Is it possible to run i386 only, on a amd64 freebsd 7?

[Christopher Joyner]

Sean Cavanaugh <millenia2000 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> he was asking about ports that are labled as "i386 only"

"Well, he didn't mention building ports.  He only said
*running* i386 software on amd64, which is certainly
possible.

Whether "i386 only" packages will run on amd64 depends
on the reason why they're marked as such.  If they
contain kernel code (such as the nvidia binary driver),
then it won't work.  Otherwise it should work.

However, it is important to know that i386 binaries can
only be linked with i386 libraries.  So if you need to
run an third-party i386 binary that requires a third-
party library, then that library must be i386, too.

Best regards
   Oliver"


O.K I understand that.  So I can see that unless I have an i386 FreeBSD build, I really cannot
install those i386 only software titles.

In that situation I assume I can only use amd64 ports and software. 

I have an idea though, would it be possible to build a i386 FreeBSD on an another partition.  And use it to run i386 software while using the amd64 FreeBSD?


Christopher Wesley,