Cross-compile for a different architecture¶

Pass --arch <arch> to build for a target that doesn't match the host. Supported values: arm64, amd64, armv7, armv6, i386, riscv64, ppc64le, s390x.

Docker backend¶

The Docker backend builds through docker buildx and supports cross-arch transparently. On macOS, Docker Desktop provides binfmt emulation already. On Linux, register the handlers once:

buildctl init
# or manually:
# docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install all

Then build normally:

buildctl build . --key ./keys/mykey.key --arch arm64

For Dockerfiles that compile native code, QEMU emulation is slow; a native target machine is faster.

Other backends¶

shell and make do not cross-compile natively. They receive BUILDCTL_ARCH; your script or Makefile is responsible for invoking whatever cross-toolchain you provide.

mkosi rejects mismatched arches with an error. Use Docker for cross-arch builds with distribution packages.

DPS partition type UUIDs¶

Each arch maps to fixed DPS partition type UUIDs in the produced DDI. See DDI output and metadata.