Re: Multilib and Linux.

[hjl@lucon.org (H.J. Lu)]

> 
> On Apr 20, 1999, hjl@lucon.org (H.J. Lu) wrote:
> 
> >> 
> > Also are you suggesting for any library directory, /foo/bar/lib, we
> > have /foo/bar/lib for 32bit and /foo/bar/lib64 for 64bit?
> 
> That's what SGI has done on IRIX6: there's /lib32, /lib (n32) and
> /lib64.  A compiler/linker switch (-32, -n32 or -64) selects one ABI

It is useful for ISVs on IRIX6 since they want to have code to run
everywhere. They don't want to compile one for 32 and one for 64.
As the result, very few ISVs use 64bit on IRIX6. However, most
of Linux softwares come in source code, compiling for a new target
is not a big issue.

> and uses the corresponding set of library directories.  The linker
> refuses to link together objects and libraries of different ABIs.

Everyone has to be very careful not to put libraries and .o files
with the wrong ABI in a directory. The problems I have are

1. The fallback from /lib64 or /lib32 to /lib.
2. Change every single package to deal with it.

> 
> > It looks like more than one Linux targets which have to deal with
> > 32bit/64bit ABIs. We should have a common strategy to deal with
> > all those issues. Should we create a mailing list for it?
> 
> This is something libtool could help with.
> 

We have to convert everything to libtool. It is not a trivial task.

-- 
H.J. Lu (hjl@gnu.org)