Epic: upstream riscv64 wheel support to all 33 packages

[gounthar]

Epic: Upstream riscv64 wheel support to PyPI

Track the status of upstream issues and PRs requesting linux_riscv64 wheel support across all packages in our wheel factory.

Goal: Every package in our PEP 503 index should eventually have native riscv64 wheels published on PyPI by the upstream maintainers, eliminating the need for our community index.

Coordination: Working with RISE wheel_builder team (@justeph, @threexc from BayLibre) and Ludovic Henry (@luhenry, RISE TSC Co-Chair) to avoid duplicating effort. RISE provides native riscv64 GitHub Actions runners via https://github.com/apps/rise-risc-v-runners.

Status legend

Stage	Meaning
Issue Filed	Upstream issue created requesting riscv64 support
PR Submitted	Pull request with CI changes submitted upstream
Merged	PR merged into upstream
On PyPI	riscv64 wheel available on PyPI
Deferred	Closed our PR in favor of BayLibre/RISE PR

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Already supported upstream (no action needed)

• aio-libs/multidict — riscv64 in odd-arches qemu matrix since 2025
• aio-libs/propcache — riscv64 in odd-arches qemu matrix since 2025
• samuelcolvin/watchfiles — riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu in maturin-action matrix
• patrick91/rignore — riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu in maturin-action matrix
• dvarrazzo/py-setproctitle — riscv64 in build-cross-wheel job matrix
• pydantic/pydantic-core — riscv64 merged in pydantic/pydantic#12723 (Feb 2026), next release

Merged upstream (awaiting PyPI release)

• pyzmq (zeromq/pyzmq) — PR #2164 merged (2026-03-17)
• jiter (pydantic/jiter) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#237 merged (2026-03-18)
• sqlalchemy (sqlalchemy/sqlalchemy) — PR #13183 merged (2026-03-18, same day!)

Tier 1 — cibuildwheel projects

• numpy (numpy/numpy) — issue · PR #30995 updated to RISE native runners (3.5 min build vs 38 min QEMU) · RISE fork green
• pillow (python-pillow/Pillow) — issue · PR #9463 — libavif libaom RVV bug; Cloud-V suggested
• scikit-learn (scikit-learn/scikit-learn) — PR #33580 — native build SUCCESS on F3; RISE native runners
• sentencepiece (google/sentencepiece) — issue · PR #1196 — CLA signed
• zstandard (indygreg/python-zstandard) — issue · PR googleapis/python-crc32c#289
• llama-cpp-python (abetlen/llama-cpp-python) — issue · PR #2139
• greenlet (python-greenlet/greenlet) — PR #501 — manylinux_2_39; native build SUCCESS on F3
• rapidfuzz (rapidfuzz/RapidFuzz) — PR #474 — QEMU
• google-crc32c (googleapis/python-crc32c) — issue googleapis/google-cloud-python#16517 · PR googleapis/python-crc32c#337
• fonttools (fonttools/fonttools) — PR #4069 — native build SUCCESS on F3
• chardet (chardet/chardet) — PR #348 — native build SUCCESS on F3
• tomli (hukkin/tomli) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#284 — native build SUCCESS on F3

Tier 2 — Rust/maturin projects

• cffi (python-cffi/cffi) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#234 with RISE native runners (builds on @justeph's #227)
• tiktoken (openai/tiktoken) — issue · PR #506
• hf-xet (huggingface/xet-core) — issue · PR #704 — native test: 703/706 pass; RISE fork testing
• blake3 (oconnor663/blake3-py) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#103
• orjson (ijl/orjson) — issues & PRs disabled, cannot contribute
• cryptography (pyca/cryptography) — pyca/infra #748 · infra PR #749 riscv64 Docker images; requires RISE native runners; Ludovic enabling runners for pyca org
• bcrypt (pyca/bcrypt) — PR #1177 updated to RISE native runners; RISE fork green
• pynacl (pyca/pynacl) — depends on pyca/infra #749; native build SUCCESS on F3

Tier 3 — Smaller C/Rust extensions

• pyyaml (yaml/pyyaml) — issue · PR #926
• tree-sitter (tree-sitter/py-tree-sitter) — issue · PR #443
• httptools (MagicStack/httptools) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#137
• msgspec (jcrist/msgspec) — issue · PR #987
• fastar (DoctorJohn/fastar) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#58
• openai-harmony (openai/harmony) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#104
• textual-speedups (willmcgugan/textual-speedups) — PR googleapis/python-crc32c#6

Deferred to BayLibre/RISE

• tokenizers — closed our #1963, defer to @threexc #1951
• safetensors — closed our #724, defer to @threexc #708
• frozenlist — closed our #745, defer to @justeph #741
• uvloop — closed our #733, defer to @AdrianBunk #711

Tier 4 — Large/complex build systems

• torch (pytorch/pytorch) — pre-existing issue
• grpcio (grpc/grpc) — pre-existing issue — RISE fork has internal riscv64 workflow

---

Progress (2026-03-19)

