Ubuntu – Does the multiarch feature in 11.10 mean the death of force–architecture installs

11.10multiarch

Well does the multiarch feature of 11.10 mean 64bit users will be able to install 32bit '.debs' without resorting to the 'force–architecture' command?

Best Answer

There is indeed no need for --force-architecture anymore with multi-arch support with a some notes:

  • The libraries on which the package depend must support Multi-arch
  • Even if multi-arch is supported, it's possible for a library package to make the system install either the 32-bit version or the 64-bit one, but not both. So, the package in question should not have a need to depend on such a library unless there is no 64-bit equivalent necessary.

  • Many packages from third-party websites do not set the necessary dependencies. Before multi-arch, a dirty hack called ia32-libs was created. This would contain the 32-bit libraries for multiple packages, and therefore it was easy for the maintainer to say "just install the ia32-libs package." In most cases, the dependencies are mentioned for the 32-bit sysems, so you should install those, but for the 32-bit architecture by adding :i386 after each package as in:

    sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libc6:i386
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