Re: I need explanation on the design of debian-amd64.

[Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de>]

bob@proulx.com (Bob Proulx) writes:

> Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
> Another alternative I am working through the details for right now is
> the exact reverse.  A 32-bit base system with a 64-bit /emul layer.
> Then the small number of programs that need the larger memory space
> run transparently.  But in general the system is simpler to administer
> for the casual user in my lab.

You actualy don't need emul there. Link the lib64 dirs into an empty
chroot, install amd64-libs, dpkg-divert the files (so it doesn't get
installed accidentally later and messes with the chroot), install
chroot.

>> I see the point of having a chroot to install lib packages and then
>> install binaries (with --force-arch for example) outside the charoot
>> or something. But in general it doesn't always work. Not something for
>> the faint of heart.
>
> I never use --force-arch and would advise against doing that.  (shudder)
>
> I agree that having a multi-root system is more complicated than
> having a single-root system.  I agree that some people will be
> confused by it beyond being able to administer one well.  So I also
> would not recommend it for everyone.  But for most system
> administrators it is a useful tool in the toolbox.  One that I use to
> good effect daily.

Sarge needs to be released so we can start applying multiarch patches.
After that it is just a matter of "apt-get install libfoo:i386" or
even simpler "apt-get install open-office.org" will do the right
thing.

> Bob
>
> [1] CAD vendors usually "install" their software in a shared
> filesystem location.  Their installation processes are usually
> terrible shell scripts written without any real thought.  Someone at
> the vendor wrote the script to just slams files out into a directory
> somewhere and they expect you to be able to run them on your machine.
> We have 30+ different applications all with completely different
> processes to manage them.  No thought is given to system dependencies
> such as required libraries or programs.  Well, actually they just say
> all of the world is a VAX, er I mean all of the world is MS-Windows,
> er I mean all of the world is RHEL3.0.  You get the idea.  People like
> myself who administer these environments just deal with it.

A lot of 3rd party software has most libs statically linked in. A lot
of the time you just need the core libs (glibc, libstdc++). But it all
depends.

MfG
        Goswin