Queued yesterday into the platform-drivers-x86.git’s "for-next" branch are the patches for the Lenovo ThinkPad ACPI driver to begin reporting damaged device detection. This code being in the "for-next" branch makes it material for the next version of the Linux kernel and initially will be able to report to the user on damaged USB-C ports.

A month ago I wrote about patches being under review for detecting hardware damage under Linux for ThinkPads. This is based on functionality baked into newer ThinkPads and initially is tailored around reporting on damage to USB-C replaceable connectors. With time we’ll see if this damaged hardware detection is rolled out to more components within ThinkPad laptops.

With the initial patches last month there was just a simple hardware damage status of damaged / not damaged. With this code in the x86 platform driver’s for-next branch, /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hwdd_status is added for indicating the hardware damage "HWDD" status of damaged or not damaged. Via /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hwdd_detail is then for providing more details on any hardware damage, such as the the physical location of the damaged USB-C port on the laptop, such as "TYPE-C: Base, Right side, Center port"

Useful information to know if the USB-C damage may not be so physically visible to the end-user. With this patch and that patch making it into the for-next branch at this time, it should be submitted as material for the upcoming Linux 6.20~7.0 kernel cycle.