On Thu, Jan 05, 2017 at 11:03:50AM -0500, Stephen Gallagher wrote: > # Overview > > For many years, Fedora has supported multilib by carrying parallel-installable > libraries in /usr/lib[64]. This was necessary for a very long time in order to > support 32-bit applications running on a 64-bit deployment. However, in today's > new container world, there is a whole new option. > > I'd like to propose that we consider moving away from our traditional approach > to multilib in favor of recommending the use of a 32-bit container runtime when > needed on a 64-bit host. > > > ## Advantages > > * Simplification of build-tree creation. We wouldn't have to maintain the lists > and hacks that are required to make sure that multilib packages land in the > correct repositories. > > * Less duplication of content in the mirror networks. > > * It will be simpler to create module content without having to reimplement all > the multilib hacks of above. This is directly relevant to the Base Runtime > module, whose prototype is today intentionally limited to the primary > architecture (no multilib). > > * Requires us to maintain and keep up-to-date the 32-bit container base images. > > > ## Disadvantages > > * If we eliminate multilib entirely, all applications that use 32-bit libs will > have to either install a 32-bit host OS or install into a container. This may be > a difficult transition for some users. > * Mitigation: develop and maintain tools to ease this transition. > > * It is unlikely that any clean upgrade path would exist. (We could make it > *technically* possible, but likely not without breaking 32-bit software not > installed by RPM. > > * Requires us to maintain and keep up-to-date the 32-bit container base images. > (Yes, this is both an advantage and disadvantage.) More work for the end user to keep their systems updated. Containers in general are a retrograde step in this area, since instead of being able todo a simple "dnf update" on the host and have everything updated, you have to do "dnf update" and then figure out how to update each individual container. Even if we assume the 32-bit container base image lets you use dnf normally, this change has at least added an extra step for users as they have to upgrade their 64-bit and 32-bit container via separate "dnf update" command invokations. Regards, Daniel -- |: http://berrange.com -o- http://www.flickr.com/photos/dberrange/ :| |: http://libvirt.org -o- http://virt-manager.org :| |: http://entangle-photo.org -o- http://search.cpan.org/~danberr/ :| _______________________________________________ devel mailing list -- devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to devel-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
