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Asahi Linux’s report accompanying Linux 7.3 says M3 Macs no longer need the installer’s EXPERT flag, following a low number of reported issues among early adopters. The project also reports progress submitting major Apple Silicon drivers upstream, virtualizing macOS on M4 and M5, and reverse engineering the M3 GPU; Thunderbolt support work has reached the mailing list, but the report does not establish that it is ready for users.
Asahi Linux has made support for M3-series Macs generally available, removing the installer’s EXPERT flag after early adopters reported almost no issues, according to the project’s progress report accompanying Linux 7.3. The update also describes major Apple Silicon drivers moving toward upstream review and ongoing work on M4 and M5 Macs, including virtualization and GPU research.
The project says M3 support was initially offered through an EXPERT installer flag and has now been opened to general users after the early-access period produced almost no reported problems. Asahi Linux also says it has enabled the Display Controller Processor, or DCP, on M3 devices. The project links that work to performance and battery-life improvements, sleep support, and making the area around the MacBook notch usable. It says m1n1 and kernel updates were expected in the days following the report; the report does not specify their release status.
Upstream submissions are another major focus. Asahi Linux says its macaudio driver and associated device-tree changes total about 3,100 lines and are now ready for review. The audio work required changes to core ALSA support and modifications to drivers for Apple-specific speaker and headset amplifiers. The project also reports that its AVD driver, for a major SoC component, reached the upstream submission list after spending less than three months in the downstream tree; its driver and device-tree changes amount to about 13,000 lines.
The report says initial device trees for M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 have also appeared on the submission list. These are described as barebones: enough to boot to a text terminal, but not evidence of broad device support. Separately, Asahi Linux says initial Thunderbolt work and changes to TI USB-PD and SPMI drivers for new devices were developed upstream-first, reflecting a move to work directly in the mainline Linux development process where practical.
M3 Macs Move Beyond Expert Testing
Making M3 support generally available lowers the barrier for users who want to run Asahi Linux on those Macs: they no longer need to opt into an installer path marked for experts. The project’s account of few early-adopter issues is encouraging, but it is not a guarantee that every model or configuration has identical support. The reported DCP, sleep and battery-life improvements also matter because hardware support is not just about booting Linux; daily use depends on power management and display behavior.
The upstream work has a longer-term effect. Linux changes accepted into the mainline project are easier to maintain alongside future kernel releases than patches carried only in Asahi’s own tree. Asahi Linux says upstreaming is progressing, but being on a mailing list or ready for review does not mean a patch has been accepted. The scale of the audio and AVD changes illustrates both the engineering involved and the review work still ahead.
For M4 and M5 owners, the report signals progress in research and early hardware enablement, not a promise of a fully supported desktop system. Virtualizing macOS helps developers investigate hardware behavior, while the M3 GPU work has reached a demonstration milestone. Neither development, by itself, establishes that the corresponding hardware is ready for ordinary Linux graphics workloads.
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From Expert M3 Access to Wider Support
Asahi Linux develops support for Apple Silicon Macs in the Linux ecosystem. Its work includes reverse engineering hardware, writing drivers, and submitting changes upstream. The project’s previous report announced initial M3 support through the installer’s EXPERT flag; this update says that access has expanded after early use generated almost no issues. That sequence explains why the report calls the change a move to general availability rather than a first announcement of M3 support.
The update also traces advances in m1n1, the project’s boot and research environment. The earlier report discussed virtualizing macOS versions using Apple’s SPTM security mechanism on M4. The new report says the arrival of M5 introduces another complication: supported macOS versions rely on Exclaves, isolated applications managed by the Secure Kernel. Asahi contributor Sven found a way to run the Secure Kernel and Exclave userspace in a separate virtual machine alongside SPTM and macOS, allowing m1n1 to run three virtual machines at EL1, according to the project.
GPU support remains a distinct challenge. The report says M3’s GPU differs substantially from those in M1 and M2. At this year’s XDC conference, contributors Alyssa Millburn, Anna Maniscalco and TellowKrinkle presented reverse-engineering work that had progressed to initializing the GPU and drawing a triangle. That is a research milestone, not a claim of complete M3 graphics support.
“We received almost no issues from early adopters, so M3 support is now generally available without the EXPERT flag.”
— Asahi Linux progress report
Driver Review and Hardware Support Remain
The report does not say whether the macaudio or AVD patches have been accepted into the mainline Linux kernel; it says the audio driver is ready for review and that AVD is on the submission list. Submission is not acceptance, and review outcomes and timing are not provided. The initial M4 and M5 device trees are explicitly limited to booting to a text terminal, so the report does not establish support for other features on those machines.
Asahi Linux gives no release date or feature list for Thunderbolt support. It says the work is on the mailing list and describes development of Apple’s controller, but the supplied report text ends during that technical discussion. It therefore cannot establish the full state of implementation, which devices are covered, or when users might receive support. Similarly, the M3 GPU demonstration does not clarify when, or to what extent, usable Mesa graphics support will arrive.
The report’s statement that M3 early adopters raised almost no issues is the project’s characterization; it provides no user count, testing period, or issue breakdown. Those details would be needed to quantify the testing behind the decision to remove the installer flag.
Kernel Reviews and Device Updates
Asahi Linux says the next steps include review of the submitted driver and device-tree changes, with further enablement work for the M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 device trees. The report does not give deadlines for those reviews or specify which submissions may be merged first. Readers can watch for mailing-list decisions and subsequent project updates to distinguish code under review from support that has reached released kernels.
For M3 users, the project said m1n1 and kernel updates were due in the following days to accompany the DCP and support improvements. It also said M3 GPU research would continue, with integration into upstream Mesa requiring further engineering. The report identifies Thunderbolt as active upstream work but does not announce a user-facing release date. The next clear measures of progress will be published patches, merged kernel changes, and updates that spell out which features are available on each Mac generation.
Key Questions
What changed for M3 Mac users?
Asahi Linux says M3 support is generally available through its installer without the EXPERT flag previously used for initial access. The project also reports DCP support and related improvements, including sleep; it does not claim every feature matches M1 and M2 machines.
Does Linux 7.3 include full M4 and M5 support?
No such claim appears in the report. The initial M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 device trees are described as barebones, sufficient to boot to a text terminal while additional enablement continues.
Has Asahi Linux finished M3 GPU support?
No. Contributors have demonstrated that m1n1 can initialize the M3 GPU and draw a triangle, according to the report. The project says further engineering is needed to integrate support into upstream Mesa.
Is Thunderbolt support available now?
The report says Thunderbolt work is on the mailing list and that initial support was developed upstream-first. It does not provide a release date or confirm that users can access working Thunderbolt support in a released build.
Have the audio and AVD drivers been merged upstream?
The report says the macaudio driver is ready for review and AVD is on the submission list. It does not say either has been accepted into the mainline Linux kernel.
Source: asahilinux.org
