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People have asked, “Is that even possible?” Yes, it is.

I did this remotely from work via ssh on my home box, worked fine, except for a speed bump here and there. Issues that were caused mainly by me not paying attention.

First off, make sure you upgradepkg pkgtools, gzip, and tar. Then install the xz package if its not already installed. If it is, then upgradepkg xz as well.

After that, you should be able to upgradepkg */*.tgz and then upgradepkg */*.txz to make sure everything gets added.

Now, the other issue is the 32bit compat libs that come with Slamd64. You will want to remove these.

You can get the latest release of the 32bit compat libs that Fred is working on here

Now, this is the process that worked for me and your mileage may vary. My upgrade path went a little differently than this and luckily I had a Slamd64 chroot available to symlink missing commands against or I would’ve been hosed.

Comments/suggestions, as always, are welcome.

There have been quite a few questions posed since the official announcement by Patrick Volkerding that Slackware is now releasing an official x86_64 port.

These questions normally stem about 32bit compatibility etc.

Here are a few answers that I hope will resolve any doubts/questions/concerns you may have, at least for now. These are of my own opinion and may not be completely factual.

1) Is Slackware64 multilib? (support both 64bit and 32bit programs)
A: Yes. It is multilib.

2) Does Slackware64 include the needed 32bit compatibility libraries necessary to run 32bit applications?
A: No, it does not include any 32bit compatibility libraries at this time.

3) Can I build 32bit applications on Slackware64?
A: From research and talking with other Slackware64 testers, it appears that gcc/glibc does NOT support building with -m32 flag for 32bit binary output. I have no idea if this is going to change in the future or not.

4) Is there any easy way to include the 32bit compatibility libraries?
A: The short answer is, possibly. Its been debated that you can use the c/ series from Slamd64-current in Slackware64 and gain the ability to run 32bit applications “out of the box.” However, I have not tested this and right now is more of a theory.

One other note, if you want to RUN 32bit applications without the compatibility libraries you will need to get a static built binary that includes those libraries. This in itself isn’t a bad solution per se, but it also means that you will be looking at VERY large binaries.

I hope this helps to answer some questions. If any of this is inaccurate or could use some clarification, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and let me know.