Docker image with arm64 architecture

Technical Support
1

Hi folks,

I am trying to build a docker image based on the QIIME2 amplicon 2024.5 docker image, described as "a good backup option for macOS users" on your website. My idea is to use this QIIME2 image as a base, and to complement it with additional tools and custom scripts.

Since I want to dedicate this image to macOS users, I used this command to specify the arm64 processor architecture (Apple M1/M2 Silicon chips):

docker buildx build --platform linux/arm64 -t my_image_arm64 .

The image was successfully built, but I still received a warning:

1 warning found (use docker --debug to expand):

  • InvalidBaseImagePlatform: Base image Quay was pulled with platform "linux/amd64", expected "linux/arm64" for current build (line 1)

According to colleagues who frequently use docker, this kind of discrepancy may significantly affect the analysis/computation performances when running scripts inside the container (and we were able to confirm this performance loss during several tests).

Therefore, I would like to know: are you aware of this issue? Is there already a way to prevent it? If not, would it be possible for you to release a docker image directly formatted for the arm64 architecture?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards,

Ben

7

Hi @BDubois,

Thanks for reaching out!

We are intentionally building our images using the x64 architecture - this is what's compatible with the Github Action runners we are using to install conda and create the environments that our Docker images are built from. It's possible we may move to an arm64 architecture sometime in the future, but that's limited by what we're able to do within Github Actions.

Cheers :lizard: