9 Feb
2021
9 Feb
'21
8:02 p.m.
On Mon, Feb 08, 2021 at 10:55:50PM -0800, John Gilmore wrote:
That was true decades ago, but no longer. In the intervening time, all
the major Linux distributions have stopped releasing OS's that support
32-bit machines. Even those that support 32-bit CPUs have often
desupported the earlier CPUs (like, what was wrong with the 80386?).
Essentially NO applications require 64-bit address spaces, so arguably
if they wanted to lessen their workload, they should have desupported
the 64-bit architectures (or made kernels and OS's that would run on
both from a single release). But that wouldn't give them the
gee-whiz-look-at-all-the-new-features feeling.
So there is currently a *single* volunteer supporting the 32-bit i386
platform for Debian, and in December 2020 there was an e-mail thread
asking whether there were volunteer resources to be able to provide
the necessary support (testing installers, building and testing
packages for security updates, etc.) for the 3.5 years of stable
support. I don't believe the final decision has been made, but if
more people were willing to volunteer to make it happen, or to pay $$$
to provide that support, I'm sure Debian would be very happy to keep
i386 on life support for the next stable release.
Ultimately, it's all about what people are willing to support by
providing direct volunteer support, or by putting the money where
their mouth is. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
- Ted