So, recently i’ve been maintaining a arm64 docker repository for FusionAuth ( the best Auth-provider package i know) and i decided to create a multi-architecture repository that delivers FusionAuth for x64,Arm64 and ArmV7. I do own a several Arm64 devices – but i lacked a Armv7 one, and started creating a emulated armv7 device using q-emu.
Armv7, Arm64 – Armhf ??
Armhf – what is it?
armhf stands for “arm hard float”, and is the name given to a debian port for arm processors (armv7+) that have hardware floating point support. On the beaglebone black, for example: :~$ dpkg –print-architecture armhf. Although other commands (such as uname -a or arch ) will just show armv7l.
So basically, all older Raspberry Pi devices run armhf.
Why should i emulate debian?
Well – various reasons. If you develop software for a raspberry pi – or other arm platform – you need to test your code in a real enviroment. For instance – if you need a Arm build-node for your application, a emulated node suffices!
QEMU – the versatile Emulator
Qemu is a opensource platform emulator – its the engine that allows you to run emulated architectures. qemu comes with many configurable options that could take you a while to figure out the ones you need. But no worries – i did that for you. The only thing you need to do – is have qemu for windows installed!
What’s in the download?
A obvious start.bat – and other (needed) files like the virtual harddisk image and flashdrives.. The device comes preinstalled with a minimal debian, two user accounts, and SSH enabled running on localhost:5555
Prerequisites : Qemu for windows
Download :
Qemu armhf template : Debian – Armhf
Qemu arm64 template : Debian – Arm64
Instructions : Extract files from the archive, click start.bat