QEMU developers have officially presented the release of the project QEMU 10.1.0. QEMU, as an emulator, allows users to run programs designed for one hardware platform on a system with a different architecture. For example, it enables the execution of ARM programs on an X86-compatible PC. In virtualization mode, QEMU ensures high productivity in isolated environments by directly implementing instructions on the CPU and utilizing hypervisors like Xen, KVM in Linux, or NVMM in NetBSD, ensuring compatibility for launching X86 executable Linux files on various architectures.
Throughout the years of development, QEMU has added support for full emulation of 14 hardware architectures and now emulates over 400 hardware devices. The latest version, 11.0, incorporates over 2,700 changes contributed by 226 developers.
Key improvements in QEMU 10.1 include:
- Initial support for memory mapping in vfio, allowing confidential guest environments to use memory encryption for protection from interference. This feature supports Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP, enhancing device isolation in guest systems. Added postcopy and precopy support for Live Migration, as well as RDMA migration for IPV6.
- Added the “Guest-Get-Load” command in QEMU Guest Agent to retrieve Load Average information in Windows virtual machines. Support for EDID substitutions and Intel TDX RAM encryption in virtual machines running on the KVM hypervisor. Additionally, QEMU now supports initializing confidential virtual machines in igvm format, utilizing Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP mechanisms.