[ubuntu-uk] uname -a for 32 bit os on 64 bit cpu

[Juan J. Martínez]

On Mon, 2011-11-14 at 22:05 +0000, Colin Law wrote:
> On 14 November 2011 21:55, John Levin <technolalia at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ...
> > Thanks to everyone who replied. Does seem that uname reports the kernel, and
> > not the hardware, which is what is suggested by the man page and
> > http://ss64.com/bash/uname.html
> 
> This has caused confusion to others, there was a long thread which
> involved such confusions on Ubuntu Users mailing list recently.
> Perhaps it would be worth filing a bug to get the man page clarified.
> I suppose you could even file a patch with better wording, but I don't
> know go about that.

TL;DR: it doesn't matter what is your hardware, the important it's which
kernel are your running.

It's not a big deal, although the words aren't 100% accurate. If you're
running a 32bits kernel, it doesn't matter you have 64bits hardware.

Besides that if you're running a 64bits kernel, it's probably a good
idea you run the 64bits version of any application; but you can still
run the 32bits version (although it may involve installing more 32bits
stuff, such as shared libraries).

Regards,

Juan
(ex-Linux 64bits user, Adobe Flash 64bits plugin hater)

-- 
jjm's home: http://www.usebox.net/jjm/
blackshell: http://blackshell.usebox.net/
en_GB at blog: http://engbblog.wordpress.com/