balena_cli 32 bit version

Product support
1

Hi, Is there version of this compatible with 32 bit? Cheers

3

Hello, We don’t offer 32bit binary releases I’m afraid. However, you should be able to use the NPM installation method described here: https://github.com/balena-io/balena-cli/blob/master/INSTALL.md#npm-installation

5

Maybe the following will help someone to save time. This is mostly about downloading a Node.js unofficial build or compiling it from source. Maybe there are better methods, here are mine.

Installing Balena Cli on a x86 Linux PC with NPM method (at the time of writing, balena-cli version 18.2.33)

Following is tested on my 32-bit Thinkpad X60, Debian 12 (Bookworm) i386

First steps I did as on the NPM Installation readme:
https://github.com/balena-io/balena-cli/blob/master/INSTALL-ADVANCED.md#npm-installation

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install curl python3 git make g++
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash

To continue, you have 2 options.
Option 1. Download unofficial pre-built Node for Linux x86
https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/download/release/
(at the time of writing, Node.js 20.15.1 was available)

To download via nvm, edit ~/.nvm/nvm.sh to add a line near 2069:

local MIRROR
  MIRROR="$(nvm_get_mirror "${FLAVOR}" "${TYPE}")"
  MIRROR="https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/download/release"
  if [ -z "${MIRROR}" ]; then
    return 2
  fi

Open a new terminal, so .bashrc is sourced.
Then run:
nvm install 20

It will be quite quick, a few minutes.

nvm use 20

Install Balena next.
npm install balena-cli --global --omit=dev
It will take a few minutes.

At this point, you should be done. If not, good luck with option 2!

Option 2. Build Node.js from source
Compiling Node.js from source will take many-many hours on a x86 machine. Also, if it fails, the nvm script deletes the source and next time it starts over! You can comment out this remove command near line 2300 of ~/.nvm/nvm.sh:

    # command rm -rf "${TMPDIR-}"
    return 1

Change ~/.nvm/nvm.sh to add a waiting point (add two lines after line 2295):

    nvm_cd "${TMPDIR}" && \
    nvm_echo 'Make changes in the source folder (.cache/) and press enter if ready to start compiling' && \
    command read && \
    nvm_echo '$>'./configure --prefix="${VERSION_PATH}" $ADDITIONAL_PARAMETERS'<' && \

Source again. For this, just close previous terminal, open a new terminal.

nvm install 20
# I have 2 cores on the CPU, I want to compile faster, I do:
# NVM_MAKE_JOBS=2 nvm install 20

Start nvm install 20, press Enter, but don’t press enter just yet after download is completed. Keep terminal open, open a new terminal, solve 2 issues in the Node.js source code. For the BUILD.gn and zlib.gyp changes shown later, the changes have to be done after unpacking and before configure and make.

Issue 1: Assembler compiler has problems with ifdef in openssl config
https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/44822
Change %ifdef and %endif to #ifdef and #endif

# In Bash or other shell:
cd ~/.nvm/.cache/src/node-v20.15.1/files
for f in $(find deps/openssl/config/archs/linux-elf -type f -name '*.S'); \
do echo $f; sed -i "s/%ifdef/#ifdef/" "$f"; \
sed -i "s/%endif/#endif/" "$f"; done

Issue 2: zlib will not build natively on x86 with optimizations enabled.
https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/33019

Let’s remove the optimizations.
cd ~/.nvm/.cache/src/node-v20.15.1/files/deps/zlib

Change zlib BUILD.gn lines 80-81, leave only 64-bit:

use_x86_x64_optimizations =
    (current_cpu == "x64") && !is_ios

Change zlib.gyp lines to remove ia32:
Lines 19, 42, 141, 161, 208:
['target_arch in "x64" and OS!="ios"', {
Line 201:
['(target_arch in "x64" and OS!="ios") or arm_fpu=="neon"', {

Press enter in the other terminal that was waiting for starting the compilation.

Takes many hours to compile (10-14 hours on single core with Thinkpad X60)

If compilation is successful, you can use Node.js version 20:
nvm use 20

Finally, you can install Balena. As non-root user:
npm install balena-cli --global --production

jaan@thinkpad-x60:~$ balena --version
18.2.33
6

I’m still using latest balena-cli on my Thinkpad X60 with 32-bit Debian Trixie (i386 GNU/Linux).

As of May 2026, the latest balena-cli requires Node 24. It is mentioned in the advanced install document (INSTALL-ADVANCED.md), but the version number in the nvm commands shown there is not updated to 24.

32-bit x86 version of Node 24 is not available from unofficial builds, so node can be installed only via Option 2 from the previous post (building from source, with modifications).

To build Node.js from version 22 from source, it is possible to use this single line to skip all source code modifications (this single line fixes Issue 1 and Issue 2 from previous post):
CFLAGS="-march=native" nvm install -s 22 --openssl-no-asm

Issue 3
We need version 24 of Node now. To build version 24, there is 1 extra file that needs modification:
deps/v8/src/compiler/turboshaft/int64-lowering-reducer.h

See this commit for the fix:
https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/02f8cdb0c7a73d970ed7134a481a211bbd599c02

So you can do:
CFLAGS="-march=native" nvm install -s 24 --openssl-no-asm
and then find the int64-lowering-reducer.h.
There’s plenty of time to find and modify the int64-lowering-reducer.h after the compilation started (at least an hour on a native 32-bit system, I’m guessing).

After Node 24 installed successfully from source, I installed balena-cli with:
npm install balena-cli --global --omit=dev

See also the discussion at: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/44822