`qemu: uncaught target signal 11 (Segmentation fault) - core dumped`

[omus]

When attempting to use PackageCompiler inside a linux/arm64/v8 Docker image if you specify the cpu_target keyword you get a segmentation fault:

root@13bca6165856:/# julia -e 'using PackageCompiler; create_sysimage(replace_default=true, cpu_target="armv8-a")'
[ Info: PackageCompiler: creating system image object file, this might take a while...
qemu: uncaught target signal 11 (Segmentation fault) - core dumped
ERROR: failed process: Process(`/usr/local/julia/bin/julia --color=yes --startup-file=no --cpu-target=armv8-a --sysimage=/usr/local/julia/lib/julia/sys.so --project=/root/.julia/environments/v1.5 --output-o=/tmp/jl_9QgKjD.o -e 'Base.reinit_stdio()
@eval Sys BINDIR = ccall(:jl_get_julia_bindir, Any, ())::String
Base.init_load_path()
Base.init_depot_path()
# This @eval prevents symbols from being put into Main
@eval Module() begin
    PrecompileStagingArea = Module()
    for (_pkgid, _mod) in Base.loaded_modules
        if !(_pkgid.name in ("Main", "Core", "Base"))
            eval(PrecompileStagingArea, :(const $(Symbol(_mod)) = $_mod))
        end
    end
    precompile_statements = String[]
        append!(precompile_statements, readlines("/tmp/jl_hoGagH"))

    for statement in sort(precompile_statements)
        # println(statement)
        try
            Base.include_string(PrecompileStagingArea, statement)
        catch
            # See julia issue #28808
            @debug "failed to execute $statement"
        end
    end
end # module
empty!(LOAD_PATH)
empty!(DEPOT_PATH)
'`, ProcessSignaled(11)) [0]

Stacktrace:
 [1] pipeline_error at ./process.jl:525 [inlined]
 [2] run(::Cmd; wait::Bool) at ./process.jl:440
 [3] run at ./process.jl:438 [inlined]
 [4] create_sysimg_object_file(::String, ::Array{String,1}; project::String, base_sysimage::String, precompile_execution_file::Array{String,1}, precompile_statements_file::Array{String,1}, cpu_target::String, script::Nothing, isapp::Bool) at /root/.julia/packages/PackageCompiler/vsMJE/src/PackageCompiler.jl:292
 [5] create_sysimage(::Array{Symbol,1}; sysimage_path::Nothing, project::String, precompile_execution_file::Array{String,1}, precompile_statements_file::Array{String,1}, incremental::Bool, filter_stdlibs::Bool, replace_default::Bool, cpu_target::String, script::Nothing, base_sysimage::Nothing, isapp::Bool) at /root/.julia/packages/PackageCompiler/vsMJE/src/PackageCompiler.jl:423
 [6] top-level scope at none:1

Can be reproduced with:

# Run linux/arm64/v8 Docker image
docker run -it --rm julia:1.5@sha256:c9d751ccba25d1407376e03400c697e03e6f4f40b13e693f43105c6b94153625 bash

apt update
apt install -y gcc
gcc -dumpmachine  # aarch64-linux-gnu
julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.add(PackageSpec(name="PackageCompiler", version="1"))'
julia -e 'using PackageCompiler; create_sysimage(replace_default=true, cpu_target="armv8-a")'

[omus]

Removing the cpu_target may allow PackageCompiler to succeed? I'm still waiting for it to complete after 30 minutes.

[KristofferC]

I guess it is the same if you try to build Julia with that cpu target?

[omus]

I'll give that a try yet. PackageCompiler completed without cpu_target after 2124 seconds (35.4 minutes)

[omus]

Compiling Julia with the CPU target armv8-a in a qemu Docker container results in: ERROR: Invalid CPU name armv8-a.

Steps to reproduce:

export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
digest=$(docker manifest inspect amazonlinux:2 | jq -r '.manifests[] | select(.platform.architecture == "arm64") | .digest')
docker run -it --rm amazonlinux:2@$digest

yum install -y git make gcc gcc-c++ libatomic python gcc-gfortran perl curl m4 awk cmake pkg-config which tar
git clone https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia
cd julia
export MARCH=armv8-a
make

I managed to get this CPU target to work with Julia and PackageCompiler on a native instance so this seems limited to Docker's cross-compilation support.

[KristofferC]

It doesn't seem like this is something specific to PackageCompiler that wouldn't occur when trying to build Julia itself with that cpu_target. So I think it is better to file an upstream issue if this is still a problem.

[schlichtanders]

one and a half year later I am running into this issue,
I guess no upstream issue was opened...
~It is always a pity if a bug was seen but does not make to the right place. ~
I am now creating an upstream issue.

EDIT: sorry for accusing, it seems ARM is just in general that not well supported for cross-compilation and a couple of different issues are currently tracking this, all around the name "JITting" it seems.