Builds or Docker images for arm/aarch64 architectures

[tylerjl]

This is a wish list item, but I wanted to get it down in writing in case others are aware of any similar efforts or had ideas.

I operate most of my self-hosted services on ARM64 CPUs. While I do run espial on an x86_64 box, I'd love an arm container image or build target.

There may be an arch-specific limitation in the build process or dependent library that I'm not aware of that may preclude this from being possible. I also know that GHC cross-compiling is not an easy feat, so I would imagine that either a) running a Docker build on an arm host natively or b) relying on a toolchain such as cabal2nix may be the easiest path forward. "Will not implement" is also a valid response that will make me sad but is understandable :smile:

FWIW, if there aren't any factors limiting the feasability of this I'm willing to put together a PR (would that go here or in espial-docker?)

[jonschoning]

I'm afraid I'm not experienced in the ways of cross-compilation with GHC; it does sound like it would take at the very least some research and some effort, and am not sure how feasible or not this would be; therefore while I'm not inclined to spend a great deal of time on it (especially since it's not clear to me it's something that other users are appealing for), I would be interested if it's even a possibility; if so, I wouldn't be opposed to a PR, as long as that is able to co-exist as a separate build path instead of making the current build super-complicated. I guess where it goes would depend the method needed to do the arm64 build. espial-docker would be ideal if that's possible. I also think the current docker image is based on espial-scratch which includes x86_64 binaries.

Glad you're finding the software useful though—I only hear so much in the way feedback every so often since there isn't any tracking build-in.