Changelog

0.31.1: sturdier and faster

A release of fixes, from a review of the whole app for what could crash, lose data, hang or waste the Mac's time. Nothing to do on your side: Elyra VM updates itself, and so does Elyra VM Tools in your VMs.

Your data

Suspending a Windows VM writes what Windows had written to its disk all the way to the Mac's disk before the saved state counts, so a crash or power cut after it can't leave the two apart. Its firmware settings and TPM are written whole or not at all.
A VM's settings (config.json) can't be left half written, nor a change made in the app undo one the command line made at the same moment.
Rolling back to a snapshot that fails part way (a full disk) leaves the VM as it was, rather than half rolled back.
A VM folder copied in Finder gets an identity of its own as the library finds it, as Duplicate gives one: before, the library could mix the two up, and trash the original.
Shared folders in Windows: renaming a file only in its letters' case no longer deletes it, a copy to the Mac cut short no longer cuts the Mac's file short, and a symbolic link in a shared folder can no longer lead Windows out of it.
Imports and snapshots a crash left half done are cleared away after six hours.

No more hangs and crashes

A Windows VM can't crash its own process with what it does to its devices (its USB controller, disk or screen); a device that fails stops the VM with the reason, and Force Stop always works.
Restarting Windows waits until the last machine is gone before the next starts.
Logging out of the Mac, or restarting it, waits for running VMs to be saved (or Windows to shut down) rather than being cancelled by them.
The library no longer waits on a VM's process or the disk: starting, pausing and stopping happen in the background, a VM's name is kept once you stop typing, and the list keeps up with VMs made or removed from the command line. A VM that couldn't start says why.
A Windows VM without Elyra VM Tools no longer runs out of file handles after an hour or two; copying a large file from a shared folder no longer takes the Mac's memory; and the keyboard and mouse can't freeze a VM's window when the guest stops reading them.
The MCP server answers while a tool runs, and gives up on one after an hour.

Faster

Windows' disk: a flush (Windows asks for many) no longer holds up the VM's other devices while the Mac's disk is written; deleted files give their room back to the Mac (trim).
Windows' screen is drawn as soon as Windows draws it, with one copy of each frame rather than three, and the screen before Windows' own driver takes over is only copied when it changes, and not at all while the window is hidden.
Each device has a lock of its own, so a VM's processors reach the network while the disk is busy; network packets go a batch at a time.
Suspending writes memory faster; waking a waiting processor for a device takes no time.
Linux VMs with Elyra VM's own GPU copy their screens with far less work.

0.31.0: a licence, a trial and updates

Elyra VM runs for 10 days, then starts VMs with a licence (USD 39, a year of updates, two Macs), bought at elyracode.com and entered in Elyra VM › Licence…. It updates itself from elyracode.com. See Licence and updates.

0.30.9

Windows' display settled. Windows' display is the window's size in points (1440 × 900 for a new window), so that its text is as large as the Mac's; it is asked for again once Elyra VM Tools has updated itself; and the console programs Elyra VM Tools runs in Windows no longer flash windows of their own.

0.30.2

Windows on the VM's own display. With virtio-win's display driver in, Elyra VM Tools makes the VM's own display Windows' only one, at the window's size, and the window shows it; until then, the firmware's.

0.30.0

Windows, and agents at the screen. Windows 11 for Arm on Elyra VM's own engine (Hypervisor.framework): Setup from Microsoft's ISO with a TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, suspend and snapshots, Elyra VM Tools for Windows (commands, a terminal, the clipboard, shared folders, files in and out), a display that follows the window (virtio-win's driver), sound, the microphone and a camera, USB disks, forwarded ports, and nested virtualization on an M3 or later. elyravm mcp, an MCP server for AI agents, with screenshots, typing and the pointer. The app signed and notarized for distribution (scripts/release.sh), with its third-party licences.

0.29.0

Disk images as USB sticks. An ISO or raw image plugged into a running VM as a USB stick, and pulled out again, from its window or the command line (attach, detach); the release app built and tried as it ships, its 3D renderer and Elyra VM Tools inside it.

0.28.0

The microphone, working and shown. A VM allowed the microphone now gets it: the runner opens through LaunchServices, so macOS asks by the VM's name, and asks for it as the VM starts, with the entitlement the framework needs; the title bar shows when the VM uses it.

0.27.0

Smaller things. Snapshots renamed in the app, forwarded ports reached over IPv6 too, and elyravm cp keeping files' times and showing how far it has come.

0.26.0

Linux desktops ready to use. Ubuntu 26.04, Fedora 44 and Debian 13 with a desktop, set up by cloud-init at their first boot, with the user logged in by itself, on 3D from that first boot.

0.25.0

Files dragged out of macOS guests. Files and folders dragged in the guest's Finder out of the window, onto Finder on the Mac.

0.24.0

Hyprland on 3D. Hyprland tried on Elyra VM's own GPU, and programs that use dual-source blending (Alacritty) drawing again.

0.23.0

3D graphics as a setting. Linux VMs on macOS 27 get Elyra VM's own GPU with 3D by default, once Elyra VM Tools has run in them; a switch in each VM's settings turns it off.

0.22.0

A real desktop on 3D, for Elyra VM's own GPU: GNOME and Firefox's WebGL tried and working, and the display's size given in an EDID, so that a desktop scales itself as macOS does on a Retina screen.

