# Libvirt virt driver OS distribution support matrix

This page documents the libvirt versions present in the various distro versions that OpenStack Nova aims to be deployable with.

Note

This document was previously hosted on the OpenStack wiki:

https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/LibvirtDistroSupportMatrix

## Libvirt minimum version change policy

At the start of each Nova development cycle this matrix will be consulted to determine if it is viable to drop support for any end-of-life or otherwise undesired distro versions. Based on this distro evaluation, it may be possible to increase the minimum required version of libvirt in Nova, and thus drop some compatibility code for older versions.

When a decision to update the minimum required libvirt version is made, there must be a warning issued for one cycle. This is achieved by editing `nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py` to set `NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION`. For example:

    NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (X, Y, Z)

This causes a deprecation warning to be emitted when Nova starts up warning the admin that the version of libvirt in use on the host will no longer be supported in the subsequent release.

After a version has been listed in `NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION` for one release cycle, the corresponding actual minimum required libvirt can be updated by setting

    MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (X, Y, Z)

At this point of course, an even newer version might be set in `NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION` to repeat the process….

An email should also be sent at this point to the `openstack-discuss@lists.openstack.org` mailing list as a courtesy raising awareness of the change in minimum version requirements in the upcoming release, for example:

http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-discuss/2021-January/019849.html

There is more background on the rationale used for picking minimum versions in the operators mailing list thread here:

http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-operators/2015-May/007012.html

## QEMU minimum version change policy

After choosing a minimum libvirt version, the minimum QEMU version is determined by looking for the lowest QEMU version from all the distros that support the decided libvirt version.

## `MIN_{LIBVIRT,QEMU}_VERSION` and `NEXT_MIN_{LIBVIRT,QEMU}_VERSION` table

OpenStack Nova libvirt/QEMU Support Matrix
OpenStack Release | Nova Release | `MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION` | `NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION` | `MIN_QEMU_VERSION` | `NEXT_MIN_QEMU_VERSION`
Havana | 2013.2.0 | 0.9.6 | 0.9.6 |  |
Icehouse | 2014.1 | 0.9.6 | 0.9.11 |  |
Juno | 2014.2.0 | 0.9.11 | 0.9.11 |  |
Kilo | 2015.1.0 | 0.9.11 | 0.9.11 |  |
Liberty | 12.0.0 | 0.9.11 | 0.10.2 |  |
Mitaka | 13.0.0 | 0.10.2 | 1.2.1 |  |
Newton | 14.0.0 | 1.2.1 | 1.2.1 | 1.5.3 | 1.5.3
Ocata | 15.0.0 | 1.2.1 | 1.2.9 | 1.5.3 | 2.1.0
Pike | 16.0.0 | 1.2.9 | 1.3.1 | 2.1.0 | 2.5.0
Queens | 17.0.0 | 1.2.9 | 1.3.1 | 2.1.0 | 2.5.0
Rocky | 18.0.0 | 1.3.1 | 3.0.0 | 2.5.0 | 2.8.0
Stein | 19.0.0 | 3.0.0 | 4.0.0 | 2.8.0 | 2.11.0
Train | 20.0.0 | 3.0.0 | 4.0.0 | 2.8.0 | 2.11.0
Ussuri | 21.0.0 | 4.0.0 | 5.0.0 | 2.11.0 | 4.0.0
Victoria | 22.0.0 | 5.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 4.0.0 | 4.2.0
Wallaby | 23.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 4.2.0 | 5.2.0
Xena | 24.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 4.2.0 | 5.2.0
Yoga | 25.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 4.2.0 | 5.2.0
Zed | 26.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 4.2.0 | 5.2.0
2023.1 Antelope | 27.0.0 | 6.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 4.2.0 | 5.2.0
2023.2 Bobcat | 28.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 8.0.0 | 5.2.0 | 6.2.0
2024.1 Caracal | 29.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 8.0.0 | 5.2.0 | 6.2.0
2024.2 Dalmatian | 30.0.0 | 7.0.0 | 8.0.0 | 5.2.0 | 6.2.0
2025.1 Epoxy | 31.0.0 | 8.0.0 | 10.0.0 | 6.2.0 | 8.2.2
2025.2 Flamingo | 31.0.0 | 8.0.0 | 10.0.0 | 6.2.0 | 8.2.2

## OS distribution versions

Warning

This section may become a bit outdated.

This table provides information on a representative sample of OS distros and the version of libvirt/QEMU/libguestfs that they ship. This is NOT intended to be an exhaustive list of distros where OpenStack Nova can run - it is intended to run on any Linux distro that can satisfy the minimum required software versions. This table merely aims to help identify when minimum required versions can be reasonably updated without losing support for important OS distros.

Distro libvirt/QEMU Support Table
OS Distro | GA date | Libvirt | QEMU/KVM | libguestfs
CentOS Stream |  |  |  |
9 | As of 2025-02-27. | 10.10.0 | 9.1.0 | 1.50.1
Debian |  |  |  |
12.x (Bookworm) (“oldstable”) | 2023-06-10 | 9.0.0 | 7.2 | 1.48.
13.x (Trixie) (“stable”) | 2025-08-09 | 10.7.0 | 9.1.0 | 1.52.2
RHEL |  |  |  |
8.2 | 2020-04-28 | 6.0.0-17.2 | 4.2.0-19 | 1.40.2-22
8.3 | 2020-10-29 | 6.0.0-25.5 | 4.2.0-29 | 1.40.2-24
8.4 | 2021-05-18 | 7.0.0-8 | 5.2.0-10 | 1.44.0-2
8.5 | 2021-11-09 | 7.6.0-6 | 6.0.0-33 | 1.44.0-3
SLES |  |  |  |
15 (SP2) | 2020 | 6.0.0 | 4.2.1 | 1.38.0
15 (SP3) | 2021 | 7.1.0 | 5.2.0 | 1.38.0
Ubuntu |  |  |  |
20.04 (Focal Fossa LTS) | 2020-04-23 | 6.0.0 | 4.2 | 1.40.2
21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) | 2021-04-22 | 7.0.0 | 5.2 | 1.44.1
22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) | 2022-04-21 | 8.0.0 | 6.2 | 1.44.2
24.04 (Noble Numbat) | 2024-04-25 | 10.0.0 | 8.2.2 | 1.52.0

this page last updated: 2026-06-08 08:40:45

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