yamlfmt

Author: Ludovic HENRY ludovic.henry@qti.qualcomm.com
Date: 2026-08-30
Readiness: Orange
Scope: RISC-V (riscv64/linux) support status for yamlfmt
Audience: Technical leadership, resource allocation strategy
Verification policy: Every claim is cross-referenced to a primary upstream source. Items that could not be verified against a second source are marked [NEEDS VERIFICATION].

1. Project Overview

yamlfmt is a Go-based YAML formatter that normalizes whitespace, indentation, and style in YAML files. It is used primarily in CI pipelines and developer toolchains to enforce consistent YAML formatting across repositories.

The project lives under the google GitHub organization but carries an explicit disclaimer in its README: it is not officially supported by Google and is maintained solely by @braydonk (Braydon Kains, Google Cloud) as a side project. The maintainer wrote yamlfmt during a Google tech-debt sprint and was surprised by its rapid adoption. He has expressed intent to open up contributions but no formal process exists. There are no CODEOWNERS, MAINTAINERS, or PLATFORMS files. The project is not affiliated with CNCF, OpenSSF, Apache, Linux Foundation, or RISE.

The project is licensed under Apache-2.0. Of 154 total commits, 102 (66%) are from the sole maintainer. Community contributors have made small contributions (5-6 commits each) but no co-maintainer has been designated.

The project has no stated policy on new platform ports. No port request of any kind has ever been filed. Given the single-maintainer bandwidth constraints documented in Discussion #149, a direct PR is the most effective path to any change.

2. Port History and Upstreaming Timeline

Date	Event	Source
2022-08-22	Initial release v0.1.0; Linux/Darwin/Windows x amd64/arm64/386 binaries shipped	GitHub Releases
2022-present	Release matrix unchanged; riscv64 never added	.goreleaser.yaml
Never	No riscv64 issue, PR, commit, or tracking item filed	GitHub search (0 results across all query types)

No contributor has ever submitted riscv64-related work. The port history is empty. There is no upstream riscv64 effort in progress.

3. Upstream Support Tier

yamlfmt has no formal tier policy. The project ships pre-built binaries for three tiers in practice:

Architecture	Linux	Darwin	Windows	CI tested
amd64 (x86_64)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (ubuntu-latest)
arm64	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
386 (i386)	Yes	No	Yes	No
riscv64	No	No	No	No

CI runs on ubuntu-latest (x86_64) only, testing Go versions 1.23, 1.24, and 1.25. arm64 and 386 binaries are released but never CI-tested. riscv64 is absent from both CI and release artifacts.

The Docker image targets linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 only. QEMU is configured in the release workflow but the platforms list explicitly excludes linux/riscv64.

4. Technical Architecture and RISC-V-Specific Subsystems

yamlfmt is a pure-Go text-processing tool. It has no JIT compiler, no SIMD dispatch, no cryptographic primitives, no assembly, and no CGO. CGO_ENABLED=0 is hardcoded in both .goreleaser.yaml and the Dockerfile.

Component	amd64	arm64	riscv64
Core formatter logic	Pure Go	Pure Go	Pure Go (source-compatible)
YAML parser (pkg/yaml, pure-Go libyaml port)	Pure Go	Pure Go	Pure Go (source-compatible)
Assembly files (.s)	None	None	None
SIMD intrinsics	None	None	None
CGO / C extensions	None	None	None
Build constraints (go:build)	None	None	None
ISA extensions used	None	None	None

There are zero architecture-specific source files in the repository. The entire codebase (75 .go files) is architecture-agnostic. No riscv64 porting work is required at the source level.

5. Build System, Cross-Compilation, and Toolchain

yamlfmt uses a standard Go module build system with a thin Makefile wrapper. There is no CMake, autoconf, or configure script.

Exact build command for riscv64:

GOOS=linux GOARCH=riscv64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build \
  -ldflags "-s -w" \
  -o dist/yamlfmt \
  ./cmd/yamlfmt

Required toolchain:

Requirement	Value	Reason
Go minimum	1.22	go.mod declares `go 1.22`
Go recommended	1.24+	go.mod toolchain directive is `go1.24.8`; CI tests 1.23/1.24/1.25
riscv64 support in Go since	1.14	GOARCH=riscv64 added in Go 1.14; 1.22 is well above this threshold
C compiler	Not required	CGO_ENABLED=0; no C code
CMake	Not used	Go-only build

Go 1.26 is available in Ubuntu 26.04 riscv64 (golang-go 2:1.26~1 in resolute/main), satisfying the 1.22 minimum.

QEMU: Used in the release workflow for Docker multi-arch builds (docker/setup-qemu-action@v3), but only for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. No QEMU-based riscv64 emulation is configured anywhere.

Known build failures on riscv64: None reported. Cross-compilation is expected to succeed without modification given the pure-Go, CGO-disabled codebase.

