aarch64 (ARM64) Compatibility

This document describes the compatibility status and known issues for g4f on aarch64 (ARM64) systems.

Issue Resolution

Fixed in this release: The "Illegal instruction (core dumped)" error that occurred when importing g4f on aarch64 systems has been resolved.

Problem

Previously, g4f would crash with "Illegal instruction (core dumped)" on ARM64 systems (such as Apple Silicon Macs, Raspberry Pi, AWS Graviton instances, etc.) due to compiled dependencies with architecture-specific optimizations.

Solution

The library now includes proper error handling for architecture-incompatible dependencies:

• Safe import mechanisms prevent crashes when compiled libraries are unavailable
• Graceful fallbacks to alternative implementations when possible
• Clear error messages when specific features require unavailable dependencies

Compatibility Status

✅ Working Features

• Basic client functionality (from g4f.client import Client)
• CLI commands (g4f --help, g4f client --help)
• Providers that use standard HTTP libraries
• Most text generation functionality

⚠️ Limited Features

Some advanced features may have reduced functionality on aarch64:

• Providers requiring curl_cffi will fall back to aiohttp
• Browser automation features may not be available
• Some performance optimizations may not be active

📋 Requirements

For full functionality on aarch64, ensure you have:

# Basic requirements (should work on all architectures)
pip install -r requirements-min.txt

# Full requirements (some packages may need compilation on aarch64)
pip install -r requirements.txt

Testing Your Installation

You can verify your installation works correctly:

# Test basic import
from g4f.client import Client
client = Client()
print("✓ g4f imported successfully")

# Test CLI
import subprocess
result = subprocess.run(['g4f', '--help'], capture_output=True)
print("✓ CLI works" if result.returncode == 0 else "✗ CLI issues")

Known Issues

1. Performance: Some providers may have reduced performance due to fallback implementations
2. Browser Features: nodriver and webview functionality may not be available
3. Image Processing: Some image-related features may have compatibility issues

Getting Help

If you encounter issues on aarch64:

1. First try with minimal requirements: pip install -r requirements-min.txt
2. Check if the issue persists with basic functionality
3. Report architecture-specific issues with your system details:
   • Architecture: uname -m
   • OS: uname -a
   • Python version: python --version