I'm running Debian on AMD64 processors in 64-bit mode. Mostly this has been easy, the only problem has been the odd 32-bit app that can't be compiled for 64-bit or hasn't been compiled for 64-bit by the vendor. Over time the list has got shorter as apps do get compiled 64-bit mode.

There are three approaches to dealing with 64/32-bit.

• Run in dual-boot mode - not very practical or nessesary anymore.
• Run 32-bit apps in a 32-bit chroot.
• Run 32-bit apps in a 64-bit environment, but provide 32-bit compatabilitiy libraries.

The chroot works well but it's a bit of a pain and I currently only need it for RealPlayer. The compatabilitiy libraries work well for the Opera browser and the Adobe Flash player. The problem at the moment is that I can't get RealPlayer to run with just the compatability libraries - it works but there are Pango problems and all my font gylphs are squares, which makes it a bit of a pain to use.

I don't know how an app knows which kind of library to use, how does a 32-bit version of RealPlayer know to only use 32-bit libraries, not 64-bit ones? How come Opera works perfectly and RealPlayer doesn't? If I understood how things worked I would stand a better chance of fixing them.

UPDATE:

I tried a new Google search and found the solution on the XaraLX web site: Xara Xtreme: AMD64. No chroot required anymore!