Exec format error on aarch64 Linux (copilot-cli installs aarch64 binary but fails to run)

[Shinku1014]

Problem Description

After installing GitHub Copilot CLI via curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | sudo bash, the copilot command fails with:
bash: /usr/local/bin/copilot: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Environment Information

• OS: Linux (Oracle Linux / RHEL / CentOS variant)
• Architecture: aarch64 (ARM64)
• Binary Format:

  /usr/local/bin/copilot: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, ARM aarch64, version 1 (GNU/Linux), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1
  

• Dynamic Linker Status: ldd shows all dependencies resolved.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | sudo bash on an aarch64 Linux machine.
2. Attempt to run copilot.

Expected Behavior

The CLI should execute normally.

Actual Behavior

Exec format error occurs even though the binary architecture matched the system architecture. This might be related to kernel compatibility (3.7.0 as indicated in the binary) or specific ELF note headers.

[Shinku1014]

uname -a
Linux instance-20250828-1645 6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el9uek.aarch64 #1 SMP Mon Jul 14 18:15:52 PDT 2025 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

[Shinku1014]

Update from 2026-04-13:

I re-checked the install and runtime behavior on the same machine. Current state:

What works now

• copilot --help and copilot --version work when the CLI is launched through the npm package @github/copilot with Node.js 24.
• On this host I ended up using a small wrapper that runs /home/opc/.nvm/versions/node/v24.14.1/bin/node against the JS entrypoint from the npm package. That path reports GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.24.

What still does not work

• The native binary installed by curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash still fails when executed directly. On this machine it was the arm64 ELF binary at /usr/local/bin/copilot (and also the copied local binary), and invoking it produced cannot execute binary file: Exec format error.

Environment

• OS: Oracle Linux Server 9.6
• Kernel: 6.12.0-101.33.4.3.el9uek.aarch64
• Architecture: aarch64
• Current shell Node.js: v22.19.0
• Working Copilot version: GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.24
• Current copilot path: /home/opc/.nvm/versions/node/v22.19.0/bin/copilot (wrapper to Node 24 + npm package)

So the practical workaround on this host is the npm/Node 24 launcher path; the install-script native binary path still does not execute here.