vmware / vmware/photon

photon:5.0 arm64 image is missing /bin/sh

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Description

Describe the bug

The current Docker Hub photon:5.0 tag has a linux/arm64/v8 manifest entry, but the selected arm64 image appears to be an empty or incomplete rootfs. The arm64 image has only a 127B layer and does not contain /bin/sh, so any Dockerfile with FROM photon:5.0 and a RUN ... step fails for linux/arm64.

Current photon:5.0 arm64 manifest:

Name:        docker.io/library/photon@sha256:08e212e43f3b58825f351481aa342d1289dfbd4c204bb3c269516166a7ff248d
Platform:    linux/arm64/v8
Total Size:  127B
Layer:       sha256:247361b5f2bc5070b6f199e3acda8cd27dc00a2f948e728db449a857b0d9a1cc (127B)
Created:     2026-06-10T23:40:18Z

The amd64 image under the same tag is normal-sized:

Name:        docker.io/library/photon@sha256:4a96607c4af23d317ad525a9ef0434034938fe7d27da88c3301ad0f31d410d19
Platform:    linux/amd64
Total Size:  19.392MB

Screenshot

Image

Reproduction steps

  1. Inspect the current photon:5.0 arm64 image:
regctl manifest get photon:5.0 --platform linux/arm64
  1. Try to run a shell from the current arm64 image:
docker run --rm --platform linux/arm64 photon:5.0 /bin/sh -c true
  1. Or build any multi-platform Dockerfile with a RUN step:
FROM photon:5.0
RUN true
docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t test/photon-repro .

Observed error from a downstream GitHub Actions build:

runc run failed: unable to start container process: error during container init: exec: "/bin/sh": stat /bin/sh: no such file or directory
ERROR: failed to build: failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c ..." did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

Expected behavior

photon:5.0 should resolve to a usable Photon OS rootfs for linux/arm64/v8, including /bin/sh, tdnf, and the expected base OS contents, matching the behavior of previous dated 5.0 tags.

For comparison, photon:5.0-20260214 has valid images for both platforms:

linux/amd64: sha256:76d28dc460748d0621207b38fa4dc1950c21b33604e2ccabb78b46d7fcf1c784, 16.255MB
linux/arm64: sha256:8a79b2b149709fead353929f0c550e3bc4d5c67faeba48b4a85f241bee6ffae9, 15.271MB

Additional context

This broke Harbor's Build Package Workflow while rebuilding goharbor/photon:5.0 from FROM photon:5.0 for linux/amd64,linux/arm64.

Failing downstream job:

https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/actions/runs/27345723805/job/80793734074

Temporary downstream workaround PR pins Harbor's wrapper build to photon:5.0-20260214:

https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/pull/23353

The same Harbor workflow passed on 2026-06-09 before the floating photon:5.0 tag moved. That earlier run resolved photon:5.0 to digest sha256:1c4f1a00f97a3d5276c6a4f6e1fe1e4372e5b5c4107e813030f716666dd2fb5a and pulled a normal 15.27MB arm64 layer.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with regctl manifest get photon:5.0 --platform linux/arm64 and docker run --rm --platform linux/arm64 photon:5.0 /bin/sh -c true. Compare the floating tag with photon:5.0-20260214 and inspect the image publication path for the arm64 manifest. Done means the tag provides a normal Photon rootfs containing /bin/sh and tdnf, and the multi-platform build succeeds.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker
Domain
devops, infrastructure
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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