Npm install is failing with docker buildx linux/arm64

Question

I'm building a docker image from a x86_64 machine for the deployment server which is arm64. For testing I'm using the docker file below.

FROM node:14.16.0-buster

RUN npm install pm2@latest -g

For some reason the npm install is failing I've tried npm -v also but it failed. Please check my console logs below for more clarity.

$~ docker buildx create --platform linux/arm64 --use --name arm64
arm64

$~ docker buildx ls
NAME/NODE DRIVER/ENDPOINT             STATUS   PLATFORMS
arm64 *   docker-container
  arm640  unix:///var/run/docker.sock inactive linux/arm64*
default   docker
  default default                     running  linux/amd64, linux/386
  
$~ docker buildx build --platform linux/arm64 -t fos-node --load .
[+] Building 146.3s (7/7) FINISHED
 => [internal] booting buildkit                                                                                                                                                       29.7s
 => => pulling image moby/buildkit:buildx-stable-1                                                                                                                                    28.6s
 => => creating container buildx_buildkit_arm640                                                                                                                                       1.1s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                                   0.1s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 770B                                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                                      0.1s
 => => transferring context: 380B                                                                                                                                                      0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:14.16.0-buster                                                                                                                13.6s
 => [auth] library/node:pull token for registry-1.docker.io                                                                                                                            0.0s
 => [1/2] FROM docker.io/library/node:14.16.0-buster@sha256:e09a63130ce4ec4b20af5bd07e2029a0ef26f64f1f496f0854f5b1ff1aa69575                                                         102.0s
 => => resolve docker.io/library/node:14.16.0-buster@sha256:e09a63130ce4ec4b20af5bd07e2029a0ef26f64f1f496f0854f5b1ff1aa69575                                                           0.0s
 => => sha256:4d7f255f49584b155894f79821624b3502337e5825df64c3be03a07f04fb1691 282B / 282B                                                                                             0.4s
 => => sha256:ec755c817ff697a94525832b7ac0c6e41048d90ac0da7e9454a5fe5c1a04caf9 2.31MB / 2.31MB                                                                                         2.2s
 => => sha256:238768c628173281bc3162a29cef7923808d66159e7249d80620b4221632200b 34.64MB / 34.64MB                                                                                      33.4s
 => => sha256:754863281868391e5f6c82b8b29b874f9e1830f1919ac097ca6560a6ef747976 4.20kB / 4.20kB                                                                                         1.7s
 => => sha256:ccc089388c7ca4407aec7247a44601b896e57e96d53a858fb0e8c6f2f94ab8da 183.90MB / 183.90MB                                                                                    96.0s
 => => sha256:ba70c372ae296f23e908bf1e1ed9f4c0c81a8a6d7fc48c0e2db16035bb9b7a54 52.17MB / 52.17MB                                                                                      58.0s
 => => sha256:299f3631f6b52be065a7342da0a46978d55cbd0d15c57fae22f4ca24efcc295a 9.98MB / 9.98MB                                                                                        13.6s
 => => sha256:344d2d9a9cf41c137b0dbb41df255f95fb812a23771a10ee2ab5a8a5047c62c4 7.69MB / 7.69MB                                                                                        18.6s
 => => sha256:ef28e7e77ecbd3b3b426832bc12e8f5e629959683767466e9bac149c3286e126 49.23MB / 49.23MB                                                                                      59.1s
 => => extracting sha256:ef28e7e77ecbd3b3b426832bc12e8f5e629959683767466e9bac149c3286e126                                                                                              1.5s
 => => extracting sha256:344d2d9a9cf41c137b0dbb41df255f95fb812a23771a10ee2ab5a8a5047c62c4                                                                                              0.2s
 => => extracting sha256:299f3631f6b52be065a7342da0a46978d55cbd0d15c57fae22f4ca24efcc295a                                                                                              0.2s
 => => extracting sha256:ba70c372ae296f23e908bf1e1ed9f4c0c81a8a6d7fc48c0e2db16035bb9b7a54                                                                                              1.6s
 => => extracting sha256:ccc089388c7ca4407aec7247a44601b896e57e96d53a858fb0e8c6f2f94ab8da                                                                                              4.5s
 => => extracting sha256:754863281868391e5f6c82b8b29b874f9e1830f1919ac097ca6560a6ef747976                                                                                              0.0s
 => => extracting sha256:238768c628173281bc3162a29cef7923808d66159e7249d80620b4221632200b                                                                                              1.4s
 => => extracting sha256:ec755c817ff697a94525832b7ac0c6e41048d90ac0da7e9454a5fe5c1a04caf9                                                                                              0.1s
 => => extracting sha256:4d7f255f49584b155894f79821624b3502337e5825df64c3be03a07f04fb1691                                                                                              0.0s
 => ERROR [2/2] RUN npm install pm2@latest -g                                                                                                                                          0.3s
------
 > [2/2] RUN npm install pm2@latest -g:
------
Dockerfile:3
--------------------
   1 |     FROM node:14.16.0-buster
   2 |
   3 | >>> RUN npm install pm2@latest -g
   4 |
   5 |     # RUN mkdir -p /home/ubuntu
--------------------
error: failed to solve: rpc error: code = Unknown desc = executor failed running [/dev/.buildkit_qemu_emulator /bin/sh -c npm install pm2@latest -g]: exit code: 1

I think a segmentation fault is happening after the npm install because host shell where the docker build is running is x86_64, this is just an assumption. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

A bit late, but for all others that have the same error. Check if you have installed multi platform support for buildx:

docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install all

The full documentation is on the Docker page here