Calibre Platform Support Overview and Roadmap
Linux
Operating System Support
The Calibre toolset is supported for use with the Linux operating system systems supplied by Red Hat, CentOS, Alma, Rocky, and SUSE. In general, any "Tier 1" 64-bit x86 hardware supported by those providers is supported for use with the Calibre toolset. There are two x86-64 processor products supplied by different vendors, AMD and Intel, and the Calibre toolset is supported on computers based on either of these processors. The correct software must be loaded on a particular hardware platform to use Calibre, and the supported OS versions, service packs or updates are listed below. Linux IBM Power and ARM distributions are not supported by Calibre.
CentOS Linux is a community-driven free software effort that is derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The Calibre product line is tested and qualified with RHEL 7 as well as CentOS 7, and any references to a specific version of RHEL 7 in the Roadmap applies equally to CentOS.
Alma Linux and Rocky Linux are community-driven free software efforts that are derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The Calibre product line is tested and qualified with RHEL 8 and 9 as well as the Alma and Rocky distributions of those releases, and any references to a specific version of RHEL 8 or 9 in the Roadmap applies equally to Alma and Rocky.
Calibre is not supported with CentOS 8 or later due to changes in how CentOS will deliver future versions of Red Hat software. See https://blog.centos.org/2020/12/future-is-centos-stream/ for more information.
Please note that Calibre does not provide operating system support.
Calibre supports SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), CentOS Linux, Rocky, Alma and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Some vendors offer different marketing options, such as Server or Workstation. All the marketing options are supported as long as a supported operating system version is loaded.
Note that Red Hat Fedora Linux and CentOS Stream are maintained, distributed, and supported differently than RHEL and derived community editions, and are not supported for use with the Calibre product line. Any use of the Red Hat Fedora or CentOS Stream operating systems is governed by the Linux Distribution Compatibility Statement.
If customers encounter problems using Calibre tools on an unsupported Linux distribution or OS version, and the problem can be duplicated on a supported production Linux distribution or OS version, it will be addressed through normal Calibre support policies. If a problem only exists on the unsupported Linux distribution or OS version, the fix lies in a change to the Linux environment, not the Calibre tools. In this case, customers should contact their Linux supplier. Calibre Customer Support can assist a customer by attempting to reproduce an issue on one of the fully qualified production Linux versions.
Some customers (for example, foundries) are required to run older versions of Calibre to support production lines. Many of these same customers also want to upgrade to newer hardware to take advantage of performance improvements and power savings. However, newer x86-64 servers have processors that require more recent versions of Linux.
In addition, customers may not wish to spend the time nor incur the risk of re-qualifying an existing production environment on a new operating system version or a new Calibre version. Therefore, a legacy support strategy based on virtual machines (VMs) is recommended for customers who are required to run old versions of Calibre on new servers. While it is nearly always better to move forward with newer hardware and associated newer software, when that is not an option, a VM can be a suitable solution. In-house Calibre VM testing is done using the VMware ESX and Red Hat KVM servers.
There is a difference in licensing behavior between VMware and Red Hat KVM virtualization solutions when running a Calibre job using both physical and virtual CPUs. With VMware hypervisor, Calibre is prevented from distinguishing between physical and virtual CPUs and, as a result, Calibre consumes licenses based on the number of connected physical and virtual CPUs. Red Hat KVM hypervisor allows Calibre to distinguish between physical and virtual CPUs, so Calibre consumes licenses based only on the number of connected physical CPUs.
The Calibre product division will make a reasonable effort to support Linux VM usage (for example, VMware or KVM) on x86-64 hardware and will perform due diligence to assist our customers when problems arise. If no solution or workaround is found and the problem does not occur when using physical hardware, you should follow up with your virtualization software vendor.
Using a VM of the older OS version on new, fast hardware provides the benefit of improved performance while still retaining the exact supported environment needed by the older software. Therefore, there is no risk of OS-introduced issues and no time needed for requalification. For more information, contact Calibre Customer Support.
Calibre provides different executables that are optimized for different Linux distributions, and each has its own platform identifier. The platform identifier is sometimes referred to as a VCO, which refers to a Vendor-CPU-OS combination. The platform identifier is first used to identify which install files should be downloaded. After installation the platform identifier and release version number are used to identify the Calibre runtime directory, generally referred to as a MGC_HOME tree. Each Calibre MGC_HOME tree can only be used with specific OS versions and must run on hardware that supports the minimum CPU instruction set identified for that MGC_HOME tree. Note that when using Calibre with distributed processing, the MGC_HOME trees on the master host and all remote hosts must all have the same platform identifier.
