Docker Emulation for amd64 Applications on Apple Silicon (M1)

Context

I’m running a Dockerized web application on an Apple Silicon (M1) Mac that requires amd64 architecture due to some of the dependencies, including a package that seems to rely on CPU-specific instructions. To accommodate the architecture difference, I am using Docker’s emulation via the --platform linux/amd64 option.

The application starts, but I’m encountering an “Illegal instruction” error when trying to execute certain operations, likely related to amd64-specific instructions.

Docker Setup and Configuration

Here’s my current setup for running amd64 applications on Apple Silicon:

Multi-Architecture Support in Docker Desktop:

• Enabled experimental features in Docker Desktop:
  • Docker Desktop -> Settings -> Features in Development -> Enable experimental features.
  • General -> Use containerd for pulling and storing images.
  • General -> Use Rosetta for x86_64/amd64 emulation on Apple Silicon.

QEMU Emulation:

I installed QEMU to handle multi-architecture support:

• Ran: docker run --rm --privileged multiarch/qemu-user-static --reset -p yes.
• Ensured binfmt_misc is installed for binary format emulation.

Running Containers:

I built and ran the Docker image with the amd64 platform flag:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 -t my_app_image:latest .
docker run --platform linux/amd64 my_app_image:latest

Issue

The container crashes with an “Illegal instruction” error when performing certain CPU-intensive tasks. This suggests that the emulation might not fully support some amd64 instructions (possibly AVX2 or similar) on my M1 Mac.

Question

How can I improve the Docker setup on Apple Silicon to better emulate amd64 CPU instructions? Are there any specific configurations or optimizations for using Docker with multi-platform builds and QEMU on Apple Silicon to avoid such instruction errors?