Ubuntu... downgrade? (64-bit -> 32-bit)

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

On Wed, January 26, 2011 8:54 am, Benjamin Scott wrote:

> I have an idea I've been turning over in my head which may be
> applicable here, too: Set up another installation in a directory branch.
> In your case, maybe under "/usr/ubuntu-i386/" or something
> like that.

That could be "fun".  *ponders inserting a chroot or a pivot_root into the
installation process*

> I've been fiddling with using arguments to apt-get/dpkg to change
> the root directory for that invocation, e.g.:
>
> sudo apt-get -o 'RootDir=/usr/unstable' update

Interesting.  Hadn't known about/considered this route.

> That problem I have is that I haven't found the magic needed to
> initialize an apt installation.  It rightly complains that its data files
> are missing, but I don't know any way to create them.  With RPM, it's "rpm
> --initdb".  Anyone know how to do it in APT-land?

Googling around didn't come up with anything that simple -- but I did find
something: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Debian/package-database-rebuild.html
Looks like Nicholas Petreley wrote a column (dead link referenced in page)
describing a similar issue, and someone wrote up a script in response. 
It's from 2003 -- a mere eight years ago might cause there to be some
issues, but at the least, it seems to have some interesting ideas for
mining.

-Ken