Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Eben King]

On 12/27/25 23:43, Luiz Romário Santana Rios wrote:

I was trying to execute a windows executable with wine. The terminal
output said I had a 64 bit wine installation and I needed to install
the 32 bit wine with the following command:

apt-get install wine32:i386

I was running it in the small dropdown terminal from Dolphin, so I
didn't see the whole output at once, but since this was (as I thought)
a normal operation, just installing a 32 bit version of wine alongside
the 64 bit version, I didn't think much of it and said yes. There were
no warnings besides the usual apt warnings.

Then I noticed a message pop up in the terminal talking about how
applications using phonon will remain with no sound and I just thought
that meant 32 bit applications will have no sound, so I said OK. After
that, I noticed a lot of stuff getting removed and leaving the system
in a broken state and I realized something was wrong. At the end of
it, the terminal disappeared and now many basic Plasma applications
are gone. ...



How do I walk back from this?


I would say, assuming apt still works, re-install things you _know_ are 
gone, and maybe they'll drag in things you _don't know_ (yet) are gone, 
Don't exit X, but you might have to do the installation from a console.

Re: Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Luiz Romário Santana Rios]

> Search through "/var/log/dpkg.log" or "/var/log/dpkg.log.1" etc.
> Look for the records with status "remove" and "purge" and make notes of 
> package names especially meta-packages, which can install multiple packages 
> in bulk as their dependencies.
> First remove "wine32:i386" and reinstall packages that were removed, starting 
> with meta-packages.

Thank you very much, this solved my issue. I first removed the wine32
package and then queried the logs for all removed packages dated from
yesterday and reinstalled them in a single command.

> From my experience with Wine, it is better to install package from WineHQ 
> official repository.
> https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Debian-Ubuntu#trixie

Also thank you very much for this. I'll take a look into it.

> I don't know anything about "phonon".

That's Qt's sound playback API. The reason I got a warning about it is
that, for some reason, installing wine32 removed a ton of 64bit
libraries, including phonon plugins, which would leave Qt applications
without sound.

> Maybe someone else will chime in, if you will still have problems with sound 
> after re-installation.

I don't, everything is fine now. It's still strange that the system
would recommend me a command that breaks the system. Maybe I should
report a bug?

-- 
Luiz Romário Santana Rios

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Sven Joachim]

On 2025-12-28 09:48 -0500, Greg Wooledge wrote:

> In a multiarch setup (i386 on amd64 for example), the shared library
> packages can coexist.  Each library package will have :i386 or :amd64
> appended to its package name.
>
> hobbit:~$ dpkg -l libc6\* | grep ^ii
> ii  libc6:amd64   2.41-12  amd64GNU C Library: Shared 
> libraries
> ii  libc6:i3862.41-12  i386 GNU C Library: Shared 
> libraries
> ii  libc6-dev:amd64   2.41-12  amd64GNU C Library: 
> Development Libraries and Header Files
>
> The library -dev packages *cannot* coexist.  You can have either
> libc6-dev:amd64 or libc6-dev:i386 but not both at the same time.

Surely you can, they happily coexist on my system. 

> Both packages would try to create headers such as /usr/include/stdio.h
> and they could conflict.

That is fine as long as the headers are identical across architectures.

,
| $ dpkg -S /usr/include/stdio.h
| libc6-dev:amd64, libc6-dev:i386: /usr/include/stdio.h
`

Header files that are _not_ identical across architectures must be moved
to an arch specific subdirectory of /usr/include, in the case of
libc6-dev this includes everything in the bits/ directory:

,
| $ dpkg -S /usr/include/*/bits  
| libc6-dev:i386: /usr/include/i386-linux-gnu/bits
| libc6-dev:amd64: /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/bits
| musl-dev:amd64: /usr/include/x86_64-linux-musl/bits
`

Cheers,
   Sven

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Greg Wooledge]

On Sun, Dec 28, 2025 at 11:44:30 +0100, didier gaumet wrote:
> Le 28/12/2025 à 11:16, Nicolas George a écrit :
> > didier gaumet (HE12025-12-28):
> > > And there is the problem of multiarchitecture when you enable i386
> > > architecture, sometimes there are needed amd64 libraries that are replaced
> > > by i386 ones, breaking the system.
> > 
> > Evidence required.
> 
> Sorry, I have none to offer: this took place long ago.
> 
> So let me reformulate it: perhaps this was due to me being dumb but needed
> amd64 libraries did get replaced by i386 ones and I suspect (without
> evidence, again) that at the time apt-get dependencies resolution process
> was not without reproach in this regard.

