202601200834

Release Candidate Version 2026 (for updated Squeak 6.0/5.3 bundles; prospectively also Cuis 7 and the upcoming Squeak 6.1)

This is a patch release. Also see the update notes of OSVM Version 2025.12.

Update notes are based on the commit messages since Cog-eem.504 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3705. Also see update map update.oscog-mt.17, which corresponds to this tag (which is based on Cog-eem.507 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3728).

• Adds XorCq:R: to JIT (32/64-bit cog.spur)
• Adds primitiveSlotAtPut to JIT (32-bit cog.spur)
• Adds recursion guard to primitiveTruncated (boxed float, 32-bit spur)
• Updates genDivR:R:Quo:Rem: in JIT (ARMv6)
• Fixes crashes when deleting a file as big as a typical Smalltalk image (ARMv8 on Pi, addToOpenPICList:)
• Fixes machine-code (JIT) bug in primitiveAtPut for DoubleWordArray (32-bit cog.spur)
• Fixes recent regression in bindErrorReaper:flags:calloutState: (threaded-ffi, error reaping)
• Fixes another regression in Threaded-FFI

🔧 VMMaker Dev Notes

• Fixes printing disassembly in some cases
• Fixes simulation of signed32BitIntegerFor:
• Fixes simulation of SmartSyntax plugin methods

⚠️ Known issues

• ...

🚧 Compatibility notes

• Pre-built Linux binaries require GLIBC_2.35, which means Ubuntu 22.04 or later
  • For older systems, please try linux64x64_ubuntu-20.04 or build the VM on your own
  • We will happily help out; just ask on the vm-dev mailing list
• On macOS, a restart of the VM is required after installing SqueakFFI for the first time
  • Otherwise, modules and function addresses cannot be loaded
• On macOS, the Smalltalk interpreter now runs on a non-GUI thread, which might affect some GUI-related FFI callouts in third-party projects. We plan to provide an option so that FFI can be used again in these cases. For GUI-related VM primitives, we made sure to choose the correct thread.
• On Windows, the CameraPlugin is now part of the release because we now build with the Windowns 10 SDK, not mingw-w64. Both ways are still supported for custom builds.
• (VMMaker) RawBitsArray >> byteAt: is now expected in the base Squeak image (i.e. Squeak 6.1alpha and later) because it was removed from VMMaker-Simulation package

ℹ️ Info on VM flavors

• cog.spur (32/64-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• stack.spur (32/64-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• LEGACY
  • cog.v3 (32-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)
  • stack.v3 (32-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)
• COMPATIBILITY
  • cog.spur for Ubuntu 22.04 (requires GLIBC_2.35 or later; Ubuntu Pro LTS support lasts until 2032)
  • cog.spur for Ubuntu 20.04 (requires GLIBC_2.31 or later; Ubuntu Pro LTS support lasts until 2030)

If you want to compile the sources that are attached here, put the sqSCCSVersion.h from here into platforms/Cross/vm.

202512161609

📢 Please use the more recent release candidate OSVM Version 2026

Release Candidate Version 2025.12 (for updated Squeak 6.0/5.3 bundles; prospectively also Cuis 7 and the upcoming Squeak 6.1)

This is a patch release. Also see the update notes of OSVM Version 2025.

Update notes are based on the commit messages since Cog-eem.502 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3662. Also see update map update.oscog-mt.16, which corresponds to this tag (which is based on Cog-eem.504 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3705).

• Removes obsolete window-manipulation primitives from VM core because they have long been part of the HostWindowPlugin
• Adds mutability checks for graphics primitives
• Adds feature to indicate errors after FFI call-outs (as image-header flag)
• Adds "error reaping" feature for FFI calls
• Fixes issue in primitiveDoPrimitiveWithArgs
• Fixes issue in BitBltPlugin (clipping bug)
• Fixes issue in CogARMv8Compiler
• Fixes issue in primitives for AndreasSystemProfiler
• Fixes failure to set upper 32-bits in jitted DoubleWordArray at:put: on 32-bit platforms
• Fixes truncated result bug in BitBltPlugin rgbMul rule on 32-bit platforms
• On macOS, fixes issue with the full-screen primitive 233
• On macOS, fixes issue with setting the Squeak window size via HostWindowPlugin
• On Windows, fixes issue with an in-image exception while processing the StartupList