0.21.0

3D shown with no copy, for Elyra VM's own GPU: the guest's frames go from the renderer to the window on the GPU, through IOSurfaces, and fenced work no longer holds up the device's queue.

0.20.0

3D for Linux, a first prototype, for Elyra VM's own GPU: the guest's OpenGL through VirGL, run by virglrenderer on ANGLE and Metal, with the renderer's libraries fetched by scripts/fetch-virgl.sh.

0.19.0

The guest's cursor, and a display that follows the window, for Elyra VM's own GPU: the guest's hardware cursor drawn over its frame, and the guest offered the window's size as it is resized.

0.18.0

The first step to 3D for Linux, and windows that come forward. A 2D virtio-gpu of Elyra VM's own on macOS 27's custom virtio devices, with the keyboard and pointer through Elyra VM Tools, behind ELYRAVM_GPU=custom (plan); show and starts bring the VM's window and app to the front.

0.17.0

Files on the clipboard. Files and folders copied in Finder, on the Mac or in a macOS guest, pasted in Finder on the other side, up to 1 GB a copy.

0.16.0

Pictures and formatted text on the clipboard. In macOS guests, every kind a copy has goes across: plain text, RTF, HTML, PNG and TIFF, both ways.

0.15.0

Polish and packaging. The app's icon; the About panel; the demo with every kind of guest; signing the macOS agent and the Tools package for distribution, and scripts/notarize.sh.

0.14.0

Elyra VM Tools in macOS guests. Installed with one command; the daemon for commands, and a session agent in the user's session for a shared clipboard (text, both ways) and dropped files; exec --session; updated by Elyra VM like Linux's.

0.13.0

Files dropped on the window. Files and folders from Finder copied into a Linux guest's Downloads through Elyra VM Tools, named as Finder would, with progress in the window; elyravm send does the same.

0.12.0

A terminal in the guest. elyravm shell and exec -t: a login shell or command in a pseudo-terminal of its own in the guest, through Elyra VM Tools, in the Mac's terminal, following its size, with no network or SSH.

0.11.0

More systems ready to use. Fedora Cloud 44 and Debian 13 from their cloud images, set up by cloud-init as Ubuntu Server is; Debian as a guest of its own, with its icon; downloads checked with SHA-512 too; cloud images cached under their checksum. Omarchy as a guest of its own, in the catalog until its ARM64 images are out; disk images (qcow2, raw) imported as VMs.

0.10.0

Elyra VM Tools for agents. exec with its input and output as it goes, of any size, stopped with the client and with everything it started; several at once; elyravm cp for files and folders both ways; the agent updated by Elyra VM itself; a heartbeat that keeps the guest's address fresh and finds a stopped agent.

0.9.0

Elyra VM Tools. An agent in the guest, over vsock: commands run with elyravm exec (as root or a user, with stdin, exit code and timeout), the guest's system, host name and address reported, the clock set after a pause or resume, shared folders mounted at /mnt/mac, and a clean shutdown. Ubuntu Server 26.04 (ready to use): Ubuntu's cloud image set up by cloud-init with the person's user, SSH keys and Elyra VM Tools.

0.8.0

Import from Parallels. Linux VMs from Parallels Desktop, their disks as they are now (snapshots included) converted from Parallels' plain and expanding images, in the background with progress; macOS and Windows VMs refused with the reason.

0.7.0

Each VM in the Dock under its own name. A small app per VM, cloned from Elyra VM and signed ad hoc, so the Dock, ⌘Tab and the menu bar show the VM's name, and macOS keeps permissions per VM; elyravm start --hidden for agents.

0.6.0

Forwarded ports. A port on the Mac that reaches a port in the VM, TCP or UDP, from the Mac only or from other devices too, changed while the VM runs; the VM's address in its settings and on the command line.

0.5.0

Snapshots. A VM saved as it is, running or not, as APFS clones of its disk and saved state; rolled back in about a second; taken and rolled back from the library, the settings window and the command line.

0.4.0

Settings in the app. A settings window per VM for its name, processors, memory, a larger disk, network, shared folders and permissions; the name, shared folders and network change while the VM runs (reload).

0.3.0

Linux from the catalog. Ubuntu 26.04 and Fedora 44 for ARM64: the newest release looked up on the distribution's server, downloaded once with resume, checked against its SHA-256 and booted; the installer taken out once the system is installed, and the VM started again into it; Eject Installer by hand. Not done, on purpose: picking a macOS version from Apple's index. Apple's index lists only the newest macOS for virtual Macs, and older versions are no longer signed, so they can't be installed anyway; a particular version is installed from an IPSW the user has.

0.2.0

MacOS guests. The Mac platform kept in the bundle; macOS from an IPSW, or the newest from Apple, downloaded once with resume; installed in the VM's window with progress there, in the library and on the socket; Metal graphics, the trackpad, shared folders mounted by the guest.

0.1.0

The library and Linux. The library window; .elyravm bundles with sparse disks and APFS clones; a process per VM with its own window, Dock icon and control socket; Linux on Apple's Virtualization framework with EFI, NAT, virtio GPU, sound, shared folders, the shared clipboard and a serial console; suspend and resume; the command line.