Ubuntu introduces architecture variants [LWN.net]

Michael Hudson-Doyle, a member of Ubuntu’s Foundations team, has announced
the introduction of an “architecture variant” for Ubuntu 25.10:

By making changes to dpkg, apt and Launchpad, we are able to build
multiple versions of a package, each for a different level of the
x86-64 architecture, meaning we can have packages that specifically
target x86-64-v3, for example.

As a result, we’re very excited to share that in Ubuntu 25.10, some
packages are available, on an opt-in basis, in their optimized form
for the more modern x86-64-v3 architecture level.

See the announcement for details on opting in to x86-64-v3
packages.