After Canonical announced they would be ending 32bit support earlier this year and then adjusting their plans after the backlash, they've now posted what packages they will look to continue supporting.
Canonical's Steve Langasek posted on their Discourse forum a list which they "have been able to determine there is user demand based on the feedback up to this point" and they will "carry forward to 20.04" and that includes other packages not directly in the list that they may depend on.
Additionally, their methodology for picking the packages included ensuring some well-known apps continue working like Unity, Godot, printer drivers and more. The list includes some noteworthy items like SDL 2, Wine, DXVK, Steam, some Mesa packages, a few open source games and so on.
See the full post here, where Langasek did mention to give feedback if you feel essential 32bit packages are missing from their list. It's good to see some clarity surrounding it, hopefully this won't cause any issues now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
It is a bit "meeh". I can't really tell them, wich 32 Bit libs I need - I don't know how to find out....
So I asked for my printer driver and the spotify client.
So I asked for my printer driver and the spotify client.
2 Likes, Who?
Kimyrielle Sep 17, 2019
In all honesty, 32 bit stuff DOES need to go at some point. I mean, for how long is Linux supposed to carry on that old baggage?
That Steam (which is one of the most important Linux applications there is, and is maintained by a multi-billion dollar business) STILL doesn't have a 64 bit client is quite frankly unforgivable.
I would really think they should agree on a reasonable grace period and then elbow people into finally updating their legacy 32 bit apps. If after that date, people still -really- insist on running decades-old software or even older hardware, they can still maintain and build these packages themselves. It's open source software, after all.
That Steam (which is one of the most important Linux applications there is, and is maintained by a multi-billion dollar business) STILL doesn't have a 64 bit client is quite frankly unforgivable.
I would really think they should agree on a reasonable grace period and then elbow people into finally updating their legacy 32 bit apps. If after that date, people still -really- insist on running decades-old software or even older hardware, they can still maintain and build these packages themselves. It's open source software, after all.
6 Likes, Who?
Quoting: KimyrielleIn all honesty, 32 bit stuff DOES need to go at some point. I mean, for how long is Linux supposed to carry on that old baggage?
That Steam (which is one of the most important Linux applications there is, and is maintained by a multi-billion dollar business) STILL doesn't have a 64 bit client is quite frankly unforgivable.
Honestly, how many multi-billion dollar companies offer a great gaming client like steam?
I forgive it easily and with our about 1% marketshare, we should be a little bit cautious with "elbowing out" - it may result in a "we don`t support Linux anymore - sorry".
And playing "old" 32 Bit games is also not that unforgivable, isn't it?
Last edited by einherjar on 17 September 2019 at 4:10 pm UTC
10 Likes, Who?
I was waiting for this since they wrote they would create that list and let users request what they need, and was wondering it would be postponed until a later release now with 19.10 so close.
I have a 19.10 installation on my laptop since July and will test games on it in case some need some 32 bit libraries not on the list and not in the steam runtime.
I have a 19.10 installation on my laptop since July and will test games on it in case some need some 32 bit libraries not on the list and not in the steam runtime.
0 Likes
ElectricPrism Sep 17, 2019
Quoting: KimyrielleIn all honesty, 32 bit stuff DOES need to go at some point. I mean, for how long is Linux supposed to carry on that old baggage?
Okay. Then. Lets just obsolete 32-bit, 64-bit and switch to source only distros like Gentoo then. Because that's the only way we are going to end the cycle of obsoleting 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit 256-bit etc...
Quoting: GuestI disagree. 32bit needs to stay, yet alone for all those 32bit applications/games. How am i supposed to play/use those when they are gone?
Agree. We still have DOSBox to play DOS games and all kinds of containers to keep games working. 32-bit needs to stay -- devs literally no longer have the source code to some games and there is no difference to the average consumer, all they see is "It works" and "It doesn't work".
Steam isn't an idealistic engineer's dream of the perfect system with 0 users, it's a practical middle-ground for all developers will millions of users which delivers games & content to gamers.
8 Likes, Who?
Quoting: KimyrielleIn all honesty, 32 bit stuff DOES need to go at some point. I mean, for how long is Linux supposed to carry on that old baggage?
No, thanks. This isn't about clients, but about a ton of games that will be unplayable without it. Until there is another solution (with adequate performance), it shouldn't go, that's very clear.
Last edited by Shmerl on 17 September 2019 at 4:40 pm UTC
15 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Sep 17, 2019
The ones in the camp of '32 bit has to go anyhow' must not be seeing the big picture. There are tons of binary only software out there that are stuck in perpetuity in 32-bit. Also, you can VERY easily just install 64-bit programs only on your system. Hell Debian doesn't even have 32bit support enabled by default, you have to enable it yourself. So just install a distribution like that, and you can leave us that enjoy having 32 bit compatibility alone.
That said, I have to eliminate Ubuntu from my list of distributions for my '10 Thinkpad' project for LAN games due to their intention to remove 32bit libraries. Might stick with either Solus or Sparky Linux, they seem pretty decent for the task.
That said, I have to eliminate Ubuntu from my list of distributions for my '10 Thinkpad' project for LAN games due to their intention to remove 32bit libraries. Might stick with either Solus or Sparky Linux, they seem pretty decent for the task.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: GuestAt least this is public and stated well in advance. Maybe this needs a little bit more publicity ? I hope this time nobody will be taken by surprise.At least they seem to be learning. :)
Quoting: GuestThat said, Manjaro looks very good.Migrated from Ubuntu (Kubuntu 16.04) to Manjaro like a month ago and so far I can only recommend it. KDE-wise, under Manjaro there is significantly less bugs related to multi-monitor and multiple audio outputs from GPU. Package-wise - it's brutal that probably everything I need is in official repository or glorious AUR, under Ubuntu I had to install a lot of stuff via PPAs (I had dozens of PPAs) and few manually without package manager (and with a few I failed, because packages in Ubuntu were too old and I was too afraid of breaking something I gave up). Frankly, I was expecting a lot of issues and manual work from Manjaro, but I believe it was actually less work to setup (encryption of all drives including OS, mounting, backups, dev tools and such things) than Ubuntu few years ago.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: einherjarIt is a bit "meeh". I can't really tell them, wich 32 Bit libs I need - I don't know how to find out....
So I asked for my printer driver and the spotify client.
Yes, we need a guide how to find out what 32 bit packages are installed and needed.
I try to start:
Start with looking at which 32bit packages you have installed
apt list --installed|grep i386seems to work well for that since it does not show the descriptions that
dpkg -l|grep i386does, which also show uninstalled packages that still have configuration files, and thus gives more.
There is probably also something for snap,
snap listwill give a list of installed snaps, but not tell if they are 32bit or 64bit.
Once you have a list check on the list of 32 packages still maintained for 19.10 and 20.04.
For those not on it check if you actually need it.
If you need it then request it to be kept as 32bit package.
4 Likes, Who?
Apple for example doesn't care about gaming, so they can drop 32-bit using the argument that "it has to go", without any thought about providing a replacement. I suppose Linux ecosystem should differentiate, and use this opportunity to welcome Apple refugees, instead of acting the same.
12 Likes, Who?
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me