[gentoo-user] Multilib help

[Zoltán Kócsi]

I have to admit that I'm a recent convert to Gentoo and don't really
understand (read: haven't the slightest clue about) the inner workings
of portage, emerge, ebuild et al.

My problem is that I've installed a multilib-enabled 64-bit system and
realised that /usr/lib32 and /usr/lib64 are vastly of different. There
are around 2200 dynamic and some 130 static libs in lib64 while there
are around 300 dynamic and 15 static libs in lib32. That is, about 85%
of libraries exist in 64-bit version only.

Consequently, pretty much any 32-bit binary fails to launch due to
missing libraries. Which is most unfortunate as I have quite a few
of such binaries from EDA tools to productivity tools to games.

I would much appreciate if someone would explain how to tell the system
to build a 32-bit version of *every* library it installs (and have
already installed) so that 32-bit binaries could run (and could also be
built against those libs, actually).

Due to my complete lack of understanding of the magic embedded in
portage, my reading of the Gentoo Wiki did not help at all. Yes, I
found the multilib pages, all sorts of references to ebuild categories
but, unfortunately, I don't really understand what they talk about.

So if a good soul came down to the level of the unfranked and told me
what to do, I'd be most obliged. In addition, if there's some decent
documentation on the package management system (apart from the Wiki),
preferably in a format that can be printed for night-time reading, I'd
be glad to receive some pointers.

Thanks,

Zoltan