Error while building LaTeX on Docker Alpine on M3 Max chip (arm64/aarch64): Quitting, no binary platform specified/available

Question

Background

I am trying to dockerize my LaTeX distribution using Alpine on my MacBook Pro with an M3 Max chip.

Dockerfile

FROM alpine:3.21
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/aarch64-linuxmusl:$PATH
ARG TL_MIRROR=https://mirror.init7.net/ctan/systems/texlive/tlnet
WORKDIR /data
COPY texlive.profile /tmp/
RUN apk add --no-cache perl wget && \
    wget $TL_MIRROR/install-tl-unx.tar.gz && \
    mkdir /tmp/install-tl && \
    tar -xzf install-tl-unx.tar.gz -C /tmp/install-tl --strip-components=1 && \
    /tmp/install-tl/install-tl --profile=/tmp/texlive.profile && \
    tlmgr update --self && \
    tlmgr option repository $TL_MIRROR && \
    tlmgr install \
      biber \
      biblatex \
      bookmark \
      booktabs \
      ellipsis \
      enumitem \
      fbb \
      fontawesome \
      hyperref \
      kpfonts \
      l3packages \
      latex \
      latex-bin \
      latex-tools-dev \
      latexmk \
      listings \
      ly1 \
      mathtools \
      memoir \
      microtype \
      nth \
      pgfplots \
      thmtools \
      ulem \
      xcolor \
      xfrac \
      xkeyval \
      xpatch \
      xstring && \
    apk del --no-cache wget && \
    rm -rf \
      /var/cache/apk/* \
      /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
      /tmp/* \
      /var/tmp/* \
      install-tl-unx.tar.gz

texlive.profile

selected_scheme scheme-minimal
TEXDIR /usr/local/texlive
TEXMFCONFIG ~/.texlive/texmf-config
TEXMFHOME ~/texmf
TEXMFLOCAL /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local
TEXMFSYSCONFIG /usr/local/texlive/texmf-config
TEXMFSYSVAR /usr/local/texlive/texmf-var
TEXMFVAR ~/.texlive/texmf-var
tlpdbopt_install_docfiles 0
tlpdbopt_install_srcfiles 0

Problem

When I try to build the image, I get an error: /tmp/install-tl/install-tl: Quitting, no binary platform specified/available.

In the first two lines, I have tried various permutations, e.g.:

FROM alpine:3.21
FROM arm64v8/alpine:3.21

and

ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/aarch64-linuxmusl:$PATH
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/arm64-linuxmusl:$PATH
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/aarch64-linux:$PATH
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/arm64-linux:$PATH

But the error remains.

Note that using amd64/x86_64 works:

FROM --platform=linux/amd64 alpine:3.21
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/x86_64-linuxmusl:$PATH

Question

What is the best way to dockerize my LaTeX distribution on aarch64?

Answer 1

I managed to resolve the issue by using a custom binary set as follows:

1. Install xz.
2. Download aarch64-alpine319.tar.xz.
3. Ensure that wget and xz are available in the PATH so that Tex Live can later download and decompress packages.
4. Install Tex Live using the custom binary set: https://tug.org/texlive/custom-bin.html.

Dockerfile

FROM alpine:3.21
ENV PATH=/usr/local/texlive/bin/custom:$PATH
ARG TL_MIRROR=https://mirror.init7.net/ctan/systems/texlive/tlnet
WORKDIR /data
COPY texlive.profile /tmp/
RUN apk add --no-cache perl wget xz && \
    wget https://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/texlive-utah/bin/aarch64-alpine319.tar.xz && \
    mkdir /tmp/custombin && \
    tar -xvf aarch64-alpine319.tar.xz -C /tmp/custombin --strip-components=1 && \
    cp /usr/bin/wget /usr/bin/xz /tmp/custombin && \
    wget $TL_MIRROR/install-tl-unx.tar.gz && \
    mkdir /tmp/install-tl && \
    tar -xvf install-tl-unx.tar.gz -C /tmp/install-tl --strip-components=1 && \
    /tmp/install-tl/install-tl --custom-bin=/tmp/custombin --profile=/tmp/texlive.profile && \
    tlmgr update --self && \
    tlmgr option repository $TL_MIRROR && \
    tlmgr install \
      biber \
      biblatex \
      bookmark \
      booktabs \
      ellipsis \
      enumitem \
      fbb \
      fontawesome \
      hyperref \
      kpfonts \
      l3packages \
      latex \
      latex-bin \
      latex-tools-dev \
      latexmk \
      listings \
      ly1 \
      mathtools \
      memoir \
      microtype \
      nth \
      pgfplots \
      thmtools \
      ulem \
      xcolor \
      xfrac \
      xkeyval \
      xpatch \
      xstring && \
    apk del --no-cache wget xz && \
    rm -rf \
      /var/cache/apk/* \
      /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
      /tmp/* \
      /var/tmp/* \
      aarch64-alpine319.tar.xz \
      install-tl-unx.tar.gz

This image works, and I can compile as expected.

The only issue is that the resulting image is 445 MB whereas the x86_64 version was around 250 MB.

I am now using the Docker extension Dive-In to investigate the image further.