Linux Kernel 7.1 Moves to Drop i486 Support for the First Time Since 2012

[harlan4096]

A patch proposed by Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar aims to remove support for 80486-generation processors from the Linux kernel during the 7.1 merge window. If accepted, the patch will eliminate the M486, M486SX, and MELAN configuration options from Kconfig, which means new upstream kernels will no longer be configurable for 486-class systems.

This would be the first processor architecture to be removed from the Linux kernel since support for the 80386 was dropped in 2012. Linux 7.0 is expected to be released in the coming months, with version 7.1 potentially arriving around the middle of 2026. It is not yet confirmed whether the patch will make it through the merge window.

Why Linux Kernel Maintainers Want to Drop i486 Support

Molnar initially proposed dropping support for the 486 processor in April 2025, citing the ongoing maintenance costs of hardware emulation code for chips that are no longer used with modern kernels. "We have various complex hardware emulation features on x86-32 to support very old 32-bit CPUs that only a small number of users still run with current kernels," Molnar explained in the patch notes.

"This compatibility layer sometimes causes issues that require effort to resolve, which could be better spent on other developments." Linus Torvalds shared a similar view in 2022 when the idea of removing support was first discussed.

"I really don't think i486-class hardware is relevant anymore," Torvalds said at the time. "They are mostly kept as museum pieces, and might as well run museum kernels."

Continue Reading...