COMPAT_NETBSD32(8)      NetBSD System Manager's Manual      COMPAT_NETBSD32(8)

NAME
     compat_netbsd32 -- setup procedure for 32-bit compatibility on 64-bit
     platform

DESCRIPTION
     The compat_netbsd32 module allows NetBSD/sparc64 to run NetBSD/sparc exe-
     cutables, and NetBSD/amd64 to run NetBSD/i386 executables.

     To use compat_netbsd32, one must either have COMPAT_NETBSD32 and
     EXEC_ELF32 in the kernel, or load the compat_netbsd32 and exec_netbsd32
     kernel modules.

     Static executables typically need no additional setup.  Dynamic binaries
     require the dynamic linker plus shared libraries.  Most of these files
     will need to be placed under /emul/netbsd32.

     The easiest method of installing support for these is via the
     emulators/netbsd32_compat14, emulators/netbsd32_compat15, and
     emulators/netbsd32_compat16 packages, provided in the NetBSD packages
     collection.  These install 32-bit a.out and ELF compatibility libraries,
     respectively.  The details of what is actually necessary for correct
     operation are given below.  This obviously is handled by the emulator
     packages.

     For a.out compatibility, /usr/libexec/ld.so from a 32-bit distribution is
     required to exist as /emul/netbsd32/usr/libexec/ld.so.  For 32-bit ELF
     compatibility, /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so needs to be in
     /emul/netbsd32/usr/libexec/ld.elf_so.

     The shared libraries for a.out binaries do not live under the
     /emul/netbsd32 directory, but under the /emul/aout directory, where the
     a.out dynamic linker will find them.

BUGS
     A list of things which fail to work in compatibility mode should be here.

     IPC is not well supported.

     sysctl(3) is not well supported.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE               March 11, 2006               NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
