Converting i386 to amd64

[Matthew Seaman]

Michael Powell wrote:
> Greetings everyone:
> 
> This is probably a pretty dumb question, but it's never really come up for 
> me before. I am at a crossroads with regard to some hardware upgrades, and 
> for a couple of them I have been putting off making the change to 64 bit. 
> These are server boxen with no concerns for desktop use.
> 
> Is it possible to change an i386 install to amd64 without needing to start 
> from scratch? I was poking around reading some stuff, and ran across this in 
> in /usr/src/Makefile:
> 
> # If TARGET=machine (e.g. ia64, sparc64, ...) is specified you can
> # cross build world for other machine types using the buildworld target,
> # and once the world is built you can cross build a kernel using the
> # buildkernel target.
> 
> Does this mean I can achieve the desired effect with "make buildworld 
> TARGET=amd64", et al? It would be a tremendous time-saver for me.
> 
> Of course I would follow with a portupgrade -fa and rebuild all ports 
> afterward.
> 
> Thanks in advance for the wielding of any clue sticks.  :-)

This sort of process /is/ possible, but it is a lot more involved than
you're anticipating.  Unless you're the sort of person that likes doing
terribly complicated and risky procedures for the hell of it, you are 
going to be better off just starting from scratch and reinstalling using
an AMD64 .iso.  It's going to be quicker to reinstall anyhow.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
                                                  Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
                                                  Kent, CT11 9PW

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