RPM update to 86_64

[Mike A. Harris]

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004, David McCormick wrote:

>I have seen several messages that say to get 32 bit programs to work on 
>64 bit to recompile the RPM's.  I can't find where to look for the 
>information on how to do this. Can someone point me in the right 
>direction?  Also has any one gotten Netscape to work on 64 bit? It gave 
>me an error that it needed a lib that was not on the disc's.

To get 32 bit programs to run on the 64bit OS, you just install 
them.  You do not need to recompile them.  The idea behind 
AMD64's 32bit compatibility in long mode, is specifically that 
existing precompiled 32bit software is compatible with the CPU.

Of course, you must have all of the 32bit dependancies installed 
that any 32bit application you want to use requires, otherwise 
you do not have a complete 32bit environment that 32bit apps can 
use.

There are also some cases where 32bit compatibility does not 
carry through, notably:

- kernel modules, you must use 64bit kernel modules in the 64bit kernel

- certain types of applications that talk directly to the 
  hardware in *some* cases (not all)

- 32bit OpenGL applications (such as proprietary games) will not 
  have 3D acceleration under a 64bit kernel, because the existing 
  DRI infrastructure does not have a 32bit compatibility layer.
  Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, no 3rd party drivers 
  (proprietary or open) have a 32bit compatibility layer either.

Other than that though, all 32bit software should run under an
AMD64 64bit OS, as long as you have installed all of the 32bit
libraries and other software that a given application requires in
order to run.  This may require installing 3rd party 32bit
components, or installing rpms of the x86 version of the OS
alongside their 64bit counterparts.

You may also have some uh... "fun"... with rpm.

-- 
Mike A. Harris     ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris
OS Systems Engineer - XFree86 maintainer - Red Hat