Ubuntu Developers Once Again Debate Dropping i386 Images, Then Discontinuing i386 Port

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu Developers Once Again Debate Dropping i386 Images, Then Discontinuing i386 Port

While the Ubuntu desktop official images are no longer 32-bit/i386 and more Ubuntu derivatives are dropping their 32-bit x86 installers, not all 32-bit images/installers have been discontinued and the i386 package archive / port remains. That matter though is back to being debated...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-i386-Dropping-Discussion

[Ardje]

"nobody uses x86 anymore" "every x86 has amd64 mode"
Well, it's been 2 years since I've made a live boot for new COTS x86 only platforms (Vortex based).
It's been 5 years since my CE5315 based "NAS" came out (intel x86 32 bits only).
I won't use a desktop on any of those systems, but 99% of my linux use is non-desktop. And my desktop runs on 32 bits arm v7.

[SkyWarrior]

Steam should have its 32bit libraries replaced for 64 bit for good. I don't want a snap app stitched to my system. As opposed to many I hate snap.

[shmerl]

I hope Debian will drop 32-bit distro and will iron out cross compilation for 32-bit multiarch (on 64-bit) at last. I can't currently build 32-bit Mesa on 64-bit distro, because clang / llvm stopped being usable in cross compilation scenario.

[starshipeleven]

"nobody uses x86 anymore" "every x86 has amd64 mode"
Well, it's been 2 years since I've made a live boot for new COTS x86 only platforms (Vortex based).
It's been 5 years since my CE5315 based "NAS" came out (intel x86 32 bits only).
I won't use a desktop on any of those systems, but 99% of my linux use is non-desktop. And my desktop runs on 32 bits arm v7.

Context man. Ubuntu is a distro for PCs and servers, their "nobody" isn't a "nobody at all" but a "nobody that uses Ubuntu". Embedded and embedded-ish usage isn't relevant for them.

[oiaohm]

Biggest question is how will wine work thinking it requires 32 bit binaries even on 64 bit systems if they drop the i386 packages.

[oiaohm]

I hope Debian will drop 32-bit distro and will iron out cross compilation for 32-bit multiarch (on 64-bit) at last. I can't currently build 32-bit Mesa on 64-bit distro, because clang / llvm stopped being usable in cross compilation scenario.

pbuilder and chroot both work.

[shmerl]

Biggest question is how will wine work thinking it requires 32 bit binaries even on 64 bit systems if they drop the i386 packages.

They will only drop the distro, not multiarch and cross compiling.

[shmerl]

pbuilder and chroot both work.

I know, but I prefer cross compilation method. chroot is installing whole 32-bit system on 64-bit one. I can do it in VM too. But I already have 64-bit VM, and it should be possible to cross compile to 32-bit. It used to work, until Debian packages started conflicting a few months ago (libc6-i386 conflicts with libc6-amd64:i386), so clang / llvm became unusable for such scenario which means no Mesa cross compilation.

If they'll drop 32-bit distro, they'll have no option but to resolve this kind of mess.

[boltronics]

To[sic] major users of the 32-bit Ubuntu packages remain Steam and Wine. For Steam, Bryan Quigley is proposing to make use of of the Solus Linux's Snap package for Steam that is self-contained and better than the Steam Debian packaging anyhow.

And Wine? What is Bryan proposing for developers who need to build and test 32-bit wine on a regular basis?

Not that I really care what Ubuntu does these days. I switched over to Debian years ago when Ubuntu introduced the shopping lens, and haven't looked back.