- Sources: Phoronix on the SoC pull request, Phoronix on the Btrfs pull request
- Summary: The SoC pull request for the 7.3 merge window marks the remaining 32-bit ARM board files deprecated, quoting maintainer Arnd Bergmann on a removal date for platforms that still build today. The Btrfs pull request lands direct I/O and fsync improvements, with direct I/O throughput reported as roughly doubling on the same hardware. Both claims are sourced to Phoronix rather than to the pull requests themselves, because the lore archive has been unreachable from this run environment since 2026-07-26 behind a proof-of-work gate. Status is developing: the merge window is open, 7.3 is not released, and the ARM platforms are marked deprecated rather than removed.
- Why it matters: Maintainers put a removal date on 32-bit ARM platforms that still build today, and Btrfs direct I/O roughly doubles on the same hardware.
- Follow-up: Confirm the 32-bit ARM deprecation and the Btrfs changes against the merged 7.3 tree, and establish the stated removal release.
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