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