# Using MIAB On ARM

**URL:** <https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229>\
**Category:** Unsupported Modifications\
**Created:** [December 11, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229 "2023-12-11T15:35:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/1 "2023-12-11T15:35:21Z")

</div>

I know that ARM is officially unsupported (I see the warning on every update) but I nonetheless use it, mostly because I have a free t4g.small instance from AWS and host my MIAB on there.

I have been receiving backup errors for some time now and have ignored them.

`GPGError: GPG Failed, see log below:  
===== Begin GnuPG log =====  
gpg: Note: ‘–force-mdc’ is not considered an option  
gpg: Note: ‘–symmetric’ is not considered an option  
gpg: WARNING: no command supplied. Trying to guess what you mean …  
usage: gpg [options] [filename]  
===== End GnuPG log =====

Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/home/ubuntu/mailinabox/management/backup.py”, line 647, in   
perform\_backup(full\_backup)  
File “/home/ubuntu/mailinabox/management/backup.py”, line 318, in perform\_backup  
shell(‘check\_call’, [  
File “/home/ubuntu/mailinabox/management/utils.py”, line 126, in shell  
ret = getattr(subprocess, method)(cmd\_args, \*\*kwargs)  
File “/usr/lib/python3.10/subprocess.py”, line 369, in check\_call  
raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)  
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command ‘[’/usr/bin/duplicity’, ‘full’, ‘–verbosity’, ‘warning’, ‘–no-print-statistics’, ‘–archive-dir’, ‘/home/user-data/backup/cache’, ‘–exclude’, ‘/home/user-data/backup’, ‘–volsize’, ‘250’, ‘–gpg-options’, “‘–cipher-algo=AES256’”, ‘–allow-source-mismatch’, ‘/home/user-data’, ‘file:///home/user-data/backup/encrypted’]’ returned non-zero exit status 31.`

I decided to dive into the issue.

It seems that Duplicity for ARM is only available through version 0.8.21 ([duplicity : arm64 : Jammy (22.04) : Ubuntu](https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jammy/arm64/duplicity)) which had a bug in it and was causing my GPG errors. ([Backup script failing](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/backup-script-failing/10734)

Snap, however, has newer versions of duplicity that work on ARM.

I removed tha apt version of duplicity and installed the snap version.

However when installing via snap the MIAB scripts did not find duplicity because it was installed in `/snap/bin` instead of `/usr/bin`

To fix this I created symlink `sudo ln -s /snap/bin/duplicity /bin/duplicity` which then allowed the snap version of duplicity to be called by the MIAB scripts which reference `/usr/bin/`

Let me know if this is unclear or if you have any follow up questions.

Thanks to @dms and @KiekerJan for helping me work through this

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vele](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/e5b9ba/32.png) [@vele](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/vele)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 11:57am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/2 "2023-12-18T11:57:50Z")

</div>

Hi, and thanks for posting a solution to this issue. I am running MIAB on Arm (Ubuntu 22).  
Please post a step by step guide including the removal of the apt version and installation of the snap.

Please help because I am not that good at the command line.

Thanks @ [jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vele](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/e5b9ba/32.png) [@vele](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/vele)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 10:12am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/3 "2023-12-19T10:12:38Z")

</div>

I will reply it for myself: this is what i did:

sudo apt-get remove --purge duplicity  
sudo snap install duplicity --classic --edge  
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/duplicity /bin/duplicitty

I waited for the nightly reports and no error message arrived. The script is working you can check the admin backups section of your box.

Thanks again @ [jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/melato)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 11:24pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/4 "2023-12-25T23:24:32Z")

</div>

I use mailinabox on ARM, because I use Hetzner ARM servers, which are cheaper and have twice the memory of AMD servers. I’ve been standardizing on ARM.

I am hesitant of installing anything else though. I prefer to use mailinabox as-is. If the backup doesn’t work, so be it. I use external backup.

Based on the [Moving to a New Box](https://mailinabox.email/maintenance.html#moving-boxes) procedure, it should be enough to backup /home/user-data. Right?

I suppose I need to try it. Create a new box, restore /home/user-data, point my browser to the new box, and check if my settings and data are there.

I do not keep my mail in mailinabox. I move it periodically to separate dovecot server.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/5 "2023-12-26T00:06:09Z")

</div>

That should work. Relatedly I use AWS graviton arm server which looks much cheaper than heater after briefly glancing at their site

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/melato)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 10:22am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/6 "2023-12-26T10:22:07Z")

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> [@melato](#):
>
> I suppose I need to try it. Create a new box, restore /home/user-data, point my browser to the new box, and check if my settings and data are there.

I tried it. It worked. Backing up /home/ is enough. There is no need to backup things like /etc/nsd/zones. They are generated by running mailinabox.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@melato](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/melato)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 10:38am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/7 "2023-12-26T10:38:57Z")

</div>

> [@jacobrosenfeld](#):
>
> I use AWS graviton arm server which looks much cheaper

A Hetzner ARM instance with 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, 2 shared cpus, and practically unlimited bandwidth (20TB) costs € 3.79 / month (without VAT). A t4g.small AWS instance (2 GiB RAM) costs 0.0168/h = $12/month on-demand. This does not include the disk or bandwidth, which are charged separately. With a 1 year term paid up-front, you get 33% savings. A 4 GB AWS instance (t4g.medium) is twice the price. I abandoned AWS years ago. Hetzner’s pricing is also much simpler. There is a single monthly price and a single hourly price, and you automatically get whatever costs less for the amount of time that you use it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/9 "2024-01-18T19:03:29Z")

</div>

FYI it seems MIAB reinstalls the apt version on MIAB update so I had to uninstall it to get backups working when upgrading to v67.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/10 "2024-01-18T19:06:12Z")

</div>

They only have AMD available in the US, a deal breaker for me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jacobrosenfeld](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/u/jacobrosenfeld)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 6:00am UTC](https://discourse.mailinabox.email/t/using-miab-on-arm/11229/11 "2026-06-14T06:00:43Z")

</div>

FYI for anyone looking at this in the future, there is a typo in @vele 's command

the command should be as below (the one @vele posted has an extra “t” in “duplicity”)

```auto
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/duplicity /bin/duplicity

```