ARM Windows build and release #31388

issue Sjors openend this issue on November 28, 2024

Sjors commented at 10:14 am on November 28, 2024: member
This was brought up recently:
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5517601.0
- https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bitcoindev/e5b06aaa-1fe9-4c8f-a0ea-db10f8a7e48cn%40googlegroups.com
Sjors commented at 10:14 am on November 28, 2024: member

I believe @ZenulAbidin asked on the Bitcoin Dev list?

cc @hebasto
maflcko commented at 10:47 am on November 28, 2024: member

I am not sure how easy it would be to ship windows arm release binaries in guix, or if it is even possible today. I guess not, based on https://github.com/Windows-on-ARM-Experiments/mingw-woarm64-build?tab=readme-ov-file#known-issues .

As for the MSVC build, someone would have to go through https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/build-windows-msvc.md with a recent ARM64 MSVC, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/visual-studio-on-arm-devices?view=vs-2022#get-started-with-arm64-visual-studio and then report the findings or fixups.
maflcko added the label Windows on Nov 28, 2024
maflcko added the label Build system on Nov 28, 2024
hebasto commented at 3:52 pm on December 16, 2024: member

As for the MSVC build, someone would have to go through https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/build-windows-msvc.md with a recent ARM64 MSVC, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/visual-studio-on-arm-devices?view=vs-2022#get-started-with-arm64-visual-studio and then report the findings or fixups.

I performed a quick check without building the GUI on Windows 11 Pro 24H2 ARM and noticed no issues.
maflcko commented at 4:01 pm on December 16, 2024: member

I performed a quick check without building the GUI on Windows 11 Pro 24H2 ARM and noticed no issues.

Thanks!

I guess this means the issue can be closed for now. Maybe the docs could be updated to mention that ARM has been tested as well? About ARM windows builds in guix, there could be a new tracking issue.
Sjors renamed this:
~~ARM Windows build~~
ARM Windows build and release
on Dec 17, 2024
Sjors commented at 3:26 am on December 17, 2024: member

@maflcko the original posts were asking for a release as well, so might as well track that here. I renamed the issue.

I also suspect most Windows users will want the GUI. @hebasto do you think it’s better to wait for QT6 for that?
hebasto commented at 9:11 am on December 17, 2024: member

I also suspect most Windows users will want the GUI. @hebasto do you think it’s better to wait for QT6 for that?

According to Qt6 documentation, MinGW-w64 is not supported for building Windows binaries targeting ARM.
maflcko added the label Upstream on Dec 17, 2024
Sjors commented at 12:24 pm on May 6, 2025: member

We’re at qt6 since #30997 landed. But it still needs to be natively compiled. I don’t know if cross-compilation is a priority for QT? If not, then there’s probably no point in keeping this open until the end of time.
hebasto commented at 1:08 pm on May 6, 2025: member

I don’t know if cross-compilation is a priority for QT?

As far as I know, the required toolchain isn’t even provided by major distributions.
maflcko commented at 1:40 pm on May 6, 2025: member

Closing for now. This can be re-opened when there is a toolchain to achieve this. Even then, the toolchain would need to make it into guix and ideally other package managers as well.
maflcko closed this on May 6, 2025
PJJacobowitz commented at 5:18 am on July 15, 2025: none

Hey all, it looks like QT6.5 supports ARM64 in Windows. Does this mean there can be a Bitcoin Core that runs native on Windows on ARM?

https://linaro.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/WOAR/pages/29693247491/VFX+Reference+Platform+2025
maflcko commented at 6:23 am on July 15, 2025: member

compiling with msvc is already possible, see #31388 (comment). It is just a matter of updating https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/build-windows-msvc.md#triplets-and-presets to include the triplet. About cross-compilation, the above comment also explains the status.
PJJacobowitz commented at 11:17 pm on July 15, 2025: none

Thank you @maflcko . Would you know how to get this into the mainline and then publish it so Windows on ARM users can download it via the link below?

https://bitcoin.org/en/download
maflcko commented at 7:35 am on July 16, 2025: member

You are probably looking for https://bitcoincore.org/en/download, but I don’t think this will ever ship msvc compiled binaries, because they are non-deterministic and proprietary (c) . If you really want them, you’ll have to compile them yourself. In the meantime, emulation (running the x86 on arm) should work fine.
sfsegreto commented at 4:27 pm on July 17, 2025: none

Thanks @maflcko , I understand this application can run over emulation, but can you help clarify a bit more what is blocking from having Windows Arm builds of this project? Is it because QT /guix building on a Linux system can’t make (or distribute) a WinArm binary? Having a fully Arm build of this project running on Windows Arm would be faster and more efficient than running over the emulation.
hebasto commented at 4:31 pm on July 17, 2025: member

… can you help clarify a bit more what is blocking from having Windows Arm builds of this project?

From #31388 (comment):

… the required toolchain isn’t even provided by major distributions.
sfsegreto commented at 5:11 pm on July 17, 2025: none

Can you be extremely specific please? What required toolchain is not provided and by what major distributions?
maflcko commented at 5:28 pm on July 17, 2025: member

the cross-compilation toolchain doesn’t exist, so it isn’t provided by any distribution at all
sfsegreto commented at 5:36 pm on July 17, 2025: none

Can you be even more specific please? When you say cross-compilation do you mean cross-compile from Linux to Windows or do you mean cross-compile from Winx64 to WinArm64? And also what toolchain specifically does not exist? Are you guys talking about QT here?
maflcko commented at 5:25 am on July 18, 2025: member

See https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/master/contrib/guix#bootstrappable-bitcoin-core-builds

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Sjors maflcko hebasto PJJacobowitz sfsegreto

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