Re: ia32-libs alternatives

[rwp@hprwp.fc.hp.com (Bob Proulx)]

David Mosberger wrote:
> Bob Proulx wrote:
> > With the symlink in place in /etc it starts up just fine.  But without
> > it and only with the path under /emul it does not.

> Could it be that a script is checking for the existence of that file?

Good call!  You are exactly right about what is happening.  (And a big
"D'oh" on my part since I had stared right at it previously and it had
not occurred to me what was happening.)

> If so, that would explain it: the script would be executed with the
> ia64 shell, so no name-translation would be done.

The summary is the following:

File /emul/ia32-linux/usr/bin/openoffice:
  #!/bin/sh
  [ -r /etc/openoffice/openoffice.conf ] && . /etc/openoffice/openoffice.conf

Effectively in this environment it is a mix of executables.  The shell
script itself runs natively.  Therefore it does not see the files.
But the binaries run in compatibility mode.  It never gets there
though because of this mix.

Of course it is not practical to run the scripts with a changed
interpreter #!/emul/ia32-linux/bin/sh which would be needed to trigger
this emulation behavior.

I think the only answer for these types of problems is the symlink
back into the ia32 root.  It works sufficiently.  And besides
eventually everyone will have 64-bit clean code so this won't be
needed because we will be running native code everywhere, right?  :-)

It is still very useful information.  It is a better place to put the
ia32 root because not all programs are as complicated as OOo.  This
will allow many programs to run without any symlinks.  Still a win.

Thanks
Bob