"exec format error" when running containers build with Apple M1 Chip (ARM based systems)

Question

Expected behavior: I can run a container I've built using an Apple M1 chip.

Observed behavior:

Assuming you have a Google Cloud Run account and can push Docker images to Google Container Registry. I'm using https://github.com/seenickcode/trivial-go-api for this example.

1. `git clone [email protected]:seenickcode/trivial-go-api.git'
2. cd trivial-go-api
3. docker build -t gcr.io/<YOUR GCR PROJECT ID>/example .
4. docker push -t gcr.io/<YOUR GCR PROJECT ID>/example
5. Go to console.cloud.google.com, Google Cloud Run > Create new service > select your pushed Docker image with all default options > Run
6. Error shown:

Cloud Run error: Container failed to start. 
Failed to start and then listen on the port defined by the PORT environment variable. 
Logs for this revision might contain more information.

Logs:

2021-04-02 09:35:40.045 EDT
Cloud Run ReplaceService example [email protected] {@type: type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog, authenticationInfo: {…}, authorizationInfo: […], methodName: google.cloud.run.v1.Services.ReplaceService, request: {…}, requestMetadata: {…}, resourceLocation: {…}, resourceName: namespaces/myprojectforso-282419/services/example, response: {…}, servi…
Error
2021-04-02 09:35:49.034 EDT
terminated: Application failed to start: Failed to create init process: failed to load /app/main: exec format error
Warning
2021-04-02 09:35:49.174 EDT
Application exec likely failed
Notice
2021-04-02 09:57:43.102 EDT
Cloud Run ReplaceService example [email protected] {@type: type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog, authenticationInfo: {…}, authorizationInfo: […], methodName: google.cloud.run.v1.Services.ReplaceService, request: {…}, requestMetadata: {…}, resourceLocation: {…}, resourceName: namespaces/myprojectforso-282419/services/example, response: {…}, servi…
Error
2021-04-02 09:57:50.657 EDT
terminated: Application failed to start: Failed to create init process: failed to load /app/main: exec format error

System details on where I'm building my image:

• OS: macOS 11.2.3
• Chip: Apple M1
• Docker version: Docker Desktop for macOS v3.3.0 (62345)

Important Notes:

• This all works completely fine for me when I use another architecture, i.e. via Google Container Build or my home Windows (WSL) desktop.
• This also doesn't work with other codebases when built using the Apple M1 Chip, such as another project I have written in Rust as well as Dart. Doesn't seem language related.
• I've been using Google Cloud Run for years, this issue cropped up when using my new laptop with Apple M1 Chip.

Answer 1

You are building an ARM-compatible image which Google Cloud does not support.

I have hit a similar problem pushing my Mac M1 built image to Heroku, which I solved using buildx and setting the expected platform

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 -t myapp .

I have written a Medium post to explain the problem and propose 2 solutions.

Docker is by design multi-platform and can run on different architectures, however, the images must match the platform they will be run on. Which is not our case.