Hello, Would it be possible to add arm64 binaries for the r-base backports on https://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian and/or perhaps update the readme a bit about what is available? Afaict, the deb repos on CRAN currently host arm64 binaries for ubuntu-22.04 / 24.04, however not for ubuntu-20.04 and also not for Debian 10/11/12. Having the installers there will make it easier for users on arm64 hardware (or GHA) to check their packages on Debian. Thanks!
arm64 r-base backports on CRAN
8 messages · Jeroen Ooms, Dirk Eddelbuettel, Johannes Ranke
On 24 June 2025 at 15:41, Jeroen Ooms wrote:
| Would it be possible to add arm64 binaries for the r-base backports on | https://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian and/or perhaps update the | readme a bit about what is available? That part is maintained by Johanned so you need to talk to him. | Afaict, the deb repos on CRAN currently host arm64 binaries for | ubuntu-22.04 / 24.04, however not for ubuntu-20.04 and also not for Because launchpad.net, where Michael builds these, supports arm64 for those two releases. 20.04 is old, the official support is five years so it is pretty much EOL. | Debian 10/11/12. There are not (publically accessible) builder farms I am aware of. | Having the installers there will make it easier for users on arm64 | hardware (or GHA) to check their packages on Debian. For all practical matters Ubuntu is 'close enough' -- and for Ubuntu we have r2u which supports i) amd64 and arm64 for the main R package(s) at CRAN, ii) as well as over 22k CRAN binaries via the r2u apt repo making it much easier to test with whatever (CRAN) dependencies a package may have. This works most easily via a container, via GitHub Actions (given GH has Ubuntu runners) or of course via direct installation. To be clear, I fully agree with your "wouldn't it be nice if ..." sentiment but at the end of the day a volunteer has to step up. If you see something missing, could you supply it, possibly in coordination with the maintainer of the existing service? Cheers, Dirk
dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org
Hey Jeroen, I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy hardware or look for hosting on that architecture. I just invested in a nice amd64 system, but just for building for CRAN I wont need too many arm64 cyles. Any recommendations on where to look? Cheers, Johannes Am 24. Juni 2025 15:41:50 MESZ schrieb Jeroen Ooms <jeroenooms at gmail.com>:
Hello, Would it be possible to add arm64 binaries for the r-base backports on https://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian and/or perhaps update the readme a bit about what is available? Afaict, the deb repos on CRAN currently host arm64 binaries for ubuntu-22.04 / 24.04, however not for ubuntu-20.04 and also not for Debian 10/11/12. Having the installers there will make it easier for users on arm64 hardware (or GHA) to check their packages on Debian. Thanks!
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On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 7:55?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de> wrote:
Hey Jeroen, I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy hardware or look for hosting on that architecture. I just invested in a nice amd64 system, but just for building for CRAN I wont need too many arm64 cyles. Any recommendations on where to look?
GitHub actions has free arm64 and x86_64 runners. If you have the build scripts somewhere, we can try to run them on there. I think this is also where Dirk builds the arm64 ubuntu binary R packages.
Hi Johannes, ( And sorry about the fat-finger typo in the earlier email butchering your name. I really need to get proof-reading emails before sending... )
On 24 June 2025 at 20:02, Jeroen Ooms wrote:
| On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 7:55?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de> wrote:
| > | > Hey Jeroen, | > | > I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy hardware or look for hosting on that architecture. | > | > I just invested in a nice amd64 system, but just for building for CRAN I wont need too many arm64 cyles. | > | > Any recommendations on where to look? | | GitHub actions has free arm64 and x86_64 runners. If you have the | build scripts somewhere, we can try to run them on there. I think this | is also where Dirk builds the arm64 ubuntu binary R packages. Yes, I was about to suggest that too but Jeroen beat me to it. I looked around, and noticed Hetzner has relatively inexpensive machines ... but at the end of the day it is still your money out of your pocket. I started to poke at arm64 when the (free) runner became available for ubuntu-24.04 (and they since added ubuntu-22.04 too). I actually execute the build-step in a (custom) Docker container (with added r2u resources) so you should be able to use the Ubuntu runner to start a Debian container ... and after that it is like running locally. Only umpteen times slower for debugging cycles <wink>. I also switched to building the BioC binaries for amd64 there. My (fairly ad-hoc) repo is https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder and the action file is https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder/blob/main/.github/workflows/arm64.yaml I respect a remote invocation reflecting the packages to build in each run, that will be easier for you as you know what to build. Ping me if you have question. Direct DM may be best, you could hop into the (open) r-contributors slack at r-contributors.slack.com Cheers, Dirk
dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org
5 days later
Hi Dirk, Am Dienstag, 24. Juni 2025, 20:20:42 CEST schrieb Dirk Eddelbuettel:
Hi Johannes, ( And sorry about the fat-finger typo in the earlier email butchering your name.
No worries! Happens to the best of us - and to me as well :)
I really need to get proof-reading emails before sending... )
On 24 June 2025 at 20:02, Jeroen Ooms wrote: | On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 7:55?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de>
wrote:
| > Hey Jeroen, | > | > I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy | > hardware or look for hosting on that architecture.
