How can I install (if possible at all) 32 bit applications on the amd64 version of SUSE 10.0?

Thanks

Assuming things in SuSE 10.0 are compiled with multilib support, you should be able to install 32-bit apps the same way you install 64-bit apps.

I have seen statements like this on several occasions. I assume the authors know whereof the speak. If this a feature of certain distros? It is certainly not that simple on Debian. If you install the 64-bit OS, you have to do a lot of messing around (chroot, etc) to get a 32-bit app to work.

Yes, that's true. I should've qualified my response. I don't use SuSE, but on Gentoo, the 32-bit apps install the same way using the package manager. It's just a matter of emerging the 32-bit version. The important this is the multilib support. Thanks for keeping me honest, rickh.

Googling "multilib support" seems to suggest a real rats-nest. I think some distos are trying to work out a common method of handling it, but I would not suggest that a relative newbie go much further than trying to install a 32-bit app on his 64-bit OS. If it works ... which I doubt, fine. Otherwise he can presumably remove the package. Gentoo and some others may have worked out a suitable hack for more sophisticated users, and I know Fedora is messing with it, but it looks pretty shaky to me.

Anything that works would probably have to take some fairly radical liberties with the FHS.