1.. _Supported-build-platforms: 2 3Supported build platforms 4========================= 5 6QEMU aims to support building and executing on multiple host OS 7platforms. This appendix outlines which platforms are the major build 8targets. These platforms are used as the basis for deciding upon the 9minimum required versions of 3rd party software QEMU depends on. The 10supported platforms are the targets for automated testing performed by 11the project when patches are submitted for review, and tested before and 12after merge. 13 14If a platform is not listed here, it does not imply that QEMU won't 15work. If an unlisted platform has comparable software versions to a 16listed platform, there is every expectation that it will work. Bug 17reports are welcome for problems encountered on unlisted platforms 18unless they are clearly older vintage than what is described here. 19 20Note that when considering software versions shipped in distros as 21support targets, QEMU considers only the version number, and assumes the 22features in that distro match the upstream release with the same 23version. In other words, if a distro backports extra features to the 24software in their distro, QEMU upstream code will not add explicit 25support for those backports, unless the feature is auto-detectable in a 26manner that works for the upstream releases too. 27 28The `Repology`_ site is a useful resource to identify 29currently shipped versions of software in various operating systems, 30though it does not cover all distros listed below. 31 32Linux OS, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD 33----------------------------------------- 34 35The project aims to support the most recent major version at all times. Support 36for the previous major version will be dropped 2 years after the new major 37version is released or when the vendor itself drops support, whichever comes 38first. In this context, third-party efforts to extend the lifetime of a distro 39are not considered, even when they are endorsed by the vendor (eg. Debian LTS). 40 41For the purposes of identifying supported software versions available on Linux, 42the project will look at CentOS, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL, SLES and 43Ubuntu LTS. Other distros will be assumed to ship similar software versions. 44 45For FreeBSD and OpenBSD, decisions will be made based on the contents of the 46respective ports repository, while NetBSD will use the pkgsrc repository. 47 48For macOS, `HomeBrew`_ will be used, although `MacPorts`_ is expected to carry 49similar versions. 50 51Windows 52------- 53 54The project supports building with current versions of the MinGW toolchain, 55hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora). 56 57The version of the Windows API that's currently targeted is Vista / Server 582008. 59 60.. _HomeBrew: https://brew.sh/ 61.. _MacPorts: https://www.macports.org/ 62.. _Repology: https://repology.org/ 63