32-bit without chroot

profylno · 2009-01-24 20:21:46

Hi!

I've for a long time been using a 32-bit chroot for all my 32-bit needs, using

schroot -p -- 32bitprogram

whenever I needed to. Today, I was surprised and delighted to discover that many of the binaries in the chroot directory work perfectly well unchrooted! Although some (ls and mv, for example) still give things like

$ /opt/arch32/bin/mv
/opt/arch32/bin/ls: error while loading shared libraries: libacl.so.1: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64

Can anyone explain this? Is it simply that there's no difference between the 32 and 64 bit libraries that the working programs use?

Kilz · 2009-01-24 22:24:59

It is possible to run 32bit applications as long as the 32bit libraries are there. This page in the wiki shows how to without a chroot. http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Usi … _on_Arch64
What are the advantages of running a chroot?

DonVla · 2009-01-25 00:19:50

if you´re not compiling stuff, none. i set up a chroot environment and i ended with a 1.8gb arch32 directory only for googleearth or skype. now i´m using only the lib32 libraries from community.

Ranguvar · 2009-01-25 00:48:06

Yeah, chroot is nice for a clean, pure 32-bit environment to build in. Otherwise, if you can find 32-bit libs (or make them, it's simple I believe), you can save space and time.

profylno · 2009-01-25 16:11:58

Ah, I see! I had read that wiki page before, but it always kind of intimated me, and so I never set my system up as proposed. But now I see that it is already set up as such, with an "/opt/lib32", and the appropriate entries in /etc/ld.so.conf. I'm not quite sure how or when they got there, but I'm not complaining.
Mind you, it's not so clear to me how to install i686 packages. As it stands, the x86_64 packages are already in my pacman DB, so even if I change all my mirrors from x86_64 to i686, the old 64bit packages in the db will take precedence (unless I clear the db everytime, which I would like to avoid). So should I have a seperate db 'sync' directory and cache directory and mirrorlist for 32bit packages and install them with 'pacman --dbpath /32bit/db --config /32bit/mirrorlist --cachedir /32bit/cache'? Or is there some other way to do it?

Last edited by profylno (2009-01-25 16:46:07)

Kilz · 2009-01-25 18:58:28

What applications do you need to run in 32bit?

fwojciec · 2009-01-25 19:40:07

32bit chroot ftw!

The only downsides are that it takes more HD space than just libs, and it's a bit more involved to set up initially. If these two are not an issue, then there are only advantages, IMO. Of course a chroot to run one or two apps is probably an overkill, but in my experience it's an extremely useful thing to have around on a 64bit system in either case (some apps, for example, don't build on 64bit, etc.) -- it simply gives you much more flexibility when it comes to dealing with 32bit stuff on 64bit system.

Last edited by fwojciec (2009-01-25 19:41:41)

profylno · 2009-01-25 20:20:55

Kilz wrote:

What applications do you need to run in 32bit?

I really only need it for wmctrl (which has problems in 64), wine and skype. But that doesn't really matter, because it isn't the case that I'm trying to get anything to work; it works fine now running them from where they were installed in the chroot. Rather, I just want a nicer "set-up", because I think it's kind of awkward to chroot just so I can install a package which I'm using in the 64-bit environment anyways. So, for example, do you think there's anything wrong with my above proposal (if I didn't explain it well, I can try again)?

skottish · 2009-01-25 20:41:54

If you can run Wine and Skype with lib32 libraries, you'll can have most 32 bit things running (or nearly so). In AUR there's a package called bin32-wine. Check out the dependency array. Everything is available either in community or in AUR.

Themaister · 2009-01-25 22:24:58

I like having a minimal chroot I think it's much easier to have the 32-bit stuff isolated from the main system. Of course, this is assuming the disk space it occupies is neglectable. I've had occations where I couldn't find lib32-packages I needed in the repos or AUR, and couldn't be arsed to make my own pkgbuilds. With chroot it's just ... no worries

Last edited by Themaister (2009-01-25 22:26:15)

Kilz · 2009-01-26 22:04:36

I wonder if a chroot could be setup to have just the libraries and software for package management. Then have the libraries be in the location of the ia32 libraries.

But its may be a lot of work for little gain. Not many people I know of run more that a handful of 32bit apps.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-24 20:21:46

32-bit without chroot

#2 2009-01-24 22:24:59

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#3 2009-01-25 00:19:50

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#4 2009-01-25 00:48:06

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#5 2009-01-25 16:11:58

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#6 2009-01-25 18:58:28

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#7 2009-01-25 19:40:07

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#8 2009-01-25 20:20:55

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#9 2009-01-25 20:41:54

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#10 2009-01-25 22:24:58

Re: 32-bit without chroot

#11 2009-01-26 22:04:36

Re: 32-bit without chroot

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