Andreas, Thank you for your prompt response. My responses to your statements follow: Andreas Jaeger wrote:

Constantine 'Gus' Fantanas writes:

...

Hello,

I installed 9.3 on my Compaq Presario laptop just a couple of days ago. I did a clean install because I had 9.2 and the upgrade was too picky about packages I had installed from apt-get. I have a couple of really esoteric questions which I think only gurus can answer.

(1) Per Andreas Yaeger of SuSE, Firefox has been compiled as a 32-bit application (I installed the one that came on the SuSE 9.3 DVD). However, I observed that it can invoke 64-bit plugins (such as Acrobat

Acrobat Reader is a 32-bit application.

If Acrobat Reader is a 32-bit application, then how does Mozilla open it?(I just verified it does!) Isn't mozilla compiled as 64-bits in SuSE 9.3? Furthermore, take a look at part of the 'strace' out below: ----------------------------------------------------------------- gus@presario:~> strace acroread execve("/usr/X11R6/bin/acroread", ["acroread"], [/* 84 vars */]) = 0 uname({sys="Linux", node="presario", ...}) = 0 brk(0) = 0x592000 mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac1000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=170278, ...}) = 0 mmap(NULL, 170278, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac2000 close(3) = 0 open("/lib64/libreadline.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\240.\1\0"..., 640) = 640 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Why does it refer to .../lib64/... ? The full output of 'strace' makes several such references.

...

and MPlayer) just fine! I even used 'strace' to make sure the plugins made calls to 64-bit libraries. How come, then, and a 32-bit Firefox can invoke 64-bit plugins, but a 64-bit plugin cannot invoke 32-bit plugins? (Currently, only a 64-bit konqueror can invoke 32-bit plugins.)

(2) aRTS and artsdsp (both presumably 64-bit) seem to handle 64-bit programs fine. However, 32-bit programs like skype (www.skype.com --distributed as a 32-bit binary) and flash player seem to want to monopolize the sound card (skype is still not aRTS-compatible, even on

That's not a 32-bit problem but a problem of skype, the same should happen on 32-bits systems as well,

--It does not happen on 32-bit systems. I know because I have another computer which runs 32-bit SuSE 9.3.

Andreas

Bernd Paysan wrote:

On Wednesday 25 May 2005 11:44, Constantine 'Gus' Fantanas wrote:

...

9.3? Furthermore, take a look at part of the 'strace' out below:

----------------------------------------------------------------- gus@presario:~> strace acroread execve("/usr/X11R6/bin/acroread", ["acroread"], [/* 84 vars */]) = 0 uname({sys="Linux", node="presario", ...}) = 0 brk(0) = 0x592000 mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac1000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=170278, ...}) = 0 mmap(NULL, 170278, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac2000 close(3) = 0 open("/lib64/libreadline.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\240.\1\0"..., 640) = 640

/usr/X11R6/bin/acroread is just a shell script that starts the real acroread in /usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Reader/intellinux/bin/acroread. This shell script is a 64 bit application (bash ;-). As it links to libreadline, you can guess that it must be a GPL'd program.

--OK. What I cannot understand, then, is how can the 64-bit Mozilla successfully open the 32-bit acrobat? This is not supposed to happen, yet it does! Or is Mozilla (not Firefox) also compiled as 32 bit? So, can I write a 64-bit (bash) script which then invokes a 32-bit plugin, the end result being, say, 64-bit Mozilla invoking the 32-bit plugin via the script? It can't be that simple; otherwise 64=bit Mozilla would be able to play flash animations (Macromedia refuses to offer their closed source flash player in 64-bit form).