Switching from 64 bit to 32 bit

HellFace · n00b Joined: 17 May 2005 Posts: 44

I did a stage 1 install of Gentoo with my Athlon 64. I followed the installation guide for amd64. I'm having trouble with some 32-bit applications, and don't seem to have much use for 64-bit. So, now I would like to switch to 32-bit mode preferably without reinstalling. Is that possible?

Thanks.

ansient · Guru Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Posts: 445 Location: Argentina

Is it possible? Conceivably.

Is it easier than backing up your configs and reinstalling? Hell no.

HellFace · n00b Joined: 17 May 2005 Posts: 44

Well, I see your point

The problem is that I'm pretty new to Linux, and I'm not sure what to backup.

At any rate, I was wondering if it would be a real pain, and it sounds like it would be.

I suppose starting from scratch isn't so bad

nase · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:03 am Post subject:

just ackup the /etc directory there are the most configs.

you also schould up /opt if you have special software like oracle installed there and so one. but for the first ry make a image of your system and install the new one, if you miss anything, just get the missing files from the image!

thats the way i usually deal....
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96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

Backing up your /etc is a good idea, though you will need to remember to preserve file permissions on the directory. Also, if you have a separate /boot partition, you do not need to erase it!

While you might want to do one last recompile of your kernel, in case there are any extra 32-bit compatibility settings you need, when you boot back up with your LiveCD, all you have to do is remount the partition, do emerge gentoo-sources and run make oldconfig, and it will reuse all the settings from your previous working kernel. You'll still need to re-emerge any special modules that you've compiled for your kernel, but otherwise there's no need to alter or delete anything in your /boot partition. Of course, if you have the entirety of / on one partition, you'll have to start from an entirely blank slate.