Quickemu 4.9.9 Release Notes

Cross Architecture Support

Full ARM64 (aarch64) guest support - quickemu now supports running ARM64 virtual machines on both x86_64 and ARM64 hosts. The host architecture is automatically detected, and you can override it with the --arch flag when downloading OS images.

Architecture-aware filenames and output for downloaded images
Per-distro architecture validation - quickget only lists architectures each OS actually supports
--check-all-arch flag to test both amd64 and arm64 downloads for a given OS
Correct architecture selection for Fedora and Ubuntu Server ISOs
ARM64 support for Debian with proper edition validation

Performance Improvements

Significant disk I/O and emulation performance enhancements:

Improved qcow2 disk performance - enables TRIM/discard and detect-zeroes, reducing disk space usage and improving SSD longevity
TCG translation cache tuning - larger cache with multithreaded TCG for faster emulation when KVM is unavailable
Better disk I/O defaults - optimised cache and async I/O settings for improved throughput

SPICE Improvements

Enhanced SPICE display support, particularly beneficial for Windows guests:

SPICE display reconnection - reconnect to running VM displays without restarting
Local SPICE over Unix sockets - more secure, lower-latency connections when using VirGL
These changes improve the remote desktop experience for Windows and Linux guests

Display & Graphics

GTK display backend preferred with automatic fallback to SDL if GTK is unavailable
Simplified display device selection - removed redundant -vga none configuration
OpenGL improvements - GL now disabled automatically when display backend is none, enabled on macOS (cocoa) with virtio GL preference

macOS Guest Improvements

Better display support - uses vmware-svga for improved macOS graphics compatibility
TSC and timing fixes - proper TSC flag detection for AMD CPUs, vmware TSC enabled, unstable TSC warnings for macOS Ventura+ on AMD
Sound card compatibility - selects correct sound card for macOS guests, prevents default sound card overriding compatible selection
Serial port disabled by default for macOS and Windows
OpenCore and OVMF downloads pinned to last-known-good commit for stability
ACPI PCI hotplug disabled for macOS to prevent issues

New OS Support

Azure Linux 3.0 - Microsoft's container-optimised Linux distribution now available
Ubuntu Desktop ARM64 - support for Ubuntu 25.10+ ARM64 desktop images

Distro Fixes

Maintained up-to-date download support across the OS catalog:

Zorin OS - updated download method and available editions
Rocky Linux - restored dynamic release discovery, fixed 10.0 DVD ISO naming
Parrot Security - updated releases and editions
Garuda Linux - updated available editions
MX Linux - fixed Xfce ISO naming
Gentoo, Linux Mint, LMDE - switched to mirrors.kernel.org for reliability
Artix Linux - fixed edition parsing
Solus - handled Xfce beta naming for older releases
PCLinuxOS - dynamic edition release discovery
Guix - updated to 1.5.0 and 1.4.0
Debian - only list archive versions with live images available
Removed discontinued distros - Athena OS (no longer updated), VX Linux (website down), KDE Neon developer edition

Infrastructure

QEMU 6.1.0 minimum version now required
Updated Nix flakes to nixos-unstable
GitHub Actions artifact handling improvements
Enhanced test-quickget CI with better sorting and summary formatting
ShellCheck compliance improvements throughout
macOS devshell improvements - removed brew dependencies, enabled EFI boot with patched OVMF paths

