Running 32 bit binaries on x86_64

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1

Hi,

I need to work with some proprietary program compiled as a 32 bit executable and I’m not sure how to run it.

I’ve replaced the interpreter using the patchelf command, however now I get a “corrupted shared library” error instead of a “file not found error”.

Can someone point me to relevant documentation or examples?

thanks

2

For examples, you could look at https://github.com/openlab-aux/vuizvui. It contains many games that were packaged. Games are good examples of binary blobs that need patching, and some of them are 32 bits.

3

In particular, have a look at vuizvui/default.nix at master · openlab-aux/vuizvui · GitHub and https://github.com/openlab-aux/vuizvui/blob/master/pkgs/games/humblebundle/antichamber.nix

4

Thanks, the example are on the spot.

Now the problem I’m facing is the need to run the program (an installer) as root. Since I’d like to create a package I tried with fakechroot however it fails with

ERROR: ld.so: object 'libfakechroot.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.

it tried without success with:

let fakechroot32 = import <nixos/pkgs/tools/system/fakechroot> {
	stdenv=stdenv_32bit;
	fetchFromGitHub=pkgs.fetchFromGitHub;
	autoreconfHook=autoreconfHook;
	perl=pkgs.perl;
	};
in
stdenv_32bit.mkDerivation rec {
		
	nativeBuildInputs = [ glibc_multi fakechroot32 utillinux ];
...

Do you have more suggestions?

5

I would try writing a normal derivation as if everything is 32-bit then
use pkgsi686Linux.callPackage to call it.

Or try pkgs.i686Linux.libfakechroot.

1 Like
6

the trick is to use callPackage_i686:

let fakechroot32 = callPackage_i686 <nixos/pkgs/tools/system/fakechroot> {};
in
7

stdenv_32bit is a confusing name. On a 64-bit system it’s a stdenv that is run in 64-bit mode and can produce both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries.