Re: 64 bit kernel, 32-bit userland

[Sven Joachim <svenjoac@gmx.de>]

On 2008-12-01 02:17 +0100, Ron Johnson wrote:

> $ grep IA32_EMULATION .config
> # CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION is not set

So your kernel cannot execute 32-bit binaries which is a "small" problem
since all the userland is 32-bit.

> Guess not...
>
> Does this mean that "make menuconfig" also needs ARCH=x86_64?

I would recommend to use that, although it is not strictly necessary.
If you do not use it, you're configuring your kernel for i386, and the
later "ARCH=x86_64 make" will run "make silentoldconfig" asking you the
questions that are different for x86_64.

The real problem, though, is that CONFIG_IA32_EMULATION defaults to "N"
so you have to be careful to explicitly enable it.  Apparently the
kernel developers are silly monkeys who believe that most users of
x86_64 never need to run 32-bit binaries.

Sven