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enable building aarch64-linux targets from macOS #890

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Merged
merged 1 commit into from
Nov 25, 2025
Merged

enable building aarch64-linux targets from macOS #890

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21 changes: 19 additions & 2 deletions cpython-unix/build-main.py
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def main():
"--no-docker",
action="store_true",
default=True if sys.platform == "darwin" else False,
help="Disable building in Docker",
help="Disable building in Docker on Linux hosts.",
)
parser.add_argument(
"--serial",
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -129,9 +129,26 @@ def main():

musl = "musl" in target_triple

# Linux targets can be built on a macOS host using Docker.
building_linux_from_macos = sys.platform == "darwin" and "linux" in target_triple
if building_linux_from_macos:
print("Note: Using Docker to build for Linux on macOS")
args.no_docker = False
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@zanieb zanieb Nov 25, 2025

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This feels a little dubious as an implementation. I'd expect us not to mutate args and I'd expect --no-docker to cause a failure in this case?


env = dict(os.environ)

env["PYBUILD_HOST_PLATFORM"] = host_platform
# When building Linux targets from macOS using Docker, map to the equivalent
# Linux host platform.
effective_host_platform = host_platform
if building_linux_from_macos:
if host_platform == "macos_arm64":
effective_host_platform = "linux_aarch64"
else:
raise Exception(f"Unhandled macOS platform: {host_platform}")
print(
f"Building Linux target from macOS using Docker ({effective_host_platform} toolchain)"
)
env["PYBUILD_HOST_PLATFORM"] = effective_host_platform
env["PYBUILD_TARGET_TRIPLE"] = target_triple
env["PYBUILD_BUILD_OPTIONS"] = args.options
env["PYBUILD_PYTHON_SOURCE"] = python_source
Expand Down
3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion cpython-unix/build.py
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Expand Up @@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ def add_target_env(env, build_platform, target_triple, build_env, build_options)
if build_platform.startswith("linux_"):
machine = platform.machine()

if machine == "aarch64":
# arm64 allows building for Linux on a macOS host using Docker
if machine == "aarch64" or machine == "arm64":
env["BUILD_TRIPLE"] = "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu"
env["TARGET_TRIPLE"] = target_triple
elif machine == "x86_64":
Expand Down
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions cpython-unix/targets.yml
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Expand Up @@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu:
host_platforms:
- linux_x86_64
- linux_aarch64
- macos_arm64
pythons_supported:
- '3.10'
- '3.11'
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -919,6 +920,7 @@ aarch64-unknown-linux-musl:
host_platforms:
- linux_x86_64
- linux_aarch64
- macos_arm64
pythons_supported:
- '3.10'
- '3.11'
Expand Down
5 changes: 5 additions & 0 deletions docs/building.rst
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Expand Up @@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ As are various other targets::
$ ./build-linux.py --target riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu
$ ./build-linux.py --target s390x-unknown-linux-gnu

Additionally, an arm64 macOS host can be used to build Linux aarch64 targets
using Docker::

$ ./build-linux.py --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

macOS
=====

Expand Down