build OSE on a 64bit Linux Host without requiring 32bit compatibility libs

[Heinz Wiesinger]

It's a known limitation that VirtualBox-OSE is currently not able to compile on a "pure" 64bit system.You'll basically need 32bit compatibility libs and a gcc which supports "-m32" available.
Now, I understand this is probably not top-priority, but it would still be nice to be able to build VirtualBox-OSE on a "pure" 64bit system. For example, even disabling all 32bit code (so you can't run 32bit guests) would be better then not compile it at all (if that's possible of course).

[Frank Mehnert]

I wouldn't call this a limitation. All recent gcc versions can generate 32-bit-code.

[Heinz Wiesinger]

yes, considering there is a 32bit glibc and a gcc with support for "-m32" available. But that is exactly my point. For example, there is not on the soon to be released Slackware64.
It would be a pity if you decide to not support systems like that. I'm not going to insist on this, but please understand that there are systems without 32bit-compat libs out there, where VirtualBox-OSE doesn't work currently, which I would indeed call a limitation.

[Sander van Leeuwen]

The choice is for you to add some packages to your system or for us to spend hours or more making it build on such a rare system. I'd say the former is the best solution.

[Michael Thayer]

Perhaps the right thing to do would be to talk to the Slackware people (person?) to convince them (/him) to add compatibility libraries and a cross-compiling environment.

[Heinz Wiesinger]

I'm afraid, this is *very* unlikely to happen. They waited a long time to be able to release a 64bit Distribution without 32bit compat libs. Nowadays with flash and java both being available as 64bit versions there's basically no major issue left. Most apps that still require 32bit libs revolve around proprietary software, except for VirtualBox, which is the *only* open source software I came across so far that does not build on such a system.
FWIW, I never saw this as a "I want it fixed as soon as possible" bug, but rather a reminder to an issue, which should be resolved eventually. I personally don't care if it's with the next major release, with 4.0.0, with 5.0.0 or even later. Acknowledging the issue and considering to resolve it *at some point* would be enough for me here :-)

[Frank Mehnert]

One question: Is the Slackware Linux kernel able to execute 32-bit binaries?

[Heinz Wiesinger]

yes it is