i386 junk on x86_64 default install

[Michel Salim]

I do think it makes sense for yum to install both i386 and x86_64
variants of a package, if both are available, unless specified
otherwise. What I don't think makes sense, though, is having /so/ many
i386 packages available in the x86_64 tree, and thus also in the
installation media.

Having 32-bit libraries makes sense, for the purpose of running legacy
closed-source applications. Having i386 -devel packages... does not.
What's the point, without a 32-bit compiler to go along?

And then there are the i386 applications: firefox, gaim, etc. These
get installed by default (there's no way I can see to exclude i386
packages short of using kickstart). Removing them should be
straightforward, right? Just yum --remove glibc.i686. But it's not
that simple:

1. Often times, removing a 32-bit package also removes the files
shared with the 64-bit sibling.
2. With the default FC6 install, I get a circular dependency when
trying to remove glibc.i686. It never displays the final list of
affected packages.

Would it be possible, for FC7, to limit the 32-bit packages included
in -core to only the 32-bit libraries? Anything that installs to
/usr/bin should be excluded. Maybe include a core-i386 repository that
is by default disabled, for users who need 32-bit apps.

-- 
Michel Salim
http://salimma.livejournal.com/