Re: Running in 32 bit mode

To run a 32bit program on a 64bit system, you need a few things:
A> a kernel that can run 32bit binaries in addition to 64bit binaries
B> 32bit libraries installed that will be loaded at run-time
and finally, C> a processor capable of running 32bit executable code, if 
the kernel or another interpreter does not provide an emulation layer.

A lot of this depends on your OS/platform (in terms of linux and other 
open-source kernels, what options were compiled into the kernel), your 
processor (SPARC V9 instructions vary drastically from, say, IA64 or AMD 
Opteron instructions), and how the OS/platform was installed (most 64bit 
computer hardware can be run as what amounts to a 32bit system by using 
a 32bit OS kernel with all 32bit application binaries, libraries, etc - 
it can also be installed in such a way that 32bit applications will not 
function correctly, for example if 32bit libraries are not installed). 
I would say your best course of action is to check out the documentation 
provided by your operating environment/distribution maintainer, and see 
what their default configuration is.  It may well be that you're simply 
running into a bug in OOo.
Generally speaking, most programs can be compiled into 64bit binaries 
with minimal if any tweaking to the code.  There are some differences, 
but mostly you've just gotta have a compiler that can output 64bit 
binaries, and tell the compiler that you want 64bit binaries.  GCC is 
capable of this, if you're using an even remotely recent version.  I'd 
recommend 3.x or newer if you need to generate sane 64bit binaries.

Realistically, though, this shouldn't be necessary.  You should be able 
to just get the information/packages you need from your operating 
environment maintainer and/or their user community, assuming you're 
using a default install of their product, and that they claim support 
for your system host platform.

Take care, Matt

Andrei Smirnov wrote:
>> From what I read on the web it seems like it is possible to run 32 bit
> binaries on 64 bit machine. Like I want to run the newest OpenOffice
> on my 64 bit workstation, since they do not have 64 bit version for
> OpenOffice yet. The question is how do I do this?
> 
> When I just start the code like
> /opt/openoffice.org2.1/program/swriter
> nothing happens.
> 

-- 
/*
  * Matt D. Harris         <[email protected]>
  *  Solitox Networks - Lead Project Engineer
  *   [http://mdh.name/]
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