6. Feature Coverage and Gap Analysis vs arm64 and amd64

Feature	amd64	arm64	riscv64
YAML formatting (all modes)	Full	Full	Full (source-compatible)
JSON Schema validation	Full	Full	Full (source-compatible)
Glob/path matching	Full	Full	Full (source-compatible)
Pre-built binary	Yes	Yes	No
Docker image	Yes	Yes	No
CI test coverage	Yes	No	No

Functional gaps: None. The source code is 100% riscv64-compatible. The gap is entirely in distribution: no pre-built binary, no Docker image, no CI validation.

Performance gaps: No SIMD or architecture-specific optimizations exist for any architecture. Performance is identical across amd64, arm64, and riscv64 for equivalent Go toolchain quality. The one documented performance issue (Issue #283, O(n^2) string concatenation on large files) was fixed in PR #284 and is architecture-independent.

Security hardening gaps: None architecture-specific. No stack canaries, CFI, or hardening flags are applied on any architecture.

NaN / floating-point: Not applicable. yamlfmt is a text formatter; it performs no floating-point arithmetic. NaN/Inf YAML scalars are passed through as opaque strings by the go-yaml v3 library.

7. CI/CD Infrastructure

CI dimension	amd64	arm64	riscv64
CI runner	ubuntu-latest	None	None
Build tested	Yes	No	No
Tests run	Yes	No	No
Release binary built	Yes (GoReleaser)	Yes (GoReleaser)	No
Docker image built	Yes	Yes	No
RISE runner used	No	No	No

CI is implemented entirely in GitHub Actions. Two workflow files exist:

.github/workflows/ci.yaml: triggers on pull_request; runs run-lint and run-test on ubuntu-latest with Go 1.23/1.24/1.25 matrix. No cross-compilation, no QEMU, no riscv64.
.github/workflows/release.yaml: triggers on version tags; uses GoReleaser for binaries and docker/build-push-action for images. Docker platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64 only.

No GitLab CI, Jenkins, Cirrus CI, Travis CI, or AppVeyor configuration exists.

RISE RISC-V Runners (free native riscv64 GitHub Actions runners on Scaleway EM-RV1 hardware, announced 2026-03-24) are available but have not been adopted by this project. Adding a runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv job would provide native riscv64 CI with no infrastructure cost.

8. Distribution and Release Status

Channel	riscv64 available	Notes
GitHub Releases (v0.21.0)	No	Assets: Linux/Darwin/Windows x {amd64, arm64}; Linux/Windows x {i386}. Verified for v0.19.0, v0.20.0, v0.21.0 - all identical.
Docker Hub (ghcr.io)	No	Platforms: linux/amd64, linux/arm64 only
Ubuntu 26.04 (resolute)	No	Not packaged under any candidate name
Debian (all suites)	No	No results for yamlfmt on riscv64 or any architecture
Snapcraft	No	Architectures: amd64, arm64, armhf, i386 only
Homebrew	No	Bottles: arm64 and x86_64 Linux/macOS only
Arch Linux RISC-V	No	Not found at archriscv.felixc.at
NixOS (unstable)	No	0 hits
PyPI yamlfmt	N/A	mmlb/yamlfmt v1.1.1 is an unrelated pure-Python wrapper; architecture-independent

To obtain a working riscv64 binary today, a user must build from source:

GOOS=linux GOARCH=riscv64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o yamlfmt ./cmd/yamlfmt

This requires only a Go 1.22+ toolchain, which is available in Ubuntu 26.04 riscv64. No other prerequisites exist.

9. Dependencies

Dependency	Role	riscv64 build	riscv64 test	riscv64 release	Notes
Go toolchain	Compiler / runtime	Yes (since Go 1.14)	Community builders	Yes (Ubuntu 26.04 resolute/main: golang-go 2:1.26~1)	Only arch-sensitive component; see go.md
gopkg.in/yaml.v3	YAML parsing	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
sigs.k8s.io/yaml	YAML/JSON bridge	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
golang.org/x/text	Unicode / encoding	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	No SIMD in v0.14.0
santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema v6	JSON Schema validation	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	No (Ubuntu 26.04 has v5 only)	Version gap is not riscv64-specific
go.yaml.in/yaml/v3	YAML parsing (indirect)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	No (not packaged in Ubuntu 26.04)	Not riscv64-specific
bmatcuk/doublestar v4	Glob matching	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
google/go-cmp	Deep equality	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
mitchellh/mapstructure	Config decoding	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
sabhiram/go-gitignore	.gitignore matching	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues
stretchr/testify	Test assertions	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (pure Go)	Yes (arch:all, resolute/universe)	0 riscv64 issues

The Go toolchain is the only architecturally-sensitive dependency. It is fully available for riscv64 in Ubuntu 26.04. All other dependencies are pure Go with no assembly, CGO, SIMD, or arch-specific build tags. Two packaging gaps exist (jsonschema v6, go.yaml.in/yaml/v3) but neither is riscv64-specific - both require source builds on all architectures.

