Add support for Windows on ARM

[rmartin16]

What is the problem or limitation you are having?

Briefcase can currently only target Windows on x86. With the growing support for Windows on ARM, Briefcase should support targeting ARM.

Describe the solution you'd like

The current stub should be built for ARM and the Visual Studio template should support targeting ARM.

The embedded Python should be the arm64 version. Although, this is only available back to Python 3.11.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Similar to macOS on Apple Silicon, Windows can run x86 binaries on ARM. I still need to actually try it but this may allow a Briefcase app built for x86 to run on ARM.

Additional context

No response

[freakboy3742]

Also worth note: Github has introduced native Windows ARM runners; they're not available on free tier yet, but if the experience with macOS ARM runners is indicative, they might be available on free tier later this year/early next year.

[rmartin16]

To confirm, after installing the MSI for an app packaged for x86, the app does run on ARM (albeit virtualized):

However, the zip package logs an error; perhaps unrelated to x86 on ARM since the same thing happens when I try to run the zip on another x86 install...maybe #1890 is related...

  File "\app_packages\toga_winforms\__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    import clr
  File "\app_packages\clr.py", line 6, in <module>
    load()
  File "\app_packages\pythonnet\__init__.py", line 143, in load
    func = assembly.get_function("Python.Runtime.Loader.Initialize")
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "\app_packages\clr_loader\types.py", line 94, in get_function
    return ClrFunction(self._runtime, self._path, name, func)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "\app_packages\clr_loader\types.py", line 58, in __init__
    self._callable = runtime._get_callable(assembly, typename, func_name)
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "\app_packages\clr_loader\netfx.py", line 47, in _get_callable
    raise RuntimeError(
RuntimeError: Failed to resolve Python.Runtime.Loader.Initialize from \app_packages\pythonnet\runtime\Python.Runtime.dll

Hello World-0.0.1.zip

[Deepak6546kumar]

I read that Windows/ARM can emulate x86/64 environment to run traditional apps. So my guess is that HeidiSQL already runs on ARM. But I'm curious:

did you made a test running HeidiSQL?
how's the performance?
Delphi does not provide a compiler for Windows on ARM yet. Probably this is one of the next features the Embarcadero people invent.

[mhsmith]

I expect the performance penalty for HeidiSQL will be about the same as any other emulated code, but since we haven't tested this, we can't say how bad it would be.

[freakboy3742]

Windows ARM on Github Actions is now in GA, using windows-11-arm runners.

EDIT: This is GA on the free tier.

[mhsmith]

installing the MSI for an app packaged for x86, the app does run on ARM (albeit virtualized):

This has been significantly improved in Windows 11 24H2. Like Rosetta on macOS, it uses just-in-time binary translation, and doesn't require any hardware virtualization support. This means you can run both x86 and x86-64 apps on Parallels on an ARM64 Mac, and I find the performance is perfectly acceptable.

[mhsmith]

However, the zip package logs an error; perhaps unrelated to x86 on ARM since the same thing happens when I try to run the zip on another x86 install...maybe #1890 is related...
[...]
RuntimeError: Failed to resolve Python.Runtime.Loader.Initialize from \app_packages\pythonnet\runtime\Python.Runtime.dll

I'm getting the same error when I try to run a Toga app under Parallels on ARM64 using briefcase dev or briefcase run. Running the .exe from Windows Explorer is the same.

The strange thing is, if I package it as an MSI and install it, then it works fine, both from the Start menu and by opening the .exe directly, even though this should theoretically be the same as briefcase run.

[freakboy3742]

Update: Briefcase now uses WiX 5, so native ARM64 support should now be possible.

[rmartin16]

RuntimeError: Failed to resolve Python.Runtime.Loader.Initialize from \app_packages\pythonnet\runtime\Python.Runtime.dll

I'm getting this error when I try to run a Toga app

For another data point, same for me (with qemu virtualized Windows on arm hardware). MSI install runs, though.

Update: Briefcase now uses WiX 5, so native ARM64 support should now be possible.

(This all may have been implied but... :) ) I believe this was all possible with WiX 3 as well; however, we'll still need an arm64 stub app, updates to visualstudio template, and Briefcase will need to be updated to support running on Windows for arm.

[freakboy3742]

(This all may have been implied but... :) ) I believe this was all possible with WiX 3 as well; however, we'll still need an arm64 stub app, updates to visualstudio template, and Briefcase will need to be updated to support running on Windows for arm.

Agreed that all the other steps also exist.

However, I thought the limitation with WiX 3 was that they didn't provide an ARM64 binary for WiX. I guess that's not an issue if the binary-JIT-conversion approach works (and produces valid ARM64 MSI/binaries), but I'd guess it will be more reliable now that we have access to native WiX ARM64 binaries.

[rmartin16]

However, I thought the limitation with WiX 3 was that they didn't provide an ARM64 binary for WiX.

Ahh, I see. ok. Then, along those lines, I think it would be good to consider support for arm64 builds on x86. The VisualStudio build anyway should provide a "relatively straightforward" path for this. Otherwise, devs would only be able to produce such a build in CI or something.