Up2date on FC3 64bit

James Wilkinson james at westexe.demon.co.uk
Wed Mar 30 16:58:47 UTC 2005


Doug Coats wrote:
> I just purchased a new computer with the AMD 64bit processor.  I installed
> FC3 on it yesterday using the 64bit version.  When I went to use up2date I
> noticed both 32bit and 64bit files for upgrades.  Many of the 64bit files
> would not install, complaining about conflicts with the 32bit versions that
> were already installed.  The 32bit versions would not install either.  Now
> that is when I select only all 32bit or all 64bit files.
> 
> What am I supposed to do.  Do I need to have both of them installed?
Yes.

> Is
> this simply a result of not having some of these programs in 64bit at the
> time of the release so that they were installed as 32bit versions and now
> they are available as 64bit?

Yes, pretty much. Some programs won't compile in 64 bit mode
(OpenOffice...) Others (many closed-source programs) aren't available in
64 bit versions.

Unfortunately, a 32 bit program needs a 32 bit library. So since
OpenOffice requires evolution-data-server, that has to be present in a
32 bit version and a 64 bit version (assuming 64 bit programs need
evolution-data-server...)

Some files are stored in common, belonging to part of both the 32 bit
RPM and the 64 bit RPM. So it's a very good idea to make sure that these
install in parallel.

If you can't update all of the files, try updating (say) all the x.org
files -- for both x86-64 and i386 -- at the same time. Split up the list
of files into manageable chunks. When you get to problematic files, try
leaving them out. Then report back...

> Would apt or yum treat this differently?

Yes. Apt would metaphorically fall over and kick its legs in the air.
(It doesn't like the dual-arch set-up Fedora uses).

Yum would probably give you the same problems.

Note that if you un-install the 32-bit version but leave the 64-bit
version, RPM will get rid of the files shared between both RPMs. To my
mind, this is less than ideal...

James.

-- 
E-mail address: james | "During the shutdown period I received not one
@westexe.demon.co.uk  | single support call, confirming my theory that my
                      | network is indeed perfect, and that all faults are
                      | user-inflicted."




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