Beginning with AstLinux 1.2.5, two new board types were added: genx86_64 and genx86_64-serial. These boards are x86_64 builds using a 64-bit toolchain, initrd and Linux kernel.
In general, users will be advised to choose either a geni586[-serial] or genx86_64[-serial] install image and stick with that board type, but developers may want to take a shortcut and switch between i586 and x86_64.
It should be noted that the RUNNIX bootloader will support either i586 or x86_64 run image architectures. Additionally RUNNIX continues to be a 32-bit x86 image, so at first boot the system will be seen as 32-bit.
Note -> With custom builds, the .config Buildroot config file determines what architecture is used. The build-system command ./scripts/build board_type allows you to qualify that .config options to a specific board type. In other words, building with ./scripts/build genx86_64-serial will not by itself generate a x86_64 image, you must first cp x86_64-configs/astlinux-ast11.config .config to make it happen.
Info -> List of board types
If this CLI command generates output, then your board should support x86_64: (“Long Mode” CPUID flag)
grep '^flags.* lm ' /proc/cpuinfo
If no output is generated then your board will not support x86_64.
Somewhat surprisingly, almost everything works as expected when switching between i586 and x86_64, but there are a couple exceptions:
/mnt/kd/ldap/data/data.mdb database is specific to 32 or 64 bits and needs to be rebuilt.initrd.img file that accompanies the run image is specific to 32 or 64 bits, usually not a problem. revert to a different architecture and reboot!
Switching images requires using the CLI and SVN r7353 or later. You must see the trailing [32|64] with the following:
pbx ~ # upgrade-run-image Usage: upgrade-run-image check|upgrade|show|revert firmware_repository_url [32|64]
Example 1 - Currently using geni586 or geni586-serial image, switch to 64-bit:
upgrade-run-image check http://bla-bla.tld/beta-firmware-1.x 64 (if it looks good, then) upgrade-run-image upgrade http://bla-bla.tld/beta-firmware-1.x 64
Example 2 - Currently using genx86_64 or genx86_64-serial image, switch to 32-bit:
upgrade-run-image check http://bla-bla.tld/beta-firmware-1.x 32 (if it looks good, then) upgrade-run-image upgrade http://bla-bla.tld/beta-firmware-1.x 32
Tip -> You may need to first do an upgrade-run-image revert (no reboot) to be able to upgrade if the repo versions match.
1) To be safe, first export the the database in LDIF format via the LDAP-AB tab. (should not be needed, just a backup)
2) Before you make an architecture switch…
service slapd stop slapd -T cat > /mnt/kd/ldap/save.ldif rm /mnt/kd/ldap/data/data.mdb
3) After you have made an architecture switch and rebooted…
service slapd stop rm /mnt/kd/ldap/data/data.mdb slapd -T add -l /mnt/kd/ldap/save.ldif service slapd init
You could just use the LDAP-AB tab for the backup/restore, but using cat/add also restores the passwords.