chore(exllama): drop backend now almost deprecated (#8186)

exllama2 development has stalled and only old architectures are
supported. exllamav3 is still in development, meanwhile cleaning up
exllama2 from the gallery.

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

Author: mudler

.github/workflows/backend.yml

@@ -313,19 +313,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'cublas'
-            cuda-major-version: "12"
-            cuda-minor-version: "9"
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-exllama2'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "exllama2"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: 'cublas'
             cuda-major-version: "12"
             cuda-minor-version: "9"
@@ -1301,46 +1288,6 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2204'
-          # exllama2
-          - build-type: ''
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-cpu-exllama2'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "exllama2"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'intel'
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-intel-exllama2'
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            base-image: "intel/oneapi-basekit:2025.3.0-0-devel-ubuntu24.04"
-            skip-drivers: 'false'
-            backend: "exllama2"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
-          - build-type: 'hipblas'
-            cuda-major-version: ""
-            cuda-minor-version: ""
-            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
-            skip-drivers: 'true'
-            tag-latest: 'auto'
-            tag-suffix: '-gpu-hipblas-exllama2'
-            base-image: "rocm/dev-ubuntu-24.04:6.4.4"
-            runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
-            backend: "exllama2"
-            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.python"
-            context: "./"
-            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: 'l4t'
             cuda-major-version: "12"
             cuda-minor-version: "0"

Makefile

@@ -450,7 +450,6 @@ BACKEND_TRANSFORMERS = transformers|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_FASTER_WHISPER = faster-whisper|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_COQUI = coqui|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_BARK = bark|python|.|false|true
-BACKEND_EXLLAMA2 = exllama2|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_RFDETR = rfdetr|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_KITTEN_TTS = kitten-tts|python|.|false|true
 BACKEND_NEUTTS = neutts|python|.|false|true
@@ -497,7 +496,6 @@ $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_TRANSFORMERS)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_FASTER_WHISPER)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_COQUI)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_BARK)))
-$(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_EXLLAMA2)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_RFDETR)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_KITTEN_TTS)))
 $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_NEUTTS)))
@@ -514,7 +512,7 @@ $(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_QWEN_TTS)))
 docker-save-%: backend-images
 	docker save local-ai-backend:$* -o backend-images/$*.tar
 
-docker-build-backends: docker-build-llama-cpp docker-build-rerankers docker-build-vllm docker-build-transformers docker-build-diffusers docker-build-kokoro docker-build-faster-whisper docker-build-coqui docker-build-bark docker-build-chatterbox docker-build-vibevoice docker-build-exllama2 docker-build-moonshine docker-build-pocket-tts docker-build-qwen-tts
+docker-build-backends: docker-build-llama-cpp docker-build-rerankers docker-build-vllm docker-build-transformers docker-build-diffusers docker-build-kokoro docker-build-faster-whisper docker-build-coqui docker-build-bark docker-build-chatterbox docker-build-vibevoice docker-build-moonshine docker-build-pocket-tts docker-build-qwen-tts
 
 ########################################################
 ### END Backends

README.md

@@ -278,7 +278,6 @@ LocalAI supports a comprehensive range of AI backends with multiple acceleration
 | **llama.cpp** | LLM inference in C/C++ | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel SYCL, Vulkan, Metal, CPU |
 | **vLLM** | Fast LLM inference with PagedAttention | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel |
 | **transformers** | HuggingFace transformers framework | CUDA 12/13, ROCm, Intel, CPU |
-| **exllama2** | GPTQ inference library | CUDA 12/13 |
 | **MLX** | Apple Silicon LLM inference | Metal (M1/M2/M3+) |
 | **MLX-VLM** | Apple Silicon Vision-Language Models | Metal (M1/M2/M3+) |
 
@@ -321,7 +320,7 @@ LocalAI supports a comprehensive range of AI backends with multiple acceleration
 | **NVIDIA CUDA 12** | All CUDA-compatible backends | Nvidia hardware |
 | **NVIDIA CUDA 13** | All CUDA-compatible backends | Nvidia hardware |
 | **AMD ROCm** | llama.cpp, whisper, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, bark, neutts, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | AMD Graphics |
-| **Intel oneAPI** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rfdetr, rerankers, exllama2, coqui, kokoro, bark, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | Intel Arc, Intel iGPUs |
+| **Intel oneAPI** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, vllm, transformers, diffusers, rfdetr, rerankers, coqui, kokoro, bark, vibevoice, pocket-tts, qwen-tts | Intel Arc, Intel iGPUs |
 | **Apple Metal** | llama.cpp, whisper, diffusers, MLX, MLX-VLM, bark-cpp | Apple M1/M2/M3+ |
 | **Vulkan** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion | Cross-platform GPUs |
 | **NVIDIA Jetson (CUDA 12)** | llama.cpp, whisper, stablediffusion, diffusers, rfdetr | ARM64 embedded AI (AGX Orin, etc.) |

backend/index.yaml

@@ -241,22 +241,6 @@
     nvidia-cuda-12: "cuda12-diffusers"
     nvidia-l4t-cuda-12: "nvidia-l4t-arm64-diffusers"
     nvidia-l4t-cuda-13: "cuda13-nvidia-l4t-arm64-diffusers"
-- &exllama2
-  name: "exllama2"
-  urls:
-    - https://github.com/turboderp-org/exllamav2
-  tags:
-    - text-to-text
-    - LLM
-    - EXL2
-  license: MIT
-  description: |
-    ExLlamaV2 is an inference library for running local LLMs on modern consumer GPUs.
-  alias: "exllama2"
-  capabilities:
-    nvidia: "cuda12-exllama2"
-    intel: "intel-exllama2"
-    nvidia-cuda-12: "cuda12-exllama2"
 - &faster-whisper
   icon: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1520500?s=200&v=4
   description: |
@@ -1251,22 +1235,6 @@
   uri: "quay.io/go-skynet/local-ai-backends:master-metal-darwin-arm64-diffusers"
   mirrors:
     - localai/localai-backends:master-metal-darwin-arm64-diffusers
-  ## exllama2
-- !!merge <<: *exllama2
-  name: "exllama2-development"
-  capabilities:
-    nvidia: "cuda12-exllama2-development"
-    intel: "intel-exllama2-development"
-- !!merge <<: *exllama2
-  name: "cuda12-exllama2"
-  uri: "quay.io/go-skynet/local-ai-backends:latest-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-exllama2"
-  mirrors:
-    - localai/localai-backends:latest-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-exllama2
-- !!merge <<: *exllama2
-  name: "cuda12-exllama2-development"
-  uri: "quay.io/go-skynet/local-ai-backends:master-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-exllama2"
-  mirrors:
-    - localai/localai-backends:master-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-exllama2
 ## kokoro
 - !!merge <<: *kokoro
   name: "kokoro-development"

backend/python/README.md

@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ The Python backends use a unified build system based on `libbackend.sh` that pro
 - **transformers** - Hugging Face Transformers framework (PyTorch-based)
 - **vllm** - High-performance LLM inference engine
 - **mlx** - Apple Silicon optimized ML framework
-- **exllama2** - ExLlama2 quantized models
 
 ### Audio & Speech
 - **bark** - Text-to-speech synthesis