GenSpectrum · pflanze · Dec 11, 2025
diff --git a/documentation/static-linking/README.md b/documentation/static-linking/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Attempts at getting a statically linked SILO binary
+
+Here's the most essential parts of the pursued paths, each file a separate one.
+
+Given that all paths have failed, and need considerable more work, and probably will cause considerable pain to keep working into the future, it will be best to give up on static linking for the current use range and instead link with glibc dynamically, but do so on an older system (Debian oldstable), to increase the range of Linux systems that the resulting binary is compatible with.
+
+    buster   (10.0) 2019-07-06
+    bullseye (11.0) 2021-08-14  -- oldoldstable
+    bookworm (12.0) 2023-06-10  -- oldstable
+    trixie   (13.0) 2025-08-09  -- stable
+    sid      (14.0) 
+
+bookworm is the version to choose: it's the version staging is running on, so we know SILO works. bullseye has just about 8 months of security support left, and its compilers are probably too old for SILO.
diff --git a/documentation/static-linking/alpine-linux.md b/documentation/static-linking/alpine-linux.md
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+# Attempt at building SILO on Alpine Linux
+
+The idea here is that Alpine uses musl as its system libc, thus adding the `-static` flag is all that's needed. Building in an Alpine docker image (or using `alpine-standard-3.23.0-x86_64.iso` in QEMU-KVM as I did here) would be all that's needed.
+
+Install system dependencies (some may be redundant):
+
+    alp:~# apk add bash git python3 py3-pip cmake gcc make g++ build-base perl linux-headers
+
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ python3 -mvenv .venv
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ source ~/.venv/bin/activate
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ pip install conan
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ make conanprofile
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ ./build_with_conan.py --parallel 32 --release
+
+Led to this problem:
+
+    boost/1.85.0: RUN: b2 -q target-os=linux architecture=x86 address-model=64 binary-format=elf abi=sysv --layout=system --user-config=/home/chris/.conan2/p/boost63dd5e7c53f47/s/src/tools/build/user-config.jam -sNO_ZLIB=0 -sNO_BZIP2=0 -sNO_LZMA=0 -sNO_ZSTD=0 boost.locale.icu=off --disable-icu boost.locale.iconv=off --disable-iconv define=LZMA_API_STATIC threading=multi visibility=hidden link=static variant=release --with-charconv --with-container --with-iostreams --with-random --with-regex --with-serialization --with-system --with-url toolset=gcc cxxstd=17 cxxstd-dialect=gnu define=_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=1 pch=on linkflags="" cxxflags="-fPIC" install --prefix=/home/chris/.conan2/p/b/boost2466d0b4b394b/p -j32 --abbreviate-paths -d0 --debug-configuration --build-dir="/home/chris/.conan2/p/b/boost2466d0b4b394b/b/build-release"
+    /bin/sh: b2: not found
+
+    boost/1.85.0: ERROR: 
+    Package '1bd1dafb06d6e4883ef7e41c9fe29d623e7edb4a' build failed
+
+That turns out to *not* be related to the b2 tool that Debian has in `libc6-dbg`, and also *not* the one that Alpine has in `b2-tools` (which is "Command-line tool for Backblaze B2"), but yet a completely different thing of the same name that boost uses *internally*. GPT knows something about that:
+
+    That means the Boost build system (`b2`, also known as **bjam**) is not available in your Alpine environment when Conan tries to build Boost. Boost’s build process requires `b2`, which is normally built from the `boost-build` sources before compiling the libraries.
+
+    - If dependencies like `bash`, `make`, `python3`, or `build-base` are missing, the `b2` bootstrap step fails silently, leaving no `b2` binary to run.
+
+But those *were* installed. But this helped:
+
+    cd ~/.conan2/p/boost*/s/src/tools/build
+    ./bootstrap.sh gcc
+    ./b2 --version
+
+    add it to your `PATH`
+
+Then I got to this problem (longer output further below):
+
+    CMake Error: Could not find CMAKE_ROOT !!!
+    CMake has most likely not been installed correctly.
+
+GPT told me that this is because it is using cmake from conan instead of the system cmake, thus:
+
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ conan remove cmake 
+    Found 2 pkg/version recipes matching cmake in local cache
+    Remove the recipe and all the packages of 'cmake/3.31.10#313d16a1aa16bbdb2ca0792467214b76'? (yes/no): yes
+    Remove the recipe and all the packages of 'cmake/4.2.0#ae0a44f44a1ef9ab68fd4b3e9a1f8671'? (yes/no): yes
+    Remove summary:
+    Local Cache
+      cmake/3.31.10#313d16a1aa16bbdb2ca0792467214b76: Removed recipe and all binaries
+      cmake/4.2.0#ae0a44f44a1ef9ab68fd4b3e9a1f8671: Removed recipe and all binaries
+
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ cmake --version
+    cmake version 4.1.3
+
+    CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ which cmake
+    /usr/bin/cmake
+
+This is still the installed version from Alpine.
+
+    alp:~# apk info cmake
+    cmake-4.1.3-r0 description:
+    Cross-platform, open-source make system
+    ...