🔧 VMMaker Dev Notes

• Adds primitives to access performance counters (processor-simulator plugins)
• Fixes printing decorated register address expressions for Intel (like it is for ARM)
• Fixes simulation of ceActivateFailingPrimitiveMethod:
• Fixes simulation of primitiveScanCharacters
• Fixes simulation of primitiveGetWorkingDirectory (used in Cuis)
• Fixes simulation via BitBltSimulation plugin
• Fixes simulation of V3 StackInterpreter
• Fixes simulation via Matrix2x3PluginSimulator (asserts fixed)
• Fixes for opening the recent instructions log

⚠️ Known issues

• On ARMv8/Pi, crashes when deleting a file as big as a typical Smalltalk image

🚧 Compatibility notes

• Pre-built Linux binaries require GLIBC_2.35, which means Ubuntu 22.04 or later
  • For older systems, please build the VM on your own
  • We will happily help out; just ask on the vm-dev mailing list
• On macOS, a restart of the VM is required after installing SqueakFFI for the first time
  • Otherwise, modules and function addresses cannot be loaded
• On macOS, the Smalltalk interpreter now runs on a non-GUI thread, which might affect some GUI-related FFI callouts in third-party projects. We plan to provide an option so that FFI can be used again in these cases. For GUI-related VM primitives, we made sure to choose the correct thread.
• On Windows, the CameraPlugin is now part of the release because we now build with the Windowns 10 SDK, not mingw-w64. Both ways are still supported for custom builds.
• (VMMaker) RawBitsArray >> byteAt: is now expected in the base Squeak image (i.e. Squeak 6.1alpha and later) because it was removed from VMMaker-Simulation package

ℹ️ Info on VM flavors

• cog.spur (32/64-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• stack.spur (32/64-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• LEGACY: cog.v3 (32-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)
• LEGACY: stack.v3 (32-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)

If you want to compile the sources that are attached here, put the sqSCCSVersion.h from here into platforms/Cross/vm.

202509300044

📢 Please use the more recent release candidate OSVM Version 2025.12

Release Candidate Version 2025 (for updated Squeak 6.0/5.3 bundles; prospectively also Cuis 7 and the upcoming Squeak 6.1)

Update notes are based on the commit messages since Cog-eem.455 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3347. Also see update map update.oscog-mt.13, which corresponds to this tag (which is based on Cog-eem.502 and VMMaker.oscog-eem.3662).

• Adds support for ARMv8 JIT on Windows platforms
• Adds VM parameter 51; a set of bit flags describing the load-status of the such as "swizzled/relocated" and "embedded" (parameter is read-only; later Cog VMs only; otherwise nil)
• Adds primitive 150 (BoxedFloat64>>primitiveCosine)
• Adds primitive 560 (SmallFloat64>>primitiveCosine)
• Adds #primitiveRenderAllScanlines and #primitiveGetAllStats to speed-up font rendering (BalloonEngine)
• Adds #primitiveGetWorkingDirectory and #primitiveSetWorkingDirectory (FilePlugin)
• Adds #primitiveCogitMethod for method introspection (custom VM build via #VMInvestigations option)
• Adds #primitiveMethodIsCogged for method introspection (custom VM build via #VMInvestigations option)
• Fixes memory growing when the first attempt fails
• Fixes issue in BMPReadWriterPlugin
• Fixes issue in #primitiveShowDisplayRect when using bad arguments
• Fixed issue in FFI plugin / ThreadedFFIPlugin on Apple (ARM64) silicon regarding varargs
• Fixes issue in FFI plugin / IA32ABIPlugin (#primAllocateExecutablePage)
• Fixes issue in FFI plugin regarding two-register-struct return convention (SysV x86_64 ABI)
• Fixes and improvements in several Slang translation rules
• Fixes an older regression regarding large-integer support in V3 images (i.e. Squeak 4.6 and before)
• Fixes an older regression regarding #primitiveFullGC (garbage collection)
• Fixes issues around ephemeron support
• Fixes issue in primitive 83 (#perform: etc.; jitted version)
• Fixes issue in primitive 60 (#digitAt:; 64-bit Spur)
• Fixes issues in JIT code generation (64-bit and 32-bit ARM)
• Fixes range issue in primitive 51 (#truncated in BoxedFloat64)
• Fixes issues in support for AndreasSystemProfiler
• Fixes issue where #primitiveScreenScaleFactor reported 0 in certain cases on Windows platforms
• Updates VectorEnginePlugin (Cuis 7 support)
• Updates ImmX11Plugin (no effect)
• Updates support for threaded FFI callouts (only multi-threaded VM)
• Updates support for embedded images (i.e. embedded in the VM executable)
• Updates FloatMathPlugin primitives (no production effects expected)
• Updates BoxedFloat64 primitives 51 to 58 for increased performance
• Updates in AsynchFilePlugin
• Updates in FilePlugin
• Updates in BitBltPlugin
• Updates in Sista interpreter (inlining)
• Updates and improves primitive 176 (maxIdentityHash) in Cogit for better performance, e.g., in dictionary lookup
• Updates and improves identity hash pseudo-random number generator for object hashes (old: variation on D.H. Lehmer's linear congruential generator; new: Marsagalia/Brent xor & shift linear feedback shift register)
• Updates and improves method-cache flushing (Spur only)

