# Removing Drivers For Outdated ARM Platforms Will Lighten The Kernel By ~247k Lines

DevFeed: [Removing Drivers For Outdated ARM Platforms Will Lighten The Kernel By ~247k Lines](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/removing-drivers-for-outdated-arm-platforms-will-lighten-the-kernel-by-247k-lines-17441.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.phoronix.com/news/Branch-Remove-Old-ARM-Drivers>)

Author: Michael Larabel

Published: 2026-09-14T13:32:47Z

Content type: news

Language: en

Sources: [Phoronix](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/phoronix.md>)

Topics: [Linux](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux.md>), [Arm](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/arm.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>), [Git](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/git.md>)

Tags: [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [desktop-linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/desktop-linux.md>), [developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer.md>), [drivers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/drivers.md>), [git](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/git.md>), [kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kernel.md>), [linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux.md>), [linux-benchmarking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-benchmarking.md>), [linux-hardware-benchmarks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-hardware-benchmarks.md>), [linux-hardware-reviews](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-hardware-reviews.md>), [linux-how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-how-to.md>), [linux-performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-performance.md>), [linux-server-benchmarks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-server-benchmarks.md>), [open-source-graphics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source-graphics.md>), [phoronix](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/phoronix.md>), [phoronix-test-suite](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/phoronix-test-suite.md>), [platforms](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/platforms.md>), [source](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/source.md>), [ubuntu-benchmarks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ubuntu-benchmarks.md>), [ubuntu-hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ubuntu-hardware.md>)

## AI overview

Linux is removing support for obsolete 32-bit ARM platforms and their associated drivers. The changes could delete roughly 247,000 lines of code, likely in Linux 7.5, although the kernel source tree contains nearly 41 million lines overall.

## Source excerpt

The Linux kernel is going to see the removal of a number of recently deprecated ARM 32-bit platforms. Following the deprecation in Linux 7.3, removing the old ARM platforms will lighten the kernel by around 55k lines of code. But removing now unused drivers only relevant to those platforms will mean roughly a quarter million lines of code can be removed from the kernel source tree...