Changing from i386 to x86_64 architecture

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Once upon a time, I bought a laptop running FC6.i386.  It ran well
enough at the time, but I wanted to unlock the 64 bit potential of my
laptop, so, when the time came to upgrade, I did some research on yum
upgrades and determined that there was a file buried in /etc that I
could change which would effectively change my architecture from i386 to
x86_64.  This allowed me to upgrade directly to F9.x86_64.

OK, the upgrade didn't exactly go flawlessly, and I had to do a lot of
updating by hand, but, in the end, I had converted from i386 to x86_64,
where my laptop has been through further upgrades (F10, F11, F12, and
now F14).

Now, after putting a new motherboard in my home server (moving from an
Athlon XP-2600+ to a Phenom 9450e Quad Core), I want to change the
architecture of the home serve to 64 bit as well.

Alas, the file I once changed, that allowed yum to do the right thing,
no longer exists (it was obsoleted somewhere in the F8-F10 timeframe).

What is the best way to change architecture while upgrading?  Is it to
just use the x86_64 F15 install DVD?

preupgrade does not support this, and I can't seem to trick yum into
installing *any* x86_64 RPMs on my currently i386 system....

Where is this piece of magic that yum uses to decide if the architecture
is 32 bits or 64 bits????

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at verizon.net
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)