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COMPAT_NETBSD32(8)          System Manager's Manual         COMPAT_NETBSD32(8)

NAME
     compat_netbsd32 - setup procedure for 32-bit compatibility on 64-bit
     platforms

DESCRIPTION
     The compat_netbsd32 module allows NetBSD/sparc64 to run NetBSD/sparc
     executables, NetBSD/aarch64 to run NetBSD/arm executables, NetBSD/mips64
     to run NetBSD/mips executables, and NetBSD/amd64 to run NetBSD/i386
     executables.  On NetBSD/mips64 the default userland is N32 which is a
     handled by compat_netbsd32 framework, and 64-bit binaries are handled
     similarly to the setup for 32-bit compatibility.  It also provides
     compatibility between OABI and EABI binaries on 32-bit NetBSD/arm ports.

     To use compat_netbsd32, one must either have COMPAT_NETBSD32 and
     EXEC_ELF32 in the kernel, or load the compat_netbsd32 and exec_elf32
     kernel modules.

     Static executables typically need no additional setup.  Dynamic binaries
     require the dynamic linker plus shared libraries.

     Since NetBSD 5.0 the base system has directly included support for 32-bit
     compatibility by installing 32-bit libraries and dynamic linker into
     /usr.  This includes compiler support for compiling 32-bit applications
     on platforms where this is supported.

     For a.out compatibility, /usr/libexec/ld.so from a 32-bit distribution is
     required to exist, and the a.out shared libraries must be found in
     /emul/aout as normal for a.out compatibility.  For 32-bit (64-bit on
     NetBSD/mips64) ELF compatibility, the relevant /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so
     needs to be found in

           Port         Target     Path
           amd64        i386       /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-i386
           sparc64      sparc      /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-sparc
           mips64       O32        /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-o32
           mips64       N64        /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-64
           powerpc64    powerpc    /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-powerpc
           arm64        eabi       /usr/libexec/ld.elf_so-eabi

     Note that the kernel handles rewriting the builting ELF interpreter to
     the above path.

     Before NetBSD 5.0 all of these files needed to be placed under
     /emul/netbsd32.

     The shared libraries for a.out binaries do not live under the
     /emul/netbsd32 directory, but under the /emul/aout directory, where the
     a.out dynamic linker will find them.

BUGS
     A list of things which fail to work in compatibility mode should be here.

     aio(3) is not supported.

     Some ioctl(2) commands are not supported, including drm(4).

NetBSD 10.99                   January 17, 2019                   NetBSD 10.99