A change proposal has been filed to build x86_64-v3 micro-architecture feature level packages alongside the existing x86_64-v1 packages for Fedora Linux.
The change proposal is for Fedora 45 due to be released in October and would be adding x86_64-v3 as a primary architecture alongside the existing x86_64 (v1) baseline packages. This change proposal in current form isn’t about ending existing support for the baseline x86_64 processors but is about complementing them with having the Fedora packages also available in x86_64-v3 form for benefiting newer Intel and AMD processors.
This change can help with better performance on modern Intel/AMD systems but with building x86_64 Fedora RPMs for both v1 and v3 will effectively double their infrastructure resources between building packages twice to doubling the storage requirements on Fedora mirrors. Due to the increased infrastructure demand, there is some concerns raised so far to this proposal as it continues to be discussed via this thread.
The x86_64-v3 feature level specifies AVX, AVX2, BMI2, FMA, and other newer ISA features. The x86_64-v3 correlates to Intel Haswell and newer or AMD Excavator / Zen and newer. It’s with the higher x86_64-v4 feature level where AVX-512 and other even more recent ISAs are mandated.
Those interested can see this change proposal for the desired x86_64-v3 packages with Fedora 45. We’ll see in the coming weeks if the Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee (FESCo) will sign off on this proposal.
