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# Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Rocky Linux Embrace RISC-V
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/risc-v-support-rhel-rocky-linux/
- Published: 2025-05-22T12:03:52.000Z
- Updated: 2025-05-22T12:03:52.000Z
- Description: Red Hat and RockyLinux are working on RISC-V support.
- Author: Sourav Rudra
- Tags: Development Updates, News, #Import 2025-11-08 21:15

Designed to be simple, flexible, and non-proprietary, [RISC-V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V?ref=itsfoss.com) is an open standard instruction set architecture ([ISA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction%5Fset%5Farchitecture?ref=itsfoss.com)) that defines the set of instructions a processor can execute.

Developed and maintained by [RISC-V International](https://riscv.org/?ref=itsfoss.com), a Swiss-based non-profit, RISC-V's open architecture allows anyone to design, implement, and fabricate custom CPUs without worries of licensing fees.

We were already seeing a steady rise in its adoption, and a recent slew of announcements has only accelerated RISC-V's upward trend.

## RISC-V Adoption is on The Rise

![risc-v international webpage with an illustration of a car being shown ](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/05/risc-v-international-webpage.jpg)

**RISC-V International's webpage.*

In collaboration with [SiFive](https://www.sifive.com/?ref=itsfoss.com), Red Hat is launching a developer preview of [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/red-hat-introduces-rhel-10?ref=itsfoss.com) (RHEL) for the [HiFive Premier P550](https://www.sifive.com/boards/hifive-premier-p550?ref=itsfoss.com) platform, with the aim of gathering community feedback and accelerating support for RISC-V.

To go with that, they are also working on providing a CentOS Stream 10 version that supports RISC-V, giving developers early access so that they can build, test, and contribute to the platform.

Downloads for both are expected to show up on **June 1, 2025**. You can read the [announcement blog](https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-partners-with-sifive-for-risc-v-developer-preview-for-red-hat-enterprise-linux-10?ref=itsfoss.com) to learn more.

On the other hand, Rocky Linux [has announced](https://rockylinux.org/news/rockylinux-support-for-riscv?ref=itsfoss.com) that **the upcoming Rocky Linux 10 release will officially support the RISC-V architecture**, thanks to the work of their [AltArch SIG](https://sig-altarch.rocky.page/?ref=itsfoss.com) (*special interest group*).

While they are not treating the RISC-V build (**riscv64gc**) as a "*primary architecture*", where build failures won't halt Rocky Linux releases for other architectures, the included support for RISC-V hardware is quite reasonable.

At launch, the [StarFive VisionFive 2](https://www.starfivetech.com/en/site/boards?ref=itsfoss.com) will be fully supported; there will be partial support for the SiFive HiFive P550 platform; no support for boards from [Milk-V](https://milkv.io/?ref=itsfoss.com) or [Banana Pi](https://banana-pi.org/?ref=itsfoss.com); and full testing and evaluation support via [QEMU](https://itsfoss.com/qemu-ubuntu/).

Undoubtedly, **things are looking up for RISC-V when it comes to Linux**. I am hoping that the platform eventually matures enough to be suitable for general-purpose use, not just specialized applications.

By contrast, Windows has focused its attention on proprietary [ARM](https://www.arm.com/?ref=itsfoss.com)\-based platforms and has given no indication that it will support the RISC-V architecture any time soon.