Unable to start the Horizon UI (version 1.0.0 - downloaded from binary distribution) on Linux

[lloquens]

I am setting up a new SkyWalking 11 environment on a Linux server (Red Hat, CentOS). Unfortunately, I am unable to start the Horizon UI (version 1.0.0) using the official binaries. (https://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi/skywalking/horizon-ui/1.0.0/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin.tar.gz)
Horizon UI starts catch following error:

[xxx@xxx /opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin ]$ HORIZON_CONFIG=./horizon.yaml node server.js
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1939
  return process.dlopen(module, path.toNamespacedPath(filename));
                 ^

Error: /opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin/node_modules/.pnpm/argon2@0.41.1/node_modules/argon2/prebuilds/linux-x64/._argon2.glibc.node: invalid ELF header
    at Module._extensions..node (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1939:18)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1505:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1309:12)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:254:19)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1527:12)
    at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:147:16)
    at load (/opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin/node_modules/.pnpm/node-gyp-build@4.8.4/node_modules/node-gyp-build/node-gyp-build.js:22:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin/node_modules/.pnpm/argon2@0.41.1/node_modules/argon2/argon2.cjs:7:32)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1781:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1913:10) {
  code: 'ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED'
}

Node.js v22.23.1

I think that the root cause of this issue is that the downloaded binaries contain many macOS-specific files (with names starting with “._”) that cannot be loaded on a Linux server.
As a workaround, I removed these macOS files:
find /opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin -type f -name "._*" -exec rm {} +
After applying this workaround, the Horizon UI launched successfully.
During the unpacking of the HorizonUI binaries via tar, the tar command raised multiple warnings:

tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com.apple.provenance'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com.apple.provenance'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com.apple.provenance'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com.apple.provenance'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com…

Could you please check whether the binary distribution is correct for the Linux platform?
Thank you very much, Ladislav

[wu-sheng]

This seems an issue. We will fix it. We only tested image.

[wu-sheng]

Confirmed, and we found the cause. The 1.0.0 binary tarball was packed on macOS, and macOS tar stored each file's extended attributes as a hidden ._<name> file beside it — 22,575 of them. GNU tar on Linux unpacks those as real files, so argon2's loader picked up ._argon2.glibc.node instead of the real library and failed with invalid ELF header. The LIBARCHIVE.xattr.com.apple.provenance warnings come from the same metadata.

Your workaround is correct and safe. The ._* files hold only macOS metadata; Horizon needs none of them:

find /opt/skywalking/apache-skywalking-horizon-ui-1.0.0-bin -name '._*' -type f -delete

We reproduced the failure on linux/amd64 and linux/arm64, and the workaround fixes both.

• The source tarball and the container image are not affected. The image is built on Linux from source: ghcr.io/apache/skywalking-horizon-ui:1.0.0, or apache/skywalking-ui:horizon-1.0.0 on Docker Hub.
• The release script now packs both tarballs without macOS metadata, and refuses to continue if a tarball still carries any (fix(release): pack tarballs without macOS metadata, stop rewriting the image docs, protect 1.0.x skywalking-horizon-ui#184).
• We are preparing 1.0.1 from the 1.0.x branch: the 1.0.0 code, with a binary tarball that unpacks cleanly on Linux.

Thanks for the detailed report.

[lloquens]

Thank you very much for your support! LL

[wu-sheng]

1.0.1, with the fix for this issue, is now under vote on the dev list: https://lists.apache.org/thread/6cb6wm6j9qhosz89mw13fcjfd27253hx

The 1.0.1 binary tarball is packed without macOS metadata, and the release script now refuses to continue if a ._ entry gets into either tarball.

We checked the release candidate against your report on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.8 with Node.js 22, unpacking it with GNU tar and starting it with HORIZON_CONFIG=./horizon.yaml node server.js: no tar warnings, no ._ files, no invalid ELF header, and the server starts and serves the UI. 1.0.1 also updates Fastify and a few other dependencies to clear security advisories published since 1.0.0; it adds no features and needs no configuration change.

Once the vote passes, 1.0.1 will be on the download page as usual. Until then, the find … -name '._*' -type f -delete workaround keeps 1.0.0 running.