Practical approach to using 64bit kernel and 32bit userspace?

I want to run a 64bit kernel on 32bit userspace. I know there are some out there who claim it's only bad and slowing down the transition to full blown 64bit systems. That may be, but for me and for this particular computer, I need to do this.
I have tried it on my work laptop and there are no problems whatsoever: On my plain vanilla 32bit install I downloaded and installed the current 64bit kernel (after carefully backing up the current one). No problems anywhere, so far.
However, for this other machine, I need to have a sane solution for the long run. What about kernel updates? When a new kernel is released, pacman is going to want to install the 32bit one instead of the 64bit version I want to use. I don't suppose there is a way to "tag" the kernel package to be x86_64 instead of i686, or something to that effect?
I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on this.

hw-tph wrote:
flamelab wrote:put kernel26 in HoldPkg and each time it wants to be updated, install the 64bit one.
According to pacman.conf(5), HoldPkg only seems to have any effect when attempting to remove a package:
pacman.conf(5) wrote:HoldPkg = package ...
If a user tries to --remove a package that's listed in HoldPkg, pacman will ask for confirmation before proceeding.
I'll go with the local repository route.
Well, I have pacman on HoldPkg, and I thought that HoldPkg makes the package manager to ask for a package to be installed before the others. It seems that I'm wrong

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64bit kernel with 32bit userspace + pacman integration

There have been quite some questions about this topic. Sometimes leading even leading to frustration.
Luckily, a nice writeup was made here with a nice addition to integrate this nicely here.
Since there is no 32bit PAE kernel distributed by ArchLinux, using a 64bit kernel to enable NX is the only option. But since it only has 1G of memory, I do not wish to install a 64bit userspace + 32bit multilib.
However, the *exact* steps have been quite a guess (and there is no wiki). That is why I'm writing this down.
Let's start with the main configuration: pacman.conf
We need to comment out the Architecture stanza. It's funky. Why? Because it actually has two unrelated purposes:
As a documented feature, it provides protection against installing incorrect packages from another architecture
The undocumented feature is the fact that it's literal value is used to replace '$arch' variables in repo URL's
#Architecture = auto
Syncing your local repo's just broke as '$arch' is no longer defined (try it now). I ditched /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist and did this with my remote repo URL's:
# custom repo for 64bit kernel
[x86_64-kernel]
Server = file:///home/$user/x86_64-kernel/
[core]
Server = http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/core/os/i686
[extra]
Server = http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/extra/os/i686
[community]
Server = http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/community/os/i686
Notice the new custom repo at the top of the file. Adapt your pacman.conf to contain this custom repo as well. Make sure you place it before the [core] repo or whatever other repo is providing your current kernel. The order matters.
Furthermore, I rewrote the configuration file to not depend on variable substitution. One could argue that substituting $repo was unnecessary, but that does not really matter.
Second, we setup the repository as a normal user. This can be done by a regular user in a safe way since the packages are all signed. So tampering with packages will not work. You could even dedicate a cron script with a dedicated user to this purpose (which is overkill).
mkdir /home/$user/x86_64-kernel/
Third, we use a small script to handle this custom repo. We place it at /home/$user/x86_64-kernel.sh . Subsitute the variable R_REPO with your favorite ArchLinux mirror. Make sure this URL points to a 64bit core repository.
#!/bin/bash
set -e
set -o pipefail
L_REPO=/home/$user/x86_64-kernel/
R_REPO=http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/core/os/x86_64/
cd "$L_REPO"
wget -nv "$R_REPO"/core.db -O core.db
DESC=$(tar -tf core.db | grep '^linux-[0-9.-]*/desc$' | tail -n1)
KERNELPKG=$(tar -xf core.db "$DESC" -O | grep -A1 '^%FILENAME%$' | tail -n1)
if ! [[ -f "$KERNELPKG" ]]; then
wget -nv "$R_REPO"/"$KERNELPKG"
wget -nv "$R_REPO"/"$KERNELPKG".sig
repo-add -q x86_64-kernel.db.tar.gz "$KERNELPKG"
fi
Now we are in fact done with the configuration. Substiture $user for your current user in all the sections and do the following:
# create repo, this script also updates it when newer 64bit kernels arrive
user $ bash /home/$user/x86_64-kernel.sh
# update pacman's database
root # pacman -Syy
# install 64bit kernel
root # pacman -S linux
Pacman will be able to update this kernel as long as you run x86_64-kernel.sh every once in a while. I put it in XFCE session startup to run at each session login. You could do this with cron as well.
I tested what hapenned if something went wrong with this repo. Pacman handles this very nicely actually. If you delete the repository, it will complain but not immediatly install the 32bit kernel given you have a 64bit already installed with this repo.
A final note: If you build a lot of packages you could run into trouble. Someone in the forums made a good suggestion about that here -> ("init=linux32 /usr/lib/systemd/..."). This is a nice system-wide way to trick your buildsystem into believing it's a 32bit machine. This is sometimes required. I don't use as I don't have a problem with it. But keep this in mind.
EDIT: Fixed update script to overwrite core.db and not create new ones like core.db.n .
Last edited by Rexilion (2014-02-01 15:41:29)

