[Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

Thme · 2013-07-18 23:31:23

Solution:It's simpler to backup configurations,generate a list with "pacman -Qqn(-Qqm for non-repo packages)". Then reinstall those packages and move your configurations back into place. One method is described here in the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … igurations. There is a method to directly change architecture although requiring a little more careful attention
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mi … installing

I know this is an odd one but a friends computer recently took a dive for the worse but his hard drive is fine. I'm currently trying to find out if it's possible to downgrade all existing repo packages for the system from 64 bit to 32? If so then what would be the safest way to do so with either a live USB OR while booting from the HDD directly on another 64 bit machine(have my doubts on the safety of attempting that). I've upgraded to 64 without issues before but doing the opposite seems a little more complex than I expected.. any suggestions?

Last edited by Thme (2013-07-20 22:12:01)

fukawi2 · 2013-07-18 23:42:15

Thme wrote:

I know this is an odd one but a friends computer recently took a dive for the worse but his hard drive is fine.

Thme wrote:

I'm currently trying to find out if it's possible to downgrade all existing repo packages for the system from 64 bit to 32?

I don't understand the relationship between these 2 statements....?

karol · 2013-07-18 23:44:40

Why do you want to convert the system to 32-bit? Is your friend going to use a non-64-bit capable cpu now?

Thme · 2013-07-19 00:05:08

Yes the broke computer was 64bit. I'm trying to migrate/downgrade the existing install to the working 32 bit machine. Sorry I may have been a little hasty with this post. Basically I'm moving the hard drive from the 64 bit machine into the 32 bit one once it's done. Yes the working computer is 32 bit only so nothing will load until all the core utilities/kernel and user space tools have been properly downgraded to 32 bit equivalents

2ManyDogs · 2013-07-19 00:08:24

Just my two cents, but I think it would probably be much easier to save a list of the installed packages, reinstall 32-bit, and then reinstall the desired packages. This is one of the few times I might recommend a full reinstall.

But someone else might have an easy "downgrade" path for you.

karol · 2013-07-19 00:10:57

If it was my computer I would just reinstall, as 2ManyDogs suggests.
Back the drive up, reinstall the system, copy the configs. Done.

fukawi2 · 2013-07-19 00:35:53

Indeed... backup and reinstall is my vote too.

ngoonee · 2013-07-19 01:33:42

Actually I'm not sure why it would be any more complicated than converting an existing 32-bit install to 64-bit. Pretty much everything should be done from a 64-bit live system with --root for pacman set to the system in question.

Reinstalling is faster and easier though.

Xyne · 2013-07-19 02:29:59

karol wrote:

Why do you want to convert the system to 32-bit? Is your friend going to use a non-64-bit capable cpu now?

Well, the 64-bit CPU obviously cracked in half during the fall. He's probably selling the other half to pay for a new case.

+1 for just re-installing, but if you insist on downgrading then I would mount the disk with another system and try the following (note: untested):

pacman -r /path/to/mounted/system -S --arch i686 $(pacman -r /path/to/mounted/system -Qqn)

You may need to change that to "-Syu" if the packages have been upgraded. You will also have to remove and then rebuild any non-repo packages. You can get a list of those with

pacman -r /path/to/mounted/system -Qqem

I think that you will have to mount /proc and /dev and /sys from the host in the mounted system to regenerate the kernel images but I honestly do not know if/how that works when mixing host and guest systems. I have only ever done it when rebuilding images for a backup partition on the same computer.*

Again, it will likely be easier and quicker to just back up the package lists and re-install.

* I shamefully admit that kernel image generation is something that I've just never had the need or whim learn. The whole boot process is a black art to me.

fsckd · 2013-07-19 13:09:12

Like with many things, the wiki has an article, Migrating Between Architectures Without Reinstalling. As the others say, back up first. I've gone the other way (64 -> 32) but the process is similar for either direction. (I used method 2: from a running system as it was a VPS.) It shouldn't take more than an hour if you follow the directions carefully.

Thme · 2013-07-19 13:25:22

I Agree with general consensus here. A re-install is much easier due to many factors. That's basically the route I ended up taking.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-07-18 23:31:23

[Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#2 2013-07-18 23:42:15

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#3 2013-07-18 23:44:40

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#4 2013-07-19 00:05:08

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#5 2013-07-19 00:08:24

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#6 2013-07-19 00:10:57

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#7 2013-07-19 00:35:53

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#8 2013-07-19 01:33:42

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#9 2013-07-19 02:29:59

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#10 2013-07-19 13:09:12

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

#11 2013-07-19 13:25:22

Re: [Solved]Downgrade a system to 32 bit?

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