Ubuntu will still support 32bit

Canonical is back on the decision to stop supporting 32bit applications. After much criticism, the company has decided to continue supporting a ‘selected number’ of 32-bit packages for Ubuntu.

The change of direction is the result of “the large amount of feedback” from gamers, Ubuntu Studio, and the WINE community, Canonical reports.: “We are changing plans and are building a select number of 32bit i386 packages for Ubuntu 19.10 and 20.04 LTS. .”

However, the support will not cover the entire 32bit software library. The company engages the community to select the packages. In collaboration with community members, Canonical wants to determine for itself which 32-bit packages are needed for software support. The option to add packages at a later time remains open.

Last week Canonical announced that it would discontinue 32bit support from Ubuntu 19.10. It would take too much time for developers to maintain that, and only a small number of users would be served by it. The move received a lot of criticism from gamers in particular, because there are still a lot of 32bit games for Linux on Steam. Valve then decided to no longer support Ubuntu 19.10 and later versions.

Canonical says it is surprised at the fierceness of the discussion about the end of 32bit support. The company says it has been running this since 2014. The company thought it had reached consensus for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS after an extensive thread on the subject related to 18.04 LTS. The organization also maintains that most 32bit x86 packages are hardly used. In the eventual end-of-life procedure, Canonical wants to use containers to continue to allow running old applications.