+
+Apparently some dependency of SILO is not happy with that, since it is actively re-installing cmake again, and promptly failing again:
+
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ ./build_with_conan.py --parallel 32 --release
+    ----------------------------------
+    conan install . --update --build=missing --profile ./conanprofile --profile:build ./conanprofile --output-folder=build/Release/generators --settings 'arrow/*:compiler.cppstd=20'
+    ----------------------------------
+
+    ======== Input profiles ========
+    Profile host:
+    [settings]
+    arch=x86_64
+    build_type=Release
+    compiler=gcc
+    compiler.cppstd=gnu17
+    compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
+    compiler.version=15
+    os=Linux
+    arrow/*:compiler.cppstd=20
+
+    Profile build:
+    [settings]
+    arch=x86_64
+    build_type=Release
+    compiler=gcc
+    compiler.cppstd=gnu17
+    compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
+    compiler.version=15
+    os=Linux
+
+    ...
+
+    A new experimental approach for binary compatibility detection is available.
+        Enable it by setting the core.graph:compatibility_mode=optimized conf
+        and get improved performance when querying multiple compatible binaries in remotes.
+
+    ...
+
+    ======== Installing packages ========
+
+    -------- Downloading 2 packages --------
+    Downloading binary packages in 32 parallel threads
+    cmake/3.31.10: Retrieving package 63fead0844576fc02943e16909f08fcdddd6f44b from remote 'conancenter' 
+    cmake/4.2.0: Retrieving package 63fead0844576fc02943e16909f08fcdddd6f44b from remote 'conancenter' 
+    cmake/3.31.10: Downloading 45.1MB conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/4.2.0: Downloading 47.0MB conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/3.31.10: Downloaded 28.8MB 63% conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/4.2.0: Downloaded 29.2MB 62% conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/3.31.10: Decompressing 45.1MB conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/4.2.0: Decompressing 47.0MB conan_package.tgz
+    cmake/3.31.10: Package installed 63fead0844576fc02943e16909f08fcdddd6f44b
+    cmake/3.31.10: Downloaded package revision 8b53d1fe96d4b000f07eeaf7513ffdb4
+    cmake/4.2.0: Package installed 63fead0844576fc02943e16909f08fcdddd6f44b
+    cmake/4.2.0: Downloaded package revision 5b185fe408a8f0aee7d2012977f641b5
+    abseil/20240116.1: Already installed! (1 of 28)
+    bzip2/1.0.8: Already installed! (2 of 28)
+    fmt/11.1.3: Already installed! (5 of 28)
+    gtest/1.16.0: Already installed! (6 of 28)
+    m4/1.4.19: Already installed! (7 of 28)
+    nlohmann_json/3.12.0: Already installed! (8 of 28)
+    rapidjson/cci.20230929: Already installed! (9 of 28)
+    roaring/4.2.1: Already installed! (10 of 28)
+    simdjson/3.12.3: Already installed! (11 of 28)
+    xsimd/13.0.0: Already installed! (12 of 28)
+    xz_utils/5.8.1: Already installed! (13 of 28)
+    yaml-cpp/0.8.0: Already installed! (14 of 28)
+    zlib/1.3.1: Already installed! (15 of 28)
+    zstd/1.5.7: Already installed! (16 of 28)
+    boost/1.85.0: Already installed! (17 of 28)
+    flex/2.6.4: Already installed! (18 of 28)
+
+    -------- Installing package mimalloc/2.2.4 (19 of 28) --------
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Building from source
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Package mimalloc/2.2.4:98911e64742bd608cd34714d9ff1d9603d38f672
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: settings: os=Linux arch=x86_64 compiler=gcc compiler.cppstd=gnu17 compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11 compiler.version=15 build_type=Release
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: options: fPIC=True guarded=False override=True secure=False shared=False single_object=False
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Copying sources to build folder
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Building your package in /home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/b
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Calling generate()
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Generators folder: /home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/b/build/Release/generators
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: CMakeToolchain generated: conan_toolchain.cmake
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: CMakeToolchain generated: /home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/b/build/Release/generators/CMakePresets.json
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: CMakeToolchain generated: /home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/b/src/CMakeUserPresets.json
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Generating aggregated env files
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Generated aggregated env files: ['conanbuild.sh', 'conanrun.sh']
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Calling build()
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Apply patch (portability): fix compilation errors on older compilers
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: Running CMake.configure()
+    mimalloc/2.2.4: RUN: cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="generators/conan_toolchain.cmake" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="/home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/p" -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0091="NEW" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Release" "/home/chris/.conan2/p/b/mimale72424be55a5e/b/src"
+    CMake Error: Could not find CMAKE_ROOT !!!
+    CMake has most likely not been installed correctly.
+    Modules directory not found in
+    /home/chris/.conan2/p/cmake83736d917166f/p/share/cmake
+    CMake Error: Error executing cmake::LoadCache(). Aborting.
+
+GPT claimed I could tell conan `tools.cmake.cmaketool:system_cmake=True` to override, but theres no such variable in 
+
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ conan --version
+    Conan version 2.23.0
+    ((.venv) ) alp:~/LAPIS-SILO$ conan config list|grep -i cmake|grep -i system
+    tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:system_name: Define CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME in CMakeToolchain
+    tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:system_processor: Define CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR in CMakeToolchain
+    tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:system_version: Define CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION in CMakeToolchain
+    tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:toolset_cuda: (Experimental) Path to a CUDA toolset to use, or version if installed at the system level
+
+Not sure how to get the build going without being able to side step the non-working dependency. Or why even conan's cmake are broken on Alpine.