`pip install` does not work in Python 3.13 on 32-bit ARM Android running on 64-bit ARM kernel

[robertkirkman]

Bug report

Bug description:

Unfortunately, this line of code does not work on 32-bit ARM Python 3.13 when it is running on an Android device that has a 32-bit ARM /system folder but a 64-bit ARM kernel.

cpython/Lib/sysconfig/__init__.py

Line 703 in 9159287

"armv7l": "armeabi_v7a",

On 32-bit ARM Python 3.13 when it is running on an Android device that has a 32-bit ARM /system folder but a 64-bit ARM kernel, this command (and any other pip command):

pip install packaging

unfortunately results in this error:

ERROR: Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 107, in _run_wrapper
 status = _inner_run()
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 98, in _inner_run
 return self.run(options, args)
 ~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 96, in wrapper
 return func(self, options, args)
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 391, in run
 resolver = self.make_resolver(
 preparer=preparer,
 ...<8 lines>...
 py_version_info=options.python_version,
 )
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 256, in make_resolver
 return pip._internal.resolution.resolvelib.resolver.Resolver(
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
 preparer=preparer,
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 ...<9 lines>...
 py_version_info=py_version_info,
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 )
 ^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/resolution/resolvelib/resolver.py", line 61, in __init__
 self.factory = Factory(
 ~~~~~~~^
 finder=finder,
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 ...<7 lines>...
 py_version_info=py_version_info,
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 )
 ^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/resolution/resolvelib/factory.py", line 118, in __init__
 self._supported_tags_cache = get_supported()
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_internal/utils/compatibility_tags.py", line 178, in get_supported
 supported.extend(
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
 cpython_tags(
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 ...<3 lines>...
 )
 ^
 )
 ^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_vendor/packaging/tags.py", line 229, in cpython_tags
 platforms = list(platforms or platform_tags())
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip/_vendor/packaging/tags.py", line 558, in android_platforms
 abi = sysconfig.get_platform().split("-")[-1]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
 File "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/python3.13/sysconfig/__init__.py", line 647, in get_platform
 machine = {
 ~
 ...<3 lines>...
 "armv7l": "armeabi_v7a",
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 }[machine]
 ~^^^^^^^^^
KeyError: 'armv8l'

Note

Manually editing sysconfig/__init__.py to look like this:

machine = {
 "x86_64": "x86_64",
 "i686": "x86",
 "aarch64": "arm64_v8a",
 "armv7l": "armeabi_v7a",
 "armv8l": "armeabi_v7a",
}[machine]

does allow pip install to work successfully on 32-bit ARM Android running on a 64-bit ARM kernel without any further unique changes additionally being required

CPython versions tested on:

3.13

Operating systems tested on:

Android

Linked PRs

• gh-145616: Detect Android sysconfig ABI correctly on 32-bit ARM Android on 64-bit ARM kernel #145617
• [3.14] gh-145616: Detect Android sysconfig ABI correctly on 32-bit ARM Android on 64-bit ARM kernel (GH-145617) #146464
• [3.13] gh-145616: Detect Android sysconfig ABI correctly on 32-bit ARM Android on 64-bit ARM kernel (GH-145617) #146539

[robertkirkman]

CC: @thunder-coding , you did not cause this bug, but it is something that you might want to be aware is being discussed

[thunder-coding]

This issue belongs to https://github.com/pypa/pip. Python only maintains pip in its tree for packaging purposes nevermind, the fix belongs here. Thanks for the headsup. I dont have a arm64 device with 32-bit OS to test this against

[robertkirkman]

I dont have a arm64 device with 32-bit OS to test this against

You have received documentation in the past for how to install 32-bit ARM termux-docker inside 64-bit ARM Docker inside 64-bit ARM Debian inside qemu-system-aarch64 full system emulator,

and I understand that it is slow and tedious to use that, but that's my device for reproducing and troubleshooting this issue! so technically if you wanted to check this, you could as well if you had time (I understand the emulator is very slow so it might spend too much of your time to use)

[robertkirkman]

Also, another way is: some physical devices (a subset of 64-bit devices) have both a /system/lib folder and a /system/lib64 folder. This is called "Android system multilib". On those devices, it is possible to install this APK https://github.com/termux/termux-app/releases/download/v0.118.3/termux-app_v0.118.3+github-debug_armeabi-v7a.apk , the 32-bit ARM APK of Termux, and then in that situation the error would also be reproducible.

The tradeoff with that reproduction method is that if one already has a copy of 64-bit ARM Termux installed on the device, then it would be necessary to either uninstall that Termux first, or leave it installed but build the 32-bit ARM Termux APK with a different package name before installing it, both of which could be more inconvenient than using an emulator on PC, especially if one only has a single Android device.

[robertkirkman]

Oh and lastly, GitHub Actions ARM runner is faster than an emulator and it supports running 32-bit ARM code while it has a 64-bit ARM kernel, so it can also be used to reproduce this:

https://github.com/robertkirkman/termux-on-gha/actions/runs/22766344344/job/66035103015