That is nice. Pity I did not know about this earlier. However, my method allows me to stick with the official packages. Thanks though!

Installing a 64bit kernel and 32bit userland.

Starting from Leonidas, Fedora will start installing a x64 kernel on compatible hardware, even when installing a 32-bit OS.
This should allow the kernel to better handle memory as the kernel no longer has to worry about low memory, high memory, etc...
Link http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ … ureSupport
It should be possible to do this under Arch, No ?

now come the issues. i have some problems building packages while running this kernel.
/etc/makepkg.conf
# ARCHITECTURE, COMPILE FLAGS
CARCH="i686"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
#-- Exclusive: will only run on -march=i686
# -march (or -mcpu) builds exclusively for an architecture
# -mtune optimizes for an architecture, but builds for whole processor family
CFLAGS="-march=i686 -mtune=native -Os -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="-march=i686 -mtune=native -Os -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
#-- Make Flags: change this for DistCC/SMP systems
MAKEFLAGS="-j3"
Firefox fails with:
/home/eb/pkg/firefox/src/xpcom/reflect/xptcall/src/md/unix/xptcinvoke_x86_64_linux.cpp:181: error: invalid register name for 'a4'
/home/eb/pkg/firefox/src/xpcom/reflect/xptcall/src/md/unix/xptcinvoke_x86_64_linux.cpp:182: error: invalid register name for 'a5'
make[9]: *** [xptcinvoke_x86_64_linux.o] Error 1
make[9]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
{standard input}: Assembler messages:
{standard input}:7: Error: bad register name `%rbp'
{standard input}:8: Error: bad register name `%rsp'
{standard input}:9: Error: bad register name `%rsp'
{standard input}:10: Error: bad register name `%rdi'
{standard input}:11: Error: bad register name `%rsi'
{standard input}:12: Error: bad register name `%rdx'
{standard input}:13: Error: bad register name `%rcx'
{standard input}:14: Error: bad register name `%r8'
{standard input}:15: Error: bad register name `%r9'
{standard input}:16: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:17: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:18: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:19: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:20: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:21: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:22: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:23: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:24: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:25: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
{standard input}:27: Error: bad register name `%rbp)'
make[9]: *** [xptcstubs_x86_64_linux.o] Error 1
qt fails with:
main.cpp:1: sorry, unimplemented: 64-bit mode not compiled in
make: *** [property.o] Error 1
make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make: *** [main.o] Error 1
make: *** [project.o] Error 1
Any idea why the building process seems not to care about the arch set in makepkg.conf and if it could be possible to fix that?
TIA

Safely installing 64bit kernel with 32bit userland

I'm happily running a 64bit kernel with 32bit userland, but I was wondering whether there is any way to let pacman allow me to install the 64bit kernel (manually downloaded) without me needing to edit pacman.conf. I sometimes forget to set the arch to i686 again causing me to install 64bit packages.
If there is no such option, I'll script something for myself, but I wanted to be sure I didn't miss something (maybe an undocumented option?).

I have the Architecture line commented out of my pacman.conf, but that is because I am too lazy to upgrade the kernel using --arch. That and I use "i686" in my mirror url and am fairly sure I will never change it to x86_64 by accident...
Anyway, these are the changes I made to /etc/inittab. Just added linux32 in lots of places.
# -8 options fixes umlauts problem on login
c1:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:linux32 /sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty6 linux
# Hypervisor Virtual Console for Xen and KVM
#h0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 hvc0 linux
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now
# Example lines for starting a login manager
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:linux32 /usr/bin/slim >& /dev/null
x:5:respawn:linux32 /usr/sbin/lxdm >& /dev/null
Do that, and you will never know that you are running an x86_64 kernel and can keep Architecture=auto if you wish.

