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Linux 7.1 Patch Targets Complete Removal of i486 Support from the Kernel

Linux 7.1 Patch Targets Complete Removal of i486 Support from the Kernel
source: gettyimages
April 6, 2026

A patch queued for one of the Linux development branches ahead of the 7.1 merge window aims to start phasing out—then remove—Intel i486 CPU support from the upstream Linux kernel. While running an i486-based system with a current kernel is exceedingly rare and major distributions no longer ship with i486 support, some users may still be on older setups and can keep using any existing LTS kernel versions for now.

Linus Torvalds has signaled it's time to retire the long-standing i486 support, arguing that there’s “zero real reason” to maintain it and that it creates unnecessary churn for upstream kernel development.

The action comes in the form of a patch by Ingo Molnar, which begins by removing the Kconfig build options CONFIG_M486SX, CONFIG_M486, and CONFIG_MELAN. This change looks likely to be merged for Linux 7.1, after which the i486-specific code could be excised in a subsequent release to further reduce maintenance burden.

Molnar explained that keeping the ancient 32-bit x86 support requires a lot of hardware emulation facilities and compatibility code, which imposes ongoing maintenance costs for kernel maintainers. The plan, therefore, is to drop the Kconfig options first and, if there are no serious objections, to strip out the actual i486 code later.

Details on the Kconfig options:

The patch has landed in the tip/tip.git repository in the x86/platform branch. With the Kconfig removals slated for the 7.1 window, signals indicate it will be submitted during that merge cycle. If Torvalds’ stance holds, this marks the beginning of the end for running a modern upstream kernel on these very old processors.

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