Architectures¶

Each architecture represents a CPU instruction set, and is associated with:

a unique architecture ID
a human-readable name
an icon (emoji / unicode character)
a detection function
various metadata in its info() method

Architecture usage¶

Each architecture is materialized by an Architecture object, from which you can access various metadata:

>>> from extra_platforms import X86_64
>>> X86_64
Architecture(id='x86_64', name='x86-64 (AMD64)')
>>> X86_64.id
'x86_64'
>>> X86_64.current
True
>>> X86_64.info()
{'id': 'x86_64', 'name': 'x86-64 (AMD64)', 'icon': '🖥️', 'url': 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64', 'current': True, 'machine': None, 'processor': None}

To check if the current architecture matches a specific architecture, use the corresponding detection function:

>>> from extra_platforms import is_x86_64
>>> is_x86_64()
True

The current architecture can be obtained via the current_architecture() function:

>>> from extra_platforms import current_architecture
>>> current_architecture()
Architecture(id='x86_64', name='x86-64 (AMD64)')

Exactly one architecture matches¶

Architecture detection reads platform.machine(): the machine name the operating system reports to the Python interpreter. Detection functions normalize the spelling differences between systems, so aarch64 (Linux), arm64 (macOS) and ARM64 (Windows) all resolve to AARCH64, and the AMD64 reported by Windows resolves to X86_64.

Because the value reflects the interpreter’s point of view, a process running under a translation layer like Rosetta 2 or qemu user-mode emulation reports the emulated architecture, not the CPU underneath.

Unlike shells, architectures are mutually exclusive: at most one detection function returns True at any time. is_arm() preserves that property while acting as a fallback: it only matches ARM machines not covered by the more precise ARMV5TEL, ARMV6L, ARMV7L, ARMV8L and AARCH64 variants. current_architecture() treats several simultaneous matches as a bug and raises RuntimeError.

Recognized architectures¶

Icon	Symbol	Name	Detection function
📱	`AARCH64`	ARM64 (AArch64)	`is_aarch64()`
📱	`ARM`	ARM (32-bit)	`is_arm()`
📱	`ARMV5TEL`	ARMv5TE (little-endian)	`is_armv5tel()`
📱	`ARMV6L`	ARMv6 (little-endian)	`is_armv6l()`
📱	`ARMV7L`	ARMv7 (little-endian)	`is_armv7l()`
📱	`ARMV8L`	ARMv8 (32-bit, little-endian)	`is_armv8l()`
𝗶	`I386`	Intel 80386 (i386)	`is_i386()`
𝗶	`I586`	Intel Pentium (i586)	`is_i586()`
𝗶	`I686`	Intel Pentium Pro (i686)	`is_i686()`
🐉	`LOONGARCH64`	LoongArch (64-bit)	`is_loongarch64()`
🔲	`MIPS`	MIPS (32-bit, big-endian)	`is_mips()`
🔲	`MIPS64`	MIPS64 (big-endian)	`is_mips64()`
🔲	`MIPS64EL`	MIPS64 (little-endian)	`is_mips64el()`
🔲	`MIPSEL`	MIPS (32-bit, little-endian)	`is_mipsel()`
⚡	`PPC`	PowerPC (32-bit)	`is_ppc()`
⚡	`PPC64`	PowerPC 64-bit (big-endian)	`is_ppc64()`
⚡	`PPC64LE`	PowerPC 64-bit (little-endian)	`is_ppc64le()`
Ⅴ	`RISCV32`	RISC-V (32-bit)	`is_riscv32()`
Ⅴ	`RISCV64`	RISC-V (64-bit)	`is_riscv64()`
🏢	`S390X`	IBM z/Architecture (s390x)	`is_s390x()`
☀️	`SPARC`	SPARC (32-bit)	`is_sparc()`
☀️	`SPARC64`	SPARC (64-bit)	`is_sparc64()`
🌐	`WASM32`	WebAssembly (32-bit)	`is_wasm32()`
🌐	`WASM64`	WebAssembly (64-bit)	`is_wasm64()`
🖥️	`X86_64`	x86-64 (AMD64)	`is_x86_64()`

Hint

The UNKNOWN_ARCHITECTURE trait represents an unrecognized architecture. It is not included in the ALL_ARCHITECTURES group, and will be returned by current_architecture() if the current architecture is not recognized.

