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Tracker Reports

Vendor BSP Status, November 2026: Which Kernel Branches Moved, and Who Has to Act?

Vendor BSP status for 14 October to 13 November 2026: which vendor kernel branches moved on the tracker, the before and after values, and who needs to act.

Vendor BSP Status, November 2026: Which Kernel Branches Moved, and Who Has to Act?

STMicroelectronics now publishes a Linux 6.18 kernel branch for the STM32MP1 and STM32MP2, and the unversioned wrynose branch of its Yocto layer builds only that kernel, while the versioned release still builds Linux 6.6. The branch the tracker follows, and its projected December 2027 end of upstream fixes, have not changed. Teams shipping on the ST BSP should plan an evaluation of 6.18, which has a later projected end of life. Teams on the Allwinner T507 and T527 BSP are on Linux 5.15, for which kernel.org projects an end of life in December 2026.

This report covers the changes in vendor BSP status between 14 October and 13 November 2026, as shown on the TECH VEDA BSP tracker, which was read on 13 November 2026. It is the first report in this series, so each “before” value is the one recorded at the weekly refresh of 11 October 2026. Each “now” value was read again on 13 November from the vendor’s git repository or from kernel.org. Branch dates are committer dates of the newest commit, in UTC.

What changed in vendor BSP status

ItemBeforeNowDate of changeSource
ST STM32MP1 and STM32MP2: vendor kernel and Yocto layerOne vendor kernel branch on record, v6.6-stm32mp. Versioned layer release wrynose_v26.02.18 builds Linux 6.6.A v6.18-stm32mp kernel branch exists (Makefile version 6.18.37). The unversioned wrynose layer branch carries only a Linux 6.18 kernel recipe. The versioned release still builds 6.6, so the tracked branch is unchanged.23 October 2026 (kernel branch head); 28 October 2026 (layer branch head)STMicroelectronics git
Renesas RZ/G2L: branch the tracker followsrz-6.12-cip14rz-6.12-cip15. Linux 6.12 in both cases. This is a change in the branch we follow, not a new kernel series.30 October 2026 (cip15 branch head)Renesas RZ git
Qualcomm QCS6490: qcom-6.18.y head11 October 202612 November 2026. A qcom-7.3 branch also exists (head 11 November 2026) and is not tracked.12 November 2026Qualcomm Linux git
TI AM335x, AM62A, AM62x and J721E: ti-linux-6.18.y head8 October 20265 November 2026. A ti-linux-7.3.y branch also exists (head 10 November 2026) and is not tracked.5 November 2026Texas Instruments git
AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC: xlnx_rebase_v6.18_LTS head4 September 20264 November 20264 November 2026Xilinx git
Microchip SAMA7G5: linux-6.18-mchp head1 October 20266 November 20266 November 2026Microchip git

No change in vendor BSP status this period moved a SoC to a different kernel series, and no projected end-of-life date in the kernel.org longterm table differs from the one on record. The last four rows are routine: the vendor continues to commit to the branch it already maintained.

STM32MP1 and STM32MP2: a Linux 6.18 branch exists, the versioned release still builds 6.6

The record held one ST kernel branch for these parts, v6.6-stm32mp, whose newest commit is dated 1 June 2026. The repository now also has v6.18-stm32mp, with a Makefile that declares Linux 6.18.37 and a newest commit dated 23 October 2026. In the Yocto layer meta-st-stm32mp, the plain wrynose branch (newest commit 28 October 2026) contains a 6.18 kernel recipe and no 6.6 recipe. The versioned release branch wrynose_v26.02.18 contains a 6.6 recipe and no 6.18 recipe.

The tracker follows the versioned release, so both ST rows still show Linux 6.6. kernel.org projects the end of life of the 6.6 series for December 2027 and of the 6.18 series for December 2028; both are projections, not fixed dates. How a vendor branch and a kernel end-of-life date combine is explained in SoC Kernel Support: How to Tell If Yours Has Already Lapsed.

Who is affected: any product built on the ST BSP for the STM32MP1 or STM32MP2, and any Yocto build that pins meta-st-stm32mp by branch name. A manifest that names plain wrynose now resolves to a branch that builds a different kernel series from the versioned release.

