/FEX

A fast usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator for Arm64

Primary LanguageC++MIT LicenseMIT

中文

FEX - Fast x86 emulation frontend

FEX allows you to run x86 and x86-64 binaries on an AArch64 host, similar to qemu-user and box86. It has native support for a rootfs overlay, so you don't need to chroot, as well as some thunklibs so it can forward things like GL to the host. FEX presents a Linux 5.0 interface to the guest, and supports both AArch64 and x86-64 as hosts. FEX is very much work in progress, so expect things to change.

Quick start guide

For Ubuntu 20.04, 21.04, 21.10, 22.04

Execute the following command in the terminal to install FEX through a PPA.

curl --silent https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FEX-Emu/FEX/main/Scripts/InstallFEX.py --output /tmp/InstallFEX.py && python3 /tmp/InstallFEX.py && rm /tmp/InstallFEX.py

This command will walk you through installing FEX through a PPA, and downloading a RootFS for use with FEX.

Ubuntu PPA is updated with our monthly releases.

For everyone else

Please see Building FEX.

Getting Started

FEX has been tested to build and run on ARMv8.0, ARMv8.1+, and x86-64(AVX or newer) hardware. ARMv7 and older x86 hardware will not work. Expected operating system usage is Linux. FEX has been tested with Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10, and 21.04. Also Arch Linux.

On AArch64 hosts the user MUST have an x86-64 RootFS Creating a RootFS.

Navigating the Source

See the Source Outline for more information.

Building FEX

Follow the guide on the official FEX-Emu Wiki here.

RootFS generation

AArch64 hosts require a rootfs for running applications. Follow the guide on the wiki page for seeing how to set up the rootfs from scratch https://wiki.fex-emu.org/index.php/Development:Setting_up_RootFS

FEX diagram