The current state of Linux architecture support
4 days ago
- #Architecture Support
- #Linux
- #Embedded Systems
- Linux distributions are adjusting their architecture support, with Ubuntu introducing variants, Fedora reconsidering i686, and Debian discussing raising its baseline for Debian 14.
- The Linux kernel supports 21 architectures, with definitions varying (e.g., User Mode Linux is considered an architecture, while PowerPC is treated as one despite endianness differences).
- Distributions vary in architecture support: Arch only supports x86_64, Fedora has two main and three secondary architectures, Debian supports six or seven officially, and Gentoo offers 13.
- Official vs. unofficial support differs in testing, security updates, and release blocking; e.g., Debian's official architectures are part of releases and receive updates, while unofficial ones may be delayed or dropped.
- Rust supports 14 of the kernel's architectures, raising concerns about future support for older architectures, especially with Debian's APT requiring Rust by 2026.
- Embedded systems keep some architectures alive, like 32-bit Arm, expected to be supported for at least ten more years, while newer designs favor Arm and RISC-V.
- The kernel's broad architecture support is both a strength and a complexity, with memory-management code particularly affected by architecture-specific cases.
- A detailed table compares architecture support across distributions, highlighting Debian's extensive support for older CPUs and Rust's compatibility gaps with Alpha and SuperH.