[linux-audio-user] amd64 - distro questions...

[Mark Knecht]

On 11/25/05, Noah Roberts <roberts.noah at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/25/05, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >    There aren't too many limitations on the use of non-multimedia
> > application code in portage. The trick seems to be deciding when to
> > use ~x86 and ~amd64. That's a bit of a frustration but not a major
> > hinderance.
>
> I can answer that.  You never use ~x86 on an amd64 running in 64 bit
> mode.  It can cause serious issues if you do.  You may not have run
> into such issues but they are there and I have (first time I installed
> I decided to take that shortcut as well).  The correct way to install
> code is to use ~amd64 if you need to.  If it is not there then you add
> it if you really want the program but keep in mind that it means that
> the program very well might not work on amd64 or may be incredibly
> unstable.

OK, if this is the case (cannot use ~x86 and ~amd64 on the same
machine) then my impression, from the set of apps I'm running right
now, is there there is a lot of software I cannot depend on. There are
a large number of apps that don't work unless compiled with ~x86. If I
cannot use that then I cannot run maybe 30-40% of what I want to run.

Of course, I've not hit the problems you're describing. I've been
lucky I suppose.

>
> Why not use ~x86?  Think of the following scenario:
>
> * app-theoretical has ~x86 but not ~amd64 in the latest release
> because it has been reported as unstable by most people..
> * app-theoretical depends on lib-theoretical.
> * You have lib-theoretical installed but it is a version previous to
> the reqs on this latest release of app-theoretical - many of your
> programs require this lib - you have a *stable* install of this
> library.
> * The new release of lib-theoretical does not work on amd64 and is
> known to have many issues for many people.  Therefore the keyword
> ~amd64 is not included.
>
> You run emerge on app-theoretical with the ~x86 accept flags and it
> replaces lib-theoretical with something that does not work.  Not even
> updating your programs will fix the issue.
>
> It also causes problems when you mix flags like that because of the
> way emerge chooses to install requirements.  You just don't do it or
> eventually your system will start to act shitty.  Gentoo has a good
> article on this in one of their FAQ or something for the amd64.
>
>

Thanks. Interesting info.

Cheers,
Mark