Well does the multiarch feature of 11.10 mean 64bit users will be able to install 32bit '.debs' without resorting to the 'force--architecture' command?
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1Could you link to more information about this Multarch? I've never heard of such a thing before.– Marco CeppiSep 2, 2011 at 20:51
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2@MarcoCeppi: wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/Implementation, wiki.ubuntu.com/MultiarchSpec, wiki.ubuntu.com/OneiricOcelot/…– LekensteynSep 2, 2011 at 20:52
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2Muti architecture feature is what I meant. It seems that feature will mitigate the need for ia32 libraries or so I heard d– MysterioSep 2, 2011 at 20:56
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blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/…– MysterioSep 2, 2011 at 21:01
1 Answer
There is indeed no need for --force-architecture
anymore with multi-arch support with a some notes:
- The libraries on which the package depend must support Multi-arch
- Even if multi-arch is supported, it's possible for a library package to make the system install either the 32-bit version or the 64-bit one, but not both. So, the package in question should not have a need to depend on such a library unless there is no 64-bit equivalent necessary.
Many packages from third-party websites do not set the necessary dependencies. Before multi-arch, a dirty hack called
ia32-libs
was created. This would contain the 32-bit libraries for multiple packages, and therefore it was easy for the maintainer to say "just install theia32-libs
package." In most cases, the dependencies are mentioned for the 32-bit sysems, so you should install those, but for the 32-bit architecture by adding:i386
after each package as in:sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libc6:i386
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