In a multiarch setup (i386 on amd64 for example), the shared library
packages can coexist.  Each library package will have :i386 or :amd64
appended to its package name.

hobbit:~$ dpkg -l libc6\* | grep ^ii
ii  libc6:amd64   2.41-12  amd64GNU C Library: Shared 
libraries
ii  libc6:i3862.41-12  i386 GNU C Library: Shared 
libraries
ii  libc6-dev:amd64   2.41-12  amd64GNU C Library: Development 
Libraries and Header Files

The library -dev packages *cannot* coexist.  You can have either
libc6-dev:amd64 or libc6-dev:i386 but not both at the same time.
Both packages would try to create headers such as /usr/include/stdio.h
and they could conflict.

Non-library packages also cannot coexist.  You can't have two versions
of coreutils (for example) at the same time, because they would both
try to create /usr/bin/ls and other program files.

For the specific case of Wine,  gives the
following recipe:

Install wine on a 64-bit architecture (amd64 with i386 as foreign
32-bit architecture):

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update

sudo apt install \
  wine \
  wine32 \
  wine64 \
  libwine \
  libwine:i386 \
  fonts-wine

I would start there.  This list does *not* include "wine:i386" or
"wine32:i386".  The only explicit :i386 package named is "libwine:i386".

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Alexander V. Makartsev]

On 28.12.2025 09:43, Luiz Romário Santana Rios wrote:

I was trying to execute a windows executable with wine. The terminal
output said I had a 64 bit wine installation and I needed to install
the 32 bit wine with the following command:

apt-get install wine32:i386

I was running it in the small dropdown terminal from Dolphin, so I
didn't see the whole output at once, but since this was (as I thought)
a normal operation, just installing a 32 bit version of wine alongside
the 64 bit version, I didn't think much of it and said yes. There were
no warnings besides the usual apt warnings.

Then I noticed a message pop up in the terminal talking about how
applications using phonon will remain with no sound and I just thought
that meant 32 bit applications will have no sound, so I said OK. After
that, I noticed a lot of stuff getting removed and leaving the system
in a broken state and I realized something was wrong. At the end of
it, the terminal disappeared and now many basic Plasma applications
are gone. I haven't closed any applications or logged off yet, so I
don't know the full extent of the damage, but that really got me by
surprise. I know you should always pay attention when running apt, so
this is kinda on me, but I really wouldn't expect a simple operation
like this would break the system, much less one explicitly recommended
by the system itself.

How do I walk back from this?

Search through "/var/log/dpkg.log" or "/var/log/dpkg.log.1" etc.
Look for the records with status "remove" and "purge" and make notes of 
package names especially meta-packages, which can install multiple 
packages in bulk as their dependencies.
First remove "wine32:i386" and reinstall packages that were removed, 
starting with meta-packages.


From my experience with Wine, it is better to install package from 
WineHQ official repository.

https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Debian-Ubuntu#trixie

I recommend to install "wine-devel" meta-package, which will install all 
necessary multi-arch dependencies, to run both 32 and 64 bit 
applications inside Wine prefixes.
Packages from WineHQ repository will be installed into "/opt", so they 
will be separated from the rest of the system, ensuring there are no 
breakage or conflicts with other packages from official Debian repositories.


I don't know anything about "phonon". Maybe someone else will chime in, 
if you will still have problems with sound after re-installation.


--

 With kindest regards, Alexander.

 Debian - The universal operating system
 https://www.debian.org

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[didier gaumet]

Le 28/12/2025 à 11:16, Nicolas George a écrit :

didier gaumet (HE12025-12-28):

And there is the problem of multiarchitecture when you enable i386
architecture, sometimes there are needed amd64 libraries that are replaced
by i386 ones, breaking the system.


