Fedora 37 Looks To Stop Building Unused i686 Packages

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Fedora 37 Looks To Stop Building Unused i686 Packages

The latest change to be proposed for the Fedora 37 release later this year is encouraging package maintainers to drop unused 32-bit x86 (i686) packages...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-37-Stop-Unused-i686-Pkgs

[stormcrow]

I just disposed the last of my P4 class hardware for my upcoming cross country move. Yeah, the systems that ran at 90-100W (or more) even idle. Couldn't legitimately justify the space and weight nor the power drain. PowerEdges weigh a ton, and the old Dell Inspiron laptop with a blasted Celery CPU was pretty useless. I figured if I want to play with a 32 bit system I'll just plug in my Pi B+. Still, even though I hadn't used either of them for years, I had a twinge of nostalgic sentimentalism dumping them.

I love retro computing, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's best to just toss it out. There's very little I could do with ia32 that can't be done with x86-64 save for emulating some generational hardware or firmware bugs - which are usually make/model specific anyway (usually broken I/O on certain motherboards).

[CochainComplex]

The only reason I see for proper 32bit support are old controlling/industrial/medical/aerospace systems where replacement or emulation might cause some serious bugs

[scottishduck]

The only reason I see for proper 32bit support are old controlling/industrial/medical/aerospace systems where replacement or emulation might cause some serious bugs

Correct, and these systems exclusively run some extremely special maintained branch of a very old windows or Linux branch, so modern support does not affect them at all.

[CochainComplex]

Correct, and these systems exclusively run some extremely special maintained branch of a very old windows or Linux branch, so modern support does not affect them at all.

It think that Steam also should finally abandon 32bit - note sure how difficult it is. But I never had to install any 386 libs since years unless it was steam related.

[r_a_trip]

It think that Steam also should finally abandon 32bit - note sure how difficult it is. But I never had to install any 386 libs since years unless it was steam related.

The problem isn't Steam itself, it is the old 32 bit games that would stop working without a 32 bit environment. These games will probably never get a 64 bit recompile. Without 32 bit libs, Steam would lose a lot of older titles.

[skeevy420]

Sort of related -- the other day I was wondering why this isn't Compiler Month or CPU Optimization Month or something like that?

This month is MArch after all.

I wonder how many of those companies use older 32-bit operating systems in a VM on a newer system? After some time it would have to be a nightmare to source working parts. Rewrite it in Rust before it turns to rust.

[skeevy420]

It think that Steam also should finally abandon 32bit - note sure how difficult it is. But I never had to install any 386 libs since years unless it was steam related.

The client, sure. That'd be convenient. They'd still have to hide some 32bit within their various runtimes to cover older games, but it'd be nice if their client went 64-bit only.

[CochainComplex]

The client, sure. That'd be convenient. They'd still have to hide some 32bit within their various runtimes to cover older games, but it'd be nice if their client went 64-bit only.

Yeah, you are right ...missed the obvious

[skeevy420]

Yeah, you are right ...missed the obvious

Story of my life