What to do:

  • Now: check which layer branch your manifest pins and which kernel the target reports. Pin a release branch or a commit, not the plain branch name.
  • Do not move a shipping product to the unversioned branch. Use it on a development board to list the drivers and device tree changes that need porting to 6.18.
  • If the product must receive kernel fixes after December 2027, complete and validate the move to a 6.18 release before that month.
raghu@techveda.org:~$ git ls-remote --heads https://github.com/STMicroelectronics/meta-st-stm32mp.git 'wrynose*'
raghu@techveda.org:~$ git ls-remote --heads https://github.com/STMicroelectronics/linux.git 'v6.*-stm32mp'
root@stm32mp2:~# uname -r

RZ/G2L: the tracker now follows rz-6.12-cip15

On 2 November 2026 the tracker’s RZ/G2L row moved from rz-6.12-cip14 to rz-6.12-cip15. The record held 25 May 2026 as the last commit date of the cip14 branch, while cip15 was receiving commits; its newest commit is dated 30 October 2026. Both branches are Linux 6.12, for which kernel.org projects an end of life in December 2028, so the security date for this SoC is the same as before.

One observation qualifies the record: read on 13 November 2026, the cip14 branch head carries a committer date of 11 November 2026, so that branch is not frozen. Teams on the Renesas BSP should check which CIP branch their kernel recipe pins and, if it is cip14, compare it with cip15 before the next maintenance release.

Qualcomm and TI now publish Linux 7.3 branches

The Qualcomm repository has a qcom-7.3 branch and the TI repository has a ti-linux-7.3.y branch. The tracker continues to follow qcom-6.18.y and ti-linux-6.18.y. The reason is the kernel.org longterm table, which on 13 November 2026 lists six series (6.18, 6.12, 6.6, 6.1, 5.15 and 5.10) and does not list 7.3.

Teams on the QCS6490 and on the TI AM335x, AM62A, AM62x and J721E need take no action. A product baseline should stay on the 6.18 branch unless kernel.org lists 7.3 as a longterm series.

Unchanged but worth noting

  • NXP i.MX6ULL, i.MX8M Plus and i.MX93: the lf-6.18.y branch head is still dated 8 September 2026. Last verified 13 November 2026.
  • Rockchip RK3588 and RK3588S: the develop-6.1 branch head is still dated 29 July 2026. Last verified 13 November 2026.
  • Allwinner T507 and T527: the tracker still shows Linux 5.15 for this BSP, and kernel.org still projects December 2026 for the end of that series. The kernel.org table was last verified on 13 November 2026.

Next dates

One date in the vendor BSP status table falls within the next 60 days. kernel.org projects the end of life of the Linux 5.15 and 5.10 longterm series for December 2026. The table gives a month and no day, and the date is a projection by the stable maintainers. On this tracker it applies to the Allwinner T507 and T527 row. A team shipping that BSP has to choose between a newer vendor kernel, mainline, and backporting security fixes itself.

What was checked and what could not be verified

Checked on 13 November 2026 for this vendor BSP status report: the live tracker page and its BSP status table; the kernel.org releases page and releases.json; and the head commit of each kernel branch named in this report, read from the vendor’s public git repository.

Not verified in this run: the TI branches were read from TI’s public mirror and not from its primary git host. The full branch list of the ST layer was not read, so this report does not state that wrynose_v26.02.18 is the newest versioned release. The Allwinner, Amlogic and NVIDIA rows were not re-read against a vendor source. The tracker page, last refreshed on 8 November, shows 6 November 2026 for qcom-6.18.y; the table gives the repository value.

Key takeaways

  • The main change in vendor BSP status is on the ST STM32MP1 and STM32MP2: a 6.18 kernel branch and an unversioned layer branch that builds it now exist beside the versioned 6.6 release.
  • The RZ/G2L row follows a different branch of the same Linux 6.12 kernel, and the Qualcomm and TI 7.3 branches are not tracked because kernel.org does not list 7.3 as a longterm series.
  • Linux 5.15 is projected by kernel.org to reach end of life in December 2026, which affects the Allwinner T507 and T527 row.
Was this worth your time?

Frequently asked questions

Has the security date for the STM32MP1 or STM32MP2 changed?

No. The tracker follows the versioned ST release, which still builds Linux 6.6. kernel.org projects the end of life of the 6.6 series for December 2027.

Is it safe to pin the plain wrynose branch of meta-st-stm32mp?

It is not a stable reference. The plain wrynose branch now builds Linux 6.18, while the versioned release branch wrynose_v26.02.18 builds Linux 6.6. Pin a release branch or a commit.

Which date on this vendor BSP status report is closest?

December 2026, the month kernel.org projects for the end of life of Linux 5.15 and 5.10. On this tracker it applies to the Allwinner T507 and T527 row.

References

RB
Raghu Bharadwaj

Founder, TECH VEDA — 20+ years teaching the Linux kernel, device drivers and embedded systems.

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