Re: multiarch status update
"Jeremy T. Bouse" <jbouse@debian.org> writes:
> I just felt like interjecting after having been reading up on this
> tread. The whole multiarch situation is exactly why my workstation
> was re-installed with FC5's x86_64 from the old Debian amd64
> distro. Someday when Debian has multiarch I'll switch it back but
> for now all my 64 bit machines are running FC5 because it works a
> hell of a lot better than Debian right now.
Neither RedHat nor SuSe do have multiarch. Not even close. They have
some minimal biarch support that is more based on an accident (or bug)
in rpm than anything else and is comparable to ia32-libs and
friends. They have more of those libs than debian has but that is
mainly a lack of interest on our part.
> While there are definitely differences between the packaging
> formats it would appear that a solution for this is out there and
> from reading the thread sounds like people want to make it more
> difficult than it possibly is. Or maybe I'm just seeing that and
> it's really that people think it's too difficult so it won't be
> worth the effort. Who knows! Looking through my FC5 I can easily
> tell the 32-bit libraries as they're the ones installed under
> paths like /usr/lib and /lib64 while the 64-bit libraries are the
> ones in /usr/lib64 and /lib64. If I run 'file *' while in /usr/bin
> I find binaries that are both 64- and 32-bit side-by-side. Granted
> most are 64-bit only and only a few are 32-bit only, but there are
> a couple that are both in which case most are support binaries and
> have a suffix of either -32 or -64 to their names. The ones that
> fall into this latter category are things like
> gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders, gtk-query-immodules and
> pango-querymodules. The nice thing is I have no problem grabbing a
> i386 package and installing it or even a 64-bit package that makes
> use of 32-bit libraries.
What 64bit package can make use of 32bit libraries? 64/32bit clue code
would be something mplayer would certainly be intrested in to use
w32codes for a 64bit mplayer.
> The solution is out there and I think it's probably much simplier
> than it's being made out to be if it really becomes a high
> priority for Debian.
But you can't have i386 and amd64 rpms in your sources.list equivalent
and have rpm pull in libraries as needed or pick suitable arch for
each binary package or let you pick the architecture for one package.
Hell, when you install a i386 rpm you end up with rpm pulling in the
64bit library resulting in a total mess from what I hear.
MfG
Goswin
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