• 3 PRs merged upstream (pyzmq, jiter, sqlalchemy)
• 25+ PRs open across all tiers
• 4 PRs deferred to BayLibre/RISE to avoid duplicates
• RISE collaboration launched with Ludovic Henry — 50 native riscv64 runners coming online
• RISE fork PRs validated: numpy (green), xet-core (703/706 pass), bcrypt (green)
• pyca ecosystem (cryptography+bcrypt+pynacl = 1.1B downloads/month) unblocking via infra PR + RISE runners
• cffi PR chore: Development release v1.6.0.dev3 googleapis/python-crc32c#234 with native RISE runners (builds on @justeph's build(deps): bump setuptools from 68.2.2 to 70.0.0 in /.kokoro googleapis/python-crc32c#227)
• Native F3 builds verified for 20+ packages
• actions/setup-python riscv64 fallback PR #1289
• Non-Python merges: Docker CLI, wit-bindgen (released v0.54.0), wasm-tools, wkg

Resources

• PEP 503 index: https://gounthar.github.io/riscv64-python-wheels/simple/
• Wheel repo: https://github.com/gounthar/riscv64-python-wheels
• RISE wheel builder: https://riseproject.gitlab.io/python/wheel_builder/
• RISE runners: https://github.com/apps/rise-risc-v-runners
• RISE Slack: https://riseprojecttalk.slack.com/archives/C065XKBEXNF
• All wheels built natively on BananaPi F3 (SpacemiT K1, rv64imafdcv, 8 cores @ 1.6 GHz, 16 GB RAM)

[justeph]

Hi @gounthar , I don't know if you are aware, but the RISE project has already started this kind of work 2 years ago. @threexc and I have been both working with them to assist them on this. Project is called wheel_builder see https://riseproject.gitlab.io/python/wheel_builder/. We currently support around 70 packages. We try to build and tests them by mirroring exactly how upstream does and publish them on our registry.
I see that some packages are common to your list and our list of packages to upstream :) See https://gitlab.com/riseproject/python/wheel_builder/-/milestones/7#tab-issues. We are already engaged with @threexc in several upstream discussions in several projects. For example I see a conflicting PR on tokenizers: @threexc already opened one last month see huggingface/tokenizers#1963 vs huggingface/tokenizers#1951. I bet there might be others. Would you be interested to share work force on this?

For you information, @threexc and I submitted a talk about our work on wheel_builder and our upstream work to help various project on this, for the RISC-V Summit Europe that will take place in Bologna from Monday 8th to Thursday 11th June, 2026. In any case, we will both attend.

[gounthar]

@justeph Thanks for reaching out; this is exactly the coordination we need!

I wasn't aware of the specific upstream PRs from @threexc when I opened mine. I've just checked and found overlaps on:

• tokenizers: my #1963 vs @threexc's #1951
• safetensors: my #724 vs @threexc's #708
• frozenlist: my #745 vs yours #741
• uvloop: my #733 vs AdrianBunk's #711

I'll close my duplicates and defer to the existing PRs on those. No point duplicating effort!

I'm already in contact with Ludovic Henry (@luhenry); we're collaborating on RISE native runners for projects that reject QEMU (pyca ecosystem, numpy). I've also joined the RISE Slack. Happy to coordinate there going forward.

For reference, here's what I've been focused on that might not overlap with your list:

• pyca infra (cryptography/bcrypt/pynacl Docker images): feat: add riscv64 Docker images for cryptography ecosystem pyca/infra#749
• RISE runner CI plumbing: actions/setup-python riscv64 fallback, cibuildwheel workarounds
• Non-Python: Docker CLI, wit-bindgen, wasm-tools, wkg, Jenkins, aomedia/aom

Would love to attend the RISC-V Summit Europe talk in Bologna! Let's definitely share workforce: more hands, faster riscv64 ecosystem.

[justeph]

Interesting, we are also in contact with @luhenry indirectly!

I also found a conflicting PR for pyyaml (mine #909, yours #926 and one from @ffgan I missed before mine #877). I didn't dig too much yet on all others..

For reference, here's what I've been focused on that might not overlap with your list:

pyca infra (cryptography/bcrypt/pynacl Docker images): https://github.com/pyca/infra/pull/749
RISE runner CI plumbing: actions/setup-python riscv64 fallback, cibuildwheel workarounds
Non-Python: Docker CLI, wit-bindgen, wasm-tools, wkg, Jenkins, aomedia/aom

• cryptography and pynacl are on our list, but tagged as complex and were not our top priority, so feel free to handle this :)

• about rise runner: I was testing them few weeks ago, but didn't have time to switch back on it. So I would be happy if you can do this also :). FYI, I engaged discussion about native runners with argon2-cffi-bindings maintainer:
  ci: add riscv64 manylinux/musllinux wheels hynek/argon2-cffi-bindings#105. Looks like he might be interested! Maybe you can reach him out?

• Non-Python: we currently focus on python only, so feel free to continue on this one :)

[justeph]

We also have an internal bi-weekly meeting. Next one is scheduled on Monday, 23rd March. Would you be interested to join us? So maybe we can sync together?

[threexc]

I'm also working on video_reader-rs - for now, on my own fork until I figure some changes out.

It's a replacement for decord, which IIRC is in the dependency chain for pytorch. The upstream project depends on pyav-ffmpeg to build its wheels, which I recently got a PR to add riscv64 support into (but no new release with a riscv64 wheel has been published yet).

In the meantime, I'm trying to fix up the pipeline so it builds for x86_64 and arm64. That way, once pyav-ffmpeg publishes a riscv64 wheel, we can get video_reader-rs building with it too.

[gounthar]

@threexc Thanks for the heads up on video_reader-rs; good to know you're working on the pyav-ffmpeg chain. I'll avoid that area.

Also just closed our harmony PR googleapis/python-crc32c#104 in favor of your googleapis/python-crc32c#98. Found another overlap; updating the epic to reflect all the deferred PRs.