🔧 VMMaker Dev Notes

• Adds support for deferred disassembly, i.e. from data exported by #primitiveCogitMethod; allows display of the contents of a method jitted in the production VM rather than the simulator
• Adds support for breakpointing the creation of TMethods
• Adds more robustness in simulated plugin loading
• Adds support for simulating more FFI-related things (e.g. arg marshalling, callout)
• Adds variant of CoInterpreter with LiveTyping support (for custom builds)
• Adds #findClassNamed: (Spur only)
• Adds #essential: pragma complementing #option: and #nonOption:
• Fixes regression in CogMethod header printing
• Fixes simulation of system attribute 1003 (processor name)
• Fixes simulation of several interpreter methods
• Fixes simulation of #firstIndexableField: uses (issues noticeable in font rendering)
• Fixes simulation of BalloonEnginePlugin (B2DPlugin)
• Fixes simulation of VectorEnginePlugin
• Fixes regression in Slang regarding method inlining (only threaded VM)
• Fixes type inference in Slang
• Updates ProcessorSimulatorPlugin with new disassembly primitives
  GdbARMv8Alien
• Updates disassembly in CogProcessorAliens
• Updates disassembly of CogMethod
• Updates assembly tokenizer (for all processor simulators)
• Updates Spur32to64BitImageConverter
• Updates tooling for inspecting recent CPU registers
• Updates dev tooling for simulating ARM-based processors
• Updates dev tooling for Ephemerons and Weaklings (print-strings)
• Updates dev tooling to use ARM Ltd. standard terminology in debugging tools
• Updates dev tooling around Sista
• Updates simulation of #getAttributeString:
• Updates simulation of high-dpi images to make #ioScreenScaleFactor configurable
• Updates overall commentary
• Updates Slang tests
• Updates and partially rewrites Slang transpiling and inlining strategies (e.g. makes <inline: #always> effect foreseeable, adds <inline: #first> )
• Updates and improves Pragmatizer
• Updates and improves high-dpi support for VMMakerTool
• Updates and generalizes process-logging support (i.e. push up from CoInterpreter to StackInterpreter)

🚧 Compatibility notes

• Pre-built Linux binaries require GLIBC_2.35, which means Ubuntu 22.04 or later
  • For older systems, please build the VM on your own
  • We will happily help out; just ask on the vm-dev mailing list
• On macOS, a restart of the VM is required after installing SqueakFFI for the first time
  • Otherwise, modules and function addresses cannot be loaded
• On macOS, the Smalltalk interpreter now runs on a non-GUI thread, which might affect some GUI-related FFI callouts in third-party projects. We plan to provide an option so that FFI can be used again in these cases. For GUI-related VM primitives, we made sure to choose the correct thread.
• On Windows, the CameraPlugin is now part of the release because we now build with the Windowns 10 SDK, not mingw-w64. Both ways are still supported for custom builds.
• (VMMaker) RawBitsArray >> byteAt: is now expected in the base Squeak image (i.e. Squeak 6.1alpha and later) because it was removed from VMMaker-Simulation package

