[Gllug] Debian 32/64 bitness (was Memory usage)

[Doug Winter]

Peter Grandi wrote:
>>>>On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 17:17:29 +0200, "Martin A. Brooks"
>>>><martin at hinterlands.org> said:
> 
> 
> [ ... the "Debian way"s of running 32 bit x86 apps in a 64 bit x64
> environment ... ]
> 
> martin> [ ... ] What does dpkg and/or apt have to do with
> martin> implementation of execution of 32 bit programs in a 64
> martin> bit environment? [ ... ]
> 
> Well, other distributions based on RPM (which has some issues
> for sure, but quite as bad as DPKG/APT) don't have to use the
> same workarounds.

Debian did initially produce something quite similar to the current dual 
architecture ("biarch") stuff in other distros, but they decided not to 
pursue it because it's not really a long term solution to the problem of 
systems which support multiple architectures.

Instead they are working on the "multiarch" proposal, which will solve 
all of the problems you mention and a bunch of others, allowing you to 
install dozens of different architectures at once if you want.  AIUI, 
the multiarch proposal has been accepted and will eventually happen.

There is some stuff here:

     http://people.debian.org/~taggart/multiarch/

The problem is not so much an issue with sacred cows in Debian, it's 
more just hard work I think.  Getting multiarch implemented in apt and 
dpkg is much harder than biarch, but a better long-term solution.

Cheers,

Doug.

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