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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.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam, Valve
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Liam Dawe Jun 22, 2019
Interestingly, Valve are now funding some work on KWin (part of KDE). - Added to the article.
ixnari Jun 22, 2019
What a mess this is turning out to be. First we had Wine devs considering dropping support and now Valve. At least in terms of Linux gaming, Steam and Wine are one of the more important and widely use programs. Not having support for them would be a huge blow to Canonical. Here's hoping they extract their head out of their ass soon and reconsider this move. Though, being so close to feature freeze for Ubuntu's next release, I'm not holding my breath.
einherjar Jun 22, 2019
Thanks Canonical :><:

Now we will have lots of game devs and publishers saying:
"See, there is no reliable Distro in the Linux world. It doesn't make sense to ship software for Linux"

And lots of Linux interested Windows 7 users will learn:
"You have a lot of hassle on Linux and you have to choose a new distro again and again. And uuuuuuhhhh in the forums I get like 10 distros named, that I could use. Man, this is complicated, I install Win10 and then I am done"

And it will be much harder for Gaben, to not end the "Linux experiment".

And the shit is, they are right.

So there is only two explanations coming to my mind:

1. MS encourages/pays them for that disaster
2. They are arrogant and dumb as hell and have no idea, how to treat their users and partners (like Valve)

What a big pile of shit and that after all the good things happening in the last time.

Thanks valve, that you don't end your Linux support.


Last edited by einherjar on 22 June 2019 at 8:26 am UTC
cprn Jun 22, 2019
My bet is on Manjaro. If you don't touch it much after install, it's newbie friendly enough, and it's in top3 on ProtonDB (2nd? 3rd? don't remember).

Quoting: einherjar"See, there is no reliable Distro in the Linux world. It doesn't make sense to ship software for Linux"

See, there's no reliable distro in Windows world either but does anybody care...? ¯\_ツ_/¯


Last edited by cprn on 22 June 2019 at 8:29 am UTC
einherjar Jun 22, 2019
Quoting: ixnariWhat a mess this is turning out to be. First we had Wine devs considering dropping support and now Valve. At least in terms of Linux gaming, Steam and Wine are one of the more important and widely use programs. Not having support for them would be a huge blow to Canonical. Here's hoping they extract their head out of their ass soon and reconsider this move. Though, being so close to feature freeze for Ubuntu's next release, I'm not holding my breath.

Perhaps the partnership with MS is better for there financial situation, then supporting non-paying users?
ryad Jun 22, 2019
Canonical should rename their distro in TrumpOS or something..
Termy Jun 22, 2019
Uh, i did not realize ubuntu wants to drop multilib - from the headlines i thought they would only scrap the 32bit installer :O

But i highly doubt the alternative will be Debian, much to conservative with new versions. And packing a PPA with recent Kernels and Mesa for Debian seems kind of the wrong way.

Given they are working on KWin, maybe OpenSUSE? Manjaro might also be a good call...
Anyway, switching away from gnome is a good thing imho xD
TheSHEEEP Jun 22, 2019
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Too bad, really. I doubt Canonical will stick with their decision, since Valve not moving away from 32bit pretty much guarantees most gamers won't use newer Ubuntus any more.
Seems like we will have to drag along the 32bit legacy even longer. *sigh*


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 22 June 2019 at 9:01 am UTC
doomiebaby Jun 22, 2019
Quoting: ryadCanonical should rename their distro in TrumpOS or something..

no no, something political and inflammatory! /s
Leopard Jun 22, 2019
Quoting: TheSHEEEPToo bad, really. I doubt Canonical will stick with their decision, since Valve not moving away from 32bit pretty much guarantees most gamers won't use newer Ubuntus any more.
Seems like we will have to drag along the 32bit legacy even longer. *sigh*

I don't understand that comment , really.

You're implying that is a bad decision but then also saying 32 bit legacy will stick on even longer.

When i look at your profile , it says you're dualbooting with Windows. So you also want MS to kill 32 bit support which will end miserably like Ubuntu's proposal, same games are also 32 bit on that side? Or just asking it on Linux side? Don't you have any 32 bit games?

Killing 32 bit compat is not something MS will do like Canonical does ; without a solution at all.
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