Add ARM64 Windows environment

[joaomoreno]

Feature: Add Windows ARM64 as an environment

Hi there, are there any plans to support a hosted ARM64 environment? We're seeing quite some enthusiasm over here: microsoft/vscode#33620

[alepauly]

Hi @joaomoreno, unfortunately not at this time. Adding extra environments currently affects overall capacity and how we can serve the existing environments. If that changes in the future we'll definitely consider it. Have you looked into setting up your own self-hosted runner?

[joaomoreno]

@alepauly Windows ARM64 doesn't seem to be a supported platform for self-hosted runners, or am I missing something?

[alepauly]

@alepauly Windows ARM64 doesn't seem to be a supported platform for self-hosted runners, or am I missing something?

Hi @joaomoreno, you aren't missing anything, my bad. I wasn't looking at the Windows part of your request and was thinking the runner could run on ARM64 but that's not true on Windows. Until DotNet Core doesn't run there, we probably won't be able to support it.

[joaomoreno]

Relevant: dotnet/winforms#2053 (comment)

[dennisameling]

Just for the record, I just created a PR to add support for Windows ARM64 to GitHub Actions runners (self-hosted): actions/runner#785

[jeremyd2019]

Sorry if posting to an old closed/wontfix issue is not appreciated vs opening a new one. I was notified about this interesting Azure development:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/now-in-preview-azure-virtual-machines-with-ampere-altra-armbased-processors/

The Dpsv5 and Epsv5 Azure VM-series feature the Ampere Altra Arm-based processor operating at up to 3.0GHz. The new VMs provide up to 64 vCPUs and include VM sizes with 2GiB, 4GiB, and 8GiB per vCPU memory configurations, up to 40 Gbps networking, and optional high-performance local SSD storage.
The VMs currently in preview support Canonical Ubuntu Linux, CentOS, and Windows 11 Professional and Enterprise Edition on Arm.

If the reason GitHub hosted Windows on ARM VMs could not be offered was because Azure didn't have such a thing, it sounds like that's changing! 🎉

[panekj]

@jeremyd2019 it won't happen because Azure will not provide Windows Server on arm64, they only provide client OS which is Windows 11

[johnnyshields]

@nulano strange that link is now broken. It also looks like it was for Linux ARM not Windows.

Also saw this:
https://github.blog/changelog/2023-10-30-accelerate-your-ci-cd-with-arm-based-hosted-runners-in-github-actions/

[nulano]

@nulano strange that link is now broken. It also looks like it was for Linux ARM not Windows.

Also saw this: https://github.blog/changelog/2023-10-30-accelerate-your-ci-cd-with-arm-based-hosted-runners-in-github-actions/

Yep, that's where I found the link. IIRC it was for both, but I'm not sure.

[jeremyd2019]

From msys2/msys2-docker#2 (comment):

https://github.blog/2024-06-03-arm64-on-github-actions-powering-faster-more-efficient-build-systems/

GitHub is ecstatic to unveil ArmⓇ-based Linux and Windows runners for GitHub Actions are now in Public Beta. […] These runners are available to our customers on our GitHub Team and Enterprise Cloud plans. We expect to begin offering Arm runners for open source projects by the end of the year.

🎉 🎆 🙌 best news I've heard in a while

[kevcenteno]

@lkfortuna Is there anyway we could accelerate availability for (popular) open source projects or get a stronger idea of when the windows+arm64 images will be generally available? I ask because this is yet another barrier to buying into the Windows on Arm ecosystem as a developer. Having to set up multiple toolchains to compile all the open source tools that developers use is a headache for most (lazy-like-me) developers. Sure, windows emulation is fine for now I suppose, but - again - I'm lazy and probably won't re-install my dev tools until I absolutely have to.

Tagging @ivcarreras @jamshedd for visibility and advocacy.

[johnnyshields]

Github team may we please get a comment on this (and also re-open this issue?)

[nbolton]

In case anyone is wondering how to get Git working on the Windows ARM64 runners...

      - name: Install Git
        run: |
          Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
          [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072
          iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
          choco install -y --no-progress git
          echo "C:\Program Files\Git\cmd" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_PATH -Encoding utf8 -Append

[spyoungtech]

For those stumbling upon this wanting to quickly understand the current situation: GitHub-hosted ARM runners are here, in beta, but only for organizations and enterprises with a compatible subscription plan. You have to opt in to use the ARM runner, just like with managing any other large runner. Many marketplace actions are, understandably, not compatible with this runner configuration, YMMV.

Short version: Under your organization settings in Actions -> Runners you can create a new github-hosted runner and you can now specify "Windows ARM64" or "Linux ARM64" for the platform. The only image available for Windows is the Windows 11 (Preview) partner image. For Linux, Ubuntu 22 and Ubuntu 24 partner images are available.

A few configurations are available

Be aware there are charges involved (pricing) for this that are not covered by your included Actions minutes, even for public projects.

Hopefully in the future we see ARM64 runners become available to individual users and open source projects under included CI minutes. Until then, self-hosting continues to be the workaround for those who may not be able to reasonably leverage the above.

[johnnyshields]

@spyoungtech Thank you very much for this update. It strikes me as a bit backwards to rollout Windows ARM64 only for enterprise, because there isn't a ton an enterprise do with Windows ARM64 until the core languages and libraries (many which are open source on Github) can support it in their respective CIs. So it would be very nice if Github could flip it on for free at least for the public repos mentioned in this thread.