Groups of architectures¶

All architecture groups¶

Icon	Symbol	Description	Detection	`Canonical`
🏛️	`ALL_ARCHITECTURES`	All architectures	`is_any_architecture()`
📱	`ALL_ARM`	ARM architectures	`is_any_arm()`	⬥
🔲	`ALL_MIPS`	MIPS architectures	`is_any_mips()`	⬥
☀️	`ALL_SPARC`	SPARC architectures	`is_any_sparc()`	⬥
³²	`ARCH_32_BIT`	32-bit architectures	`is_arch_32_bit()`
⁶⁴	`ARCH_64_BIT`	64-bit architectures	`is_arch_64_bit()`
⬆️	`BIG_ENDIAN`	Big-endian architectures	`is_big_endian()`
🏢	`IBM_MAINFRAME`	IBM mainframe	`is_ibm_mainframe()`	⬥
⬇️	`LITTLE_ENDIAN`	Little-endian architectures	`is_little_endian()`
🐉	`LOONGARCH`	LoongArch	`is_loongarch()`	⬥
⚡	`POWERPC`	PowerPC family	`is_powerpc()`	⬥
Ⅴ	`RISCV`	RISC-V family	`is_riscv()`	⬥
🌐	`WEBASSEMBLY`	WebAssembly	`is_webassembly()`	⬥
𝘅	`X86`	x86 family	`is_x86()`	⬥

Hint

Canonical groups are non-overlapping groups that together cover all recognized traits. They are marked with a ⬥ icon in the table above.

Other groups are provided for convenience, but overlap with each other or with canonical groups.

Canonical groups¶

All recognized architectures are grouped in canonical families, with each architecture belonging to exactly one family.

Here are the non-overlapping families that encompass all recognized architectures, visualized as a Sankey diagram:

        ---
config:
  sankey:
    height: 800
    showValues: false
    width: 800

---
sankey-beta

ALL_ARCHITECTURES,ALL_ARM,6
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,X86,4
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,ALL_MIPS,4
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,POWERPC,3
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,WEBASSEMBLY,2
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,RISCV,2
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,ALL_SPARC,2
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,LOONGARCH,1
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,IBM_MAINFRAME,1
ALL_ARM,AARCH64,1
ALL_ARM,ARM,1
ALL_ARM,ARMV5TEL,1
ALL_ARM,ARMV6L,1
ALL_ARM,ARMV7L,1
ALL_ARM,ARMV8L,1
X86,I386,1
X86,I586,1
X86,I686,1
X86,X86_64,1
ALL_MIPS,MIPS,1
ALL_MIPS,MIPS64,1
ALL_MIPS,MIPS64EL,1
ALL_MIPS,MIPSEL,1
POWERPC,PPC,1
POWERPC,PPC64,1
POWERPC,PPC64LE,1
WEBASSEMBLY,WASM32,1
WEBASSEMBLY,WASM64,1
RISCV,RISCV32,1
RISCV,RISCV64,1
ALL_SPARC,SPARC,1
ALL_SPARC,SPARC64,1
LOONGARCH,LOONGARCH64,1
IBM_MAINFRAME,S390X,1

And the same families visualized as a mindmap:

        ---
config:
  mindmap:
    padding: 5

---
mindmap
    ((🏛️ ALL_ARCHITECTURES))
        )𝘅 X86(
            (𝗶 I386)
            (𝗶 I586)
            (𝗶 I686)
            (🖥️ X86_64)
        )🌐 WEBASSEMBLY(
            (🌐 WASM32)
            (🌐 WASM64)
        )Ⅴ RISCV(
            (Ⅴ RISCV32)
            (Ⅴ RISCV64)
        )⚡ POWERPC(
            (⚡ PPC)
            (⚡ PPC64)
            (⚡ PPC64LE)
        )🐉 LOONGARCH(
            (🐉 LOONGARCH64)
        )🏢 IBM_MAINFRAME(
            (🏢 S390X)
        )☀️ ALL_SPARC(
            (☀️ SPARC)
            (☀️ SPARC64)
        )🔲 ALL_MIPS(
            (🔲 MIPS)
            (🔲 MIPS64)
            (🔲 MIPS64EL)
            (🔲 MIPSEL)
        )📱 ALL_ARM(
            (📱 AARCH64)
            (📱 ARM)
            (📱 ARMV5TEL)
            (📱 ARMV6L)
            (📱 ARMV7L)
            (📱 ARMV8L)

Bitness groups¶

Architectures are also grouped by bitness (32-bit vs 64-bit), visualized as a Sankey diagram:

