AWS SAM CLI throws error: Error building docker image

Question

I am trying to use the SAM CLI on my M1 Mac.

I followed the steps outlined in these docs:

sam init
cd sam-app
sam build
sam deploy --guided

I did not modify the code or the yaml files. I can start the local Lambda function as expected:

➜  sam-app sam local start-api
Mounting HelloWorldFunction at http://127.0.0.1:3000/hello [GET]
You can now browse to the above endpoints to invoke your functions. You do not need to restart/reload SAM CLI while working on your functions, changes will be reflected instantly/automatically. If you used sam build before running local commands, you will need to re-run sam build for the changes to be picked up. You only need to restart SAM CLI if you update your AWS SAM template
2023-01-23 17:54:06  * Running on http://127.0.0.1:3000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)

But as soon as I hit the endpoint by doing:

curl http://localhost:3000/hello

The Lambda RIE starts throwing errors and returns a 502.

Invoking app.lambda_handler (python3.9)
Image was not found.
Removing rapid images for repo public.ecr.aws/sam/emulation-python3.9
Building image...................
Failed to build Docker Image
NoneType: None
Exception on /hello [GET]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 2073, in wsgi_app
    response = self.full_dispatch_request()
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 1518, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.handle_user_exception(e)
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 1516, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.dispatch_request()
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 1502, in dispatch_request
    return self.ensure_sync(self.view_functions[rule.endpoint])(**req.view_args)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/apigw/local_apigw_service.py", line 361, in _request_handler
    self.lambda_runner.invoke(route.function_name, event, stdout=stdout_stream_writer, stderr=self.stderr)
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/commands/local/lib/local_lambda.py", line 137, in invoke
    self.local_runtime.invoke(
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/lib/telemetry/metric.py", line 315, in wrapped_func
    return_value = func(*args, **kwargs)
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/lambdafn/runtime.py", line 177, in invoke
    container = self.create(function_config, debug_context, container_host, container_host_interface)
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/lambdafn/runtime.py", line 73, in create
    container = LambdaContainer(
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/docker/lambda_container.py", line 93, in __init__
    image = LambdaContainer._get_image(
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/docker/lambda_container.py", line 236, in _get_image
    return lambda_image.build(runtime, packagetype, image, layers, architecture, function_name=function_name)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/docker/lambda_image.py", line 164, in build
    self._build_image(
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/aws-sam-cli/1.70.0/libexec/lib/python3.11/site-packages/samcli/local/docker/lambda_image.py", line 279, in _build_image
    raise ImageBuildException("Error building docker image: {}".format(log["error"]))
samcli.commands.local.cli_common.user_exceptions.ImageBuildException: Error building docker image: The command '/bin/sh -c mv /var/rapid/aws-lambda-rie-x86_64 /var/rapid/aws-lambda-rie && chmod +x /var/rapid/aws-lambda-rie' returned a non-zero code: 1

I found this Github issue where someone recommended to do the following:

 docker run --rm --privileged multiarch/qemu-user-static --reset -p yes

But it yielded no results.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or how to resolve this issue so the docker container can build correctly? Thanks.

Answer 1

In your template.yaml, change the following lines from

  Architectures:
    - x86_64

to

  Architectures:
    - arm64

The reason why this works is that sam init defaults to the x86_64 architecture. Since you have an M1 Mac, performance will be better with a Docker image for the arm64 architecture. You can tell this is the case as well by looking at the error message which mentions aws-lambda-rie-x86_64. For the M1 Mac, you'll need aws-lambda-rie-arm64 which it will find once you change those lines above and then re-run your sam commands.

Alternatively, if you want to start from scratch you can pass the -a parameter to specify the architecture like so:

sam init -a arm64

and that will fix your problem as well.

Note that this will have a side-effect of deploying your Lambda function onto arm64 in AWS utilizing Graviton processors. If you don't want that, you can look try other workarounds in https://github.com/aws/aws-sam-cli/issues/3891