Ubuntu 19.10 To Drop 32-bit x86 Packages

[Raka555]

This simply will not work at all with GPU drivers though. Any alternative to this is going to reinvent multilib, badly.

You are giving me hope

[shmerl]

This simply will not work at all with GPU drivers though. Any alternative to this is going to reinvent multilib, badly.

With multilib being simply a handicapped version of multiarch, why ditch it to begin with? Just limit libraries to the set that is actually needed for known use cases. Like games and such. And they aren't need for Steam only. Older GOG games also need 32-bit libs.

[Raka555]

It is also ironic that games, that are by far the most demanding software, run very well on 32bit.

It is probably because game developers have a much better understanding of the hardware and how to write proper programs.

[Xaero_Vincent]

What may need to happen is a community supported fork of Ubuntu's multilib repository. Sort of how like Arch Linux has a community supported version of 32-bit builds of the OS.

[shmerl]

What may need to happen is a community supported fork of Ubuntu's multilib repository. Sort of how like Arch Linux has a community supported version of 32-bit builds of the OS.

Better just invest efforts in Debian, so it wouldn't drop multiarch 32-bit packages. And ditch Ubuntu since they already made their mind.

[brent]

With multilib being simply a handicapped version of multiarch, why ditch it to begin with? Just limit libraries to the set that is actually needed for known use cases. Like games and such. And they aren't need for Steam only. Older GOG games also need 32-bit libs.

Well that's my point. Whether it's implemented with multilib or multiarch doesn't really matter. There's no way around keeping a set of libraries around for compatibility. multilib/multiarch, fully integrated with package management etc. is the proven, reliable way. An LXD container would be the shitty way that's completely unproven and not well integrated with the rest of the system. It's not really clear to me what you'd actually gain by just shifting the problems (maintenance burden) into a container.

[birdie]

An astonishing number of clinical idiots in the thread.

First of all, you can run a pure 64 bit distro if you want to - no one forces you to install 32bit libraries if you hate them. In fact, last time I checked 64bit Fedora and Ubuntu can be installed without a single 32bit library and will work just fine.

Second of all, there are tons of 32bit only closed source software which people use and will use for at least 20 more years. Games are a prime example. In the future people might virtualize the said software if necessary but given the progress in single threaded CPU performance or an almost complete lack of it, I don't expect PCs 20 years from now to be more than 50% faster in single threaded mode than they are now unless we migrate from silicone to something radically different.

Third of all, there are still cases and applications which run a lot faster in 32bit mode, so you may as week keep it for now.

Fourthly, surprise, some people still have i686 only hardware or want to run their VMs in i686 to save disk space and RAM.

It's an asinine decision and I expect Ubuntu to backtrack on it.

[Charlie68]

Let's not forget that maintaining an architecture like the 32bit has a cost, in terms of time and money, moreover it is always more difficult for the distributions to do testing on this architecture due to the limited use, Ubuntu has estimated that only 1% of its users uses this architecture. No one is forbidden to create repositories with 32-bit packages, but they will also have to compile the kernel and everything else, on the other hand one cannot expect the distributions to assume this burden.

[Grogan]

And yet Steam is 64bit on Mac. They should had put the feet down and demanded 64bit on Linux too since the start.

It supports both. Steam starts with shell scripts and detects your environment and loads the appropriate libraries. It's not Steam that's the problem, it's the runtimes for 32 bit games and the 32 bit games themselves.

[shmerl]

It's an asinine decision and I expect Ubuntu to backtrack on it.

I wouldn't count on it. They quoted lack of resources reason. Complaints aren't going to help that. Rather, those who need it will just migrate to other distros.

It supports both. Steam starts with shell scripts and detects your environment and loads the appropriate libraries. It's not Steam that's the problem, it's the runtimes for 32 bit games and the 32 bit games themselves.

Exactly. Steam doesn't matter. Games which are 32-bit do.