Illegal instruction on ARM Linux (raspberry pi)

[surdu]

• Version: v4.3.1 & v5.7.0
• Platform: Linux raspberrypi 4.1.13+ _#_826 PREEMPT Fri Nov 13 20:13:22 GMT 2015 armv6l GNU/Linux

After installing nodejs using the package manager as instructed in the docs on raspbery pi, whenever I try to run either npm or node I get a Illegal instruction.

I realize that maybe more information are needed, but I don't know what else to add.

[bnoordhuis]

Can you turn on core dumps (ulimit -c unlimited) and run node -e 0? Open the core dump in gdb with gdb node <corefile> and type thread apply all backtrace full followed by disassemble $pc,+32. Please post the output here.

[surdu]

Sure thing:

gdb node core
Copyright and license bla bla bla
...
...
This GDB was configured as "arm-linux-gnueabihf".
...
...
Reading symbols from node...(no debugging symbols found)...done.

warning: core file may not match specified executable file.
[New LWP 750]
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libthread_db.so.1".
Core was generated by `node -e 0'.
Program terminated with signal SIGILL, Illegal instruction.
#0  0x00339992 in BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad ()

(gdb) thread apply all backtrace full

Thread 1 (Thread 0xb6f72440 (LWP 750)):
#0  0x00339992 in BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad ()
No symbol table info available.

(gdb) disassemble $pc,+32
Dump of assembler code from 0x339992 to 0x3399b2:
=> 0x00339992 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+98>:  mov.w   r5, r5, lsr #1
   0x00339996 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+102>: beq.n   0x3399a4 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+116>
   0x00339998 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+104>: cmp r8, lr
   0x0033999a <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+106>: it  gt
   0x0033999c <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+108>: strgt.w r4, [r11, lr, lsl #2]
   0x003399a0 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+112>: add.w   lr, lr, #1
   0x003399a4 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+116>: subs    r4, #1
   0x003399a6 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+118>: cmp r4, r1
   0x003399a8 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+120>: bne.n   0x33998e <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+94>
   0x003399aa <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+122>: cmp r2, r0
   0x003399ac <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+124>: sub.w   r1, r1, #32
   0x003399b0 <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+128>: bne.n   0x33997e <BN_GF2m_mod_solve_quad+78>
End of assembler dump.

[silverwind]

Either you got a wrong binary or we have an issue with OpenSSL. To rule out a possible build issue on our side, can you build from source? Beware, these builds take around 6 hours on that hardware :)

[bnoordhuis]

Quick check, does env OPENSSL_ppccap=0 node -e 0 work?

[apeeters]

@bnoordhuis Nope, same error here.

[apeeters]

For reference: all builds seem to fail, I tried several, up to nodejs_4.0.0-1nodesource1~jessie1_armhf.deb.

[bnoordhuis]

Right, the armhf package is for ARMv7. The Raspberry Pi is ARMv6.

[apeeters]

That explains! For reference, node-v4.3.1-linux-armv6l.tar.gz works fine.

[silverwind]

Yeah that download page does explicitly state that only ARMv7 and up are supported, so you guys got a wrong binary. You can download the correct ARMv6 ones at https://nodejs.org/en/download/stable/.

As for ARMv6 support in the install script, I'm not sure where to best post a issue, but it might be https://github.com/nodesource/distributions.

[surdu]

I'm trying to install this on a raspberry pi 2, which as far as I understand is ARMv7

[silverwind]

@surdu your uname above says armv6l, isn't it a Rasperry Pi 1?

[surdu]

Nope, I ran all this on a raspberry pi 2.

[surdu]

I've also installed via nodesource on a raspberry pi 1, and I have the same error, or Segmentation fault, I don't remember exactly as I'm on a frantic install/uninstall in a desperate attempt to fix some twilight zone errors here.

[matt-n]

So, I am trying to install node.js using

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_5.x | sudo -E bash -

on an RPi 1b and everything seems to unpack and install fine... until I type node -v This results in: Illegal Instruction.

I type: node -e 0 and I get the same: Illegal Instruction.

Any ideas?

[bnoordhuis]

@matt-n apt-get remove it, download the right .deb manually and install it with dpkg -i. If you still get the same error, please post the results of #5495 (comment).

[fivdi]

@matt-n @bnoordhuis The Raspberry Pi 1 is an ARMv6 machine but NodeSource only provides ARMv7 builds. The ARMv7 builds from NodeSource are predestined to result in Illegal Instructions on a Raspberry Pi 1. ARMv6 builds are available at https://nodejs.org/dist/, for example, the latest Node.js v6 build for the Raspberry Pi 1 is node-v6.2.0-linux-armv6l.tar.xz and can be found here.

[matt-n]

Thank you! This now works. I appreciate your help!

[chrispauley]

Hi. Could someone please re-open this issue and provide a distribution and instructions that work for the raspberry pi 3?

[silverwind]

RPI3 can run ARMv7 (from nodesource) and ARMv8 (from https://nodejs.org/dist/). Note that you need a AArch64 kernel for ARMv8.

[chrispauley]

@silverwind thanks for your reply. I did try to install https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.2.1/node-v6.2.1-linux-armv7l.tar.gz
Wow. unzipped it, copied bins and libs and shared to the /usr directories. Yup, it worked. (Thanks). Then npm wouldn't work. After more thrashing, I found a solution on stackoverflow that allows NPM to reinstall and fix links:

wget https://npmjs.org/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
sudo ./install.sh

This script actually worked!
hth someone else.

[rvagg]

@chrispauley you should copy everything that comes with it in to /usr, (actually /usr/local is probably your safest bet and easier to clean up). There's only a couple of top-level files like README.md and LICENCE.md that could be excluded. I normally just tar -Jxf --strip-components=1 -C /usr/local node-whatever.tar.xz. Just make sure you don't have nodejs or npm packages installed from the upstream distro, that's what could be breaking stuff. Also, even easier would be to just use https://github.com/nodesource/distributions to install it, ARMv7 and above is supported and you get it all via apt.