Netdata Static Binary Build

Netdata provides pre-built static binaries for Linux systems where native packages aren't available. The installer automatically uses these static builds when needed.

Key Features:

• Self-contained installation (no system dependencies required, no interference with system libraries)
• Installed under /opt/netdata

Supported Architectures

Architecture	Identifier	Notes
x86_64	x86_64	64-bit Intel/AMD processors
ARMv6	armv6l	Raspberry Pi 1, some older SBCs
ARMv7	armv7l	Raspberry Pi 2/3, many SBCs
AArch64	aarch64	ARM 64-bit (Pi 4, newer devices)

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Prepare Packages for Edge Device Monitoring

Reduce the installed size of Netdata on robots and other edge devices with the fleet preparation script. Run it on your build host to strip symbols and keep the optional capabilities your devices use, then include the reduced package in your device image.

Preparation requires Python 3.9 or newer, a GNU binutils or LLVM strip tool supporting the target's Linux ELF files, and a build filesystem supporting Unix permissions, symbolic links and hard links. The guide includes Linux and macOS tool setup.

See Minimize the Disk Footprint of Fleet Devices for the capability policy, tools, validation and image-controlled updates. The standard static updater downloads the full package again, so reduced images need a fleet-managed release workflow.

Build Process

Requirements

Requirement	Purpose
Docker or Podman	Container environment for isolated builds
~10GB disk space	For build artifacts and containers

Preparation

Before building, ensure your repository is clean from previous builds.

→ Perform a cleanup

Building the Static Binary

Run the build script with your target architecture identifier:

# For x86_64 (default)
./packaging/makeself/build-static.sh x86_64

# For ARM 64-bit (AArch64)
./packaging/makeself/build-static.sh aarch64

# For ARMv6
./packaging/makeself/build-static.sh armv6l

# For ARMv7
./packaging/makeself/build-static.sh armv7l

The script will automatically:

• Launch an Alpine Linux container
• Install necessary build dependencies
• Compile required third-party tools (bash, curl, etc.)
• Build Netdata with optimized settings
• Package everything into a self-extracting installer

When building for an architecture different from your host:

• The build process uses QEMU for emulation
• Build times will be significantly longer
• More disk space may be required
• Some features may have architecture-specific limitations

Build Output

The process generates several installer files in the artifacts/ directory:

artifacts/
├── netdata-latest.gz.run                    # Latest version
├── netdata-v[VERSION]-[BUILD].gz.run        # Specific version
├── netdata-[ARCH]-latest.gz.run             # Architecture-specific latest
└── netdata-[ARCH]-v[VERSION]-[BUILD].gz.run # Architecture-specific version

Example output:

$ ls -l artifacts/
drwxrwxr-x   - user group     cache
.rwxrwxr-x 94M user group     netdata-latest.gz.run
.rwxrwxr-x 94M user group     netdata-v2.3.0-193-nightly.gz.run
.rwxrwxr-x 94M user group     netdata-x86_64-latest.gz.run
.rwxrwxr-x 94M user group     netdata-x86_64-v2.3.0-193-nightly.gz.run

Advanced Build Options

Debug Builds

For troubleshooting, you can create a debug-enabled build:

./packaging/makeself/build-static.sh x86_64 debug

Debug build characteristics:

• Larger file size
• Runtime performance impact
• Additional diagnostic information
• Disabled optimizations
• Enhanced tracing capabilities

Troubleshooting

Running with Valgrind

To diagnose memory issues or crashes:

PATH="/opt/netdata/bin:${PATH}" valgrind --undef-value-errors=no /opt/netdata/bin/srv/netdata -D

Important notes:

• Performance will be significantly reduced (~10x slower)
• Stop Valgrind with Ctrl+C
• The --undef-value-errors=no flag suppresses hundreds of false positives from the bundled libraries

Crash Reporting

If Netdata crashes during development or testing:

1. Capture the complete Valgrind output
2. Open a GitHub Issue
3. Include:
   • Build details (architecture, version)
   • Complete stack trace
   • Steps to reproduce the issue