I ran into this as well. What I did was pretty simple:
1. install precise on an amd64 server, install a bunch of stuff
2. run dpkg --get-selections there
3. install a second amd64 server with precise
4 run apt-get update on the second server
5. run dpkg --set-selections with the list from the first server on the second server
6. run apt-get dselect-upgrade on the second server
This installed many, many i386 package. Some examples:
I ran into this as well. What I did was pretty simple:
1. install precise on an amd64 server, install a bunch of stuff
2. run dpkg --get-selections there
3. install a second amd64 server with precise
4 run apt-get update on the second server
5. run dpkg --set-selections with the list from the first server on the second server
6. run apt-get dselect-upgrade on the second server
This installed many, many i386 package. Some examples:
apache2- utils:i386* apache2.2-bin:i386* comerr-dev:i386* cpp-4.6:i386* gcc-4.6-base:i386* haproxy:i386* 6-jre-cacao: i386* icedtea- 6-jre-jamvm: i386* icedtea-netx:i386* krb5-multidev:i386* libapr1:i386* dbd-sqlite3: i386* libaprutil1- ldap:i386* libasn1- 8-heimdal: i386* libasound2:i386* wrapper- java-jni: i386* libatk1.0-0:i386* libaudio2:i386* libavahi- client3: i386* common- data:i386* libavahi- common3: i386* libboost- filesystem1. 46.1:i386* program- options1. 46.1:i386* libboost- python1. 46.1:i386* libboost- regex1. 46.1:i386* regex1. 48.0:i386* libboost- system1. 46.1:i386* libboost- thread1. 46.1:i386* libbsd0:i386* libbz2-1.0:i386* ares-dev: i386* libc-ares2:i386* libc6:i386* libc6-dev:i386* libcairo2:i386* libcap2:i386* libcomerr2:i386* gnutls: i386* libdatrie1:i386* libdb4.8:i386* libdb5.1:i386* libdbi1:i386* nouveau1a: i386* libdrm- radeon1: i386* libdrm2:i386* i386* 1-dev:i386* libfreetype6:i386* libfreetype6- dev:i386* libgcc1:i386* libgcrypt11:i386* noxpm:i386* libgdbm3:i386* libgdk- pixbuf2. 0-0:i386* libgettextpo0:i386* libgif4:i386* libgl1- mesa-dev: i386* mesa-dri: i386* libgl1- mesa-glx: i386* libglapi-mesa:i386* libglib2.0-0:i386* libglibmm- 2.4-1c2a: i386* mesa:i386* libglu1- mesa-dev: i386* libgmp10:i386* libgnutls26:i386* libgomp1:i386* libgpg-error0:i386* krb5-2: i386* libgssapi3- heimdal: i386* libgssrpc4:i386* plugins- base0.10- 0:i386* libgstreamer0. 10-0:i386* libgtk2.0-0:i386* libhcrypto4- heimdal: i386* heimdal: i386* libheimntlm0- heimdal: i386* libhx509- 5-heimdal: i386* libice6:i386* libicu48:i386* turbo8: i386* libjpeg- turbo8- dev:i386* libjpeg8:i386* libjpeg8-dev:i386* mit8:i386* libkadm5srv- mit8:i386* libkdb5-6:i386* libkeyutils1:i386* 26-heimdal: i386* libkrb5-3:i386* libkrb5-dev:i386* libkrb5support0 :i386* liblcms1:i386* 2.4-2:i386* libllvm3.0:i386* liblua5.1-0:i386* liblzo2-2:i386* libmng1:i386* libmpc2:i386* libmpfr4:i386* t18:i386* libncurses5:i386* libncursesw5:i386* libnspr4:i386* libnss3:i386* libnss3-1d:i386* uuid16: i386* libp11-kit0:i386* libpam0g:i386* 