On 4/21/05, Jonathan Kaye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks for that. Yes, the more I read, the more it seems you can install > amd64 onto an i386 system.
Yes, it assume that you already have an i386 system, and want to install amd64. Although I am not 100% sure whether I would recommend that approach. A clean new install on a separate partition certainly has its advantages. > The next question is what becomes of the > existing system? That is up to you. You can keep the 64bit system a chroot, if you only use it occasionally, and mainly stay with 32bits. If you put the chroot on a separate partition, you can also boot it directly, and then set up the old 32bit system as a chroot. Until all application actually work on 64bit, I would not delete the 32bit system. I might still come handy at some point. > Specifically, I don't see why the /home directory > should be effected. Yes, you definately want to share /home, just like /tmp, /proc and maybe /mnt. If your home is a separate partition, then it straight forward: just mount it in both places. If not, you have to use the bind mount given in the HOWTO. > It would be nice if someone with experience installing amd64 over a i386 > installation could chime in here. I've got a bunch of binaries in /opt > but I'm aware of the issues (they either run in amd64 or a through them > in chroot). Advice most welcome. I copied my /opt, and most of it still works. But you also have to keep at least the libraries from the 32bit system (/lib, /usr/lib, /usrX11R6/lib and maybe some more places), and tell ld.so about their new path. If you do that, it is recommended that you keep all of the 32bit system, so that you can still use its administration tools (like dpkg). Also several applications still require 32bit libraries. Among these are openoffice.org, the Flash plugin (which needs 32bit mozilla), VMware, tcc and of course wine. Thomas