Docker incompatibility with older 64-bit images

[ilg]

I'm facing an issue when trying to use an Ubuntu 16.04 Aarch64 Docker image on the latest Manjaro, a series of system calls fail, which leads to some commands failing, and subsequently unit tests failing.

For example:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '[ilg@berry ~]$ docker run -it ubuntu:16.04
root@dde39447710e:/# ulimit -a
bash: ulimit: core file size: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: data seg size: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: scheduling priority: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: file size: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: pending signals: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: max locked memory: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: max memory size: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: open files: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
bash: ulimit: POSIX message queues: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: real-time priority: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: stack size: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: cpu time: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: max user processes: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: virtual memory: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
bash: ulimit: file locks: cannot get limit: Operation not permitted
root@dde39447710e:/# exit
exit
[ilg@berry ~]$ uname -a
Linux berry 5.6.10-2-MANJARO-ARM #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue May 5 18:17:01 CDT 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux
[ilg@berry ~]$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version: n/a
Distributor ID: Manjaro-ARM
Description: Manjaro ARM Linux
Release: 20.05
Codename: n/a
[ilg@berry ~]$ docker --version
Docker version 19.03.8-ce, build afacb8b7f0
[ilg@berry ~]$
')

The same Docker image, on a Debian 9, runs as expected:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'ilg@xbba:~$ docker run -it ubuntu:16.04
root@475956d14dd8:/# ulimit -a
core file size (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 0
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 15244
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1048576
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) unlimited
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited
root@475956d14dd8:/# exit
exit
ilg@xbba:~$ uname -a
Linux xbba 4.4.154-90-rockchip-ga14f6502e045 #22 SMP Tue Jul 30 10:32:28 UTC 2019 aarch64 GNU/Linux
ilg@xbba:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 9.12 (stretch)
Release: 9.12
Codename: stretch
ilg@xbba:~$ docker --version
Docker version 19.03.9, build 9d98839
ilg@xbba:~$
')

The same issue is encountered with the 64-bit Arm debian:stretch, centos:7 images.

The issue was first identified on Raspberry Pi 4 and ROCK Pi 4, both running the 4.19.108-1-MANJARO-ARM kernel, so the problem is not related to the new 5.x kernel.

Newer ubuntu:18.04 runs fine on Manjaro.

And the issue is not related to running old Docker images on new kernels in general, since I successfully run Intel 32/64-bit Ubuntu 12/14/16/18, CentOS 6/7, etc images on Manjaro (and on any modern distribution I tried) without problems, the problem showed up only on Arm.

I first posted this on the Manjaro forum (https://forum.manjaro.org/t/docker-inco ... ges/145073), but, as for now, I did not get any useful suggestions, and it would be useful to know if this issue is present when using Arch kernels too.

Any thoughts/suggestions will be appreciated.

[ilg]

For the records, I installed Debian 9 on my ROCK Pi 4 SBC and had no problems since, but it would still be useful to know why Docker on Arch fails with older images.