REQUEST a lesson about wine....

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Codesound
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REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by Codesound »

Hi,

I have been using wine for a few years but I just don't understand how to use it correctly:
please let me know to understand:
what is wineprefix?
what is the difference between wineprefix_x64 and _x32?
why are these two differences?
when AND HOW should I use one rather than the other?

thanks in advance for anyone helping me ...

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jkfloris
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Re: REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by jkfloris »

A wineprefix is the virtual Windows installation. The default is the hidden .wine directory in your home directory.
You can make as many as you want, with any name you like, but you have to use the WINEPREFIX environment variable.

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# create a new prefix in the winetest directory
WINEPREFIX=~/winetest wine winecfg
A prefix can mimic a Windows 32-bit or 64-bit installation.
Why do you need a 32-bit prefix?
- If you need to mimic a Windows version before Windows XP you must create a 32-bit prefix.
- Some programs work better in a 32-bit prefix. That is why winetricks gives you this warning (even though it looks like an error).
You can create a 32-bit prefix with the WINEARCH variable:

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WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/winetest32 wine winecfg
You can't change a 32-bit prefix into a 64-bit or vice versa, once the prefix is created.
beatybit
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Re: REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by beatybit »

I assume that 'prefix' comes from the --prefix option of ./configure
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dimesio
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Re: REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by dimesio »

beatybit wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 11:08 am I assume that 'prefix' comes from the --prefix option of ./configure
No. The --prefix option of ./configure determines where make install will install the built wine. It has nothing to do with wineprefixes.
Codesound
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Re: REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by Codesound »

Thank you all!
There are no online tutorials or specific guides for using wine ... a lot of things I don't know.
Now everything is much clearer!

Regards
spoon0042
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Re: REQUEST a lesson about wine....

Post by spoon0042 »

There is the FAQ as well as other documents on the wiki. The section on wineprefixes for example is here: https://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#Can_I_store ... 2F.wine.3F

https://appdb.winehq.org/ may also help, it has reports from users on running specific apps with wine. Less of a guide than just notes, typically, but if a program needs some special setup it will be noted there. Hopefully. :)
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