Stellarium for ARM

[edegraaff]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Hi, since there is a Pi4 with plenty memory, and ubuntu 64 bits for arm, i am experimenting with appimages
Describe the solution you'd like
Is it possible to build appimages for pi arm 64 ubunto architecture?

Describe alternatives you've considered
It is possible to use the normal installer, but appimage seems nice, but seems also to have special demands to the platform

Additional context
none

[github-actions]

Thanks for adding your first issue to Stellarium. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

[gzotti]

Just follow build instructions for Linux.

[alex-w]

I can write a recipe for appimage and update bash script for building an appimage from the recipe, but... I don’t have ARM (I think you meant aarch64 architecture) device for building package.

[edegraaff]

I am willing to test and build it, just for fun

[alex-w]

I am willing to test and build it, just for fun

Thanks, but what about architecture details? Could you share result of running uname -m?

[alex-w]

@edegraaff please install prerequisite packages (see https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/blob/master/BUILDING.md#debian--ubuntu), get the source code from git and check the script util/appimage/build-appimage.sh

[edegraaff]

I am willing to test and build it, just for fun

Thanks, but what about architecture details? Could you share result of running uname -m?

eelco@pi4:~$ uname -m
aarch64

[alex-w]

@edegraaff could you test build-appimage.sh script?

[ultrapre]

Maybe you need to cross-compile a new kit for aarch64.

[alex-w]

Please test those packages (see artifacts section): https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/actions/runs/390046411

[edegraaff]

hi i am builing an new machine image with usb disk. the sd card was to small... i.will.get bet to you later this week when the system is rrady with enough resources to compile

[alex-w]

I prepared an AppImage - just test it :)

[edegraaff]

i will this evening great i am curious

[edegraaff]

I prepared an AppImage - just test it :)
I downloaded 2 of them the x86 i have ignored on the pi4
Files rights changed to able to execute

root@pi4:/home/eelco/Downloads# ./Stellarium-edge-aarch64.AppImage
./Stellarium-edge-aarch64.AppImage: error while loading shared libraries: libz.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

root@pi4:/home/eelco/Downloads/Stellarium-edge-armv7# ./Stellarium-edge-armhf.AppImage
bash: ./Stellarium-edge-armhf.AppImage: No such file or directory

[alex-w]

Thanks!

root@pi4:/home/eelco/Downloads# ./Stellarium-edge-aarch64.AppImage
./Stellarium-edge-aarch64.AppImage: error while loading shared libraries: libz.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This is very strange. :(

root@pi4:/home/eelco/Downloads/Stellarium-edge-armv7# ./Stellarium-edge-armhf.AppImage
bash: ./Stellarium-edge-armhf.AppImage: No such file or directory

This is OK for aarch64

[alex-w]

@edegraaff could you check package zlib1g - is it installed into system?

[alex-w]

Probably this workaround could help you: sudo link /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so

[edegraaff]

@edegraaff could you check package zlib1g - is it installed into system?
Reading state information... Done
zlib1g is already the newest version (1:1.2.11.dfsg-2ubuntu4).
zlib1g set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

[edegraaff]

Probably this workaround could help you: sudo link /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so

link: cannot create link '/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so' to '/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1': File exists

[alex-w]

This is weird... what about ldd Stellarium-edge-aarch64.AppImage?

[alex-w]

Possible workaround 1: sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev

Possible workaround 2: sudo apt-get install fuse

[edegraaff]

darn both where already installed and the latest version

[alex-w]

@edegraaff any news?

@gzotti could you test it on your RPi?

[gzotti]

I am still out of town. Maybe next week.

[edegraaff]

@edegraaff any news?

@gzotti could you test it on your RPi?

I did test it, see respond above both options where tested, and both where already installed and the latest version :-( grrr

[alex-w]

This is a good task for the community to participate in the contribution into Stellarium. Who wants to help us?

[gzotti]

What is the benefit of using an AppImage on a RPi? We support building and running out of the box on RPi4 and RPi3B+.

[alex-w]

What is the benefit of using an AppImage on a RPi? We support building and running out of the box on RPi4 and RPi3B+.

Not all linux for RPi support the deb packages…

[gzotti]

But all RPi distros which have Qt5 available in some format (via own package manager or even self-compiled for the masochists) should allow building on-board, maybe with omissions (QtWebengine may not be available). Uncommon distros are usually used for special purposes, not to run astronomical applications. I understand the AppImage packs all required libraries again, so IMHO it's a waste of space on the small SD cards.

That said, What would I do to install and run such AppImage for a test? I have Raspbian/Buster in RPi3 and Ubuntu Mate 22.04 on my RPi4.

[github-actions]

This is a good task for the community to participate in the contribution into Stellarium. Who wants to help us?

[alex-w]

I’m stopped the preparation of the AppImages for ARM, but you can play with it: https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/actions/workflows/appimage-arm.yml

P.S. I’m don’t have ARM-hardware, like RPi, for testing - maximum - QEMU

[github-actions]

We have a strong reason not to do it! Some reasons for it can be found in the FAQ:
https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/wiki/FAQ#Why_dont_you_implement

[alex-w]

The problem is outside of Stellarium and we cannot prepare runnable AppImage for ARM devices