Official Windows arm64 binaries

[gengjiawen]

@nodejs/releasers It's tier2 build now. Maybe make it in the official release process ?

Originally posted by @gengjiawen in nodejs/node#36658 (comment)

[BethGriggs]

cc @nodejs/build (should this be moved to nodejs/build repository)

[AshCripps]

We dont have the machines to make it an official release - its currently built from one laptop on a desk that isnt always online/connected.

[richardlau]

cc @nodejs/build (should this be moved to nodejs/build repository)

🤷. AFAIK we still don't have reliable (i.e not someone's laptop) hardware to test on. cc @joaocgreis

[rvagg]

it does say "Tier 2 (compiling) / Experimental (running)", it's got two different tiers for good reason

[gengjiawen]

it does say "Tier 2 (compiling) / Experimental (running)", it's got two different tiers for good reason

Make it more available will get it more tested. Some of our user just want to use it. Building it from source will be a heavy task for most Node.js users. I think this will bring more value to the community in the long term.

[joaocgreis]

Ref #2450 and nodejs/node#25998

There are some releases in https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/ . Since it's Windows and can't be built from the docker system that builds for other platforms, I have to manually trigger and publish the builds, so not all versions are available.

To be able to bring Windows ARM64 fully into tier 2, we'll need a better solution for testing. We're essentially waiting for Windows ARM64 machines to become available in Azure.

[pb5050]

Ref #2450 and nodejs/node#25998

There are some releases in https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/ . Since it's Windows and can't be built from the docker system that builds for other platforms, I have to manually trigger and publish the builds, so not all versions are available.

To be able to bring Windows ARM64 fully into tier 2, we'll need a better solution for testing. We're essentially waiting for Windows ARM64 machines to become available in Azure.

@joaocgreis @gengjiawen you guys should reach out to Microsoft engineers ive seen where people have on occasion and the engineers actually chiming in randomly on git hub, and the outcome 80% was very favorable and seemed like it was a good idea they did.

from my understanding and what ive ran across they want users to reach out to them especially when it comes to the ARM64 they are all about making the system more appealing

[atishay]

@joaocgreis Is it possible to get node 16 unofficial binaries on Windows ARM64. It seems Azure arm64 is still further away.

[jasnell]

While we are waiting on Azure to provide Windows arm64 images, if the project/foundation is willing to provide the Windows Arm64 hardware, we (Nearform) would be willing to host them alongside the mac minis we currently host so that we can at least have them always available. /cc @mcollina

[mhdawson]

@jasnell do you have cost estimates/configs for the hardware.

@joaocgreis I assume if these were added you'd an eye on them, reconnecting jenkins agents, compiler upgrades etc. like you do for other windows systems ?

[joaocgreis]

@atishay working on the releases, they should be done shortly. Will post on #2450 when done.

@mhdawson yes I can keep them functional.

We cross-compile for ARM64 from our current workers, so for compilation we have good capacity. It's for running the tests that we need actual ARM64 hardware. For this to be added to node-test-commit unconditionally, running on every PR, we need: 1) enough machines to handle all the work, I'd say at least 4 workers; 2) reliability, to avoid blocking the CI job. Azure would be the perfect solution for this, but Nearform might also work.

[jasnell]

Quick update on this... I am talking to a representative from Arm who may be providing us with a loaner Surface Pro X device to host at the nearform HQ alongside the mac minis we currently have. We're getting a follow up call set up for next week to discuss details. Once I settle on this I'll be looking to see if we can get at least one additional machine so we have two there to work with. I know we ultimately will need a few more than that.