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18.4 Kernel Specifications
The 64-bit kernels for x86_64, ppc64, and s390x offer both a 64-bit and a 32-bit kernel
ABI (application binary interface). The latter is identical with the ABI for the corre-
sponding 32-bit kernel. This means that the 32-bit application can communicate with
the 64-bit kernel in the same way as with the 32-bit kernel.
The 32-bit emulation of system calls for a 64-bit kernel does not support all the APIs
used by system programs. This depends on the platform. For this reason, a small number
of applications, like lspci, must be compiled on non-ppc64 platforms as 64-bit pro-
grams to function properly. On IBM System z, not all ioctls are available in the 32-bit
kernel ABI.
A 64-bit kernel can only load 64-bit kernel modules that have been specially compiled
for this kernel. It is not possible to use 32-bit kernel modules.
TIP
Some applications require separate kernel-loadable modules. If you intend to
use such a 32-bit application in a 64-bit system environment, contact the
provider of this application and Novell to make sure that the 64-bit version of
the kernel-loadable module and the 32-bit compiled version of the kernel API
are available for this module.
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Installation and Administration
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Troubleshooting
