Guys, we have a number of homegrown applications (C and even some Fortran). Lots of Java of course much like everybody else these days. I am counting on RPC being compatible. Lots of custom printing configurations (I am assuming printing will not be an issue between 32/64). From what I am hearing it looks like I may want to get a 64 Bit backbone (server hardware/OS) but still run in compat mode for a while (32 BIT binaries). I know this may sound dumb but any problems with Java? I am expecting the path of least resistance on this item but you never know so I am asking :)
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:23 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, 17 Mar 2009, Brad Knowles wrote: > >> on 3/16/09 11:20 PM, [email protected] said: >> >>>> It depends on what you're doing. Some applications have not yet been >>>> ported to 64-bit, and may not run correctly on a machine that has a >>>> 64-bit kernel. Other applications may run better in 64-bit mode. You >>>> need to know your specific application. >>> >>> do you have any specific examples? the last usespace program that I ran >>> into with this sort of bug was the ipchains binary, and that was fixed >>> several years ago. >> >> I've heard of no end of problems with precompiled binaries provided by >> vendors for things like Flash, Nvidia drivers, etc.... > > using a 32 bit flash as a plugin to a 64 bit browser is an issue. that issue > ended up getting resolved by people figuring out that you could use > ndiswrapper to run flash (and several distros do this by default now). this > doesn't make flash stable (does anything??), but it does mean that when > flash locks up it doesn't crash the browser, so you can do a graceful exit > when you want to. > > there is a 64 bit flash in alpha status right now. I'm running it on my > laptop and it crashes once in a while, taking the browser down with it. I'm > not sure it's a win, but I'm continuing to run it to be a beta-tester and > encourage Adobe to support linux better. > > java brwser plugins are in a similar situation, but are not quite as bad. > Sun has a 64 bit java in beta. it's a but ugly to get setup as a plugin, but > seems far more stable. > > > as for nVidia, binary drivers are a nightmare in any case, they are distro > and kernel version specific, and they tie in directly to the kernel address > space. don't try to use them with any kernel they weren't directly tested > with (and this includes not using them with an distro kernel update if they > weren't made specificly for that update). > >> Admittedly, that's a more workstation-oriented issue as opposed to a >> server problem, but it's certainly a valid class that may be of potential >> concern. And anywhere else you've got a pre-compiled binary you have to deal >> with, is a potential source of problems. > > I'm not trying to say that you don't have valid concerns, but I have been > running 32 bit code on 64 bit kernels for quite a while (both server and > workstation), including in high-volume production settings (the vendor > hadn't gotten around to releasing a 64 bit version yet), and I have found > things to be very reliable. > > if you are going to have problems, I would expect to see them in things that > try to muck directly with the kernel (CD burning software, userspace device > drivers, etc. things that are linux-only, and frequently version and/or > distro specific). applications that are portable across platforms give me no > problems, even demanding applications like databases > > David Lang > -- Paul _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