What's Changed

fix(quickemu): conditionalise KVM-specific CPU flags for Windows by @flexiondotorg in #1805
fix(quickget): add hash verification for Archcraft, KolibriOS, Mabox by @flexiondotorg in #1806
fix(quickget): resize Batocera image for GPT expansion by @flexiondotorg in #1807
fix(quickemu): improve TSC flag detection for macOS on AMD CPUs by @flexiondotorg in #1808
fix(devshell): enable EFI boot on macOS by patching OVMF paths by @flexiondotorg in #1809
fix(quickemu): skip x86 CPU feature checks on Apple Silicon by @flexiondotorg in #1810
feat(quickget): integrate OpenCore into macOS disk image by default by @flexiondotorg in #1811
feat(quickemu): enable GL on macOS (cocoa) and prefer virtio GL by @flexiondotorg in #1812
fix(quickemu): accept HygonGenuine CPUs and skip x86 checks on ARM hosts by @flexiondotorg in #1813
fix(quickget): support algorithm-prefixed hashes and b2sum by @flexiondotorg in #1814
feat(quickemu): warn on unstable TSC for macOS Ventura+ on AMD by @flexiondotorg in #1815
feat(quickemu): add ARM64 (aarch64) guest support by @flexiondotorg in #1290
feat(quickemu): add CPU flag management with deduplication by @flexiondotorg in #1816
fix(quickemu): enable pflash secure property only when secureboot on by @flexiondotorg in #1817
fix(quickemu): set xres/yres only for devices that support them by @flexiondotorg in #1818
feat(quickemu): derive SHARE_PATH from QEMU binary by @flexiondotorg in #1819
feat(quickget): add ARM64 (aarch64) download support by @flexiondotorg in #1820
refactor: quote expansions and add ShellCheck directive by @flexiondotorg in #1821
docs(quickemu): clarify CPU, display and VM comments by @flexiondotorg in #1822
build(packaging): sync Nix flakes, devshell and Debian packaging by @flexiondotorg in #1823
perf(quickemu): tune TCG translation cache and enable multithreaded TCG by @flexiondotorg in #1824
perf(quickemu): enable TRIM/discard and detect-zeroes for qcow2 drives by @flexiondotorg in #1825
fix(quickemu): select correct sound card for macOS guests by @flexiondotorg in #1826
fix(quickemu): enable vmware TSC and disable ACPI PCI hotplug for macOS by @flexiondotorg in #1827
fix(quickemu): enable xhci when braille devices used by @flexiondotorg in #1829
fix(quickget): exit on curl failure in web_get by @flexiondotorg in #1830
fix: restore rockylinux dynamic releases by @philclifford in #1735
fix: adjust rockylinux 10.0 dvd by @philclifford in #1833
build(flake): update nixpkgs to nixos-unstable by @flexiondotorg in #1832
fix(quickemu): disable GL when display backend is none by @flexiondotorg in #1834
feat(quickget): add Azure Linux (3.0) support by @flexiondotorg in #1835
perf(quickemu): improve disk I/O defaults (cache,aio) by @flexiondotorg in #1837
fix(quickemu): detect audio backends via sockets, not pidof by @flexiondotorg in #1839
feat(quickget): add architecture-aware output and filenames by @flexiondotorg in #1840
fix(quickemu): only add 'topoext' cpu flag for x86_64 AMD guests by @flexiondotorg in #1842
fix(macos): prevent default sound card overriding the compatible selection by @flexiondotorg in #1843
fix(quickemu): remove integrated OpenCore support, require OpenCore.qcow2 by @flexiondotorg in #1844
fix(quickemu): read "Vendor ID" for CPU vendor detection by @flexiondotorg in #1846
feat(quickemu): enable SPICE display reconnection for running VMs by @flexiondotorg in #1847
build(deps): bump actions/download-artifact from 4 to 7 by @dependabot[bot] in #1849
build(deps): bump actions/upload-artifact from 4 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #1850
fix(quickemu): simplify display device selection and remove -vga none by @flexiondotorg in #1848
feat(quickemu): enable local SPICE over Unix sockets with VirGL by @flexiondotorg in #1851
fix(quickget): pin macOS OpenCore and OVMF downloads to last-good commit by @flexiondotorg in #1854
fix(quickemu): use vmware-svga display for macOS guests by @flexiondotorg in #1855
fix(quickemu): disable serial by default for macOS and Windows by @flexiondotorg in #1856
feat(quickemu): prefer GTK display backend and add GTK->SDL fallback by @flexiondotorg in #1857
chore: update flake.lock by @github-actions[bot] in #1859
docs: align manual pages with release 4.9.8 by @philclifford in #1858

Full Changelog: 4.9.8...4.9.9

quickemu-project/quickemu 4.9.9 on GitHub