x86-64 distros need to support 32-bit

x86-64 distros need to support 32-bit

Posted Jun 13, 2004 3:24 UTC (Sun) by alexperry (guest, #4291)
In reply to: x86-64 distros need to support 32-bit by JoeBuck
Parent article: Debian x86_64 port ready

> Unfortunately, the shipping distros for x86-64, from SuSE and Red Hat, are mixed 32/64 bit

Yep, that's why I'm not using them. From the point of view of doing software development for in-house needs, it is a lot more hassle to support a biarch (32/64) environment than a single native architecture ... and I can't justify the additional effort for the projects I'm working on.

> They are shipping now; Debian is chasing.

RH and SuSE paid a lot of money, plus signing NDAs, to get earlier access to the information and thereby get to the marketplace sooner. They benefit from short term market share and revenue from selling their distributions. I wish them good luck (not that they need it).

> Now, perhaps it's possible for Debian to start out as 64-bit only and cleanly add the 32-bit stuff later.

Debian has a pure64 arch (this one), a 32/64 biarch (still experimental) and is planning to develop a multiarch that isn't just limited to 32/64.

> with Debian they won't be able to run any code that is only available as x86 binary code (video codecs, Wine, games, etc).

I don't have any trouble. I use the proprietary 32 bit X server even though my entire desktop and all apps are pure 64 bit. The only game I play, FlightGear, compiles and runs cleanly in 64 bit so I'm happy there 8-). My 32 bit engineering tools seem to be quite happy with a chroot environment.

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