On Thu, 2008-01-31 at 19:56 +0000, Rob Andrews wrote: --snip-- > Fedora handles biarch quite well, although rpm is fairly ugly. 64-bit > libraries are installed into /lib64 and /usr/lib64, whilst 32-bit is kept in > /lib and /usr/lib. Common files are an issue - if you install both 32 and > 64-bit libraries, then common files in /usr/share are deleted if you remove > one of the architectures, meaning you have to reinstall the remaining pakage > to get those files back. This is what Debian does as well, except that we have no problem with files being overwritten by other packages. :) The only catch is, the ia32 packages have to be made and maintained by a real human for the amd64 architecture. While this is certainly something that COULD (in theory) be added to apt and friends to allow direct installs of ia32 packages, it would undermine the entire rock-solid foundation of Debian (which is based, contrary to popular belief, not on a program like apt or dpkg, but on fantastic maintainers who pay a great deal of attention to detail). While this approach does mean that not all 32-bit-only programs are available for amd64, we do have packages for the most important offenders. (Java and friends come to mind.) -- Alex Malinovich Support Free Software, delete your Windows partition TODAY! Encrypted mail preferred. You can get my public key from any of the pgp.net keyservers. Key ID: A6D24837
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