[Bio-linux-dev] [nbx-dev] Rethink about using 64-bit Linux on NBX's

[Martijn van Iersel]

Yes I agree, going 64 bit is the right way.

But it seems to me that currently NuGO LDAP is blocking any kind of 
upgrade on the nbx'es. Until that problem is solved, this discussion is 
moot, really. At least that is my point of view.

Martijn

Tony Travis wrote:
> Hello, NBX/Bio-Linux developers.
>
> I've been looking into the possibility of running a 32-bit Bio-Linux 
> 'userland' under a 64-bit Linux kernel recently, because I want to run 
> 64-bit software on our Beowulf servers and it would be useful to do the 
> same on the NBX's. In the past, this required using a 32-bit 'chroot' 
> environment, which was complicated and clumsy to set up. However, more 
> recently the "ia32" libraries have been re-packaged for 64-bit Ubuntu:
>
>   
>> i   ia32-libs            - ia32 shared libraries for use on amd64 and ia64 systems
>> v   ia32-libs-gtk        -
>> v   ia32-libs-sdl        -
>> i   ia32-sun-java5-bin   - Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 (32-bit)
>> i   ia32-sun-java6-bin   - Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 (32-bit)
>>     
>
> This makes it very easy to run existing Bio-Linux 32-bit binaries under 
> a 64-bit kernel, but would also allow us to use the 64-bit version of R.
>
> Since we are at quite an early stage in upgrading the NBX's to Ubuntu 
> 8.04 LTS, I wonder what you all think about upgrading them to 64-bit?
>
> I believe this might also of interest to other Bio-Linux users who want 
> to use a 64-bit kernel, but don't want to wait for us to create source 
> packages (or re-compile the sources in the existing NEBC 32-bit 'binary' 
> packages).
>
> I've upgraded my own desktop PC, and one of our Beowulf servers to use 
> 64-bit Ubuntu with the ia32 libraries and everything seems to work OK.
>
> The systems I tested had Bio-Linux packages installed (mainly) into 
> /usr/local under 32-bit Ubuntu, then the system was upgraded to 64-bit 
> Ubuntu overwriting the system partition but preserving /usr/local. The 
> only problem I see at present is how to use the existing NEBC packages, 
> which have control files specifying many of them as i386 architecture.
>
> Bye,
>
>    Tony.
>