KVM With Linux 6.12 Will Advertise AVX10.1 Support To Guest VMs

The KVM x86/x86_64 changes were merged today as we are nearly done with the Linux 6.12 merge window.

One of the KVM x86 changes worth mentioning this cycle is Intel now has AVX10.1 support advertised to user-space for guest virtual machines (VMs). This change is about advertising AVX10.1-related CPUIDs for discovery by the guest operating system and applications querying for AVX10.1 CPUIDs directly.

With AVX10.1 on Granite Rapids there isn't new functionality but just the new CPUID enumeration and that's what the changes are in place for now with Linux 6.12 KVM. This is important groundwork though for future Intel processors boasting AVX10.2 and later. This common enumeration code will help there for getting those upcoming Advanced Vector Extensions revisions exposed to guest VMs.

The KVM x86 Linux 6.12 material also contains a new behavior opt-in around invalidating of page tables, reworking common MSR handling, a new fast path handling of HLT VM-Exit, and various other refactoring and overhauls. More details on the KVM x86 feature changes for this next kernel version via this Git merge.