13.4 Kernel Specifications
The 64-bit kernels for x86_64 offer both a 64-bit and a 32-bit kernel ABI (application
binary interface). The latter is identical with the ABI for the
corresponding 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
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.
HINT:
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.
