provide AppImage release for arm / aarch64

[goshhhy]

• nvim --version: N/A
• Operating system/version: Debian testing, arm64

Actual behaviour

there is no AppImage for aarch64 platforms. this means users like me who do not use x86_64 and run a distribution without the latest version in its repositories, will have to build it ourselves if we want the latest.

Expected behaviour

an AppImage for aarch64 is provided.

[clason]

I believe that is blocked by not having ARM64 runners for GH Actions: actions/runner-images#2552

[rktjmp]

Looks like it's stuck as a wontfix for now too...

One solution is a self hosted GH runner, AWS has ARM instances, as well as a few others here and there.

I imagine this would need a benevolent user to donate an instance to happen though, and it's open to abuse by malicious PRs.

Also it's probably a nightmare to keep upright.

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/hosting-your-own-runners/about-self-hosted-runners.

[bfredl]

Well we could use such a thing only for nightly builds, and not for PR runs (whose queue probably is going to be impossible anyway, unless we spinn up a lot of instances)

[ck3mp3r]

Why don't you use docker buildx?
I'm able to compile and build docker images with neovim for both amd64 and arm64 using GitHub actions
I think the trick here is QUEMU...

[rktjmp]

Could you post an example action & docker file, if you have one already that is, save some ground work.

Edit: actually there are some provided in the linked issue:

actions/runner-images#2552 (comment)

@ArniDagur you definitely can or you can use official Docker actions for setting up qemu/buildx and building Dockerfiles
https://github.com/marketplace/actions/docker-setup-qemu
https://github.com/marketplace/actions/docker-setup-buildx
https://github.com/marketplace/actions/build-and-push-docker-images

I will try to look into this, but the linked issue also states builds take 5 times as long which might get killed by the CI warden? I think they cap out at 45min/action?

[ck3mp3r]

Yeah, build time for amd64 and arm64 containers together take just over an hour... but still better than having nothing for arm64, especially as there are going to be more of them around...

[tororutsu]

Is this why I cant use the App Image? or the tar package. I get a "Exec format err" for both. I believe i am having an issue with the Ubuntu package(at least i think i am) the unstable build is version 5.01Lua and not LuaJIT. Unless this is not a problem. I am having issues with LuaRocks not being present, its affecting packer.nvim. Or im stupid and have no idea what I am talking about. I just want to program Svelte lol but I cant seem to get my LSP right lol.

[rktjmp]

Just noting down WIP here: https://github.com/rktjmp/neovim/tree/ci-arm

Don't use the released files in that repo yet, they are a mix of arm64 and amd64 because arm builds too slow for testing.

[rktjmp]

Draft PR #15542 which needs some testing by actual users.

[tigerinus]

With the understanding that there might not be a ARM device for building the ARM package, is cross-compiling something open for discussion here?

There are many aged ARM devices re-enabled for regular work scenarios (e.g. thin-terminal, IoT controller, file/printer sharing, etc.) by Linux.

[rktjmp]

The PR above would support any platform QEMU does, just have to add the arch to the matrix. That may be simpler than setting up cross compilation toolchains in "normal" builds.

I imagine the core team would have to weigh up potential support costs (issue triage, platform quirks, etc) if they were to provide separate binaries for many platforms, but an industrious user could probably:

• fork neovim, update the builder with whatever platforms they wanted and create a new action to rebase those changes onto the latest HEAD every day and act as a 3rd party unsupported, unofficial release provider, or
• use the dockerfiles to build whatever platform they wanted locally.

[remiconnesson]

Looks like it's stuck as a wontfix for now too...
[...]
I imagine this would need a benevolent user to donate an instance to happen though, and it's open to abuse by malicious PRs.

Maybe that will help: https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/

Oracle Cloud provide a Free Tier which include an instance always free with an ARM CPU and 24GB of RAM

[krmbzds]

I believe that is blocked by not having ARM64 runners for GH Actions: actions/runner-images#2552

GitHub ARM64 runner issue is now tracked here: actions/runner-images#5631

[afifurrohman-id]

I believe that is blocked by not having ARM64 runners for GH Actions: actions/runner-images#2552

GitHub ARM64 runner issue is now tracked here: actions/runner-images#5631

Now MacOS M1 is GA: https://github.blog/changelog/2024-01-30-github-actions-introducing-the-new-m1-macos-runner-available-to-open-source

Sadly, M1 doesn't support nested virtualization due to architectural issue:
actions/runner-images#9460

But, if just need for runner, is good to open PR now.

[clason]

Sadly, M1 doesn't support nested virtualization due to architectural issue:
actions/runner-images#9460

Yes, and that is why we are still blocked. No native ARM linux runners == no official native ARM linux releases.

[xnzac]

Just to chime in, to build on your own machine(tested on Ubuntu 22.04 via UTM on Mac M1):

1. sudo apt-get install ninja-build \
   gettext libtool libtool-bin \
   autoconf automake cmake g++ \
   pkg-config unzip

2. git clone https://github.com/neovim/neovim.git

3. git checkout stable

4. sudo make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
   CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<NEOVIM_LOCATION> install

I used /opt/nvim for <NEOVIM_LOCATION>

5. Add the following line to your .bashrc/.zshrc file: export PATH=”<NEOVIM_LOCATION>/bin:$PATH”

Credit: https://carlosahs.medium.com/how-to-install-neovim-from-source-on-ubuntu-20-04-lts-524b3a91b4c4

[Spuxy]

@xnzac i get that point, but again, u have tested on Mac M1. Try on rpi or some linux based os with cpu arch of arm.

• If you are going to build that by their doc BUILD.md, it would be simple (i was compiling but i lost interested to finish that :) ) even for arm64 on unix-like systems.

Link on their official doc

[mpriscella]

ARM based instances are now in public beta. Hopefully this unblocks this issue now.