⚠️ Known issues

• On macOS, the full-screen primitive 233 will crash the VM because a corresponding platform call is made from the wrong thread. See Compatibility Notes above. Will be fixed in next release candidate.
• On macOS, setting the Squeak window size via HostWindowPlugin will result in strange behavior on Retina displays because of a regression in the plugin. Will be fixed in next release candidate.
• On Windows, an in-image exception while processing the StartupList can cause a VM crash reporting "Aborting!!!! Color depth 0 not supported", which can be fixed with an immediate Display beDisplay on start-up. Will be fixed in next release candidate.

ℹ️ Info on VM flavors

• cog.spur (32/64-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• stack.spur (32/64-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 5.0 and later)
• cog.v3 (32-bit, has JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)
• stack.v3 (32-bit, no JIT, ARM or Intel, Squeak 4.6 and before)

If you want to compile the sources that are attached here, put the sqSCCSVersion.h from here into platforms/Cross/vm.

202312181441

Release Version 2023.12 (for updated Squeak 6.0/5.3 bundles and Cuis 6)

• Fixes file drop from OS into the image on macOS
• Fixes pass-through of command-line arguments on macOS
• Fixes warning about applicationSupportsSecureRestorableState on macOS 12.0+

This is a patch release. Also see the release notes of OSVM Version 2023.

🚧 Compatibility notes

• Pre-built Linux binaries require GLIBC_2.29, which means Ubuntu 20.04 or later
  • For older systems, please build on your own
  • We will happily help out; just ask on the vm-dev mailing list
• On macOS, a restart of the VM is required after installing SqueakFFI for the first time
  • Otherwise, modules and function addresses cannot be loaded

⚠️ Known issues

• On Ubuntu 22.04 within VirtualBox 7.0, screen contents stop refreshing after some keyboard input until mouse cursor is moved again
• On Ubuntu/Linux, many SqueakSSL tests fail on Squeak 6.0+ ... might be an image-related issue w/ old certificates
• Occasional crashes (or lock-ups) on RaspPi4 and RaspPi5; we are investigating
  • The platform subtype can be 'aarch64', which means that (at least in Squeak) the detection of #isLowerPerformance fails and thus lots of tests are timing out. See TestCase >> #defaultTimeout

202311211431

📢 Please use the more recent release candidate OSVM Version 2023.12

Release Candidate Version 2023

• Adds error codes for ImageSegment storage primitive fail
• Adds error codes for primitiveFileClose on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Adds machine-code primitive for #primitiveHighResClock on 64-bit platforms
• Adds machine-code primitive for #perform:withArguments: (84)
• Adds VM parameter 50 for maxLiteralCountForCompile
• Adds primitive 96 (primitiveObjectsAccessibleFromRoots) to be used on an array of objects; internally part of primitive 98 (primitiveStoreImageSegment)
• Adds support for multi-byte data to ClipboardExtendedPlugin
• Adds support for various data types to ClipboardExtendedPlugin on Windows
• Adds support for UTF8 Unicode to ClipboardExtendedPlugin on Windows
• Adds flag #upscaleDisplayIfHighDPI to be set via command line or stored in image header; true by default
• Adds support for -eventtrace on Linux and Windows
• Fixes memory leak related to scale-factor lookup on Linux (X11)
• Fixes potential GDI leak in getDpiSystem on Windows
• Fixes failure of Spur image segment loading due to not having enough memory
• Fixes path lookup for "." (i.e., current directory) on Windows
• Fixes JIT issue around frameless block activation
• Fixes JIT issue around cache flushing on ARMv8
• Fixes bug in primitive 105 (primitiveSpurStringReplace)
• Fixes bug in SpurSegmentManager
• Fixes bug in BitBlt rgbMul combination
• Fixes structure argument passing for ARMv8 FFI call-outs
• Fixes float conversions for FFI call-outs
• Fixes float arguments for FFI call-outs on RiscV64
• Fixes #become: on compiled methods for Spur flavors
• Fixes jitted #perform: primitive by adding argument-count check
• Fixes MoveCqR on ARMv8 for certain bit patterns (in the JIT)
• Fixes crash on ARMv8 when toggling fail/succeed primitives for mixed mode arithmetic
• Fixes accessor-depth calculation in SocketPlugin and other places
• Fixes type-declaration problem in DeflatePlugin for 64-bit RiscV
• Fixes other issues around SmartSyntaxInterpreterPlugins (e.g., JPEGReadWriter2Plugin, BitBltSimulation, SocketPlugin)
• Updates support for compilation on RiscV64 (including FFI plugin)
• Updates VectorEnginePlugin to 2022-10-28 (89cc00e86...) from Cuis
• Updates BitBltPlugin to be faster for noSource/noHalftone setup
• Updates joystick support on Linux

