Hello all, I'm going to install debian etch on AMD64 debian, from scratch on a clean HD, and i intend to prepare partitions for an additional x32 install which i may decide to add later, depending on my experiences, just as a fallback. I will use the same apps, and both would be Debian Sid, updated daily or right after booting. I like to hear your opinion if that's worth the effort, and if i should try to balance redundancy and maintenance costs ?
The first consideration is, in how far would a debian sid x64 installation differ from the analog x32 install at all ? Can i track it down to some few directories, like /bin, /sbin, /lib ... what else? Then i would ask if it's possible to boot into the same 'stub' root system (if we can call it still that) and mount the missing directories according to the chosen kernel - via initrd, and maybe some custom script. Possible ? Impossible ? Useless ? I've no idea. Traditionally, however, i would see it the other way round, booting into a dedicated root and mounting some shared directories. Then i have some questions: /home .... can there still be differences e.g. in version between x64 and x32 ? /var/cache/apt/archives ... i can't see any problem here, can you ? /usr/share .... a relatively huge peice - but will apt refuse to manage (mainly, to deinstall) stuff that was updated by the 'other debian' ? (Would at least /usr/share/doc be safe ?) /usr/scr .... i will have several source trees from kernel.org or debian, and i've no problem with backups of different .configs, so basically this should work...? I think i can share swap (with an additional hibernation swap for each debian.) I discarded the idea to share /tmp, don't want to fix the size. I also think i will use tmpfs. Any more ideas ? Greetings micha m°
