x86_64 vs i[36]86 arch question

[Justin M. Forbes]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2004 at 10:23:12AM +0100, Boszormenyi Zoltan wrote:
> Before I start installing it, I would like to ask
> how can I make a dual arch system from both te i386
> and the x86_64 packages?
> 
You might be better off starting off with a proper biarch tree.  If you
look at the AMD64 FAQ http://wwww.linuxtx.org/amd64faq.html it will point
you to the FC1 preview tree.  Once you install that, you can point yum to
the development repositories and it should do the right thing (update the
proper packages both 32bit and 64bit).
> Can anaconda detect the situation where I already instelled
> the i386 version and keep them while installing the x86_64 version?
> 
This method is not recommended as most packages are actually conflicting.
libs are meant to be installed biarch and libtool handles things to make
sure the right bin gets the right libs.  

> Justin M. Forbes suggested (Re: Fedora/x86_64 vs 32-bit user space)
> that I try to make a dual boot. How can I share /boot?
> Both kernel-2.6.1-1.34.i686.rpm and kernel-2.6.1-1.34.x86_64.rpm
> has the same kernel filename.
> 
By dual boot, I was referring to a full installation of both the 32bit FC
OS and the 64bit FC OS.   They can share /home and data filesystems, but
they definately need seperate /boot, /usr, and preferably /etc and /var.
This is only really of use if you need to run 32bit games (64bit DRI cannot
run 32bit with hardware acceleration), or perhaps for running things like
VMWare or other 32bit apps which include kernel modules.

Hope this helps,
Justin M. Forbes