[gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[sean]

What usually works better for installing x86 programs, linux32 or 
creating a chroot 32 environment?
I am guessing it is a bit of both.

My main goal is to get some of my old Loki games running.

Using the linux32 command I have had success with...
-Railroad Tycoon and patches, needed the patches to start
-Alpha Centauri, though the patch will not install, the game starts
-SimCity 3000 is kicking me hard, it installs, but not completely, seems 
to be missing some files, including the executable. Patch has problems 
because it cant find all the needed files of the install.
-and a few other games I have yet to try.

So would a chroot environment perhaps help with the problem apps?
I am sure I am not the first on this path, so how have some you done who 
have tried these games?

				Thanks
				Sean
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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Richard Freeman]

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sean wrote:
> What usually works better for installing x86 programs, linux32 or
> creating a chroot 32 environment?
> I am guessing it is a bit of both.
> 

Depends on the nature of the "incompatibility".  If the application
checks the arch reported by the kernel/uname/etc and fails if it isn't
x86, then linux32 will fix your problem (if that is the only problem).

On the other hand, if the program is dynamically linked to some library
that isn't in the emul libs, then it won't run simply by lying about the
installed OS.  You either need to build the 32-bit lib and put it in the
right place manually, or you need a chroot.

My guess is that many games are statically linked to obscure libs to
avoid dependency issues - in which case you're fine.

Just make sure your game isn't installing stuff all over the filesystem
- - the last thing you need is the game's glibc or some other common
library overwriting your own 64-bit version!  The game would run fine,
unlike just about everything else on your system...
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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Dmitri Pogosyan]

You don't need anything, but emulation libraries installed to RUN precompiled
32 bit apps. More footwork is needed only if you want to compile 32 bit apps
yourself.


> What usually works better for installing x86 programs, linux32 or 
> creating a chroot 32 environment?
> I am guessing it is a bit of both.
> 
> My main goal is to get some of my old Loki games running.
> 
> Using the linux32 command I have had success with...
> -Railroad Tycoon and patches, needed the patches to start
> -Alpha Centauri, though the patch will not install, the game starts
> -SimCity 3000 is kicking me hard, it installs, but not completely, seems 
> to be missing some files, including the executable. Patch has problems 
> because it cant find all the needed files of the install.
> -and a few other games I have yet to try.
> 
> So would a chroot environment perhaps help with the problem apps?
> I am sure I am not the first on this path, so how have some you done who 
> have tried these games?
> 
> 				Thanks
> 				Sean
> -- 
> gentoo-amd64@gentoo.org mailing list



--
Dmitri Pogosyan            Department of Physics
Associate Professor        University of Alberta
tel 1-780-492-2150         412 Avadh Bhatia Physics Labs
fax 1-780-492-0714         Edmonton, AB, T6G 2J1, CANADA


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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Karol Krizka]

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On Saturday 29 October 2005 16:56, Dmitri Pogosyan wrote:
> You don't need anything, but emulation libraries installed to RUN
> precompiled 32 bit apps. More footwork is needed only if you want to
> compile 32 bit apps yourself.
>
The problem with most properiaty linux games is that they check for what 
architecture you are running. If it isn't x86 they say "Sorry, you can't use 
it." I think that linux32 fools the program into thinking that it is being 
run on a x86 machine and not a x86_64 machine. Am I right?

> > What usually works better for installing x86 programs, linux32 or
> > creating a chroot 32 environment?
> > I am guessing it is a bit of both.
> >
> > My main goal is to get some of my old Loki games running.
> >
> > Using the linux32 command I have had success with...
> > -Railroad Tycoon and patches, needed the patches to start
> > -Alpha Centauri, though the patch will not install, the game starts
> > -SimCity 3000 is kicking me hard, it installs, but not completely, seems
> > to be missing some files, including the executable. Patch has problems
> > because it cant find all the needed files of the install.
> > -and a few other games I have yet to try.
> >
> > So would a chroot environment perhaps help with the problem apps?
> > I am sure I am not the first on this path, so how have some you done who
> > have tried these games?
> >
> > 				Thanks
> > 				Sean
> > --
> > gentoo-amd64@gentoo.org mailing list
>
> --
> Dmitri Pogosyan            Department of Physics
> Associate Professor        University of Alberta
> tel 1-780-492-2150         412 Avadh Bhatia Physics Labs
> fax 1-780-492-0714         Edmonton, AB, T6G 2J1, CANADA

-- 
Karol Krizka

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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Billy Holmes]

sean wrote:
> So would a chroot environment perhaps help with the problem apps?
> I am sure I am not the first on this path, so how have some you done who 
> have tried these games?

I've always found that the chroot just makes things work easier. Yes, 
you have a large investment period (creating the chroot), but in the end 
I've *always* found that it works better than trying to get the 32 bit 
emul-* libraries to work under x86_64.

Some programs mistakenly try and link to the 64-bit libs first, even if 
the 32-bit libs are available. I've had to create nasty LD_LIBRARY_PATH 
statements, and mess around with the order in ld.so.conf to get things 
to semi work.

Yes, this is also a shameless plug, but you will soon find that doing 
this to get into your chroot as your normal user:

$ sudo linux32 chroot /home/32-bit su - user1 -c id

starts to get very tiring...

Because of that, I created a utility that combines the code of those 
commands into one command. One problem though.. /home/32-bit is 
hard-coded in my utility, I wasn't able to come up with a secure way to 
read that parameter from a config file - and still keep the source small.

Here's the bugzilla for it:
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=111367

and here's a snippet from my web page about it:
http://www.gonoph.net/node/37

The ebuild is also in the archive. Another thing to note about 32-bit 
chroots:

in my 32-bit chroot, I've created symlinks from the main /home/ for all 
the users directories to point into the 32-bit chroot, I also bound /tmp 
(mount -bind) into the 32-bit chroot, as well as the root home directory 
/root. This gives me the advantage of switching in and out of the 
chroot, while still giving the illusion that I'm in the same home 
directory and same /tmp - and X clients that use unix pipes to 
communicate to the X server still work as well.
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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Antoine Martin]

> Some programs mistakenly try and link to the 64-bit libs first, even if 
> the 32-bit libs are available. I've had to create nasty LD_LIBRARY_PATH 
> statements, and mess around with the order in ld.so.conf to get things 
> to semi work.
It would be good to identify those and get them fixed upstream...
I think openssl does this: it detects the arch using some /proc or uname
trick, which breaks when running in UML - I end up using a chroot to
upgrade those virtual machines. grrr.

Antoine

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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Nuitari]

> in my 32-bit chroot, I've created symlinks from the main /home/ for all the 
> users directories to point into the 32-bit chroot, I also bound /tmp (mount 
> -bind) into the 32-bit chroot, as well as the root home directory /root. This 
> gives me the advantage of switching in and out of the chroot, while still 
> giving the illusion that I'm in the same home directory and same /tmp - and X 
> clients that use unix pipes to communicate to the X server still work as 
> well.

I'd much prefer to keep the actual /home data outside of the chroot.
You could mount -bind the /home into the chroot like you do with /tmp.

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Re: [gentoo-amd64] linux32 or chroot

[Billy Holmes]

Nuitari wrote:
> I'd much prefer to keep the actual /home data outside of the chroot.
> You could mount -bind the /home into the chroot like you do with /tmp.

yes, this was probably the smartest way to do it, however, I had already 
sliced up my partitions and /home had the largest available. This was 
before I found the wonders of lvm2...

I could always change the default to something else that was more widely 
accepted.
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