Re: [gentoo-user] Noah's ArK

[Andrew Udvare]

> On 2019-11-17, at 06:19, Helmut Jarausch  wrote:
> 
> I'd like to "preserve" some packages which do require components I don't like 
> to have "regularly" installed any more like some depending on Python2 or are 
> 32bit.

For Python (any version), use wheels:

https://pypi.org/project/wheel/

You would have to clone/download the packages yourself, and then run `python 
setup.py bdist_wheel` for them. This also ensures that you preserve compiled 
versions of the packages. As time goes on, these older packages will not 
compile against newer GCC/Clang versions without patches. Most popular packages 
already have wheels, although they might not have every combination built.

For anything else, if it doesn't need stuff like hardware 3D acceleration, use 
a VM that retains the packages you want. This also leads into...

If it does need native hardware access, use chroot and/or disk images (that you 
would boot into separately). I prefer to try and create barriers between 
'production' (what I use everyday) and one-off things like some old game that 
only supports 32-bit.

You probably want to retain old versions of toolchains (GCC, binutils, Clang, 
LLVM, etc) in case you need to build anything (built with -mtune not -march). 
Use Gentoo's binpkg format for this with the `qpkg` command. These packages can 
also be deployed on non-Gentoo systems but YMMV as you look for dependencies.

I tend to keep old hardware around for running old software. You might want to 
do the same.

A lot of older (much older) x86 support is being added to MAME everyday. This 
may come in handy in the future to preserve older versions of Linux distros and 
apps/games.

https://www.mamedev.org/releases/whatsnew_0215.txt (search 386)

Andrew

Re: [gentoo-user] Noah's ArK

[Mickaël Bucas]

Hi

If it's only for Python 2 packages, it's easy with "virtualenv", I've
done it for multiple independent Trac installations, each with a
different set of plugins. You still have to keep the Python 2 base
packages on the system.

If it's for 32 bits packages, you can isolate them in a chroot,
following the Gentoo guide [1]. I remember having used this to install
binary packages like Adobe Acrobat when multilib was supported only
with 32bits binary packages (I don't remember what made it necessary).
If the chroot is mounted at system start, you can define menu actions
in your desktop environment to launch commands inside of the chroot.
You may need to bind mount your home directory or other data
directories inside of the chroot to make them visible to these
programs.

The chroot solution can also work for Python 2, and it's not limited
to 32 bits : you can create the chroot with a 64 bits stage 3 tarball.

Best regards

Mickaël Bucas
[1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:AMD64/32-bit_Chroot_Guide

Le dim. 17 nov. 2019 à 12:20, Helmut Jarausch  a écrit :
>
> Hi,
>
> I'd like to "preserve" some packages which do require components I
> don't like to have "regularly" installed any more like some depending
> on Python2 or are 32bit.
>
> Is there a means to build a "mini binary system" where I can put these?
>
> Many thanks for a hint,
> Helmut

[gentoo-user] Noah's ArK

[Helmut Jarausch]

Hi,

I'd like to "preserve" some packages which do require components I  
don't like to have "regularly" installed any more like some depending  
on Python2 or are 32bit.


Is there a means to build a "mini binary system" where I can put these?

Many thanks for a hint,
Helmut