I found a nice offer from my hosting provider. The arm64 backports of R 4.5.1 to Debian 11 (bullseye) and 12 (bookworm) should hit the mirrors at midnight. After my work, I snapshotted the server and deleted it to save resources. I believe I should be able to easily recover it when I get around to do the backports for trixie or the next R release comes up. Cheers, Johannes
| > | > I just invested in a nice amd64 system, but just for building for CRAN I | > wont need too many arm64 cyles. | > | > Any recommendations on where to look? | | GitHub actions has free arm64 and x86_64 runners. If you have the | build scripts somewhere, we can try to run them on there. I think this | is also where Dirk builds the arm64 ubuntu binary R packages. Yes, I was about to suggest that too but Jeroen beat me to it. I looked around, and noticed Hetzner has relatively inexpensive machines ... but at the end of the day it is still your money out of your pocket. I started to poke at arm64 when the (free) runner became available for ubuntu-24.04 (and they since added ubuntu-22.04 too). I actually execute the build-step in a (custom) Docker container (with added r2u resources) so you should be able to use the Ubuntu runner to start a Debian container ... and after that it is like running locally. Only umpteen times slower for debugging cycles <wink>. I also switched to building the BioC binaries for amd64 there. My (fairly ad-hoc) repo is https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder and the action file is https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder/blob/main/.github/workflo ws/arm64.yaml I respect a remote invocation reflecting the packages to build in each run, that will be easier for you as you know what to build. Ping me if you have question. Direct DM may be best, you could hop into the (open) r-contributors slack at r-contributors.slack.com Cheers, Dirk
Hi Johannes,
On 29 June 2025 at 22:28, Johannes Ranke wrote:
| Hi Dirk, | | Am Dienstag, 24. Juni 2025, 20:20:42 CEST schrieb Dirk Eddelbuettel: | > Hi Johannes, | > | > ( And sorry about the fat-finger typo in the earlier email butchering your | > name. | | No worries! Happens to the best of us - and to me as well :) | | > I really need to get proof-reading emails before sending... ) | > >
| > On 24 June 2025 at 20:02, Jeroen Ooms wrote:
| > | On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 7:55?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de>
| wrote:
| > | > Hey Jeroen, | > | > | > | > I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy | > | > hardware or look for hosting on that architecture. | | I found a nice offer from my hosting provider. The arm64 backports of R 4.5.1 | to Debian 11 (bullseye) and 12 (bookworm) should hit the mirrors at midnight. Awesome. | After my work, I snapshotted the server and deleted it to save resources. I | believe I should be able to easily recover it when I get around to do the | backports for trixie or the next R release comes up. Sounds good. There may not be much arm64 demand yet (and my r2u logs seem to confirm that hunch) but more and more hardware availability over the next little while should change it. So good to have it up and running. Best, Dirk | Cheers, | | Johannes | | > | > | > | > I just invested in a nice amd64 system, but just for building for CRAN I | > | > wont need too many arm64 cyles. | > | > | > | > Any recommendations on where to look? | > | | > | GitHub actions has free arm64 and x86_64 runners. If you have the | > | build scripts somewhere, we can try to run them on there. I think this | > | is also where Dirk builds the arm64 ubuntu binary R packages. | > | > Yes, I was about to suggest that too but Jeroen beat me to it. I looked | > around, and noticed Hetzner has relatively inexpensive machines ... but at | > the end of the day it is still your money out of your pocket. | > | > I started to poke at arm64 when the (free) runner became available for | > ubuntu-24.04 (and they since added ubuntu-22.04 too). I actually execute the | > build-step in a (custom) Docker container (with added r2u resources) so you | > should be able to use the Ubuntu runner to start a Debian container ... and | > after that it is like running locally. Only umpteen times slower for | > debugging cycles <wink>. I also switched to building the BioC binaries for | > amd64 there. | > | > My (fairly ad-hoc) repo is | > https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder | > and the action file is | > | > https://github.com/eddelbuettel/r2u-arm64-builder/blob/main/.github/workflo | > ws/arm64.yaml | > | > I respect a remote invocation reflecting the packages to build in each run, | > that will be easier for you as you know what to build. | > | > Ping me if you have question. Direct DM may be best, you could hop into the | > (open) r-contributors slack at r-contributors.slack.com | > | > Cheers, Dirk | | | |
dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org
On Sun, Jun 29, 2025 at 10:28?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de> wrote:
Hi Dirk, Am Dienstag, 24. Juni 2025, 20:20:42 CEST schrieb Dirk Eddelbuettel:
Hi Johannes, ( And sorry about the fat-finger typo in the earlier email butchering your name.
No worries! Happens to the best of us - and to me as well :)
I really need to get proof-reading emails before sending... )
On 24 June 2025 at 20:02, Jeroen Ooms wrote: | On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 7:55?PM Johannes Ranke <johannes.ranke at jrwb.de>
wrote:
| > Hey Jeroen, | > | > I was recently considering to do this, but did not get around to buy | > hardware or look for hosting on that architecture.
I found a nice offer from my hosting provider. The arm64 backports of R 4.5.1 to Debian 11 (bullseye) and 12 (bookworm) should hit the mirrors at midnight.
Thanks! I have enabled these backports in the containers on https://github.com/r-devel/containers such that folks can easily use these to test R or R packages on those platforms.