QLogic 10Gb "QLGE" Ethernet Driver Set To Be Removed From The Linux Kernel

For those that happen to have QLogic 10Gb PCIe Ethernet adapters, the mainline Linux kernel is planning to remove this driver from the kernel source tree unless any active users step-up.

While QLogic was acquired by Cavium in 2016 and in turn Marvell acquired Cavium in 2018, there still are QLogic 10Gb Ethernet adapters out in the market and in various servers. A quick search showed some QLogic 10Gbe wired network adapters still being available from the likes of Amazon for around $75 USD. The QLogic 10Gb Ethernet adapter has also been found in use within some Dell adapters. But, unfortunately, no one is maintaining this QLogic QLGE and thus right now is planned for removal from the Linux kernel source tree.

The QLGE driver had been living within the Linux kernel's staging area but hasn't seen any activity since January 2021. With no one stepping up to maintain the driver and also to improve the code to get it merged into the networking subsystem proper, it's now slated for removal in Linux 6.7.

Queued in staging-next is the patch to "retire" this driver. With nearly three years of no driver improvements, it's being removed, but can be reverted later if users of the QLogic 10Gb Ethernet hardware supported by this driver make it known they are still using the latest upstream Linux kernel versions. Barring that from happening, with the driver removal set in "staging-next", this driver removal will happen with the upcoming Linux 6.7 cycle.

staging: qlge: Retire the driver

No significant improvements have been done to this driver since commit a7c3ddf29a78 ("staging: qlge: clean up debugging code in the QL_ALL_DUMP ifdef land") in January 2021. The driver should not stay in staging forever. Since it has been abandoned by the vendor and no one has stepped up to maintain it, delete it.

If some users manifest themselves, the driver will be restored to drivers/net/ as suggested in the linked message.

While some like to think of Linux running on everything from toasters to automobiles and especially old hardware, it is only that way for as long as the code/drivers are still being maintained. As has become more common in recent years, older hardware support is being phased out as developers move away from maintaining the code and no one else stepping up to properly maintain the in-kernel code.

Removing this QLogic network driver lightens the Linux kernel source tree by 10.8k lines of code.