Description of problem: On an x86_64 machine that already has the native x86_64 e2fsprogs RPM installed, installing the i386 e2fsprogs RPM results in a 32-bit version of /sbin/e2fsck being installed. This results in the system being unable to fsck. This problem is present in both FC1 and FC2. I think it's an RPM arch selection bug, but I'm filing it as category e2fsprogs for now.
This is not a e2fsprogs bug, reassigning to distribution.
If i386 e3fsprogs cannot fsck on x86_64, then this certainly *is* an e2fsprogs bug. All multilib executables need to perform equivalently, independently of whether rpm automagically prefers elf64 or not. Consider the x86_64 system where only i386 e2fsprogs is installed. rpm is not responsible for what is not installed. The "Always prefer elf64." policy in rpm is being revisited, will be fixed pretty soon. But check whether i386 fsck actually "works" on x86_64 please.
What error occurs when you are using the i386 version on x86_64?
I don't remember the specifics (it's been four months), and I'm afraid I don't have time to reproduce the problem right now. What I do recall is that if an affected system was shut down uncleanly, it couldn't use fsck to replay the journal during the subsequent boot, and basically had to be reinstalled.
Fedora Core 2 is now maintained by the Fedora Legacy project for security updates only. If this problem is a security issue, please reopen and reassign to the Fedora Legacy product. If it is not a security issue and hasn't been resolved in the current FC3 updates or in the FC4 test release, reopen and change the version to match.
Closed per above message and lack of response. Note that FC2 is not even supported by Fedora Legacy currently.