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.
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The comments on this article are closed.
If it happens, I hope they choose Debian as the new default supported distro.
Not really a fan of the RedHat distros.
Not really a fan of the RedHat distros.
22 Likes, Who?
This actually surprises me a bit. But, considering the Wine developers deciding on whether to drop Ubuntu 19.10 support, this decision makes more sense.
Perhaps this is the thing that makes Canonical re-evaluate their decision to drop 32-bit multilib support.
Perhaps this is the thing that makes Canonical re-evaluate their decision to drop 32-bit multilib support.
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If Debian won't have the same problem, it would make sense for them to support it, as they already base Steamos on top of Debian iirc.
Last edited by dvd on 22 June 2019 at 5:33 am UTC
Last edited by dvd on 22 June 2019 at 5:33 am UTC
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ElectricPrism Jun 22, 2019
There needs to be a Ubuntu Devs meme where they are sitting around a round table and are like What Terrible Idea Can We Come Up With This Year?
It's not that 64-bit shouldn't overtake 32-bit in the app / game space, but in the library space it's not a sane solution.
As these problems come up and with developments in ARM, POWER9, RISC I am beginning to think that binary distros are not the way.
What I'm afraid of is what it will cost to switch to a source package manager distro -- I am under the impression that even Gentoo has some ideology and thinking in implementation form that is stuck in 2008.
It's a shame Ubuntu couldn't learn a lesson from Gobo Linux where they organize packages /Programs/X-Library/V.XX/[files] -- if Linux took a page from their book we would have never needed Snaps or Flatpaks because multiple dependency versions could co-exist, and on servers where security matters they could simply require the latest version or have a secure channel of approved versions completely mitigating the necessity of LTS and having the best of Rolling Release and Point Release stability and freshness all while eliminating the necessity to over-engineer solutions that never should have needed to exist to begin with.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 22 June 2019 at 6:01 am UTC
It's not that 64-bit shouldn't overtake 32-bit in the app / game space, but in the library space it's not a sane solution.
As these problems come up and with developments in ARM, POWER9, RISC I am beginning to think that binary distros are not the way.
What I'm afraid of is what it will cost to switch to a source package manager distro -- I am under the impression that even Gentoo has some ideology and thinking in implementation form that is stuck in 2008.
It's a shame Ubuntu couldn't learn a lesson from Gobo Linux where they organize packages /Programs/X-Library/V.XX/[files] -- if Linux took a page from their book we would have never needed Snaps or Flatpaks because multiple dependency versions could co-exist, and on servers where security matters they could simply require the latest version or have a secure channel of approved versions completely mitigating the necessity of LTS and having the best of Rolling Release and Point Release stability and freshness all while eliminating the necessity to over-engineer solutions that never should have needed to exist to begin with.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 22 June 2019 at 6:01 am UTC
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SO Ubuntu has jumped the shark and decided to become the Apple of the Linux world
Hey Ubuntu, you know why Apple is popular? Yeah its not because they're dropping 32-bit. Its also not because they're dropping OpenGL. Do you think imitating all the BAD stuff Apple does is going to make Ubuntu better?
Hey Ubuntu, you know why Apple is popular? Yeah its not because they're dropping 32-bit. Its also not because they're dropping OpenGL. Do you think imitating all the BAD stuff Apple does is going to make Ubuntu better?
17 Likes, Who?
SteamOS being Debian-based, recommending Debian or Mint/Debian would make a lot of sense. But it is true that Debian is not for beginners.
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rustybroomhandle Jun 22, 2019
Wonder how this affects Ubuntu derivatives.
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Quoting: gojulSteamOS being Debian-based, recommending Debian or Mint/Debian would make a lot of sense. But it is true that Debian is not for beginners.
Agreed. Pure Debian is tricky to install, configure and maintain (compared to Ubuntu).
Perhaps Mint-Debian then...
Who knows.....
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YYYyyyah.... I'll be considering switching to another distro too. If I'm an enterprise user, I would VERY much look toward something else like Debian right now too.
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Quoting: rustybroomhandleWonder how this affects Ubuntu derivatives.System76 already said Pop will continue 32bit, becoming maintainers themselves if they have to. System76 are smart, their users are the desktop, they at least understand their own market.
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doomiebaby Jun 22, 2019
at first i thought that debian would surely be what they settle on, as i thought that's what steam os was based directly on; but indeed a recommendation ought to be something noob-friendly, and they know that. on that note, i also do wonder what will become of distros like pop and mint. i know mint has their "just in case" debian-based experiment... maybe this is that case? what a shakeup Owo
what one 'humbug' in the discussion at phoronix shared
fascinating...
what one 'humbug' in the discussion at phoronix shared
fascinating...
4 Likes, Who?
Another thing to know there :
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Steam-Linux-Network-One-Line
If you're affected (I am with recent kernel fixes) launch Steam this way :
steam -tcp
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Steam-Linux-Network-One-Line
If you're affected (I am with recent kernel fixes) launch Steam this way :
steam -tcp
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Quoting: ThormackQuoting: gojulSteamOS being Debian-based, recommending Debian or Mint/Debian would make a lot of sense. But it is true that Debian is not for beginners.
Agreed. Pure Debian is tricky to install, configure and maintain (compared to Ubuntu).
Perhaps Mint-Debian then...
Who knows.....
Installing Debian is tricky for newbies. Maintaining it is not harder than Ubuntu provided you're using stable.
Looks like Valve may not use a Debian-based distro : https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/155794864305471497/591834042437992448/Screenshot_20190622_053640.png
It's true that from a packager perspective RedHat tools are much more handy than Debian tools.
7 Likes, Who?
Things are moving fast and heavy, these days. Paradigm shift, much?
5 Likes, Who?
I don't think it is last time when people stupidity affect Linux community putting people down. Desktop is damaged enough by X11 vs Wayland shit and with this I guess Linux market share will get to 0 finally and the remaining companies making games for Linux can finally pack and go home.
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I can understand Canonical wanting to push forward technology wise however this just seems like a decision taken based on the server side of their business with little regard for the home user and backward compatibility.
Personally Id like to see a renewed focus on SteamOS however I guess its more likely they throw their support behind Debian or maybe Manjaro.
Last edited by Coolit on 22 June 2019 at 8:12 am UTC
Personally Id like to see a renewed focus on SteamOS however I guess its more likely they throw their support behind Debian or maybe Manjaro.
Last edited by Coolit on 22 June 2019 at 8:12 am UTC
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Interestingly, Valve are now funding some work on KWin (part of KDE). - Added to the article.
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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.
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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
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
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