Wireless USB + UWB Demotion Goes Ahead For Linux 5.4

Back in August I noted that Wireless USB and Ultra Wideband would be deprecated within the Linux kernel and that is indeed happening for Linux 5.4.

The Wireless USB (WUSB) and Ultra Wideband (UWB) subsystems within the Linux kernel were already orphaned for years with having no maintainer while now they are officially deprecated and demoted to the kernel's staging area. If no one steps up soon to maintain the code, it will be dropped in forthcoming kernel releases.

As outlined last month, The Wireless USB standard hasn't been updated in nearly a decade with Bluetooth and WiFi having various bandwidth and distance advantages, among other factors. Wireless USB was built on top of the Ultra WideBand radio platform, with the Linux kernel code for UWB also facing the chopping block in-step with WUSB. There aren't any known devices still using WUSB/UWB at least any products of relevance.

Punting of WUSB+UWB down to the kernel's staging area happened with the USB changes for Linux 5.4 along with many other smaller USB driver changes.