32 bit ports on an AMD64 system

[Roland Smith]

On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 09:28:44AM -0400, Jim wrote:
> I want to compile some 32 bit ports on an AMD64 system. I know the GCC
> has to receive the -m32 flag to compile the ports as 32 bit, but I
> also want to change the install directory with 32 bit ports, I was
> wondering which would be the most appropriate root given unix themes
> and standard FreeBSD directory structure.
> 
> /usr/local/[same-as-before]-32 (i.e. [...]/bin32, [...]/lib32,
> [...]/libexec32, etc)

The one above sounds most logical. The base system puts 32 bit libraries in
/usr/lib32. 

> Also, would I be able to pass the appropriate flags through port
> upgrade (or use environmental variables), or would I have to make
> duplicates of the port directories and modify the makefiles?

Currently the ports system is not set up to handle multiple versions of the
same port, AFAIK. You could ask on the ports list. You'd need a separate
/var/db/pkg32 to store information about installed 32-bit ports. And
/var/db/ports32 for options for 32-bit ports. You would also need changed port
makefiles (different /ve/db paths, -m32 flag etc.) for this to work. It should
be possible, but I don't think anybody has volunteered to do the work yet. :-)

The consensus seems to be that if you _really_ need 32-bit apps that badly,
you should use the i386 architecture. A lot of people run amd64 because the
hardware supports it, not because they need* it.

(* 'need' in this case means that you are regularly running out of address
space on i386.)

Roland
-- 
R.F.Smith                                   http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/
[plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated]
pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914  B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 196 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20090831/5ebcf6b6/attachment.pgp