QEMU 8.1 Released With New PipeWire Audio Backend, Many CPU Improvements

QEMU 8.1 is now available as the latest feature update to this important piece of the open-source Linux virtualization stack.

QEMU 8.1 brings a number of new features including:

New x86 CPU model of Intel Granite Rapids.
The Tiny Code Generator (TCG) now supports RDPID instruction, AES instructions can use AES acceleration on the host processor, and other new features exposed.
A wide variety of RISC-V architecture improvements from supporting BF16 extensions to the Zfa extension, Zcm* extensions, and many others. The Ventana Veyron V1 CPU has also been added plus many RISC-V fixes.
Support for LoongArch LSX extensions and various fixes for this CPU architecture.
KVM VMs on a host with support for the Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) can now use MTE within the guests.
Adding the new CPU type of Cortex Neoverse V1 (neoverse-v1). Separately on the ARM side there is also a new Banana Pi BPI-M2 Ultra (bpim2u) board model.
A new "virtio-multiotuch-pci" input device was added as a multi-touch capable input device.
Improved e1000e and IGB Intel network device emulation.
Shadow virtqueue offload support for the vhost-vDPA interface.
A new PipeWire based audio back-end for QEMU.
Support for multi-touch events with the GTK interface.