Table 1. Calibre Platform Identifiers
|
Platform Identifier (VCO) |
RHEL version(s) supported |
SLES version(s) supported |
Notes |
|
AOI |
RHEL 6 |
SLES 11
SP4 |
Discontinued 2024.3 |
|
AOJ |
RHEL 6.8+ |
SLES 11
SP4 |
Discontinued 2024.3 |
|
AOJ |
RHEL 7 |
SLES 12 SP5 |
Discontinued as of 2025.3 |
|
AOK |
RHEL 8 |
N/A |
RHEL 8 supported 2021.1+ |
|
SOA |
N/A |
SLES15 SP2 |
Discontinued as of 2025.2 |
|
SOA |
N/A |
SLES15 SP5 |
Supported 2025.1+ |
Calibre Support Summary for Linux x86-64
Table 2. Calibre Support Summary for Linux x86-64
|
OS version |
RHEL 6.8+ |
|
RHEL 8 |
RHEL 9 |
SLES 11 SP4 |
SLES |
SLES 15 SP2
|
SLES 15 SP5 |
|
|
2023 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2024 |
2024.3+ |
|
|
|
2024.3+ |
|
|
|
|
|
2025 |
|
2025.3+ |
|
2025.2+ |
|
2025.3+ |
2025.2+ |
2025.1+ |
|
|
|
Supported |
|
|
Still supported, but not recommended |
|
|
Discontinued, not supported for new releases |
Please see Table 1, Calibre Platform Identifiers, for full details on platform identifiers used with different OS versions
Calibre Support Overview
Table 3, Calibre Support Overview, provides an overview of the various combinations of hardware architectures and operating systems that Calibre currently supports and intends to support in the future. The Calibre product organization regularly reviews platform and operating systems to develop platform support plans. The support roadmap is a forecast and may be adjusted to better mesh with customer needs and with the availability of specific hardware and operating systems. Note that if an older OS version is not listed, support for it was discontinued. Please refer to the Calibre System Configurations section below for support details on minor versions of Linux.
Table 3. Calibre Support Overview Forecast, 2025-2027
|
OS Version
|
RHEL |
RHEL |
RHEL |
RHEL 10 |
SLES 12 SP 5 |
SLES 15 SP2 |
SLES 15 SP5 |
SLES 15 SP7 |
|
2025 |
2025.3+ |
|
2025.2+ |
|
2025.3+ |
2025.2+ |
|
|
|
2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2027 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All future dates mentioned are approximations, non-definitive, and subject to
change.
|
|
Not supported, refer to the Linux Distribution Compatibility Statement |
|
|
Supported |
|
|
Discontinued, not supported for new releases |
· All releases require support for AVX2 CPU instruction set
· Calibre releases running on RHEL 8 or RHEL 9 require an AOK MGC_HOME tree
· Calibre releases running on SLES 15 require an SOA MGC_HOME tree
· Calibre releases through 2025.2 running on RHEL 7 or SLES 12 require an AOJ MGC_HOME tree
· Please see Table 1, Calibre Platform Identifiers, for full details on which platform identifiers that can be used with each OS version.
Calibre System Configurations
The Calibre tools may require a minimum OS patch level for each supported OS.
Please see the Calibre Administrator’s Guide provided with the Calibre
release you are interested in. The Calibre Administrator’s Guide
provides release-specific information on required patch levels and other
information on supported environments.
Notice of Discontinuation of Calibre Support on RHEL 6 and SLES 11
Only very limited support is provided for 2022-2024 versions of Calibre on RHEL 6 and SLES 11. The 2023.3 through 2024.2 Calibre releases will require a special setting to enable execution for these versions. The 2024.2 Calibre Release (Jun 2024) will be the last release to support RHEL 6 and SLES 11 SP4.
Notice of Intention to Discontinue Calibre Support on RHEL 7 and SLES 12
Only very limited support is provided for 2023-2025 versions of Calibre on RHEL 7 and SLES 12. The 2025.1 and 2025.2 Calibre versions will require a special setting to enable execution for these versions. The 2025.2 Calibre Release (Jun 2025) will be the last release to support RHEL 7 and SLES 12 SP5.
Updated
20 March 2025
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Copyright
2025 Siemens