Macbook pro 3.1 with 64bit kernel. when??

hi all,
there's already 10.6.2. and still no chance of using it 64bit on a macbook pro 3.1 (which, by all means, is a completely decent computer that should run in 64bit like a charm). so the question is: when can we expect a firmware update to fix this issue? i certainly hope before 10.7..
i know there are a couple of hackarounds, but (like many others, i suppose) i would feel considerably more comfortable with an official solution.
howerver, if there's any news on this, just post it here.
cheers, boris

well, that's not correct. i did quite a lot of research in the last couple of months. i am also familiar with the article you linked to. the mbp 3.1 actually has a 64bit efi as well as a 64bit cpu. apple already stated elsewhere, that the problem is only related to the firmware. there are a bunch of hacks around enabling the mbp 3.1 for the 64bit kernel and extensions. this wouldn't be the case, if the problem was a hardware issue as you suggest. i actually had an apple support guy on the phone a while ago, who said that they were aware of the problem and working on an update. i was just wondering if that would be happening in the foreseeable future. i considered applying one of these hacks, but as i mentioned i'd favor a clean official solution.

Possible to have both a 32bit kernel and 64bit?

I run an archlinux dom0 and currently have only 64bit domUs, I was trying to setup a 32bit domU.
I setup the domU in virtualbox and copied it over to my xen server. It started fine on a 64bit kernel, but I was missing any net interface. I was wanting to install a 32bit kernel (preferably the one provided by pacman), but unsure how to do so. I believe the 32 and 64 bit kernels provided both have the same names.
Any thoughts how I can do both without compiling my own?
Thanks.

As weird as it sounds, I did have the 32bit environment (as confirmed by running file on a few executables and checking uname) under a 64bit kernel, but not everything worked..
The only thing i'm trying to get under my 64bit dom0 is a 32bit kernel (only to be used in my 32bit domU) in addition to my 64bit kernel.
Thanks for your help.

REFInd, 64bit Arch, and a 32bit EFI (MacBook 2,1 2007)

I installed rEFInd on a 32bit EFI MacBook, and after copying the filesystem drivers into /efi/refind/drivers, was able to boot into an UEFI stripped install cd. I ran through the install, taking notes from the MacBook wiki entry
I am under the impression that rEFInd should do magic and find linux inside /boot (as suggested here) but the automatically generated "Legacy" OS entry fails: "Operating system missing." Perhaps because the kernel EFI stub is 64bit while the EFI is 32?
My failing manual menuentry errors with "Error: Not Found While Loading vmllinuz-linux." I suspect this is because I do not have the partition labeled correctly (see diskutil and gptfdisk outputs) or am expecting rEFInd to be able to read into places it can not. But am mostly totally clueless.
I also did some configuration before realizing /efi/ on the mac partition is different than the ESP (EFI system partition) and am still unclear how the two are related.
Any one have success with a similar setup?
» /usr/local/Cellar/gptfdisk/0.8.8/sbin/gdisk -l /dev/disk0
Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
2 409640 208349631 99.2 GiB AF00 _DS_DEV_DISK_X_
3 208613376 312580095 49.6 GiB 8300 Arch
» diskutil info /dev/disk0s3
Device Identifier: disk0s3
Device Node: /dev/disk0s3
Part Of Whole: disk0
Device / Media Name: Arch
Volume Name:
Escaped with Unicode:
Mounted: No
File System: None
Partition Type: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4
Bootable: Is bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: SATA
SMART Status: Verified
Total Size: 53.2 GB (53230960640 Bytes) (exactly 103966720 512-Byte-Blocks)
Volume Free Space: Not Applicable
Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: Not applicable (no filesystem)
Ejectable: No
Whole: No
Internal: Yes
» sed -e 's/#.*//;/^$/d' /efi/refind/refind.conf # no disabled menuentry is shown :)
timeout 20
scan_all_linux_kernels
menuentry "Arch Linux Core Kernel" {
icon /EFI/refind/icons/os_arch.icns
volume Arch
loader vmlinuz-linux
initrd initramfs-linux.img
options "root=UUID=2c17e506-1d6a-433e-9f63-12ea59cc779b rootfstype=ext4 rw loglevel=6 printk.time=y"
ostype Linux
graphics off
» ls /efi/refind/drivers/
ext2_ia32.efi ext4_ia32.efi hfs_ia32.efi iso9660_ia32.efi
» ext4fuse /dev/disk0s3 /Volumes/Arch
» ls /Volumes/Arch/boot
initramfs-linux-fallback.img initramfs-linux.img refind_linux.conf vmlinuz-linux

