Re: general problem with pkgsrc on 64bit linux

[raymond.meyer%rambler.ru@localhost]

On Monday 21 January 2008 14:05:06 Greg Troxel wrote:
> I have dealt with 64-bit linux only a little bit as part of GNU Radio.
> It's a very different scheme from the NetBSD way.  Basically /usr/lib
> has 32-bit libraries (which netbsd would put in /emul/netbsd32), and
> there is /usr/lib64 for what we'd call the 'native' libraries.  I gather
> than on such systems regular binaries are usually 64-bit programs.
>
> This use of lib64 is an alternate compatibility strategy for 32-bit
> binaries on 64-bit systems.  My feeling is that it's much less general
> and less clean, but it doesn't require the NAMI changes that NetBSD's
> emulation scheme has to look in /emul/foo.
>
> For pkgsrc, I would think that respecting the platform's original linker
> paths would be adequate.  I am not clear on whether on 64-bit linux if
> 'cc' by itself is set for 32-bit binaries, or 64-bit, and how pkgsrc
> manages this.
>
> Hope this helps....

Well, I think the problem comes from the fact that the guy's Linux system has 
3rd party software installed under system directories, like /usr/lib64. So 
for example, GTK2 libraries are dumped under /usr/lib64, when pkgsrc tries to 
build and link to its own GTK2 libraries, the linker first searches system 
directories and tries to link to the wrong libraries.

Personally, I would create a chroot jail and populate it only with core system 
binaries and libraries, like base BSD system. Build packages inside chroot 
and test them to make sure they work. Then I would remove all 3rd party 
software from Linux, leaving just the base system and switch to pkgsrc 
software.