i386 EOL plans for Xubuntu?

[Bryan Quigley]

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for looking towards the bigger picture.   The Lubuntu team is
definitely keeping i386 for the 18.04 timeframe.  That doesn't mean
Xubuntu needs to drop it though.

Another item worth considering is changing the download page to put
more emphasis on the 64-bit version.  Right now, they show up as
equals and I'm sure that some users don't know which to pick - but are
64-bit capable.

Kind regards,
Bryan


On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 7:53 PM, JMZ <florentior at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello team,
>
> Two thoughts.  First, while developed country users have mostly switched to
> amd64, some users in developed countries might still be using i386.  This
> question of i386 legacy users dovetails with "how big should the ISO's be?"
> Second, dropping i386 on xubuntu should be discussed with the lubuntu team.
> There should be one canonical flavor that runs on Intel/compatible single
> chip processors.
>
> Thanks,
> Jordan
>
>
> On 07/11/2016 02:23 PM, Bryan Quigley wrote:
>>
>> Hi Xubuntu team,
>>
>>  From the thread on Ubuntu-devel/discuss [1] I'm going to start
>> conversations with each flavor on what their plans are for i386 in the
>> 18.04 timeframe.  I have some survey results [2] that might help with
>> planning.
>>
>> The general ideas are either:
>> *Start Dropping i386 for Xubuntu now*
>> A. Drop Xubuntu i386 ISO for 16.10
>> B. In addition to A, also block upgrades by dropping packages from
>> i386 archive (say xfwm4, but that would need to wait for other derivs..).
>>
>> Some Pros:  Halves the test cases you need to go through.   Reduces
>> bandwidth usage and makes it more obvious for new users what to
>> download.  (Read other thread for some others)
>>
>> *Wait until after 18.04 and then reconsider dropping i386*
>>
>> Pros:  Maintain older hardware running Xubuntu for another 2+
>> years (up from 3 years).
>>
>> Thoughts?
>> Bryan
>>
>> * You could consider any packages that are 100% specific to the
>> Xubuntu flavor.  I'll be reaching out to Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Studio
>> separately.
>>
>> [1] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2016-June/039420.html
>>
>> [2] The total results for Xubuntu  (48 of the 300 responses - Second
>> most responses).
>>
>> How long do you expect this machine to last?
>> at least 1 year - 3
>> at least 3 years - 18
>> at least 5 years - 16
>> at least 7 years or more - 11
>>
>> What would be the effect if support ended... (1 is no impact, 5 is
>> significant impact)
>> April 2019 (16.04 LTS support ends here for Xubuntu - 3 year LTS)
>> 1 - 5
>> 2 - 6
>> 3 - 8
>> 4 - 9
>> 5 - 17
>>
>> April 2021
>> 1 - 10
>> 2 - 8
>> 3 - 12
>> 4 - 8
>> 5 - 7
>>
>> April 2023
>> 1 - 23
>> 2 - 8
>> 3 - 6
>> 4 - 5
>> 5 - 4
>>
>> i386 - To be clear I mean any 32-bit x86 platform (usually AMD/Intel/VIA).
>>
>
>
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