ultralytics 8.4.22

v8.4.22 - `ultralytics 8.4.22` Huawei Ascend NPU device parsing in `select_device` (#23902)

on Python PyPI

🌟 Summary

Ultralytics v8.4.22 focuses on better hardware support and reliability, led by a key new feature: basic Huawei Ascend NPU device support in select_device 🚀.

📊 Key Changes

• 🔥 Major (Current PR #23902 by @GiantAxeWhy): Huawei Ascend NPU parsing added

  • You can now use device=npu or device=npu:0 in Ultralytics.
  • Added checks for torch_npu installation and NPU availability.
  • Validates NPU index and gives clearer errors for invalid inputs.
  • Explicitly blocks unsupported multi-NPU strings like npu:0,1 for now.

• 🧠 Multi-GPU training fix (DDP + Albumentations)

  • Custom Albumentations transforms are now serialized/deserialized safely for DDP subprocesses.
  • Fixes failures where custom augmentations could break in multi-GPU runs.

• 📦 Export stability improvements

  • ONNX opset selection is safer on newer Torch versions (Torch 2.9+ capped more conservatively).
  • TensorRT INT8 exports now auto-disable end2end for incompatible TensorRT versions (<=10.3.0) to prevent known build failures.
  • INT8 calibration now handles small datasets more gracefully by reducing batch size instead of hard-failing in some cases.

• 🐳 Docker and CI environment updates

  • Base Docker image moved to PyTorch 2.10.0 (CUDA/cuDNN runtime unchanged).
  • Added UV_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 across Dockerfiles for more consistent installs.
  • New Dockerfile-runner-cpu and broader CI runner improvements (CPU labels, tooling like sudo, nodejs, npm, gpg).
  • CI expanded to test Torch 2.10.0 + Torchvision 0.25.0.

• 🛠️ Reliability/bug fixes

  • FastSAM text-prompt index remapping fix (better mask selection consistency).
  • ClearML callback fix to prevent remote override conflicts with Ray Tune hyperparameters.
  • Dataset cache loading/saving made more robust against environment mismatches and partial-write failures.

• 📚 Docs and dataset additions

  • Added DOTA128 OBB dataset config/docs (good middle ground between DOTA8 and full DOTA).
  • Expanded Ultralytics Platform docs (SAM model selection incl. SAM 3, team/workspace docs, training/billing clarifications, Docker image guides).
  • Device docs updated to include NPU usage.

🎯 Purpose & Impact

• For Ascend users: You now get first-class basic device selection for Huawei NPUs, making it easier to run training/inference without custom hacks ⚡.
• For training at scale: Multi-GPU workflows with custom augmentations are more dependable, reducing frustrating DDP issues ✅.
• For deployment/export users: Fewer export-time surprises, especially with ONNX/TensorRT compatibility on modern stacks 📤.
• For Docker/CI users: More up-to-date and consistent environments mean fewer setup/build breakages 🧩.
• For everyone: Overall this release is about practical robustness—better hardware compatibility, safer exports, and smoother day-to-day usage with YOLO11/YOLO26 ecosystems 🙌.

What's Changed

• FROM pytorch/pytorch:2.10.0-cuda12.8-cudnn9-runtime by @glenn-jocher in #23807
• Add UV_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES environment variable by @glenn-jocher in #23809
• Add Torch 2.10 with updated Torch and torchvision versions by @glenn-jocher in #23808
• Bump docker/setup-buildx-action from 3 to 4 in /.github/workflows by @dependabot[bot] in #23813
• Fix index remapping in FastSAM by @orcinus in #23764
• Update RUNNER_VERSION to 2.332.0 by @glenn-jocher in #23826
• Add Dockerfile-runner-cpu by @glenn-jocher in #23827
• Update Dockerfile-python description and derivatives by @glenn-jocher in #23828
• Remove Runner SHA checks by @glenn-jocher in #23829
• Update Dockerfile-runner-cpu with sudo by @glenn-jocher in #23830
• Add nodejs and npm to runner images by @glenn-jocher in #23832
• Platform SAM3 docs by @glenn-jocher in #23834
• Fix callable type hint to Callable in BasePredictor.add_callback() by @ahmet-f-gumustas in #23836
• Remove unused task attribute from metrics classes by @raimbekovm in #23835
• fix: prevent ClearML task.connect() from overriding Ray Tune hyperparam by @knotgrass in #23833
• Fix incorrect link in ONNX integration docs FAQ by @sjsr-0401 in #23838
• remove resolved TODO comment from OBB head by @raimbekovm in #23848
• Exclude OpenVINO 2026.0.0 from Conda CI by @Y-T-G in #23839
• fix: 🐞 Enable Albumentations augmentations for DDP training by serializing and deserializing transforms by @onuralpszr in #23849
• Update setuptools requirement from <=81.0.0 to <=82.0.1 by @dependabot[bot] in #23846
• Disable end2end for TensorRT INT8 exports with tensorrt<=10.3.0 by @lakshanthad in #23872
• docs: 📝 notes for multi-GPU training for custom code by @onuralpszr in #23876
• Add gpg package for Dockerfile-runner-cpu by @Laughing-q in #23878
• docs: 📝 update Docker image list with new images by @onuralpszr in #23884
• Add dota128 dataset by @Laughing-q in #23885
• Add ModuleNotFoundError in classify caching check to prevent numpy version conflict by @Laughing-q in #23892
• Docs: Fix CoreML export table to include agnostic_nms when nms=True by @K-saif in #23867
• Add https://youtu.be/4VTuqfrOIws to docs by @RizwanMunawar in #23873
• Remove unused tip from export-table.md by @Y-T-G in #23898
• fix build_docs.py portability for local development by @raimbekovm in #23883
• Docs reference strict mode by @glenn-jocher in #23900
• Calibration dataset size < batch fix by @glenn-jocher in #23899
• fix docs CI: remove unused black dep and fix publish commit message by @raimbekovm in #23896
• Update format.yml to cpu-latest by @glenn-jocher in #23901
• handle prettier failures gracefully in build_reference.py by @raimbekovm in #23882
• docs: ⚡ Update Triton Inference Server guide by @onuralpszr in #23880
• Update docs.yml to cpu-latest runner by @glenn-jocher in #23904
• Greyscale test fix by @glenn-jocher in #23903
• docs(export): add FAQ explaining FP32 output with end2end=True and ha… by @Shreyas-S-809 in #23759
• Update local docs build instructions in README by @raimbekovm in #23877
• Docs: Platform prelaunch documentation updates by @mykolaxboiko in #23888
• Fix screenshot placeholders in Teams and Cloud Training docs by @mykolaxboiko in #23905
• ultralytics 8.4.22 Huawei Ascend NPU device parsing in select_device by @GiantAxeWhy in #23902

New Contributors

• @sjsr-0401 made their first contribution in #23838
• @Shreyas-S-809 made their first contribution in #23759
• @mykolaxboiko made their first contribution in #23888
• @GiantAxeWhy made their first contribution in #23902
• @knotgrass made their first contribution in #23833
• @orcinus made their first contribution in #23764

Full Changelog: v8.4.21...v8.4.22