Xen 4.18: The Latest Release for Virtualization Technology

The Xen Project has unveiled version 4.18, showcasing continued growth in both technological advancements and community contributions. The release emphasizes expanded hardware support and feature enhancements across various architectures.

Key Highlights:

• Enhanced ARM Support: Notable additions include the Scalable Vector Extension (SVE), Arm Firmware Framework (FF-A), and an improved memory subsystem, signaling substantial progress in ARM architecture support.
• x86 Architectural Improvements: Extensive support for features in AMD Genoa and Intel Sapphire Rapids CPUs, coupled with advancements like the Protection Key Supervisor (PKS) and bus-lock detection, enhances security and performance on Intel and AMD systems.
• RISC-V and Power Ports: Demonstrating a commitment to diversity, initial ports for RISC-V and Power architectures have been introduced, promising intriguing developments in subsequent releases.
• New Hypercalls and MISRA-C Adoption: The release introduces new hypercalls and an increased adherence to MISRA-C rules, bolstering the project’s robustness and versatility.

Community Initiatives: Ongoing projects and future plans within the Xen community include continuous improvements in ARM MPU support and PCI-passthrough, refining RISC-V support, and focusing on the ppc64le architecture with Radix MMU page table initialization, paving the way for broader PowerPC support.

For further details, refer to the official announcement.