On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 04:30:57PM +1000, zlinw@mcmedia.com.au wrote:
Installing via the debian package system did not work either, it complaining about lack of 32 bit libraries, what in the hell is a 64 bit exicutable want with 32 bit lbraries.
1. Debian is multi-arch. There is nothing unusual about having both 64-bit and 32-bit binaries and libraries on an amd64 system. it works, and works well, and has done so for several years now. unfortunately, the most common reason to do so is to support crappy third-party or proprietary apps when the devs are too lazy or indifferent to linux to produce a decent 64-bit version. e.g. i install several open source Second Life clients for my partner and have to be annoyed by the crappy 32-bit hassles every time i update them (especially when the devs "helpfully" include wrapper scripts that only work on their bizarrely configured and idiosyncratic systems) and the notable thing - the *crucial* thing to know - about crappy third-party or proprietary programs is that they are crappy. this is not the fault of the system. it's the fault of the crappy app. 2. googleearth-package is not actually a 64-bit executable. It is an 'Architecture: all' package that contains a single script called 'make-googleearth-package' and its man page. make-googleearth-package downloads the google earth binary from google, makes a few changes so that it fits in with debian, and then generates an installable package with appropriate Depends: and Suggests: lines. Package: googleearth Version: 6.0.3.2197+1.2.0-1 Section: non-free/science Architecture: amd64 Depends: fonts-liberation, libfreeimage3, lsb-core, libqtcore4, libgl1-mesa-glx, libglu1-mesa , libcurl3:i386, libsm6:i386, libfontconfig1:i386, libxt6:i386, libxrender1:i386, libxext6:i386, libgl1-mesa-glx:i386, libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 Suggests: lib32nss-mdns|libnss-mdns:i386, libgl1-nvidia-glx:i386, libgl1-fglrx-glx:i386 Description: Google Earth, a 3D map/planet viewer Package built with googleearth-package. It may have 'Architecture: amd64' but the binary is still i386 so depends on i386 version of various libraries. $ file /usr/lib/googleearth/googleearth-bin /usr/lib/googleearth/googleearth-bin: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-lsb.so.3, for GNU/Linux 2.6.15, BuildID[sha1]=ecf12dc9139e39775445913de6c50bae908a6d1a, stripped Note that both 'sid' and 'testing'(*) are in a state of flux at the moment mostly because of the libstdc++ transition. Many packages are uninstallable, because they depend on specific versions of libstdc++ and/or related packages. This includes many qt and kde packages, probably resulting in googleearth being uninstallable. This is the nature of both 'testing' and 'sid', which are beta or pre-beta not release standard - just wait until the packaging shitstorm is over. Should be OK on 'stable' though. If you can install all of the packages in the Depends: line, and appropriate packages from the Suggests: line (i.e. lib32nss-mdns and/or libnss-mdns:i386 and either libgl1-nvidia-glx:i386 or libgl1-fglrx-glx:i386), googlearth should work for you. if not, you're SOL. 3. you can't blame linux or debian because google chooses not to bother making a 64-bit version of Google Earth.
I am very close to nukeing AMD64 here and installing good old 32 bit.
an old phrase including the words cut, nose, spite, and face comes to mind here but i can't quite recall it. the real target of your ire should be the crappy 32-bit googleearth app, not amd64 linux or multi-arch debian - both of which have bent over backwards to try to support ancient 32-bit crap. craig (*) or maybe it's just sid. i run sid on my systems normally but have reverted to 'testing' for the duration. it's entirely possible that some of the sid versions of packages that i already installed before switching to testing are still preventing some of the updates in testing from being installed. i don't really care at the moment, i'll just wait until the shitstorm is over....unless some app that's important to me breaks and then i'll have to investigate further. -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>