QEMU 9.1, the latest version of the open-source machine emulator and virtualization software, has been released, bringing enhanced hardware support and emulation functionalities, particularly for ARM and RISC-V architectures.
The new release, arriving over four months after QEMU 9.0, integrates compression offload support through Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA) or User Space Accelerator Development Kit (UADK). It also improves on postcopy failure recovery capabilities.
Moreover, QEMU 9.1 now supports VIRTIO_F_NOTIFICATION_DATA, which enables guest drivers to provide additional information when sending device notifications, which can be useful for performance diagnostics or debugging. Support for the guest-network-get-route command on Linux platforms and guest-ssh-* commands on Windows has also been included.
In terms of ARM enhancements, the update includes emulation support for various architectural features like FEAT_NMI, FEAT_CSV2_3, FEAT_ETS2, FEAT_Spec_FPACC, FEAT_WFxT, and FEAT_Debugv8p8. It also adds nested/two-stage page table support for emulated SMMUv3, xilinx_zynq board support which incorporates cache controller and multi-CPU compatibility, and B-L475E-IOT01A board support featuring a DM163 display.
For RISC-V, it adds support for Zve32x, Zve64x, Zimop, Zcmop, Zama16b, Zabha, Zawrs, and Smcntrpmf extensions, support for privileged architecture specification version 1.13, and enhances debug/GDB support.
For LoongArch, it adds support for booting an ELF kernel directly, support for running up to 256 vCPUs via the extioi virt extension, and enhances debug/GDB support. For SPARC, it adds emulation support for FMAF, IMA, VIS3, and VIS4 architecture features.
For x86, the QEMU 9.1 release introduces CPU emulation support for Icelake-Server-v7, SapphireRapids-v3, and Sierra Forest processors, as well as KVM support for running AMD SEV-SNP guests. On top of that, this release also brings security fixes for QEMU NBD server and NBD TLS encryption.
Last but not least, QEMU 9.1 enhances command line support for configuring allowed or blocked commands. For more details, check out the full list of changes on the official website, from where you can also download QEMU 9.1 if you fancy compiling it from sources, otherwise install it from your distro’s repositories.
Last updated 2 hours ago