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.
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.
