[CentOS] Cons of disabling *.i386 and *.i686 in a 64bit Distribution

[James Nguyen]

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 8:22 AM, Christopher Hawker <cwhawker1 at gmail.com>wrote:

> I could not see any issues with it. As you probably know i386 packages will
> work on an x86_64 install, and there are some packages written for i386 that
> you can't get for x86_64. You could disable it, but my system runs perfect
> with it.
>
> Yes I do know that i386 will run fine on x86_64.  The intentions is to only
install and run what I really need.  I'm already only installing the base
and @core packages during a kickstart, so I might as well try and keep it
all clean from the get-go, but noticed that some packages do creep in that
are not needed seeing there is an x86_64 equivalent.  =)

The packages that are only available via i386 are the ones I'll have to keep
indeed.  So the approach I took in excluding those packages would
immediately break on a yum update where their dependencies also need
upgrading.  I came across this moving from 5.6->5.7.

If there are any best practices approach someone has or some tips and
tricks.  I'd much appreciate the advice.  Given security concerns all
around, the slimmer my installs are the less I need to worry about some i386
binary that I don't need or nor run.  I treat my services the same.  If you
don't need it, don't run it. =)

--
> If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me on +61 478
> 241 896.
>
> Regards,
> Christopher Hawker
>
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 12:52 AM, James Nguyen <james at callfire.com> wrote:
>
>> Can anybody give me a reason why this would be a bad idea.  So the premise
>> for this question is that I setup an exclude=*.i368,*.i686 in my yum.conf.
>>  While doing a yum update I come across missing package dependencies for
>> instance mkinitrd for the i386 package.  I noticed there is already one for
>> x86_64.  I realized during the kickstart install that some of these *.i386
>> got installed before I could enable the exclude in the yum.conf.
>>
>>
> So the questions I pose is... why are some of these *.i386 packages getting
>> installed on a 64bit distro? is there any harm is removing them all?
>>
>> I guess I could spin up a virtual and try, but wanted to see what the
>> census already knows about this matter as well.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> --
>>
>> james h nguyen | lead systems architect | www.callfire.com |
>> 1.949.625.4263
>>
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>
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-- 

james h nguyen | lead systems architect | www.callfire.com | 1.949.625.4263
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