--static opposite behavior

[aleksmelnikov]

Describe the issue
I have --static opposite behavior. Why?

Steps to reproduce the issue

On the firts host.

$ cat /etc/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04 LTS"

$ ldd --version
ldd (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.31-0ubuntu9) 2.31

$ java --version
openjdk 11.0.7 2020-04-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10, mixed mode)

$ gu list
ComponentId              Version             Component name      Origin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
graalvm                  20.1.0              GraalVM Core
R                        20.1.0              FastR               github.com
llvm-toolchain           20.1.0              LLVM.org toolchain  github.com
native-image             20.1.0              Native Image        github.com
python                   20.1.0              Graal.Python        github.com
wasm                     20.1.0              GraalWasm           github.com

$ pwd
/at/micronaut

$ mn create-app t --lang=java
| Application created at /at/micronaut/t

$ cd t

$ ./gradlew assemble
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 7s
10 actionable tasks: 10 executed

$ native-image --no-server -cp build/libs/t-0.1-all.jar t.Application
[t.application:308480]    classlist:   7,169.17 ms,  0.96 GB
[t.application:308480]        (cap):     967.05 ms,  0.96 GB
[t.application:308480]        setup:   2,909.42 ms,  0.96 GB
WARNING GR-10238: VarHandle for static field is currently not fully supported. Static field private static volatile java.lang.System$Logger jdk.internal.event.EventHelper.securityLogger is not properly marked for Unsafe access!
[t.application:308480]     (clinit):   1,704.73 ms,  2.21 GB
[t.application:308480]   (typeflow):  32,958.99 ms,  2.21 GB
[t.application:308480]    (objects):  29,922.01 ms,  2.21 GB
[t.application:308480]   (features):   3,911.02 ms,  2.21 GB
[t.application:308480]     analysis:  71,747.43 ms,  2.21 GB
[t.application:308480]     universe:   2,348.82 ms,  2.30 GB
[t.application:308480]      (parse):   7,831.36 ms,  2.20 GB
[t.application:308480]     (inline):  10,616.73 ms,  2.92 GB
[t.application:308480]    (compile):  32,756.90 ms,  3.04 GB
[t.application:308480]      compile:  54,994.37 ms,  3.04 GB
[t.application:308480]        image:   6,718.85 ms,  3.05 GB
[t.application:308480]        write:   1,372.84 ms,  3.05 GB
[t.application:308480]      [total]: 147,633.03 ms,  3.05 GB

$ mv t.application t.application-no-static

$ native-image --static --no-server -cp build/libs/t-0.1-all.jar t.Application
[t.application:308666]    classlist:   6,968.48 ms,  0.96 GB
[t.application:308666]        (cap):     982.89 ms,  0.96 GB
[t.application:308666]        setup:  76,542.32 ms,  0.96 GB
WARNING GR-10238: VarHandle for static field is currently not fully supported. Static field private static volatile java.lang.System$Logger jdk.internal.event.EventHelper.securityLogger is not properly marked for Unsafe access!
[t.application:308666]     (clinit):   1,565.35 ms,  2.42 GB
[t.application:308666]   (typeflow):  34,392.06 ms,  2.42 GB
[t.application:308666]    (objects):  29,067.35 ms,  2.42 GB
[t.application:308666]   (features):   4,038.58 ms,  2.42 GB
[t.application:308666]     analysis:  72,240.97 ms,  2.42 GB
[t.application:308666]     universe:   2,334.27 ms,  2.41 GB
[t.application:308666]      (parse):   8,640.45 ms,  2.38 GB
[t.application:308666]     (inline):   7,129.87 ms,  2.95 GB
[t.application:308666]    (compile):  34,871.48 ms,  3.15 GB
[t.application:308666]      compile:  54,539.95 ms,  3.15 GB
[t.application:308666]        image:   6,988.06 ms,  3.13 GB
[t.application:308666]        write:   1,440.66 ms,  3.13 GB
[t.application:308666]      [total]: 221,423.40 ms,  3.13 GB

$ mv t.application t.application-static

$ ls -Qs --block-size=K | grep t.application
55388K "t.application-no-static"
55224K "t.application-static"

Copy both binaries to the second host with OEL Linux 7.4 x64 GLIBC 2.17

$ ./t.application-no-static
20:08:18.657 [main] INFO  io.micronaut.runtime.Micronaut - Startup completed in 44ms. Server Running: http://host.example.com:8080
^C

$ ./t.application-static
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

[radeusgd]

This may be related to #2486 and #571.

[gradinac]

Hey @aleksmelnikov!
By default, --static will statically link your native-image against your host libc (glibc). Static linking against glibc is a bad idea - for that reason, on Java 11, we support statically linking against musl.
Since you are running on GraalVM 20.1, you can add -H:UseMuslC=<path> to link against musl, where the is a path to a library bundle that contains musl, zlib and libstdc++. You can download an example bundle from here: https://github.com/gradinac/musl-bundle-example/releases/download/v1.0/musl.tar.gz.

On GraalVM 20.2, this works a bit differently, as described in https://github.com/oracle/graal/blob/master/substratevm/STATIC-IMAGES.md

Let me know if linking against musl fixes your issue.

[ilopmar]

@aleksmelnikov we discourage the use of --static for Micronaut applications. We used to have that flag enabled by default but sometime ago we changed that.

[aleksmelnikov]

@gradinac , yes linking against musl works for me. Thank you.

[gradinac]

@aleksmelnikov I'm glad that solved it! No problem at all :)
@ilopmar Static had some issues in the past when statically linking against glibc, it is possible to create a fully static native-image by linking against musl (for 20.2+, see https://github.com/oracle/graal/blob/master/substratevm/STATIC-IMAGES.md). For 20.2+, we also support linking everything but libc statically in order to support distroless deployments (-H:+StaticExecutableWithDynamicLibC)

[ilopmar]

@gradinac Thanks for the explanation and the links. We can't switch to that in Micronaut because that approach needs JDK11 (and only Linux, although that is probably not a very big deal for us) and we still allow JDK8. We will keep that in mind for the future when we switch Micronaut itself to JDK11.