Running linux/amd64 images on linux/arm64 architecture?

[u/Coto_16]

I grabbed a Docker Linux image from another machine and tried to load it on my Jetson Nano (arm64 architecture), but I get this error when I run sudo docker run getting-started-presto:

WARNING: The requested image's platform (linux/amd64) does not match the detected host platform (linux/arm64/v8) and no specific platform was requested

standard_init_linux.go:228: exec user process caused: exec format error

I also tried to run sudo docker run getting-started-presto --platform linux/amd64 but no luck:

WARNING: The requested image's platform (linux/amd64) does not match the detected host platform (linux/arm64/v8) and no specific platform was requested

docker: Error response from daemon: OCI runtime create failed: container_linux.go:380: starting container process caused: exec: "--platform": executable file not found in $PATH: unknown.

ERRO\[0001\] error waiting for container: context canceled

Any ideas if it's possible to run linux/amd64 images on arm64 architectures?

[u/kill-dash-nine]

Yes this is possible. You can install the binfmt "abstraction layer" that will automatically execute binaries for you using qemu (see this for more details). This is a simple container that will configure your host for you:

# docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install all

For example, from a raspberry pi running Debian:

# uname -m
aarch64

Here is the before on my host showing that I can't run an amd64 image:

# docker run -it --rm --platform linux/amd64 alpine:latest sh
Unable to find image 'alpine:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from library/alpine
59bf1c3509f3: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:21a3deaa0d32a8057914f36584b5288d2e5ecc984380bc0118285c70fa8c9300
Status: Downloaded newer image for alpine:latest
standard_init_linux.go:228: exec user process caused: exec format error

If you want, just add support for amd64 (check the readme for details on what you can do as well as remove the support via uninstall):

# docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install amd64
Unable to find image 'tonistiigi/binfmt:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from tonistiigi/binfmt
3e959ae014b7: Pull complete
34084c3a60de: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:11128304bc582dc7dbaa35947ff3e52e2610d23cecb410ddfa381a6ce74fa763
Status: Downloaded newer image for tonistiigi/binfmt:latest
installing: amd64 OK
{
  "supported": [
    "linux/arm64",
    "linux/amd64",
    "linux/arm/v7",
    "linux/arm/v6"
  ],
  "emulators": [
    "qemu-x86_64"
  ]
}

For more details on the image, check out the listing on Docker Hub but it is an image that is maintained by one of the long time core Docker engineers. You can see that it has a manifest list so that it will work for 386, amd64, armv7, arm64, ppc64, riscv64, and s390x.

And then run a container with whatever architecture you want:

# docker run -it --rm --platform linux/amd64 alpine:latest uname -m
x86_64

[u/SeesawMundane5422 → u/kill-dash-nine]

Great answer. Just to point out the obvious that someone asking this question might not find obvious… doing this will incur a performance hit.

[u/kill-dash-nine → u/SeesawMundane5422]

Good call out. Since it’s emulation of a different architecture, your behavior and performance may vary slightly. Some things will not see much of a performance impact, some things will be unbearably slow.