Dec 17, 2011

The true multiarch support

Ubuntu 11.10 came with multiarch support, a feature that makes easier the installation of 32bit apps in a 64bit OS. However this feature isn't yet implemented correctly and the installation of 32bit apps in Ubuntu 11.10 64 bit is a nightmare.
Another distro with multiarch support is OpenSuse. OpenSuse provides excellent multiarch support. I have tested the installation of the first beta version of DraftSight on OpenSuse 11.4 64bit and it was installed without any issues.
However, after the release of OpenSuse 12.1 I was curious to test the current 3rd Beta of DraftSight with the new 64bit OpenSuse.
I installed OpenSuse 12.1 64bit GNOME version via VirtualBox. I downloaded DraftSight.rpm and tried to install it. With the first attempt I got an error. A dependency couldn't be found. That happened because DraftSight depends on a library that isn't included in the official OpenSuse repositories. However, the solution is extremely simple. You just have to enable the Packman repository. This repository ( it's similar to the Medibuntu repository) contains extra software that isn't included for licensing reasons. After that step DraftSight was installed automatically, without problems,  simply by double clicking on the DraftSight.rpm package from your file manager.


 The warning message for the unsatisfied dependency.



After enabling the Packman repository, everything is fine.

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