Running amazonmp3 downloader on Ubuntu 9.04 amd64 (Jaunty) via a chroot

The one biggest (and most annoying) missing package for Ubuntu 9.04 amd64 is the amazon mp3 downloader package.  This is critical being able to download special cheap albums from amazon, and is only available as a 32-bit package for Ubuntu 8.04 (Intrepid).

There are several descriptions on the net on how to hack around missing library dependencies and download them (via getlibs) or to tweak out the pkgconfig file to shoe horn the amazonmp3.deb file into an amd64 system.

I like to keep my installs really pristine, and avoid workarounds like getlibs and modified packages, so I’ve decided to go with a 32-bit chroot for running amazonmp3.  Generally, the process involves downloading another version of Ubuntu (in our case, 8.04, which is what the amazonmp3 package was built against), and then chroot-ing into this install area to run the 32-bit program.  Several existing tools make this easier than it sounds.

Get Ready

There are several dependent packages that you should install first.  In your base system, please run:

$ sudo apt-get install debootstrap schroot

Install 32-bit Intrepid into a subdirectory

Using the new debootstrap package that you just installed, you can now run:

$ mkdir ~/chroots

$ sudo debootstrap –arch=i386 intrepid ~/chroots/intrepid-32

The second command will take a while to run, and will download several hundred MB of intrepid packages, and install them under the newly created directory ~/chroots/intrepid-32

Edit /etc/schroot/schroot.conf

You should add a section to /etc/schroot/schroot.conf that looks like this:

[intrepid-32]
type=directory
description=Intrepid 32-bit
location=/home/YOUR_USERNAME/chroots/intrepid-32
priority=3
users=YOUR_USERNAME,root
groups=YOUR_USERNAME,root
root-groups=root,adm
run-setup-scripts=true
run-exec-scripts=true
personality=linux32

Do a little bit of post-install cleanup.

I’ve found that by default, I don’t have sudo permissions inside the chroot, so I do this one small step:

$ sudo cp /etc/sudoers ~/chroots/intrepid-32/etc/sudoers

That way, when I enter the chroot, I have sudo permissions available as well.

Get inside the chroot and make sure it works

You can now go inside the chroot via the following command:

$ schroot -c intrepid-32

You should see that while inside the chroot, your prompt should start with “(intrepid-32)” indicating that you’re chrooted.  Great.  Give a simple sudo command a try to make sure it works, like this:

$ sudo ls ~

Type your password, and confirm that you can run things as root.

At this point, you can do anything else you want in the chroot, like installing other packages, or cleaning things up.  You may want to run “sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” just for fun.

Install amazonmp3.deb in the chroot

The chroot shares your home directory, /tmp, and several other directories with your main system (so be careful!).  But, this also makes life easier.  While you’re outside of the chroot, download amazonmp3.deb and put it in /tmp or your home directory. Then, get inside the chroot, and run:

(intrepid-32)$ sudo dpkg -i amazonmp3.deb

It will complain about some missing dependencies.  Install those libraries via apt-get, and then run the dpkg -i again, and you should be in business.  To run amazonmp3, you may need to double-check your DISPLAY environment variable and make sure that it’s properly set inside the chroot.  Once you’ve done that, you should be able to easily run amazonmp3 inside the chroot, and download music to your home directory.

Good luck!