11. Known Bugs and Active Issues

Performance bug (resolved):

ID	Title	Status	Severity	Notes
#283	Performance issue with large YAML files	Closed (fixed PR #284)	Was critical	O(n^2) string concatenation; 100k-line file took 60-70 min before fix, ~10 sec after (~420x speedup). Architecture-independent.

Open correctness bugs (selected):

ID	Title	Status	Label	Notes
#320	basic formatter converts implicit null to empty string in flow mappings	Open	-	2026-08-18
#313	Non-deterministic output for indented multiline strings	Open	-	2026-02-10
#308	kyaml: yaml anchors get replaced	Open	-	2025-12-24
#263	Comments in lists handled differently on Linux vs Windows	Open	yaml_v3_problem	2025-07-15
#198	Inconsistent formatting depending on platform	Open	yaml_v3_problem	2024-07-29
#169	Infinite adding EOL	Open	yaml_v3_problem	2024-04-23
#110	Superfluous comma in flow style	Open	yaml_v3_problem	2023-04-09
#86	Folded block scalars with whitespace at end	Open	yaml_v3_problem	2023-01-12

50 issues are open in total. 14 carry the yaml_v3_problem label, indicating root cause in the upstream go-yaml/yaml v3 library rather than yamlfmt itself. Zero issues are riscv64-specific.

12. Objections and Upstream Blockers

Technical blockers: None. The source code requires zero changes to build and run on riscv64. The only required change is adding riscv64 to the GoReleaser configuration.

Organizational blockers: The project has a single maintainer with documented bandwidth constraints. No formal port request process exists. No foundation or corporate governance body needs to be consulted. A direct PR adding one line to .goreleaser.yaml is the complete path to upstream riscv64 release binaries.

Acceptance probability: [NEEDS VERIFICATION] - High, given the trivial nature of the change and the maintainer’s stated openness to contributions, but no precedent for platform addition PRs exists in this repository.

RISE involvement: None. yamlfmt is not a RISE project, not in any RISE working group, and has not been submitted to the RISE Developer Appreciation Program. RISE’s RP001 (Go runtime on RISC-V) improvements benefit yamlfmt indirectly as a Go binary, but no direct RISE work targets yamlfmt.

13. Readiness Assessment

Color: Orange (no upstream riscv64 CI)
Release provider: None

yamlfmt has no riscv64 CI of any kind - no runner, no QEMU emulation, no cross-compilation job - and no upstream riscv64 release binary in any version from v0.1.0 through v0.21.0. No distro packages exist for riscv64 in Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux RISC-V, NixOS, Snap, or Homebrew. The distribution floor rule does not apply: no distro ships a riscv64 package. The grade is orange.

The source code is 100% riscv64-compatible (pure Go, CGO_ENABLED=0, no arch-specific code), so the orange grade reflects a distribution and CI gap, not an implementation gap. The entire enablement path is a one-line change to .goreleaser.yaml plus a CI job addition.

Pending work that could change the grade: No open PRs or issues exist for riscv64 support. A PR adding riscv64 to .goreleaser.yaml and a runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv CI job (using RISE RISC-V Runners) would move the grade to green upon merge and release.

14. Investment Analysis

RISE has no existing or funded work on yamlfmt. All items below are greenfield.

14.1 Functional Enablement

Add riscv64 to .goreleaser.yaml goarch list. This is a one-line change. No source code modifications are required. The resulting binary is expected to be fully functional on first build given the pure-Go, CGO-disabled codebase.

14.2 Performance Optimization

Not applicable. yamlfmt has no architecture-specific performance code on any platform. There is no SIMD, no JIT, no numeric kernel. Performance on riscv64 will be determined entirely by Go toolchain quality for riscv64, which is covered under the Go runtime project (RP001).

14.3 CI/CD Infrastructure

Add a runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv job to .github/workflows/ci.yaml using RISE RISC-V Runners (free, available since 2026-03-24). This provides native hardware CI at no infrastructure cost. The job would mirror the existing run-test job with no other changes.

14.4 Ecosystem Enablement

Not applicable. yamlfmt is a standalone CLI tool with no dependent package ecosystem.

14.5 Summary Table

Area	Work Item	Effort (person-weeks)	Owner	Priority
Functional	Add riscv64 to .goreleaser.yaml goarch list	0.1	Community / RISE contributor	High
CI/CD	Add riscv64 CI job using RISE RISC-V Runners	0.1	Community / RISE contributor	High
Distribution	File tracking issue for riscv64 support	0.1	Community / RISE contributor	Medium

Total estimated effort: 0.3 person-weeks. This is among the lowest-cost riscv64 enablement tasks possible for any non-trivial Go tool.

15. Updates

No updates yet – initial report dated 2026-08-30.