Evidence required.


Sorry, I have none to offer: this took place long ago.

So let me reformulate it: perhaps this was due to me being dumb but 
needed amd64 libraries did get replaced by i386 ones and I suspect 
(without evidence, again) that at the time apt-get dependencies 
resolution process was not without reproach in this regard.


So *I* will stay clear of multiarchitecture (feel free to disagree, in 
regard to your *own* usecas).


Similarly, for example, I will stay clear of memory sharing between 
guest and host in libvirt, having had my share of crashes. If others ar 
luckier than me: good for them.


And to conclude, Nicolas, you yourself provide no evidence that evidence 
is required, so your demonstration is moot. Have a good day, evidently ;-)

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[Nicolas George]

didier gaumet (HE12025-12-28):
> And there is the problem of multiarchitecture when you enable i386
> architecture, sometimes there are needed amd64 libraries that are replaced
> by i386 ones, breaking the system.

Evidence required.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[mailinglist . drool895]

> I was trying to execute a windows executable with wine. The terminal
> output said I had a 64 bit wine installation and I needed to install
> the 32 bit wine with the following command:
> 
> apt-get install wine32:i386
> 
> I was running it in the small dropdown terminal from Dolphin, so I
> didn't see the whole output at once, but since this was (as I thought)
> a normal operation, just installing a 32 bit version of wine alongside
> the 64 bit version, I didn't think much of it and said yes. There were
> no warnings besides the usual apt warnings.
> 
> Then I noticed a message pop up in the terminal talking about how
> applications using phonon will remain with no sound and I just thought
> that meant 32 bit applications will have no sound, so I said OK. After
> that, I noticed a lot of stuff getting removed and leaving the system
> in a broken state and I realized something was wrong. At the end of
> it, the terminal disappeared and now many basic Plasma applications
> are gone. I haven't closed any applications or logged off yet, so I
> don't know the full extent of the damage, but that really got me by
> surprise. I know you should always pay attention when running apt, so
> this is kinda on me, but I really wouldn't expect a simple operation
> like this would break the system, much less one explicitly recommended
> by the system itself.
> 
> How do I walk back from this?
> 
> --

Start by looking into dpkg and apt logs

Regards.

Re: apt-get install wine32:i386 damaged my installation

[didier gaumet]

Le 28/12/2025 à 05:43, Luiz Romário Santana Rios a écrit :

I was trying to execute a windows executable with wine. The terminal
output said I had a 64 bit wine installation and I needed to install
the 32 bit wine with the following command:

apt-get install wine32:i386

I was running it in the small dropdown terminal from Dolphin, so I
didn't see the whole output at once, but since this was (as I thought)
a normal operation, just installing a 32 bit version of wine alongside
the 64 bit version, I didn't think much of it and said yes. There were
no warnings besides the usual apt warnings.

Then I noticed a message pop up in the terminal talking about how
applications using phonon will remain with no sound and I just thought
that meant 32 bit applications will have no sound, so I said OK. After
that, I noticed a lot of stuff getting removed and leaving the system
in a broken state and I realized something was wrong. At the end of
it, the terminal disappeared and now many basic Plasma applications
are gone. I haven't closed any applications or logged off yet, so I
don't know the full extent of the damage, but that really got me by
surprise. I know you should always pay attention when running apt, so
this is kinda on me, but I really wouldn't expect a simple operation
like this would break the system, much less one explicitly recommended
by the system itself.

How do I walk back from this?



Hello,

You probably(?) there want to run a 32 bits Windows executable. You may 
ask is there are not any viable alternatives (Windows 64 bits executables).


I have stopped using Wine long ago (I would rather install a virtual 
Windows machine to run a Windows program) because often a Windows 
program does not run with Wine.


And there is the problem of multiarchitecture when you enable i386 
architecture, sometimes there are needed amd64 libraries that are 
replaced by i386 ones, breaking the system.


So, feel fry to not comply with it :-) , but my advice would be to 
uninstall all i386 parts, uninstall wine and disable i386 architecture 
altogether with dpkg