Trouble with 32 bit Gtk app on 64 bit system - no or misleading error msgs

[Christopher Chan]

> I don't mean to be a "[citation needed] troll", but I've honestly never
> heard anything suggesting this before. Would you mind explaining how
> RPMs handle 32/64 better than DEBs? My understanding was that as long as
> you installed ia32-libs then you shouldn't have to do anything else; the
> software having problems in this thread is some sort of anomaly.
>

It probably is not rpm being better than deb. But right now most 32-bit 
library packages cannot just be installed on a 64-bit installation. 
32-bit packages will take over /usr/lib 'namespace' in a 64-bit 
installation when they should be stuffing themselves under /usr/lib32. 
It is as if you need to have a separate repository for 64-bit distros 
just so that their 32-bit library packages can be told to make their 
home in /usr/lib32 and not try to take over /usr/lib which really 
belongs to 64-bit libraries on a 64-bit installation. In fact, this is 
exactly how Fedora and RHEL work. They have a separate repository for 
32-bit distros and for 64-bit distros. The 64-bit distros' repos have 
both 32-bit and 64-bit packages which are going to stick their contents 
in the places.

The problem therefore is the way packaging is currently done and the 
repository architecture. That is why you have to resort to an uber 
ia32-libs package which is really not a solution at all but a cloth 
being tied around a leak of a pipe. It helps but does not completely 
solve the problem.