🚧 Compatibility notes

• Pre-built Linux binaries require GLIBC_2.29, which means Ubuntu 20.04 or later
  • For older systems, please build on your own
  • We will happily help out; just ask on the vm-dev mailing list
• On macOS, a restart of the VM is required after installing SqueakFFI for the first time
  • Otherwise, modules and function addresses cannot be loaded

⚠️ Known issues

• On Ubuntu 22.04 within VirtualBox 7.0, screen contents stop refreshing after some keyboard input until mouse cursor is moved again
• On Ubuntu/Linux, many SqueakSSL tests fail on Squeak 6.0+ ... might be an image-related issue
• On macOS, command-line arguments are not passed to the image (see #668)
  • Fixed via 1b15c7e
• On macOS, file-drop crashes the VM
  • Fixed via cc2dd90
• Crashes on RaspPi4; we are investigating
  • The platform subtype can be 'aarch64', which means that (at least in Squeak) the detection of #isLowerPerformance fails and thus lots of tests are timing out. See TestCase >> #defaultTimeout

202206021410

Release Version 2022.06 (for Squeak 6.0 and updated 5.3 bundles)

• Adds joystick/gamepad support on Linux
• Fixes support for OpenSSL3 on Linux
• Fixes resolution of fully-qualified domain names (FQDNs) longer than 64 characters on Linux

This is a patch release. Also see the release notes of OSVM Version 2022.

⚠️ Known Issues

• Memory leak on X11 (Linux) related to scale-factor lookup
  • 100-200 KiB every 3-6 seconds
  • See issue #642
  • Workaround via environment variable SQUEAK_DISPLAY_PER_MONITOR_SCALE=1
  • Does not affect -headless -vm-display-X11 -headless -nodisplay -vm-display-null (i.e., smalltalkCI is fine)

202205110711

📢 Please use the more recent patch release OSVM Version 2022.06

Release Version 2022

• Adds ARMv8/Aarch64/ARM64 JIT incl. support for Apple M1
• Adds "fast C primitives" via #FastCPrimitiveFlag
• Adds support for catching exceptions in FFI callouts
• Adds #primitiveScreenScaleFactor (for DPI-aware images)
• Adds primitives 568 and 578 complementing 88 (primitiveSuspend)
• Adds #primitiveMultipleBytecodeSetsActive to update image format for SistaV1
• Adds VectorEnginePlugin
• Fixes regressions in ARMv6 support
• Fixes performance regressions of -metal and -opengl backends on macOS
• Fixes -core-graphics backend on macOS
• Fixes Retina scaling on macOS, i.e., support "backing scale factor"
• Fixes primitive 126 to fail on graphics backends w/o composition buffer
• Fixes regressions in vm-display-fbdev on Linux
• Fixes time sync (e.g., for DST) on Windows
• Fixes UDP binding on Windows

⚠️ Known Issues

• No support for OpenSSL3 (e.g., on Ubuntu 22.04)

202204190959

Release Candidate 3

202112201228

Release Candidate 2

202112022203

CogVm source as per VMMaker.oscog-eem.3117

Cog ARMv8: Since id_aa64isar0_el1 is a priviledged instruction use getauxval on
linux to derive the value(s) derived there-from, currenty whether atomic
instructions are available or not. This addresses opensmalltalk-vm Issue #608.