On Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 03:12:41AM +0200, Jan Engelhardt wrote:
> On Tuesday 2023-10-17 17:10, Michal Suchánek wrote:
> >
> >> In my system (Ubuntu), I see the directory paths
> >> 
> >> /usr/aarch64-linux-gnu/lib/
> >> /usr/i686-linux-gnu/lib/
> >> /usr/x86_64-linux-gnu/lib/
> >> 
> >> If there were such a crazy distro that supports multiple kernel arches
> >> within a single image, modules might be installed:
> >> /usr/x86_64-linux-gnu/lib/module/<version>/
> >
> >For me it's /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/.
> >
> >Did they change the scheme at some point?
> 
> It's a complicated mumble-jumble. Prior art exists as in:
> 
>  /opt/vendorThing/bin/...
>  /usr/X11R6/lib/libXi.so.6 [host binary]
>  /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/as [host binary]
>  /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/as.exe [foreign binary]
>  /usr/platform/SUNW,Ultra-2/lib/libprtdiag_psr.so.1 [looks foreign]
> 
> The use of suffix-based naming must have been established sometime
> near the end of the 90s or the start of 2000s as the first biarch
> Linux distros emerged. Probably in gcc or glibc sources one will find
> the root of where the use of suffix identifiers like /usr/lib64
> started. Leaves the question open "why".

That's pretty clear: to be able to install libraries for multiple
architectures at the same time.

Thanks

Michal

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