0-0:i386* libpciaccess0:i386* libpcre3:i386* libpcrecpp0:i386* libpcsclite1:i386* libpixman-1-0:i386* helper1: i386* libpng12-0:i386* libpng12-dev:i386* libpopt0:i386* libprotobuf7:i386* libpth20:i386* stubs0: i386* libpthread- stubs0- dev:i386* libpulse0:i386* libqt4-dbus:i386* libqt4- declarative: i386* designer: i386* libqt4-dev:i386* libqt4-help:i386* libqt4- network: i386* libqt4-opengl:i386* opengl- dev:i386* libqt4- qt3support: i386* libqt4-script:i386* libqt4- scripttools: i386* libqt4-sql:i386* sql-mysql: i386* libqt4-svg:i386* libqt4-test:i386* libqt4-xml:i386* libqt4- xmlpatterns: i386* libqtcore4:i386* dev:i386* libqtwebkit4:i386* libquadmath0:i386* libreadline5:i386* libreadline6:i386* heimdal: i386* librrd4:i386* librtmp0:i386* libsasl2-2:i386* libsasl2- modules: i386* libselinux1:i386* +-2.0-0c2a: i386* libsigsegv2:i386* libsm6:i386* libsndfile1:i386* libsqlite3-0:i386* libsqlite3- dev:i386* et8:i386* libudev0:i386* libunistring0:i386* libutempter0:i386* libuuid1:i386* libvorbis0a:i386* :i386* libwind0- heimdal: i386* libwrap0:i386* libx11-6:i386* libx11-dev:i386* libx11-xcb1:i386* render0: i386* libxcb-shm0:i386* libxcb1:i386* i386* libxcursor1:i386* libxdamage1:i386* libxdmcp-dev:i386* libxdmcp6:i386* pae:i386* linux-image- 3.2.0-25- generic: i386* linux-image- 3.2.0-29- generic: i386* image-3. 2.0-34- generic- pae:i386* linux-image- generic- pae:i386* linux-libc- dev:i386* linux-server:i386* dev:i386* mongodb- clients: i386* mongodb- server: i386* mutt:i386* openjdk-6-jre:i386* 6-jre-headless: i386* phantomjs:i386* qt4-linguist- tools:i386* qt4-qmake:i386* redis-server:i386*
icedtea-
libaprutil1:i386* libaprutil1-
libasyncns0:i386* libatk-
libavahi-
libboost-
libboost-
libc-
libcroco3:i386* libcups2:i386* libcurl3-
libdbus-1-3:i386* libdrm-dev:i386* libdrm-intel1:i386* libdrm-
libedit2:i386* libexpat1:i386* libexpat1-dev:i386* libffi6:i386* libflac8:i386* libfontconfig1:
libfontconfig
libgd2-
libgl1-
libglu1-
libgpgme11:i386* libgpm2:i386* libgssapi-
libgstreamer-
libheimbase1-
libidn11:i386* libjasper1:i386* libjpeg-
libjson0:i386* libk5crypto3:i386* libkadm5clnt-
libkms1:i386* libkrb5-
libldap-
libmysqlclien
libogg0:i386* libopts25:i386* liborc-0.4-0:i386* libossp-
libpango1.
libpkcs11-
libpthread-
libqt4-
libqt4-
libqt4-
libqtgui4:i386* libqtwebkit-
libroken18-
libsigc+
libssl-dev:i386* libssl1.0.0:i386* libstdc++6:i386* libtasn1-3:i386* libthai0:i386* libtiff4:i386* libtinfo5:i386*
libtokyocabin
libvorbisenc2
libxau-dev:i386* libxau6:i386* libxcb-glx0:i386* libxcb-
libxcb1-dev:i386* libxcomposite1:
libxext-dev:i386* libxext6:i386* libxfixes3:i386* libxft2:i386* libxi6:i386* libxinerama1:i386* libxml2:i386*
libxrandr2:i386* libxrender1:i386* libxslt1.1:i386* libxt6:i386* libxtst6:i386* libxxf86vm1:i386* libyaml-0-2:i386*
libyaml-dev:i386* linux-generic-
linux-
mdadm:i386* mesa-common-
openjdk-
rrdtool:i386* sqlite3:i386* zlib1g:i386* zlib1g-dev:i386*