Query: Y2038 patch series for 3.18 Kernel

[Arnd Bergmann]

On Tue, Jan 20, 2026, at 02:05, syrus wrote:
> From: [Syrus] <[syrus.lssu at ingenic.com]>
>
> Hi Arnd, all,
>
> Thanks for the discussion. While kernel upgrade solves Y2038 for new
> projects, our legacy devices on 3.10.14 kernel face upgrade challenges
> due to driver compatibility and limited resources (limited manpower, 
> communication barriers between different departments and companies, etc.).
>
> Has anyone successfully backported Y2038 fixes to older kernels like
> 3.10.x? I'm looking for patch summaries or experiences with such
> backports, or at least a summary of the commit history that addresses
> this issue. Any guidance on key subsystems to focus on would be very
> helpful for maintaining our legacy devices.

Hi Syrus,

As I replied earlier, anything older than 5.4 has pretty much no
chance of getting the kernel backports.

If you are specifically working on Ingenic's own SoC support,
I do think that you are in luck as these seem to be fairly well
supported in recent kernels, based on the work that Paul Cercueil
has done over the years, at least for the chips that ended up
in popular development boards and gaming handhelds (jz4725,
jz4740, jz4760, jz4770).

If there are specific drivers that are not yet supported upstream
but work on the patched 3.10 kernel, I'm sure you can find
consulting companies that are able to port those drivers as well.

     Arnd