Please convert package to Multiarch (to be used with dosbox)

[NY00123]

While not a portion of ia32-libs on Ubuntu 11.10, the package is a dependency of DOSBox (installable via the dosbox package).
Here is why would one like multiarch support: Some users may prefer to install the dosbox:i386 package, even on an x86_64 OS installation. The reason being that, with the right settings, DOS games can be run with a better performace on the i386 variant of DOSBox, taking advantage of i386 specific code.

Most of DOSBox' dependencies have already been converted to Multiarch. Here is a way of finding out which aren't yet fully converted:
1. Install DOSBox, x86_64 architecture: sudo apt-get install dosbox
2. Remove DOSBox, but not the dependencies: sudo apt-get remove dosbox
3. Attempt to install DOSBox, i386 arch: sudo apt-get install dosbox:i386

That way, we can ensure that no potential collision is missed. Here is the important portion of the third step's output (as of now):

"
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libsdl-sound1.2 libsmpeg0
"

So, once libsdl-sound1.2 and libsmpeg0 are converted to Multiarch, dosbox:i386 should (theoretically) be installable, with no conflicts with the respective x86_64 variants of all libraries.
The report itself is only relevant to libsdl-sound1.2, though. (libsmpeg0 is in ia32-libs, which might make a difference.)

One minor potential issue: libsdl-sound1.2 comes with two executables installed to /usr/bin: playsound and playsound_simple). It could be that these executables should be split into their own respective package, if Multiarch is desired.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: libsdl-sound1.2 1.0.3-4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-7.13-generic 3.2.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-7-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Jan 2 19:56:00 2012
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: libsdl-sound1.2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[NY00123 (ny00)]

libsdl-sound1.2 has been updated on Debian (unstable):
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/s/sdl-sound1.2/sdl-sound1.2_1.0.3-5/changelog

Some relevant notes:
- Debian package is now built for multiarch.
- playsound and playsound_simple have been stripped.

[sakuramboo (sakuramboo)]

sakuramboo@Betsy:~$ sudo apt-get install libsdl-sound1.2:i386
[sudo] password for sakuramboo:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  libsmpeg0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libsdl-sound-gst libsdl-sound1.2
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libsdl-sound1.2:i386
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 93.9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 153 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.

[NY00123 (ny00)]

A check within the Ubuntu Package archive shows that libsdl-sound1.2 has been converted to Multiarch on Ubuntu 12.10.

Since I am not running 12.10 for x86_64 at the moment, it would worth if someone tests this. The aforementioned test with DOSBox can be repeated, applying the following steps:

1. Install DOSBox, x86_64 architecture: sudo apt-get install dosbox
2. Remove DOSBox, but not the dependencies: sudo apt-get remove dosbox
3. Attempt to install DOSBox, i386 arch: sudo apt-get install dosbox:i386

Assuming all relevant dependencies have been converted to Multiarch, no package should get removed on step 3.

P.S. As of 12.10, the libsmpeg0 package (which has also been converted to Multiarch) is not a dependency of libsdl-sound1.2.

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Yes, this was fixed in Ubuntu 12.10.