# multiarch/qemu-user-static

:earth_africa: `/usr/bin/qemu-*-static`

Repository: https://github.com/multiarch/qemu-user-static
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/qemu-user-static
Homepage: https://hub.docker.com/r/multiarch/qemu-user-static/
Language: Shell
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2024-06-25T18:02:50+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3926, "days_push": 799, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2713, forks 253 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:11.957684+00:00)

## What it is
A Docker image that registers QEMU user-mode static binaries with binfmt_misc so containers of foreign CPU architectures (arm64, arm32, ppc64le, s390x, i386, etc.) can run transparently on the host. It works with Docker, Podman, and Singularity via a single privileged registration command.

## Use cases
- run arm64 docker images on an x86_64 host
- build multi-architecture container images with docker buildx
- test my app in a ppc64le or s390x container locally
- fix 'exec format error' when running foreign-arch containers
- register qemu binfmt handlers for podman
- emulate arm32v7 alpine containers on my laptop

## When to choose
- you need to run or build containers for architectures different from your host without a real machine
- you want a one-command setup for binfmt_misc QEMU registration across Docker, Podman, or Singularity

## When to avoid
- you need full-system emulation or near-native performance for heavy workloads (QEMU user-mode is slow)
- you are on a kernel without binfmt_misc support or cannot run privileged containers

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: container-runtime, developer-tools, deployment
- domain: cross-platform, developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: qemu, binfmt-misc, multi-arch, emulation, docker-image, arm64, cross-compilation, containers, devops, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- multiarch/qemu-user-static (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:11.957684+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:15:32.821015+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/multiarch/qemu-user-static (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:11.957684+00:00, sha b068c8bc5f1b)
  - homepage: https://hub.docker.com/r/multiarch/qemu-user-static/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:58:32.891185+00:00, sha 7da16ed1d2ab)
  - site_page: https://docs.docker.com/docker-hub (fetched 2026-08-29T09:58:32.899994+00:00, sha caaa18892709)
  - site_page: https://www.docker.com/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:58:32.901674+00:00, sha aeada2272712)
  - site_page: https://www.docker.com/company (fetched 2026-08-29T09:58:32.903302+00:00, sha 05ab59b2bc29)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.