Multilib or no multilib

Logge · Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:38 pm Post subject: Multilib or no multilib

It's been a while since my last install. The box I'm sitting at right now was installed late 2006 if not mistaking.
I'm currently eagerly waiting for my new harddrives to arrive so tomorrow it's time for a fresh install of my precious Gentoo.

So, since I'm a EM64T user, i'm going with an amd64 install, again. But is it really necessary to go with multilib?
What is acctually affected with multilib enabled? Is there going to be a problem with audio/video codecs if not going multilib
or is that just something of my imagination? The current install is multilib but I can't even reckon why I acctually went with it for starters.

Something tells me I'll be just fine with a plain 64-bit system without the crappy 32-bit curlicues. Am I right?

Regards
Logge
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EzInKy · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1742 Location: Kentucky

Personally I really don't see a problem with multilib, but as long as you'll never have a need to run 32bit binaries then go for it B-)
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Zeerak · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:52 pm Post subject:

Well I installed a multilib system, then changed that to a no-multilib, and one program (maple 13) was affected by it to such an extent where I couldn't use it. However that was the only problem I had, everything else worked like a charm, it was however a bit of a pain to change back to a multilib as glibc needs gcc as multilib to compile and gcc needs glibc to compile... but that was solved by getting binaries :-)

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aCOSwt · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:58 pm Post subject:

I think Grub Legacy needs multilib.
Well... it needs a 32bits ncurses... :roll:

I would also wonder regarding win32codecs

Headrush · Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:12 pm Post subject:

Unless you really need to save space go, multilib.

It doesn't hurt performance and as you found out, going back to multilib after is a pain.
It only takes 1 package that requires 32bit and you'll have to deal with it so for less possible future issues, multilib is the way to go. (IMHO)

GWilliam · Guru Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 350

#NULL

d2_racing · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 2:54 am Post subject:

yngwin · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 2:38 pm Post subject:

There are really no downsides to multilib, apart from the fact that it uses a bit more space. No-multilib tho means no possibility to use apps that need 32-bit emulation and you'd have to reinstall to get multilib again. So, unless you have a very good reason to go no-multilib, you should stick with multilib.
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:22 pm Post subject:

There are no downsides to no-multilib unless you need 32 bit WINE
grub becomes grub-static. As aCOSwt implied, grub is a 32 bit program but it cannot use dynamic linking, so its not an issue.
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Clad in Sky · l33t Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 888 Location: Germany

So, this leads me to a question about wine - is there a 64bit Wine and are there any downsides to it?
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:34 pm Post subject:

Clad in Sky,

The simple answer, if you need WINE, is no.
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d2_racing · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:06 pm Post subject: