I just want to know if it would be safe to remove all 386 packages from my x86_64 system? Are any of the 386 packages actually used or do they just sit there?
The reason i'd like to remove them, is often with updates, there is a clash due to conflicting i386 packages, so removing them would also feel tidier if the system doesn't need them.
thank in advance.
Shadi
In general, it's safe - typically they either got installed at the beginning or some errant install down the line sucked them in as dependencies. When you do the yum remove do not include a -y on it, and carefully examine the list of packages to ensure you're not erasing something you obviously want.
rpm -qa --queryformat='%{n}-%{v}-%{r}.%{arch}\n' | grep '\.i[3456]86$' | sort
That will give you a list of packages to just examine without doing anything.
Fortunately, there's a CentOS wiki page that tackles this exactly, with tips on how to avoid those packages being installed in the future. Keep in mind, though, like @troyengel mentioned earlier, there are likely packages on your system that do need the 32-bit version installed.
