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⇱ Qualcomm Packet Processing Engine "PPE" Going Upstream For Linux 6.18 - Phoronix


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Qualcomm Packet Processing Engine "PPE" Going Upstream For Linux 6.18

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Networking on 29 August 2025 at 04:51 AM EDT. 2 Comments
Recently queued into the Linux networking subsystem's net-next branch ahead of the Linux 6.18 merge window is the Qualcomm PPE driver to support their Packet Processing Engine on select SoCs.

Qualcomm's Packet Processing Engine is found on their IPQ SoCs like the IPQ9574. The Qualcomm PPE is a specialized accelerator for offloading network functions around routing, switching, QoS traffic management, and similar tasks rather than bogging down the CPU cores with the work.

The Qualcomm PPE Linux driver work is initially tailored to the Qualcomm Networking Pro 820 Platform "IPQ9574". The PPE is able to handle different offloading like bridging, routing, and security tasks to ease work on the CPU cores.

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Those interested in more information on this Qualcomm PPE Linux driver can find all the details via this net-next commit. With the Qualcomm Packet Processing Engine in net-next, it should be part of the mainline Linux 6.18 kernel later this year barring any last minute problems that would hold up its merging.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.