Is it possible to implement a Relative interpreter for i386?

[kero990]

Hello, I’ve discovered this project, and it’s like a treasure trove for me. I have a lot of devices limited to glibc 2.28, which prevents many applications from running.

However, I’d like to discuss another issue—Relative interpreter support for i386. Here’s the problem: Currently, AppImage packaging is architecture-specific. An i386 program can either be packaged as i386 or include all 32-bit libraries to run as x86_64, but these two approaches aren’t interchangeable. Even if the original application is fully portable (with its own libc and ld-linux), allowing it to run natively on i386 or on a 64-bit system without i386 support, packaging it as an AppImage breaks this.

The issue lies in the AppRun entry point—it’s also a binary. Since AppImage’s mount path is dynamic, AppRun can’t simply use . or .. to locate ld-linux.so.2, unlike the main application. This is why we need Relative interpreter support for i386.

I noticed in your documentation that you welcome issues for feature requests, so I’m sharing this idea. I hope I’m not bothering you, and I really appreciate your project!