32-Bit Chroot How-To

[Crad]

Most of this comes from http://digital-conquest.ath.cx/wiki/...h_debbootstrap but I wanted to put together a cleaned up version that worked for me here (There are typos and inaccuracies on the wiki page).

Step 1:

• sudo apt-get install dchroot debootstrap
• sudo mkdir /chroot/
• sudo gedit /etc/dchroot.conf
  
  • Add this line: hoary /chroot
• sudo debootstrap --arch i386 hoary /chroot/ http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
• sudo chroot /chroot/
• dpkg-reconfigure locales

Step 2:
In another terminal window (or by existing chroot):

• sudo gedit /chroot/etc/apt/sources.list
• Add the following lines:
  
  • deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary main restricted universe multiverse
  • deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-security main restricted universe multiverse

(We do this step because gedit has yet to be installed in the chroot environment)

Step 3:
In your chrooted environment (chroot /chroot):

• apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade

Step 4:
In another terminal window (or by existing chroot):

• sudo cp /etc/passwd /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/shadow /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/group /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/sudoers /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/hosts /chroot/etc/
• sudo gedit /etc/fstab
• Add the following lines:
  
  • /home /chroot/home none bind 0 0
  • /tmp /chroot/tmp none bind 0 0
  • /dev /chroot/dev none bind 0 0
  • /proc /chroot/proc proc defaults 0 0
  • /media/cdrom0 /chroot/media/cdrom0 none bind 0 0
  • /usr/share/fonts /chroot/usr/share/fonts none bind 0 0
• sudo mkdir /chroot/media/cdrom0
• sudo mount -a
• sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/do_dchroot
• Add the following:
  
  • #!/bin/sh
  • /usr/bin/dchroot -d "`echo $0 | sed 's|^.*/||'` $*"
• sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/do_dchroot

Step 5:
In a new terminal:

• dchroot -d
• sudo apt-get install synaptic
• sudo ln -s /usr/sbin/synaptic /usr/sbin/synaptic32
• exit
• sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/do_dchroot /usr/local/bin/synaptic32
• sudo synaptic32

At this point you should have a 32 bit environment setup with synaptic setup. When you run synaptic32 from your main environment it will chroot execute it and all installations will be made to your 32 bit environment. If you want to be able to easily launch 32 bit chroot apps from your 64 bit environment symlink the app name to /usr/local/bin/do_dchroot. If you're using this as desktop system you'll probably want to use synaptic to install x, gnome, ubuntu specific themes, etc.

Please let me know of any errors, enhancements, or corrections