        ---
config:
  sankey:
    height: 800
    showValues: false
    width: 800

---
sankey-beta

ALL_ARCHITECTURES,ARCH_32_BIT,14
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,ARCH_64_BIT,11
ARCH_32_BIT,ARM,1
ARCH_32_BIT,ARMV5TEL,1
ARCH_32_BIT,ARMV6L,1
ARCH_32_BIT,ARMV7L,1
ARCH_32_BIT,ARMV8L,1
ARCH_32_BIT,I386,1
ARCH_32_BIT,I586,1
ARCH_32_BIT,I686,1
ARCH_32_BIT,MIPS,1
ARCH_32_BIT,MIPSEL,1
ARCH_32_BIT,PPC,1
ARCH_32_BIT,RISCV32,1
ARCH_32_BIT,SPARC,1
ARCH_32_BIT,WASM32,1
ARCH_64_BIT,AARCH64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,LOONGARCH64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,MIPS64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,MIPS64EL,1
ARCH_64_BIT,PPC64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,PPC64LE,1
ARCH_64_BIT,RISCV64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,S390X,1
ARCH_64_BIT,SPARC64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,WASM64,1
ARCH_64_BIT,X86_64,1

And the same bitness groups visualized as a mindmap:

        ---
config:
  mindmap:
    padding: 5

---
mindmap
    ((🏛️ ALL_ARCHITECTURES))
        )⁶⁴ ARCH_64_BIT(
            (📱 AARCH64)
            (🐉 LOONGARCH64)
            (🔲 MIPS64)
            (🔲 MIPS64EL)
            (⚡ PPC64)
            (⚡ PPC64LE)
            (Ⅴ RISCV64)
            (🏢 S390X)
            (☀️ SPARC64)
            (🌐 WASM64)
            (🖥️ X86_64)
        )³² ARCH_32_BIT(
            (📱 ARM)
            (📱 ARMV5TEL)
            (📱 ARMV6L)
            (📱 ARMV7L)
            (📱 ARMV8L)
            (𝗶 I386)
            (𝗶 I586)
            (𝗶 I686)
            (🔲 MIPS)
            (🔲 MIPSEL)
            (⚡ PPC)
            (Ⅴ RISCV32)
            (☀️ SPARC)
            (🌐 WASM32)

Endianness groups¶

Architectures are also grouped by endianness (big-endian vs little-endian), visualized as a Sankey diagram:

        ---
config:
  sankey:
    height: 800
    showValues: false
    width: 800

---
sankey-beta

ALL_ARCHITECTURES,LITTLE_ENDIAN,18
ALL_ARCHITECTURES,BIG_ENDIAN,7
LITTLE_ENDIAN,AARCH64,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,ARM,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,ARMV5TEL,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,ARMV6L,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,ARMV7L,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,ARMV8L,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,I386,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,I586,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,I686,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,LOONGARCH64,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,MIPS64EL,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,MIPSEL,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,PPC64LE,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,RISCV32,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,RISCV64,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,WASM32,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,WASM64,1
LITTLE_ENDIAN,X86_64,1
BIG_ENDIAN,MIPS,1
BIG_ENDIAN,MIPS64,1
BIG_ENDIAN,PPC,1
BIG_ENDIAN,PPC64,1
BIG_ENDIAN,S390X,1
BIG_ENDIAN,SPARC,1
BIG_ENDIAN,SPARC64,1

And the same endianness groups visualized as a mindmap:

        ---
config:
  mindmap:
    padding: 5

---
mindmap
    ((🏛️ ALL_ARCHITECTURES))
        )⬇️ LITTLE_ENDIAN(
            (📱 AARCH64)
            (📱 ARM)
            (📱 ARMV5TEL)
            (📱 ARMV6L)
            (📱 ARMV7L)
            (📱 ARMV8L)
            (𝗶 I386)
            (𝗶 I586)
            (𝗶 I686)
            (🐉 LOONGARCH64)
            (🔲 MIPS64EL)
            (🔲 MIPSEL)
            (⚡ PPC64LE)
            (Ⅴ RISCV32)
            (Ⅴ RISCV64)
            (🌐 WASM32)
            (🌐 WASM64)
            (🖥️ X86_64)
        )⬆️ BIG_ENDIAN(
            (🔲 MIPS)
            (🔲 MIPS64)
            (⚡ PPC)
            (⚡ PPC64)
            (🏢 S390X)
            (☀️ SPARC)
            (☀️ SPARC64)

Predefined architectures¶

Architecture definitions and metadata.

Hint

Architecture’s canonical IDs are inspired by those used in auditwheel project to encode the manylinux policies.