/usr/lib vs /usr/lib64

[John Thompson]

On 08/30/2009 07:23 PM, online.service.com at gmail.com wrote:

> It seems i have two python2.6 folders located in /usr/lib vs
> /usr/lib64  respectively.  Most python stuff (source) is in
> /usr/lib64/python2.6 but when in installed packages they have been put
> into /usr/lib/python2.6
> 
> How the system decides which directory to go when python is requested,
> and how it finds the packaged i installed?

Your 32-bit programs use the libraries in /usr/lib and 64-bit programs
use the libraries in /usr/lib64. This is hard-coded into the programs
when the packages are compiled.

N.B. if you build 64-bit rpms using source packages from other
distributions that don't use this convention, you may end up with 64-bit
libraries in your 32-bit /usr/lib hierarchy. These may inadvertently
overwrite existing 32-bit libraries of the same name, rendering the
32-bit programs that depend on them non-functional.

-- 

-John (john at os2.dhs.org)