Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-user] 64-bit kernel on a 32-bit installation
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:44:40
Message-Id: 5bdc1c8b0906091644t5c6601ddn81f7944cacc049be@mail.gmail.com
1 Hi,
2 I lurk on the LKML, say hi once in awhile, ask a question once in
3 awhile, and try to read at least the interesting to a non-programmer
4 posts. I was curious about this one that came up today. Seems like
5 this is a natural for Gentoo.
6
7 I have a Gentoo 64-bit setup but have had lots of troubles over the
8 years (far less now though) with web media and other things that need
9 to be more Windows compatible. (I do audio work with my Gentoo boxes -
10 interface to studios and a few bands, etc) I've found that my 32-bit
11 Gentoo installations have been more compatible than 64-bit. Outside
12 stuff like Java is better. In general when I have a problem I wonder
13 if it's because I'm running 64-bit.
14
15 How would one go about building a 64-bit kernel on a 32-bit machine
16 with Gentoo? I presume that's mostly just how I configure the kernel,
17 along with maybe some cross-compile options? Are there any projects
18 going on in this area where I might become a test case? Wiki? Docs?
19
20 Do others see value - getting 64-bit memory management, new CPU
21 flags, etc., but keeping the apps 32-bit for compatibility?
22
23 Take care,
24 Mark
25
26 <SNIP>
27 On Tue, 9 Jun 2009, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
28 >
29 > A major problem is that distros don't seem to be willing to push 64-bit
30 > kernels for 32-bit distros. There are a number of good (and
31 > not-so-good) reasons why users may want to run a 32-bit userspace, but
32 > not running a 64-bit kernel on capable hardware is just problematic.
33
34 Yeah, that's just stupid. A 64-bit kernel should work well with 32-bit
35 tools, and while we've occasionally had compat issues (the intel gfx
36 people used to claim that they needed to work with a 32-bit kernel because
37 they cared about 32-bit tools), they aren't unfixable or even all _that_
38 common.
39
40 And they'd be even less common if the whole "64-bit kernel even if you do
41 a 32-bit distro" was more common.
42
43 The nice thing about a 64-bit kernel is that you should be able to build
44 one even if you don't in general have all the 64-bit libraries. So you
45 don't need a full 64-bit development environment, you just need a compiler
46 that can generate code for both (and that should be the default on x86
47 these days).
48
49 Linus
50 <SNIP>

Replies

Subject Author
[gentoo-user] Re: 64-bit kernel on a 32-bit installation ABCD <en.ABCD@×××××.com>
[gentoo-user] Re: 64-bit kernel on a 32-bit installation Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@×××××.de>