32 Bit Software in 64-Bit Debian-Based Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu)

There's a wonderful script named getlibs, that makes the annoying process of installation 32-bit libraries really comfortable.

Mixed Static and Shared Library Linking with GCC

If you want to link some libraries statically and other dynamically you can use these switches:

-Wl,-Bstatic -lsomelibstatically -Wl,-Bdynamic -lotherlibshared

If you just want to compile it all statically, use LDFLAGS="-static".

Installing 32-bit software's libraries in 64 bit Ubuntu

I just came across an awesome tool that manages the installation of 32-bit libraries in a 64-bit system. It's called getlibs and I found out about it in a skype (2.0) installation guide for Ubuntu 64. The actual 2.0 guide is here.

And you may be interested in this forum thread about getlibs.