Merge tag 'pull_error_handle_fix_use_after_free.v1' of https://github.com/stefanberge...

[mirror_qemu.git] / docs / about / build-platforms.rst

diff --git a/docs/about/build-platforms.rst b/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
index e9163ba5563f28e0122a8ae57e96a0d6c1e15310..89cae5a6bb987b15f7b430e5a1a41e87b17c527c 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
+++ b/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
@@ -41,12 +41,12 @@ Those hosts are officially supported, with various accelerators:
      - Accelerators
    * - Arm
      - kvm (64 bit only), tcg, xen
-   * - MIPS
+   * - MIPS (little endian only)
      - kvm, tcg
    * - PPC
      - kvm, tcg
    * - RISC-V
-     - tcg
+     - kvm, tcg
    * - s390x
      - kvm, tcg
    * - SPARC
@@ -67,11 +67,15 @@ Non-supported architectures may be removed in the future following the
 Linux OS, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
 -----------------------------------------
 
-The project aims to support the most recent major version at all times. Support
+The project aims to support the most recent major version at all times for
+up to five years after its initial release. Support
 for the previous major version will be dropped 2 years after the new major
 version is released or when the vendor itself drops support, whichever comes
 first. In this context, third-party efforts to extend the lifetime of a distro
-are not considered, even when they are endorsed by the vendor (eg. Debian LTS).
+are not considered, even when they are endorsed by the vendor (eg. Debian LTS);
+the same is true of repositories that contain packages backported from later
+releases (e.g. Debian backports). Within each major release, only the most
+recent minor release is considered.
 
 For the purposes of identifying supported software versions available on Linux,
 the project will look at CentOS, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL, SLES and
@@ -83,15 +87,59 @@ respective ports repository, while NetBSD will use the pkgsrc repository.
 For macOS, `Homebrew`_ will be used, although `MacPorts`_ is expected to carry
 similar versions.
 
+Some build dependencies may follow less conservative rules:
+
+Python runtime
+  Distributions with long-term support often provide multiple versions
+  of the Python runtime.  While QEMU will initially aim to support the
+  distribution's default runtime, it may later increase its minimum version
+  to any newer python that is available as an option from the vendor.
+  In this case, it will be necessary to use the ``--python`` command line
+  option of the ``configure`` script to point QEMU to a supported
+  version of the Python runtime.
+
+  As of QEMU |version|, the minimum supported version of Python is 3.6.
+
+Python build dependencies
+  Some of QEMU's build dependencies are written in Python.  Usually these
+  are only packaged by distributions for the default Python runtime.
+  If QEMU bumps its minimum Python version and a non-default runtime is
+  required, it may be necessary to fetch python modules from the Python
+  Package Index (PyPI) via ``pip``, in order to build QEMU.
+
+Optional build dependencies
+  Build components whose absence does not affect the ability to build
+  QEMU may not be available in distros, or may be too old for QEMU's
+  requirements.  Many of these, such as the Avocado testing framework
+  or various linters, are written in Python and therefore can also
+  be installed using ``pip``.  Cross compilers are another example
+  of optional build-time dependency; in this case it is possible to
+  download them from repositories such as EPEL, to use container-based
+  cross compilation using ``docker`` or ``podman``, or to use pre-built
+  binaries distributed with QEMU.
+
+
 Windows
 -------
 
-The project supports building with current versions of the MinGW toolchain,
-hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora).
-
-The version of the Windows API that's currently targeted is Vista / Server
-2008.
+The project aims to support the two most recent versions of Windows that are
+still supported by the vendor. The minimum Windows API that is currently
+targeted is "Windows 8", so theoretically the QEMU binaries can still be run
+on older versions of Windows, too. However, such old versions of Windows are
+not tested anymore, so it is recommended to use one of the latest versions of
+Windows instead.
+
+The project supports building QEMU with current versions of the MinGW
+toolchain, either hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora) or via `MSYS2`_ on Windows.
+A more recent Windows version is always preferred as it is less likely to have
+problems with building via MSYS2. The building process of QEMU involves some
+Python scripts that call os.symlink() which needs special attention for the
+build process to successfully complete. On newer versions of Windows 10,
+unprivileged accounts can create symlinks if Developer Mode is enabled.
+When Developer Mode is not available/enabled, the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege
+privilege is required, or the process must be run as an administrator.
 
 .. _Homebrew: https://brew.sh/
 .. _MacPorts: https://www.macports.org/
+.. _MSYS2: https://www.msys2.org/
 .. _Repology: https://repology.org/