Thanks for the link! It's unclear to me what happens when a bootloader is installed to the MBR in the hybrid partition table. Mac will go into BIOS mode and use that bootloader? EFI will still take precidence and rEFInd will give an option to boot to the MBR (is that what happens now, and the reason for the no OS found error?)
I thought going to EFI-installed grub or syslinux through rEFInd might work. I'm able to use the 64bit kernel on the install CD.
Unfortunately, --target=i386-efi as suggested by the grub wiki doesn't work. Expected files are missing
» ls /Volumes/Arch/usr/lib/grub
i386-pc/ x86_64-efi/
» egrep '368-efi|32' /Volumes/Arch/var/lib/pacman/local/grub-1:2.00.1282.g5ae5c54-1/files
usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/adler32.mod
usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/efiemu32.o
usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/adler32.mod
etc/default/grub a03ffd56324520393bf574cefccb893d
is there an alternative grub package?
[I'll be back with an edit after backing up the mbr and trying syslinux ]

Arch 64bit and 32bit games under wine

Hi there,
I am using an x86_64bit version of arch linux and have tried to use Civilization IV and Warcraft III with wine. But i have no usable Framerates. I have tried a lot of issues from Google Searches and from this forum but i cannot handle this problem. My first idea was, that my drivers are not installed correctly. But programs like glxinfo and glxgears says that there is hardware rendering enabled and compiz also works fine. After some researches today i think to have a new idea for my problem.
First i need to say, that i have an Thinkpad T400 with onborad graphics Intel HD4500 or so on. On Ubuntu with wine there were no problems in using Civ IV and Warcraft III, but under Arch Linux i cannot get it to work correctly. The Ubuntu was also an 64bit version.
Is it possible that wine need 32bit libaries for the graphics driver because of the 32bit games? I have only installed the normal pacman packages for my system, which only compile the drivers for 64bit. If this can fix fix the problem. How can I install 32bit and 64 bit drivers on one system?
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Psikon wrote:Is it possible that wine need 32bit libaries for the graphics driver because of the 32bit games? I have only installed the normal pacman packages for my system, which only compile the drivers for 64bit. If this can fix fix the problem. How can I install 32bit and 64 bit drivers on one system?
This is almost definitely the problem. First, add the new [multilib] repo (see the news page for how to do this). Then run pacman -Syu lib32-intel-dri (assuming you are using the 64-bit intel-dri. otherwise you may have to build something from the AUR).

Session "Microsoft Security Essentials OOBE" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D using win 7 64bit over and over BSOD

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Hi,
When does the issue begin to occur?
Since Windows system uses separated user mode and kernel mode memory space, stop errors are usually caused by kernel portion components, such as a hardware device,
third-party drivers, backup software or anti-virus services (buggy services).
Please refer to the following steps to troubleshoot the issue.
1. Boot the computer in
Clean Boot for a test.
2. Temporarily disable all unnecessary hardware devices in Device Manager, such as Modem, sound card or external device.
For detail steps, we can refer to the link below:
Device Clean Boot
3. Upgrade the virus definition, run antivirus program and perform a full scanning.
If the issue persists, please upload the minidump file (%systemroot%\minidump) to SkyDrive (
www.skydrive.live.com ), then share the link to me. I will be glad to assist you to analysis the data.
Thanks,
Novak

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Hi, I am having problems running Lookout V6.7 on a Windows 64bit machine.
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Thanks Frank! I'll try it that way.
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I am looking for a best practice approach/strategy for setting up a distributed SAP landscape i.e separating the database and sap servers. If anyone has some strategies to share.
Thanks very much

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Practical approach to using 64bit kernel and 32bit userspace?

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