Proposal to drop 32-bit Ubuntu GNOME support after 18.04 LTS

[Awjin Ahn]

Hey Jeremy,

Could you speak a little more to how the decision was made to drop 32-bit?

Personally, I'm in favor of dropping, but think it will add to the
discussion.

Thanks,
Awjin

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:02 PM, Aryan Ameri <public at aryanameri.com> wrote:

> On 28/3/17 11:08, John Gilmore wrote:
> > The idea of dropping i386 support seems like a step backwards to me.
>
> > If an architecture needs to be dropped due to resource constraints,
> > the obvious one to drop is amd64.
>
> No.
>
> > Every computer capable of running
> > amd64 is also capable of running i386.  There are essentially no
> > applications that inherently require a 64-bit address space
>
> First of all, as the announcement made clear, ASLR hugely benefits from
> 64-bit address space.
>
> Secondly, the extra registers in AMD64 increase binary performance.
>
> Third, a lot of software benefits hugely from AVX and AVX2, from Blender
> to handbrake to GIMP. But compiling software to i386, users would forgo
> on 15 years worth of advancements and extensions to x86.
>
> Fourth: One of the biggest advancements in computer security in the last
> 15 years has been the introduction of NX bit, which is not available in
> 32-bit x86.
>
> Finally, a lot of us have more than 4GiB of RAM, and PAE is an ugly hack
> that incurs extra performance penalty.
>
> > probably hundreds of
> > millions, of computers can run i386 without trouble, but cannot run
> > amd64.  (Yes, I do regularly use multiple computers, including an
> > Atom-based netbook and a Pentium III server, that can't run amd64.)
>
> You use an Atom-based netbook and a Pentium III server with Ubuntu Gnome?!
>
> You run Gnome 3.2x on a Pentium III?!
>
> I'd like to see that in action.
>
> PS: You should buy a new atom CPU and replace that Pentium III with. It
> costs $60 and pays for itself in your reduced electricity usage in less
> than a year.
>
>
> > Why
> > is Ubuntu-GNOME throwing away this advantage that it has long held
> > over Windows?
>
>
> Engineering for the lowest common denominator has many extra costs.
>
> > For those who care about secure computing, the vendors who ship amd64
> > architecture chips have polluted them with embedded processors that
> > subvert the security of the system.
>
> >  Anyone who truly cares
> > about having full control over their computing environment is stuck
> > with buying older CPUs and motherboards.
>
> There are plenty of open architectures around where you have complete
> control over the ISA and can inspect the the CPU. OpenPOWER and RISC-V
> are two examples that come to my mind. I suggest you get yourself a
> POWER 8 system from IBM, it probably still uses less power than your
> Pentium III.
>
> >
> > The main reason to prefer amd64 over i386, despite the cost in
> > compatability, seems to be simple trendiness.  Processor chic.
>
> Oh wait. You pretend to care about security but have not heard of ASLR
> or NX bit. Or maybe ASLR is also just "chic"?
>
> >
> > Finally, there is the bold but false statement in the wiki page, "If
> > you are running 64-bit capable hardware there are absolutely no valid
> > reasons to be running a 32-bit operating system."
> >
> >   https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGNOME/32bit_support
> >
> > What I think the author meant is that THEY could not conceive of a
> > reason to run a 32-bit operating system.  Or perhaps that every end
> > user who has a reason to run a 32-bit operating system is not "valid"
> > in their choice.
>
> If you have a CPU supporting AMD64, there is no valid reason for running
> 32-bit x86 OS on it. Period.
>
> > This seems more like hubris than wisdom to me.
>
> Or maybe it just shines a light on your ignorance.
>
> > Different users have different situations and different needs.
>
> Of course. And there will always be Slackware for you. Unless Patrick
> Volkerding gets hit by a bus.
>
> --
> Aryan Ameri
>
>
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