Re: pure64, multiarch etc (was: "Trivial Question" - 32bit vs. 64bit vs. 32/64bit)
On Thu, 27 May 2004, John Goerzen wrote:
[snip answer to some question]
> Biarch/multiarch refers to an experimental extension to Debian that
> permits a userland that has mixed 32- and 64-bit code. With biarch, it
> would be possible to install those programs right alongside each other
> and not really notice a difference.
>
> However, this support requires a massive change in the way we think
> about packages in Debian, and about libraries in general. Therefore,
> the biarch tree is nowhere near as close to being complete as pure64
> because porting is a more difficult task.
>
> I think that most of us expect that pure64 will be the first to enter
> ftp.debian.org, but once our technology improves, that tree will
> naturally evolve into supporting something like biarch.
Well, they way I see it is that amd64 will be a debian arch and multiarch
never will be. The current multi-arch approach is just changes to the
source packages and splitting out common packages etc. The changes will
not just be for amd64 but for all architectures that can live under the
same kernel/system. That will be pretty orthogonal to the amd64 port and
happen during a longer time frame, starting with the base libraries.
Opinions, disagreements?
/Mattias Wadenstein
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