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 .