Ravi Sharma from the team Ubuntu The Foundations Team has summarized the work carried out over the past year to ensure full support for the ARM64 architecture in UbuntuIt is noted that due to the improvement of the toolkit and infrastructure, as well as the promotion of changes in the main composition of the core Linux, over the course of a year, we managed to resolve ARM64-specific issues such as distribution of packages through a separate repository, lack of support for live kernel patches, limited capabilities for computer gamers, and the unavailability of Secure Boot on laptops with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
Main achievements:
- Packages for the ARM64 architecture have been moved from ports.ubuntu.com) to the main archive Ubuntu (archive.ubuntu.com), which allowed them to use the same distribution infrastructure used for the x86_64 architecture. ARM64 packages are now delivered through the primary mirror system, which has increased download speed and reliability. The migration required changes to the cloud-init, live-build, livecd-rootfs, and ubuntu-release-upgrader. Changes have been included in Ubuntu 26.04 and in the process of backporting for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
- Livepatch is a service that allows you to patch the kernel. Linux on a running system without rebooting, extended to systems based on the ARM64 architecture. Previously, Live patches were distributed only for the x86_64 architecture, since the kernel Linux For the ARM64 architecture, there was no support for reliable stack traces (CONFIG_HAVE_RELIABLE_STACKTRACE) to detect interrupt-related activity, and the objtool and kpatch tools lacked full capabilities for evaluating the state before and after applying a patch. Live patch support for ARM64 is provided for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Ubuntu Core 26.
- A stable snap package with the Steam client, built for the ARM64 architecture, has been created. Since the Steam client for Linux Available only for the x86 architecture, it runs on ARM64 systems using an emulation layer based on the FEX package. Emulation supports GPU passthrough and the use of Wine, Proton, DXVK, and vkd3d to run PC games compiled for the x86_64 architecture and distributed through Steam. The snap package has been tested on laptops with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, NVIDIA DGX Spark, and Radxa Orion O6 chipsets.
- Added support for laptops based on Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipsets, such as the Lenovo Thinkpad X13s/T14s and Dell XPS 9345. Support for these devices was initially added to the base ISO image for ARM64 systems, but it could not be used for booting in Secure Boot mode due to the use of specific Device Tree configurations that the laptop firmware did not pass to the kernel. LinuxThe necessary Device Tree settings were loaded by the GRUB bootloader from a separate file that was not covered by a digital signature.
To solve this problem, the kernel and Device Tree database were combined into a single monolithic EFI file, similar to a UKI (Unified Kernel Image), digitally signed by the distribution. To load this file, a new EFI stubble layer was created. During boot, it detects the device model via SMBIOS, fetches the necessary Device Tree data, and inserts it into the kernel without breaking the Secure Boot chain of trust. Work is underway to support laptops based on Snapdragon X2 Elite chips.
- A prototype of a bootable image based on Ubuntu 26.04 for laptops on ARM64 SoC CIX P1, which, unlike Snapdragon, allows you to define the configuration via ACPI tables without using Device Tree.
- Google has announced the release of official Chrome builds for Linux-systems based on the ARM64 architecture, which will allow them to run in ARM64 assemblies Ubuntu The Chrome browser includes the Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM), which is not available in Chromium. Widevine will enable viewing of copyright-protected media (DRM) hosted on services such as Netflix, Spotify, and Disney+ without third-party patches. Widevine support will also be integrated into Firefox and Spotify snap packages.
- New application builds have been added, available in snap format for the ARM64 architecture. Among other things, snap packages for OnlyOffice, FreeCAD, and Teams for ARM64 have begun to be published. Linux.
Source: opennet.ru
