Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3506 mails)

[suse@xxxxxx]

Martin Mielke wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> on a previous post from me related to some YUM/Kyum
> problems when updating to KDE 3.5.4 (still not
> working, BTW), I found out there's some 32-bit
> software installed on my x86_64 system.
> 
> Example:
> 
> # rpm -qa | grep qt3
> qt3-devel-tools-3.3.4-28
> qt3-devel-3.3.4-28
> qt3-32bit-3.3.4-28.5
> qt3-3.3.4-28.5
> qt3-devel-32bit-3.3.4-28
> 
> That was installed either by YaST or apt-get.
> I guess it's to keep some (backwards) compatibility
> for some applications. Am I right or is it safe to
> remove such 32-bit packages??
> 

Yes, it is for backwards compatibility.  AMD64 and whatever intel is
calling their version of AMD64 are COMPLETELY 100% backwards compatible.
 The CPU can run 32bit software natively.  AMD64-style is simply a
32-bit machine with a bunch of stuff tacked on, so you can run all the
old stuff.

However, a program has to be either 64bit or 32bit end-to-end, including
what the program is linked to.  If you had, let's say, a 32bit
qt-program, you'd need the qt-32bit libraries.

There's no real point in removing them, unless you're hurting for hard
drive space...