QNX® Hypervisor 8.0 General Availability: Release Notes
QNX Hypervisor 8.0 allows you to run multiple OSs on a target system so you can separate critical and non-critical functions, support a wide variety of applications, and reduce hardware costs.
Date of this edition: February 20, 2025
Target platforms
QNX Hypervisor 8.0 supports AArch64 (ARMv8) and x86-64 hardware architectures. For information about support for specific boards, contact your QNX representative.
- AArch64:
- NXP i.MX8QM
- AWS Graviton2
- x86-64:
- Intel Raptor Lake
Guest OSs
- QNX OS 8.0
- Linux — Ubuntu 22.04
Development hosts
- Microsoft Windows 11, or Windows 10
- Linux — Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Note: QNX Hypervisor isn't supported on host systems that use ARM processors.
Build environments
- QNX SDP 8.0, including any updates that contain fixes required by QNX Hypervisor 8.0, for the hypervisor host domain and for QNX OS 8.0 guests
- Appropriate build environments for Linux guest OSs
Contents
What's in this release?
New features and improvements
Improved performance
The hypervisor host processes and the QNX OS microkernel can run at the same privilege level, which avoids the cost of switching privilege levels. On AArch64, the host processes and microkernel can run at exception level 2 (EL2) at all times; this feature is known as Virtualization Host Extensions (VHE) support.
Using the VM image generator to build a QNX Hypervisor system
You can use the mkqnximage utility to generate a QNX OS virtual machine (VM) image for a QNX Hypervisor system for x86-64 target systems, which can be useful for both demonstration and development purposes.
Support for using mkqnximage to generate hypervisor images for ARM target systems is planned for a future release.
No-drift design for virtualized time
The emulation of time for a guest OS running in a QNX Hypervisor system follows a new design in which the host and guest have similar timelines, and time drift for the guest is effectively eliminated.
Software packages
| Name | Description | Package ID | Package internal version |
|---|---|---|---|
| QNX Hypervisor 8.0 | Group package that installs all other packages | com.qnx.qnx800.target.hypervisor.group | 3.0.0.00465T202501301002L |
| Hypervisor Core | Binaries used to create and run virtual machines | com.qnx.qnx800.target.hypervisor.core | 3.0.0.00465T202501301002L |
| Hypervisor Extras | Extra tools for use with QNX Hypervisor | com.qnx.qnx800.target.hypervisor.extras | 3.0.0.00465T202501301002L |
| Virtual Device Support Library (libhyp) | Library used to interface QNX systems (hosts or guests) with supporting hypervisors | com.qnx.qnx800.target.hypervisor.libhyp | 2.0.2.02040T202501241109L |
| QNX® SDP 8.0 BSP for Hypervisor guest for generic ARM virtual machines | Supporting binaries and configurations for running guests within ARM-based virtual machines | com.qnx.qnx800.bsp.hypervisor_guest_arm | 0.1.0.00108T202501061711L |
| QNX® SDP 8.0 BSP for Hypervisor guest for generic x86_64 virtual machines | Supporting binaries and configurations for running guests within x86-based virtual machines | com.qnx.qnx800.bsp.hypervisor_guest_x86 | 0.1.0.00108T202501061711L |
| Hypervisor Virtual Device (vdev) Development | Hypervisor virtual device (vdev) development package, for use in developing third party/custom vdevs | com.qnx.qnx800.target.hypervisor.vdev.devel | 3.1.0.00465T202501301002L |
| QNX® SDP 8.0 Connectivity - PCI Multiplexer | PCI multiplexer | com.qnx.qnx800.target.pci.mux | 1.0.0.02010T202412011711L |
| QNX® SDP 8.0 Virtualization Drivers | Drivers for use with QNX guests of any supporting hypervisor | com.qnx.qnx800.target.driver.virtio | 0.1.0.02005T202411230033L |
| QNX® SDP 8.0 Networking - io-sock Vdevpeer Net Module | Vdevpeer Net Module for io-sock | com.qnx.qnx800.target.net.vdevpeernet | 0.0.2.02005T202411230033L |
To see the contents of a package, right-click it in the QNX Software Center, choose Properties, then click Package Contents.
Installation
The QNX Software Center has all of the components you need to start working with QNX Hypervisor 8.0. To obtain and install this QNX hypervisor product, follow the instructions below.
You must add a new, separate QNX SDP 8.0 installation with a Conservative installation policy for your QNX Hypervisor work, even if you already have a QNX SDP 8.0 installation on your development host. A Conservative policy is necessary to ensure that all updates required by QNX Hypervisor 8.0 get installed. For instructions on installing the baseline product, see the QNX SDP 8.0 General Availability Release Notes.
The QNX hypervisor files are uniquely named, so installing the hypervisor packages won't overwrite existing files in your QNX SDP target or host directories. However, in some cases a board support file may require updating in order to work properly in a hypervisor system. The change may be one you make yourself, or one recommended to you by QNX Engineering.
- On the Welcome page, make sure that in the Active Installation dropdown menu, the new QNX SDP installation that you will use for your hypervisor work is selected.
- Click the Manage Installation option from the middle list.
- From the Available tab, expand the
category and then click the QNX Hypervisor 8.0 group package.
In the rightmost column for this package entry, the stated build number should be 465.
- Click Install and follow the prompts to complete the installation.
- the binaries required for running a QNX hypervisor guest
- QNX guest OS release-specific and architecture-specific BSPs
- the libraries needed for developing your own virtual devices
- an updated vdevpeer networking module that works with the io-sock networking stack that QNX Hypervisor 8.0 uses
- updated virtualization drivers
Usage
Startup and shutdown
Booting and Shutting Downchapter has instructions on how to:
- boot and shut down the hypervisor host
- start a qvm process instance (i.e., a VM)
- boot and shut down guests in a hypervisor VM
Building a hypervisor system
When you are ready to build your own system, just follow the instructions in the
Building a QNX Hypervisor System
chapter of the same user's guide.
Developing virtual devices
Developing custom virtual devices (vdevs) that use the Virtualization API (libhyp.a) or building frontends for vdevs may require additional documentation. If you're working with the Virtual Device Developer's Guide and you require details on Virtualization API functions and features, visit the QNX Hypervisor GitLab Repository at https://gitlab.com/qnx/hypervisor, and contact the QNX support team.
Fixed issues
This is the first release of QNX Hypervisor 8.0 so there are no fixed issues yet.
Known issues
The known issues for this release are described in the QNX Hypervisor 8.0: Known Issues document that's stored in the QNX Download Center at: https://www.qnx.com/download/group.html?programid=78876
Getting started with the documentation
The QNX Hypervisor User's Guide is found on our public website at https://www.qnx.com/developers/docs/8.0/com.qnx.doc.hypervisor.user/topic/about.html. For this particular guide, the documentation is delivered in Webhelp (online) format only.
- QNX Hypervisor Virtual Device Developer's Guide — Provides instructions for developing your own virtual devices (vdevs) for a QNX Hypervisor system, and source code samples for simple vdevs.
- QNX Hypervisor Virtual Device Developer's API Reference — Describes the API for developing virtual devices (vdevs) for a QNX Hypervisor system.
Technical support
To obtain technical support for any QNX product, visit the Support area on our website: https://blackberry.qnx.com/en/support. You'll find a range of support options.
For product experience and roadmap information, please contact QNX Product Management.