On Thu, 2007-04-12 at 20:29 +0100, Rob Andrews wrote: > I notice ia64 has ia32-libs and ia32-libs-dev, but I can't seem to find a > compiler to build i386 binaries. > > The reason being is that I want to add support for the Debian nspluginwrapper > package to run on ia64 machines, since they are biarch and have ia32-libs > and ia32-libs-gtk. > > If there isn't a gcc with target i386 on ia64, why is there an ia32-libs-dev > package? I'm quite curious! > > thanks, > rob
I personally have no idea why there are ia32-libs on ia64. The only possible reasons I can think of are: (1) older versions of the processor did have a small x86 processor on chip so it could execute x86 binaries, or (2) it allows one to use the Intel ia32el layer (a software layer to emulate x86 on ia64, but unfortunately proprietary code). X86 and ia64 are radically different architectures. If you want to build for x86 on ia64, you'll have to make a cross-compiler. But, even then, without the Intel ia32el software, or a version of qemu that works on ia64, you won't be able to run the binaries that you end up with. Hope that helps clarify... -- Ciao, al ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Al Stone Debian Developer E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.debian.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
