Update: Canonical are now saying 32bit libraries will be "frozen" and not entirely dropped.
Original article:
Things are starting to get messy, after Canonical announced the end of 32bit support from Ubuntu 19.10 onwards, Valve have now responded.
Speaking on Twitter, Valve dev Pierre-Loup Griffais said:
Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases will not be officially supported by Steam or recommended to our users. We will evaluate ways to minimize breakage for existing users, but will also switch our focus to a different distribution, currently TBD.
I'm starting to think we might see a sharp U-turn from Canonical, as this is something that would hit them quite hard. Either way, the damage has been done.
I can't say I am surprised by Valve's response here. Canonical pretty clearly didn't think it through enough on how it would affect the desktop. It certainly seems like Canonical also didn't speak to enough developers first.
Perhaps this will give Valve a renewed focus on SteamOS? Interestingly, Valve are now funding some work on KWin (part of KDE).
Looks like I shall be distro hopping very soon…
To journalists from other websites reading: This does not mean the end of Linux support, Ubuntu is just one distribution.
Quoting: VardamirAlan Pope did some testing, and it does not look good. I guess Canonical will reconsider this decision.From the original discussion in May 2018:
QuoteRebootstrapping an architecture is a non-trivial amount of work. It isAlso from that thread:
exceedingly unlikely that, having taken the decision to drop the
architecture, we would then decide to reintroduce it.
--
Steve Langasek
Debian Developer
Ubuntu Developer
slangasek at ubuntu.com
QuoteThe first step would be to all agree on dropping images/installers but weSo it seems like they knew what they were doing.
should keep the end goal of dropping the port in mind ideally soon as well.
On the list of known blockers for removing the i386 port are Steam and
Wine. Solus' snapped Steam is progressing nicely and Steam deb is difficult
to maintain as is [See removal bug]. That leaves coming up with a good way
forward for Wine.
Thanks!
Simon Quigley
Bryan Quigley
Quoting: arWe are not yet ready to drop 32 bit support. Canonical should know thisWhy “yet”? Why throw away support for older software? There are even open source projects that are not ready to be compiled as 64-bit executable.
The Diablo source recreation effort would be impossible without lib32, because the original source contains parts that are not 64-bit safe.
Second, we're half-way through 2019. When should we drop support for architectures that were obsoleted 20 years ago? Why is no one in these comments finding fault with Valve? Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad and grateful that they support Linux, but at the same time they don't do a very good job of it. Perhaps Steam is easy to install on Ubuntu, I'll never know. On Debain it's an exercise in frustration every time.
Technology moves forward. The people deserving of your ire are those refusing to move forward.
Jokes aside or am I joking at all?
I installed Windows a few weeks back (that solved all Linux related gaming problems one could have - in a instant).
Given the "it's just a little space lost" argument I hear so much lately, it's definitely the best solution.
Until Feral decides to give alternative stores a go (I'm looking at GOG even though I don't really like them, but atleast they are usable), I'm giving them a pass.
If Feral wasn't a Steam exclusive, they would not be a hurt by a move like that at all. Or am I missing any 32bit-only game from Feral?
Quoting: riddleyAs a long-time Debian user, I have no dog in this fight, but man these comments are odd. First, Debian isn't difficult to install.
Second, we're half-way through 2019. When should we drop support for architectures that were obsoleted 20 years ago? Why is no one in these comments finding fault with Valve? Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad and grateful that they support Linux, but at the same time they don't do a very good job of it. Perhaps Steam is easy to install on Ubuntu, I'll never know. On Debain it's an exercise in frustration every time.
Technology moves forward. The people deserving of your ire are those refusing to move forward.
Nobody is arguing that we should all be using 64-bit distros, but this is a discussion about library support mainly. I'm simplifying, but since so many older games are 32-bit only, unless you have 32-bit library support, you're screwed. Despite knowing this, Canonical have decided to flip the finger at their desktop users and drop that support. Hence the outrage.
Quoting: riddleyDebian isn't difficult to install.As a person, who uses Ubuntu, Debian, and Arch I agree.
But how do you explain ex. Windows user that to get fresh Nvidia driver and kernel to work with Ryzen he has to open a terminal and type:
sudo echo "deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t stretch-backports linux-image-4.19.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
#do you update it manually every time or is there a meta package?
sudo apt install -t stretch-backports linux-headers-4.19.0-0.bpo.5-amd64
sudo apt install -t stretch-backports nvidia-driver
Debian is not my main distro and I would be glad if you can correct me and there is GUI way to do this.
Really Canonical, what the fuck?
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