[RiadhKHEDHIRI]

I second @johnnyshields

[lilith]

As an OSS developer, even though I own a snapdragon laptop, I can't afford to support windows on arm natively without github runner support. CI is the only way we can maintain so much.

[johnnyshields]

Update: ARM64 Linux and Windows runners are now in Paid GA:
https://github.blog/changelog/2024-09-03-github-actions-arm64-linux-and-windows-runners-are-now-generally-available/

This still prevents the vast majority of OSS projects from using them--most can't afford to pay 😢

[lilith]

They still don't even come with pwsh, bash, git, or msvc build tools installed. No pre-installed software at all.

Takes 30+ min to install the compilers and prerequisites, so not usable anyway...

[EwoutH]

Daar GitHub Actions maintainers, is there anything you can share about arm64 runner availability for (large) OSS projects?

[erik-bershel]

Daar GitHub Actions maintainers, is there anything you can share about arm64 runner availability for (large) OSS projects?

Hey @EwoutH! There is no new information at the moment. 😞 It will most likely appear on the GitHub blog like here.
Stay tuned! 🎧

[EwoutH]

Thanks for getting back so quickly! If I may ask, doesn't have Microsoft an interest in proving a smooth software experience for its Arm users? And doesn't that start with making sure proper tools are available for developers, including CI runners to build and test their packages? And isn't a huge amount of software dependent on OSS software?

Or is there an engineering capacity or hardware availability bottleneck? You probably have very solid reasons, but some insight will help create understanding among OSS maintainers.

Even just giving the largest 0.1% of OSS projects access to Arm64 runners will have a huge impact.

[johnnyshields]

Hmm.... 6 months after the big Snapdragon Elite ARM blitz, M$FT still not offering GH Windows ARM runners. Does not bode well for the future of the platform.

[lilith]

I pay for an arm runner, but it doesn't even have git installed, it's a blank OS. The hardware exists, but there's no image.

…

On Mon, Nov 25, 2024, 5:17 AM Johnny Shields ***@***.***> wrote: Hmm.... 6 months after the big Snapdragon Elite ARM blitz, M$FT still not offering GH Windows ARM runners. Does not bode well for the future of the platform. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#768 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAA2LH7UIZ2IWXLWC4RFMQL2CMIO3AVCNFSM4MOHP3PKU5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TENBZG44DMMBYGIYA> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[kevcenteno]

Hmm.... 6 months after the big Snapdragon Elite ARM blitz, M$FT still not offering GH Windows ARM runners. Does not bode well for the future of the platform.

Agreed. I held off on buying a Windows ARM machine because of this issue. Now on my way to the Apple store to buy a new M4 machine instead.

[lilith]

Arm64 is the future, based on battery/perf, but I will be very sad if msft fumbles it once again for such silly reasons.

…

On Mon, Nov 25, 2024, 7:05 AM Kevin Centeno ***@***.***> wrote: Hmm.... 6 months after the big Snapdragon Elite ARM blitz, M$FT still not offering GH Windows ARM runners. Does not bode well for the future of the platform. Agreed. I held off on buying a Windows ARM machine because of this issue. Now on my way to the Apple store to buy a new M4 machine instead. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#768 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAA2LH2AKA3XWQHGTPL24IT2CMU7LAVCNFSM4MOHP3PKU5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TENBZHAYTCMBRGYYQ> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[EwoutH]

Let’s keep this conversation professional and on topic, and give the GitHub Action team some time to get back to us.

[jeremyd2019]

I pay for an arm runner, but it doesn't even have git installed, it's a blank OS. The hardware exists, but there's no image.

I'd rather they prioritize making them available for free to OSS projects (heck, maybe a closed beta for large projects at first), and then we can quibble about what software is preinstalled.

[lilith]

It's pretty impossible to have runs complete before timing out when you have to install pwsh/bash/visual studio/node/msvc/rust/git/etc from scratch though and actions don't work. I suspect the lack of an image is actually the constraint, since the hardware and capability exists, but an unusable image, available free, would swamp their support more than just withholding it. I speculate, of course. Maybe the lack of windows aarch64 git.exe, docker issues, and similar tools could be a partial blocker? It seems to work under emulation, though... It's sad to see there's been no official response the last few months. Hard to believe it matters if they won't offer any updates or if they're even allocating resources to it. I like my Snapdragon X laptop, and it's Rust compilation speed to battery usage ratio is phenomenal. But... you can't ship what you can't test automatically, especially with complex project trees that depend on CI.

…

On Mon, Nov 25, 2024, 11:05 AM jeremyd2019 ***@***.***> wrote: I pay for an arm runner, but it doesn't even have git installed, it's a blank OS. The hardware exists, but there's no image. I'd rather they prioritize making them available for free to OSS projects (heck, maybe a closed beta for large projects at first), and then we can quibble about what software is preinstalled. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#768 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAA2LH6ECHKH5VH3Z3NHVFT2CNRGLAVCNFSM4MOHP3PKU5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TENBZHA3TAMZQGQ2A> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[dennisameling]

Adding a bunch of tools (MSVC/Git/etc.) to the arm64 image is being tracked in this issue: actions/partner-runner-images#19

Looking at the comments there, I think there will be some updates very soon...