docs/about/build-platforms.rst

   1 .. _Supported-build-platforms:
   2
   3 Supported build platforms
   4 =========================
   5
   6 QEMU aims to support building and executing on multiple host OS
   7 platforms. This appendix outlines which platforms are the major build
   8 targets. These platforms are used as the basis for deciding upon the
   9 minimum required versions of 3rd party software QEMU depends on. The
  10 supported platforms are the targets for automated testing performed by
  11 the project when patches are submitted for review, and tested before and
  12 after merge.
  13
  14 If a platform is not listed here, it does not imply that QEMU won't
  15 work. If an unlisted platform has comparable software versions to a
  16 listed platform, there is every expectation that it will work. Bug
  17 reports are welcome for problems encountered on unlisted platforms
  18 unless they are clearly older vintage than what is described here.
  19
  20 Note that when considering software versions shipped in distros as
  21 support targets, QEMU considers only the version number, and assumes the
  22 features in that distro match the upstream release with the same
  23 version. In other words, if a distro backports extra features to the
  24 software in their distro, QEMU upstream code will not add explicit
  25 support for those backports, unless the feature is auto-detectable in a
  26 manner that works for the upstream releases too.
  27
  28 The `Repology`_ site is a useful resource to identify
  29 currently shipped versions of software in various operating systems,
  30 though it does not cover all distros listed below.
  31
  32 Supported host architectures
  33 ----------------------------
  34
  35 Those hosts are officially supported, with various accelerators:
  36
  37   .. list-table::
  38    :header-rows: 1
  39
  40    * - CPU Architecture
  41      - Accelerators
  42    * - Arm
  43      - kvm (64 bit only), tcg, xen
  44    * - MIPS
  45      - kvm, tcg
  46    * - PPC
  47      - kvm, tcg
  48    * - RISC-V
  49      - tcg
  50    * - s390x
  51      - kvm, tcg
  52    * - SPARC
  53      - tcg
  54    * - x86
  55      - hax, hvf (64 bit only), kvm, nvmm, tcg, whpx (64 bit only), xen
  56
  57 Other host architectures are not supported. It is possible to build QEMU system
  58 emulation on an unsupported host architecture using the configure
  59 ``--enable-tcg-interpreter`` option to enable the TCI support, but note that
  60 this is very slow and is not recommended for normal use. QEMU user emulation
  61 requires host-specific support for signal handling, therefore TCI won't help
  62 on unsupported host architectures.
  63
  64 Non-supported architectures may be removed in the future following the
  65 :ref:`deprecation process<Deprecated features>`.
  66
  67 Linux OS, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
  68 -----------------------------------------
  69
  70 The project aims to support the most recent major version at all times. Support
  71 for the previous major version will be dropped 2 years after the new major
  72 version is released or when the vendor itself drops support, whichever comes
  73 first. In this context, third-party efforts to extend the lifetime of a distro
  74 are not considered, even when they are endorsed by the vendor (eg. Debian LTS).
  75
  76 For the purposes of identifying supported software versions available on Linux,
  77 the project will look at CentOS, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL, SLES and
  78 Ubuntu LTS. Other distros will be assumed to ship similar software versions.
  79
  80 For FreeBSD and OpenBSD, decisions will be made based on the contents of the
  81 respective ports repository, while NetBSD will use the pkgsrc repository.
  82
  83 For macOS, `Homebrew`_ will be used, although `MacPorts`_ is expected to carry
  84 similar versions.
  85
  86 Windows
  87 -------
  88
  89 The project supports building with current versions of the MinGW toolchain,
  90 hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora).
  91
  92 The version of the Windows API that's currently targeted is Vista / Server
  93 2008.
  94
  95 .. _Homebrew: https://brew.sh/
  96 .. _MacPorts: https://www.macports.org/
  97 .. _Repology: https://repology.org/