# OpenBSD 8.0 is out: Intel Arc graphics, arm64 hibernation and farewell to Loongson - **Published on:** 2026-10-20 - **Category:** Releases - **Original page:** https://linuxgratis.com/en/articles/openbsd-8-0 OpenBSD 8.0, the system's 61st release, ships on 20 October 2026 with the amd64 kernel address space raised to 512 GB, initial Intel Arc support, arm64 hibernation, RISC-V vectors, OpenSSH 10.6 and LibreSSL 4.4. Version 7.8 stops getting patches. --- Theo de Raadt released **OpenBSD 8.0** on **20 October 2026**, the system's 61st release. The new major number doesn't hide a revolution: OpenBSD bumps its version by one tenth every six months and, after .9, rolls over to the next digit, just as it went from 6.9 to 7.0. What it does bring is a long changelog, with plenty of hardware work (mostly amd64, arm64 and RISC-V) and the usual security sweep. This release's song is called "The Simps on AI" and the artwork is credited to "yvaneht nioj and clanker". Coming from a project whose notes also mention reworking `smtpd` code "to avoid false bug reports from LLM scanners", the joke explains itself. ## The changes you'll notice most On **amd64**, the kernel's virtual address space grows from 4 GB to **512 GB**, and the `pmap` direct map is now placed at a random address. The first change has an immediate practical effect: the kernel can now map more than 4 GB of video memory, which modern graphics cards needed. That leads to the other big news. The `drm` graphics drivers are synced with **Linux 6.18.53** and `inteldrm` adds support for **Intel Arc A-Series** cards (DG2, Alchemist). There's also a workaround for the GuC timeout errors seen on some Alder Lake machines. Swap encryption, on by default in OpenBSD for many years, now uses the **CPU's AES instructions** on amd64 and arm64, so it costs less. **arm64** also gains **hibernation**, and on **RISC-V** the kernel supports the **"V" vector extension**, the Sstc timer and the Advanced Interrupt Architecture (AIA), and tells userland which CPU extensions are available. ## Architectures: one moves to LLVM, another one leaves **sparc64** is now built with the **LLVM/Clang** toolchain. Going the other way, **Loongson is retired**: the port didn't work with Clang 22 and the project chose to drop it rather than drag it along. If you own one of those MIPS machines, you stay on 7.9. ## Laptops, Wi-Fi and suspend A good share of the work targets Snapdragon laptops. The Qualcomm `qwx` Wi-Fi driver gets a huge batch of fixes and gains **802.11n with 40 MHz channels** and working roaming between access points; `qwz` also adds 40 MHz 802.11n and can now suspend and resume. Machines such as the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge and the HONOR MagicBook Art 14 survive suspend, the Galaxy Book4 Edge touchscreen works, and there are new drivers for the BIOS interface and battery of Samsung laptops. On wired networking, `em` recognises Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake devices and `ix` supports Intel E610. On ARM and RISC-V boards there's support for the SpacemiT K1 and K3 SoCs, for Rockchip parts like the Radxa Zero 3, and for the Qualcomm Glymur (X2) SoC. ## Virtualisation with vmm and vmd The native hypervisor takes a big step: **up to 64 vCPUs per virtual machine**, x2APIC mode for guests, MSI/MSI-X interrupts for virtio devices, network checksum offload and better QCOW handling. The APIC modes that stopped 32-bit Linux guests from booting are fixed too. ## Security: business as usual, in bulk The security section of the notes is long and made of details. `pledge` and `unveil` tighten a bit more (`man`, `makewhatis` and `man.cgi` are now restricted with `unveil`), `pax` no longer extracts malicious archives outside the working directory, `syspatch` is hardened against tampered scripts and `fw_update` validates signatures and paths more strictly. There are fixes in `dhcpd`, `iked`, `isakmpd`, `smtpd`, `nsd`, Perl, the X server and libexpat, which moves to 2.8.4. If you're curious why the project works this way, we covered it in [OpenBSD's security culture](/en/articles/openbsd-security-culture). Two changes in defaults deserve a separate mention. `httpd` and `relayd` switch to the `secure` TLS cipher set instead of `compat` and `HIGH:!aNULL`, and both now reject ambiguous HTTP requests (`obs-fold`, mixed Content-Length and chunked) as RFC 9112 says. `httpd` also gains custom HTTP headers. And `rtrd`, an RPKI-to-Router protocol daemon, joins the base system to round off what `rpki-client` and `bgpd` already did. ## OpenSSH 10.6, LibreSSL 4.4 and packages 8.0 brings **OpenSSH 10.6** and **LibreSSL 4.4.0**. OpenSSH disables a compressor that could leak information through a side channel, fixes `ChannelTimeout` and `RekeyLimit` not being applied from `sshd_config`, and adds experimental support for the composite post-quantum mldsa44-ed25519 signature. LibreSSL makes **X25519MLKEM768** the preferred TLS 1.3 group in libtls and fixes an OCSP check bypass in clients that require stapling. The base system ships **LLVM/Clang 22.1.6**, Perl 5.42.3, Unbound 1.26.1, NSD 4.15.2 and xserver 21.1.24 with Mesa 25.0.7. There are over 13,000 packages for amd64, including **GNOME 49**, **KDE Plasma 6.7.5**, **Xfce 4.20**, **GCC 16.1**, **Rust 1.98.1**, **Go 1.27.1**, **Python 3.14.7**, PostgreSQL 18.6, Firefox 157, LibreOffice 26.8 and **Wayland 1.26** with several compositors (Sway, Niri, Labwc, Wayfire, Mango and CoW). ## Support and how to upgrade OpenBSD patches its two most recent releases. With 8.0 out, **7.8 no longer receives security updates**, and [7.9](/en/articles/openbsd-7-9) stays supported until 8.1 arrives, expected in spring 2027. The schedule is on the [OpenBSD page](/en/openbsd). Upgrades are only supported from the immediately previous release, so from 7.9 all you need is: ```sh # sysupgrade # sysmerge # pkg_add -u ``` `sysupgrade` downloads the sets, verifies their signatures and reboots to install on its own; afterwards you review the configuration with `sysmerge` and update your packages. Before starting, check that `/usr` has at least 1.1 GB and read the upgrade guide, because this time some changes can bite: - `bgpd` **enforces 4-byte AS support by default** (`announce as-4byte` changes from `yes` to `enforce`). If a neighbour still needs 2-byte AS, set it back to `yes` by hand. - **Kea** jumps from 2.4 to 3.2: the configuration has to be reviewed or rewritten and data moves from `/var/lib/kea` to `/var/db/kea`. - **stalwart-mail** moves to 0.16 and needs a full dump and restore. - `libmaxminddb` no longer bundles the old GeoLite databases; the packaged alternative is DB-IP, under CC-BY-4.0. The `install80.iso`, `install80.img` and `miniroot80.img` images are on the usual mirrors. If you want to know where all this comes from, our [history of BSD](/en/articles/history-of-bsd) traces OpenBSD's roots. **Sources:** [OpenBSD 8.0 release notes](https://www.openbsd.org/80.html) and [upgrade guide from 7.9 to 8.0](https://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade80.html), from the OpenBSD Project; [OpenBSD 8.0 Released With Intel Arc A-Series, Other Hardware Improvements](https://www.phoronix.com/news/OpenBSD-8.0-Released), at Phoronix.