diff --git a/posts/2024-02-26-Windows-7.md b/posts/2024-02-26-Windows-7.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4eecd7173 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2024-02-26-Windows-7.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Updated baseline standards for Windows targets" +author: Chris Denton on behalf of the Compiler Team +--- + +The minimum requirements for Tier 1 toolchains targeting Windows will increase with the 1.78 release (scheduled for May 02, 2024). +Windows 10 will now be the minimum supported version for the `*-pc-windows-*` targets. +These requirements apply both to the Rust toolchain itself and to binaries produced by Rust. + +Two new targets have been added with Windows 7 as their baseline: `x86_64-win7-windows-msvc` and `i686-win7-windows-msvc`. +They are starting as Tier 3 targets, meaning that the Rust codebase has support for them but we don't build or test them automatically. +Once these targets reach Tier 2 status, they will be available to use via rustup. + +## Affected targets + +- `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` +- `i686-pc-windows-msvc` +- `x86_64-pc-windows-gnu` +- `i686-pc-windows-gnu` +- `x86_64-pc-windows-gnullvm` +- `i686-pc-windows-gnullvm` + +## Why are the requirements being changed? + +Prior to now, Rust had Tier 1 support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 but these targets no longer meet our requirements. +In particular, these targets could no longer be tested in CI which is required by the [Target Tier Policy](https://doc.rust-lang.org/rustc/target-tier-policy.html#tier-1-target-policy) and are not supported by their vendor.