[gentoo-amd64] Re: Emerging package as both 64 and 32 bit

[Duncan]

Simon Stelling <blubb@g.o> posted 45866BE0.20905@g.o,
excerpted below, on  Mon, 18 Dec 2006 12:22:24 +0200:

> Neil Bothwick wrote:
>> What's wrong with the GRUB source package? I remember using grub-static
>> when I first went 64 bit, but haven't used it for ages. The only 32 bit
>> stuff I use here is firefox-bin and vmware.
>
> No problem, but it's 32bit.

Indeed...  for backward compatibility, amd64/x86_64 boots in 32-bit mode. 
Actually, I /believe/ it boots in 16-bit real mode, just like an x86, then
switches to 32-bit or 64-bit when the appropriate command is given, but
AFAIK the difference between compiling 16-bit and 32-bit code is simply a
few compile-time switches, so it uses a standard 32-bit toolchain.

My point, however, was that since everything else I run is 64-bit, if I
didn't need the 32-bit tools to compile grub -- or if I was willing to
settle for the pre-compiled grub-static -- I could save myself a *LOT* of
extra work by simply using the no-multilib subprofile, thus saving myself
all that time compiling the 32-bit side of glibc and gcc in particular.

One of these days maybe I'll probably just do it, unmerging grub, merging
grub-static, switching to the no-multilib subprofile and remerging
glibc/binutils/gcc (they may have to be remerged in a particular order,
which I don't know at this point).  However, I've been thinking that for
awhile and haven't done it yet, and I'll be upgrading my pair of Opteron
242s to dual-core 285s pretty soon here, making it that much less
necessary since compiles will be rather faster then, so who knows?

Hmm... thinking about it as I write this, something new occurred to me.
There's a good probability I could compile grub independent of my system's
portage, using a LiveCD (either Gentoo or other), and could therefore go
no-multilib without losing my self-compiled grub, if I decided to.  I'll
have to think on it a bit more.  OTOH, simply using grub-static would be
far less hassle for what amounts to the same thing, since using a gcc I
didn't build myself would leave outside influences on the produced grub
anyway.  Still, part of what was holding me up was the "just in case"
factor, for other 32-bit software as well, and now that I realize I could
compile it from a liveCD 32-bit environment or the like if necessary, that
pretty much does away with /that/ particular excuse.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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