[Solved] Removing i386 architecture

[akuankkis]

I have no use to i386 programs anymore. I tried to remove all i386 packages but can't remove all.

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root@ic2:~# apt-get remove --purge `dpkg --get-selections | awk '/i386/{print $1}'`
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gcc-12-base:i386* libc6:i386* libcrypt1:i386* libgcc-s1:i386*
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
  libcrypt1:i386 libc6:i386 (due to libcrypt1:i386) libgcc-s1:i386
  gcc-12-base:i386 (due to libgcc-s1:i386)
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 13.0 MB disk space will be freed.
E: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.

Why I get that error and warning message?
How to force removing?
Why it is dangerous?

[Uptorn]

You are using multiarch to have both i386 and amd64. The correct way to remove i386 is to:

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dpkg --remove-architecture i386

Then running apt autopurge should clean up the unused packages. Or, as recommended by the Debian wiki multiarch page, run:

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apt-get purge ".*:i386"

[akuankkis]

I get this error message and I have only those 4 i386 packages installed.

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root@ic2:~# dpkg --remove-architecture i386
dpkg: error: cannot remove architecture 'i386' currently in use by the database

[Aki]

Hello,

I get this error message and I have only those 4 i386 packages installed.

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root@ic2:~# dpkg --remove-architecture i386
dpkg: error: cannot remove architecture 'i386' currently in use by the database

Perhaps, there's is still some package installed:

• sources / dpkg / 1.22.11 / src / main / main.c

  Code: Select all

  [..]
  static int
  arch_remove(const char *const *argv)
  {
    const char *archname = *argv++;
    struct dpkg_arch *arch;
    struct pkg_hash_iter *iter;
    struct pkginfo *pkg;
  
    if (archname == NULL || *argv)
      badusage(_("--%s takes exactly one argument"), cipaction->olong);
  
    modstatdb_open(msdbrw_readonly);
  
    arch = dpkg_arch_find(archname);
    if (arch->type != DPKG_ARCH_FOREIGN) {
      warning(_("cannot remove non-foreign architecture '%s'"), arch->name);
      return 0;
    }
  
    /* Check if it's safe to remove the architecture from the db. */
    iter = pkg_hash_iter_new();
    while ((pkg = pkg_hash_iter_next_pkg(iter))) {
      if (pkg->status < PKG_STAT_HALFINSTALLED)
        continue;
      if (pkg->installed.arch == arch) {
        if (in_force(FORCE_ARCHITECTURE))
          warning(_("removing architecture '%s' currently in use by database"),
                  arch->name);
        else
          ohshit(_("cannot remove architecture '%s' currently in use by the database"),
                 arch->name);
        break;
      }
    }
    pkg_hash_iter_free(iter);
  
    dpkg_arch_unmark(arch);
    dpkg_arch_save_list();
  
    modstatdb_shutdown();
  
    return 0;
  }
  [..]
  

Perhaps this happens because some i386 packages cannot be removed; from your first post:

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WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
  libcrypt1:i386 libc6:i386 (due to libcrypt1:i386) libgcc-s1:i386
  gcc-12-base:i386 (due to libgcc-s1:i386)

I suspect the libc6:i386 package cannot be removed, resulting in other packages not being removed.

Is the amd64 version installed?

Hope this helps.

[akuankkis]

--force-remove-protected was right option. Now i368 architecture is gone and all works fine.

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dpkg --purge --force-remove-protected {gcc-12-base,libc6,libcrypt1,libgcc-s1}:i386
dpkg --remove-architecture i386

[DebianFox]

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