Linux 5.7 Positioned To Retire ARM 32-bit KVM Virtualization Support

The upcoming Linux 5.7 kernel is preparing to bid farewell to KVM virtualization support on 32-bit ARM architectures.

We've known this execution date was coming for a while and with this next kernel release they are set to drop 32-bit ARM support for the Kernel-based Virtual Machine. But dropping of this support is unlikely to be missed: 32-bit ARM never took off in the cloud with the lack of any ARM server platform at the time being widely deployed for a number of reasons. The few ARM server setups where KVM at one time or another was used have since transitioned to newer and much more powerful 64-bit ARM platforms, such as within build farms. In any recent times, the 32-bit ARM KVM support perhaps was only used by anyone tinkering with it on an aging ARM SBC but without any serious use-case for 32-bit ARM KVM.

As a final blow to the 32-bit KVM ARM prospects is Calxeda ARM server support being retired for that former 32-bit ARM server provider that went out of business six years ago.

So now ahead of the Linux 5.7 merge window coming up in a few weeks, pending is kvm-arm/goodbye that clears out all of the 32-bit KVM host support.