Sometimes an app isn’t there for your architecture. This happens now and then for AMD64. It can be handy
to chroot into x86 and symlink to the x86 app afterwards. Also, despite Ubuntu’s stability, catastrophic failures do happen, and when they do it is important to have a backup so that your data can be recovered. This HowTo goes over creating an image of your installation so that you can restore your system if needed with all the programs and updates already installed. Elsewhere, Kubuntu Flight 5 was released.
1000 years from now spacer archeologist R. Crandon Ewelli is going to untangle this artice from the waybackmachine and read this title:
Ubuntu 32-Bit Chroot How-To; Chroot; Kubuntu Release
And rewrite everything they know about medieval technology, WTF?
Just to install a 32 bit distro on A64? Then everything just works? If, that is, you need apps that are only 32 bit. Had a case like that recently. You can follow the recipe yourself, but can your user follow it after you have left? Hell no.
I tend to agree. I have an AMD64 Turion laptop and started with a 64-bit version of Kubuntu, but I had quite a few issues (all with proprietary software, of course). In the end, when a new version of Kubuntu came out, it was easier to just switch to 32-bit.
I guess when Windows64 becomes more present, we’ll see 64-bit codecs and flash players…
Edited 2006-03-16 14:58
Have a look at:http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/doc/plf
sudo apt-get install fakeroot build-essential
mkdir -p tmpworkdir && cd tmpworkdir
fakeroot apt-get source -b libdvdcss2
install the package(s) with dpkg -i *.deb
Advantage is a less “difficult” procedure and binairies right for your arch.
However sometimes the sources are not easily avaible,in this case if you really have to run the x86 binairy the chroot method can be handy.
I run a Debian AMD64 system and I have preferred the chroot method over the mixed lib32/lib64 approach.
Setting the chroot up is not straightforward for a newbie (it involves some kind of familiarity with the inner workings of Debian I think) and has the disadvantage that in the end you have two systems to maintain; but once it is setup it is quick and easy adding applications.
Just remember to copy /var/chroot/sid-ia32/usr/share/applications/fancyapp.desktop to /usr/share/applications/fancyapp.desktop and to make the symlink in /usr/local/bin.
I feel much safer like this, than actually mixing libraries as it is done in other distros.
Btw, if only Macromedia would release a flash64 plugin, 90% of the problems would be solved anyway
Sure tar works, (hey why not cpio), but you have to build a system, install an os, configure the whole box and then go get and un-tar your, “image”. Never mind needing disk space used free and even with a kunbutu live iso you’re making directories, fdisk, fscking around when there are more than a couple tools such as mondo, g4l etc., that can create a mulitiple cd set with an iso you boot directly no os install required to make a blank system look like it never crashed with no intervention at all except maybe typing nuke and hitting return.
Nothing wrong with a good tar tutorial, good stuff everybody needs to know.