OpenBSD 7.7 released with performance boosts, expanded hardware support, and much more

Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 7.7, the latest version of this Unix-like operating system with a strong focus on security. This release brings several enhancements across different architectures. On ARM64, the PMAP teardown has been optimized by skipping TLB flushes, resulting in a 5% performance boost for kernel builds. Support for Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) and enabling PAC on hardware with the new QARMA3 cipher have also been implemented.

For AMD64, the bootloader now supports running as an AMD SEV guest on QEMU with EFI, and the OpenBSD kernel can boot on QEMU with AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV). On i386, stability improvements have been made for low-memory situations, particularly in multiprocessor setups. Kernel updates include enhanced responsiveness in out-of-memory situations, coherent free target checks, and the removal of root, dump, or swap device specification on the SCSI tape driver. The Direct Rendering Manager and graphics drivers have also been updated to align with the Linux 6.12.21 LTS kernel.

Additionally, OpenBSD 7.7 includes kernel support for the Ryzen AI 300 series and Radeon RX 9070 graphics card for the graphics drivers, as well as support for Intel Arrow Lake. It also features improvements in suspend and hibernate functions, expanded hardware support, numerous SMP enhancements, new and improved network hardware support, and various userland features and driver bug fixes, among others.