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Canonical planning to drop 32bit support with Ubuntu 19.10 onwards

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As you might have heard by now, Canonical has made the decision to drop 32bit support from Ubuntu 19.10 onwards.

Writing on the mailing list, as well as this post on Ubuntu's Community Hub, Canonical gave a reminder that the decision isn't coming without warning. It was proposed last year and it was followed up with another post detailing a final decision to be made in the middle of 2019. So here we are, the decision seems to have been made.

The problem isn't hardware, as likely around 99% of people nowadays have a 64bit capable computer. Going by our own statistics, from what 2,254 users told us only 4 are using a 32bit Linux distribution. The issue then, is mainly software and libraries needed to actually run 32bit applications. This is where it sounds like there's going to be plenty of teething issues, with a number of people not too happy about the decision.

Steam, for example, is one such application along with plenty of 32bit games that will likely never get updated, although Canonical did say they're "in discussions" with Valve about it. There's also GOG, Humble Store and itch.io which all provide a number of direct-download 32bit games, which do not supply the required 32bit libraries to run. It doesn't sound like they have been given any thought (at least they haven't been mentioned).

Another of the major problems being Wine, with a discussion now happening on their mailing list. The discussion doesn't seem to be too positive, with developer Henri Verbeet even saying "I think not building packages for Ubuntu 19.10 would be the only practical option.", although Andrew Eikum's idea of using the Steam Runtime could be an interesting way around it.

What are your thoughts?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Distro News, Misc
21 Likes
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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164 comments
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Redface Jun 23, 2019
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Schattenspiegelhttps://twitter.com/Plagman2/status/1142262103106973698
Oh dear... this will get interesting
I think people haven't noticed this comment or it would be seeing a bit more discussion.
Do you mean where he writes that Valve will nbot support Ubuntu 19.10 and newer anymore? There are over 200 comments at GOLs article about that: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/valve-looking-to-drop-support-for-ubuntu-1910-and-up-due-to-canonicals-32bit-decision.14421

Or is there something new from Valve?
slaapliedje Jun 23, 2019
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: elmapul" The issue then, is mainly software and libraries needed to actually run 32bit applications. This is where it sounds like there's going to be plenty of teething issues, with a number of people not too happy about the decision.'

in the mean time, you can run windows 1.0 applications on windows 10...
what is the point of the system being open source, if we cant even run the apps we want? where is the freedom on it?

yes i can use other distro, but what if all the major ones does the same (the ones which are base for the rest) i'm not planning to support my self.
windows never looked so good.
Ha, that's a STRONG maybe for running older Windows stuff in Windows 10. I mean I've seen many older applications run better with Wine than in Windows 10.

But the point here is, imagine if Windows 10 dropped 32bit support. I'd guess roughly 80% of things would stop working entirely. In the Windows world 64bit native applications were never that wide spread.

that is why microsoft would never do that, because they have something to lose by doing that, and that thing is $$ and marketshare.

companies like canonical who the main source of income comes from servers and support have nothing to lose in droping support for 32 bits applications, hell they may even gain money from doing it since their users WILL NEED support, paid support in some cases.


also you forgot to mention that linux break support with itself with an regular base, its a shame but if you want to install an old version of an software or an software made for an different distro, some times its easier to run the windows version on wine thant the linux version on linux.
and some times you absolutelly need the old version of such software because you need an plugin that only run in and old version and you dont have enough know how or time to port it to newer versions of the software (or its an proprietary plugin)
That's never been my experience with Linux. It may take some compatibility libraries for older stuff, but you can still get the old Loki games working on modern Linux systems.
Purple Library Guy Jun 23, 2019
Quoting: Redface
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Schattenspiegelhttps://twitter.com/Plagman2/status/1142262103106973698
Oh dear... this will get interesting
I think people haven't noticed this comment or it would be seeing a bit more discussion.
Do you mean where he writes that Valve will nbot support Ubuntu 19.10 and newer anymore? There are over 200 comments at GOLs article about that: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/valve-looking-to-drop-support-for-ubuntu-1910-and-up-due-to-canonicals-32bit-decision.14421

Or is there something new from Valve?
Whoops! It's me that hadn't noticed that whole article yet.
RealmSpyderYT Jun 24, 2019
Welp it looks like I'm switching to a Arch or Debian based Linux distro. Maybe even Linux Mint Debian edition.
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