s CPU temperature monitoring driver also being left unmaintained.
Linux Driver Maintenance under Threat
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More Intel-developed drivers are losing dedicated maintainers within the Linux kernel, raising concerns about their future.
- Several Intel-developed Linux drivers have been flagged as orphaned in recent patch submissions.
- Maintainer entries for developers who have left Intel are being removed.
- This trend impacts drivers for Ethernet RDMA, PTP DFL ToD, WWAN IOSM, Keem Bay DRM, Kprobes, and T7XX 5G WWAN.
- The long-term support for these drivers is now uncertain without active maintainers.
What is happening to intel’s Linux drivers? As of today, more patches have been submitted to the public Linux kernel mailing list, officially marking additional Intel drivers as orphaned and removing the maintainer entries for developers no longer with the company.
Did you know? – “Orphaned” drivers lack dedicated maintainers, meaning no one is actively updating or fixing them. this can lead to security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues over time. The Linux kernel relies on community contributions to keep drivers current.
Ethernet and FPGA Connectivity Affected
Among the affected drivers is the Intel Ethernet RDMA driver. While it retains a co-maintainer, one of its previous maintainers, Mustafa ismail, is no longer employed by Intel. Additionally, the Intel PTP DFL ToD driver, responsible for time-of-day devices on FPGA cards, has been marked as orphaned. This follows previous changes to other Intel FPGA DFL maintainers.
WWAN and Display Drivers Face Uncertainty
The Intel WWAN IOSM driver is another driver now orphaned,a situation not entirely surprising given Intel’s exit from the WWAN and modem business years ago. Maintainer M Chetan Kumar is no longer at Intel. This driver, previously used in some chromebooks, remains in the kernel for now but is vulnerable to degradation without maintenance.
Pro tip: – Users of affected hardware should monitor kernel updates closely. If a driver is orphaned, consider alternative drivers or community-maintained forks. Report any issues to the Linux kernel community for potential solutions.
The Intel Keem Bay DRM driver also saw one of its maintainers depart, though another co-maintainer remains. Furthermore,the Linux kernel’s Kprobes code,crucial for debugging and performance profiling,is no longer overseen by an Intel engineer,as Anil S Keshavamurthy has left the company.
Intel’s T7XX 5G WWAN driver also appears to have lost its two dedicated engineers from Intel, with no new maintainers listed.
