32-bit?

dcraig327 · 2021-08-08 23:55:48

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Offici … s#multilib

How useful are the 32-bit libraries today? That's a bit general. I'm curious what are the 32-bit libraries used for today? I know Steam requires them. I see the wiki mentions wine, do you have to have 32-bit libs to use wine? Beyond steam and wine I'm at a loss what else would be 32-bit.

Also, say you were publishing some software, how important is it to also compile a 32-bit version? What devices or operating systems use/allow 32-bit today?

loqs · 2021-08-09 00:04:14

dcraig327 wrote:

I know Steam requires them. I see the wiki mentions wine, do you have to have 32-bit libs to use wine?

Yes if you are using one of Arch's wine packages. For wine 64bit only in general see Building_Wine#Shared_WoW64.

dcraig327 wrote:

Beyond steam and wine I'm at a loss what else would be 32-bit.

32-bit closed source software you still want to use. Including in that partially open-sourced software that links to a 32-bit blob, for instance lots of vendor printer drivers in AUR.

dcraig327 wrote:

What devices or operating systems use/allow 32-bit today?

32-bit_computing

Last edited by loqs (2021-08-09 00:15:33)

dcraig327 · 2021-08-09 01:11:53

Thank you. I had no clue about wine or the printer drivers.

loqs wrote:

dcraig327 wrote:
What devices or operating systems use/allow 32-bit today?
32-bit_computing

Some info I found out. I'm curious how far of a reach 32-bit still has in hardware land to support software on popular devices. I'm not talking about ALL devices or ALL chips. The software being made here isn't the linux kernel. It's more of a feel for the land. I'd like to see information about x86 PC/laptop hardware being used, comparing 32-bit vs 64-bit, but this is all I could find:

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey - there's less gamers using 32-bit versions of Windows than Linux
Apple dropped support for 32-bit apps with macOS Catalina (2019-10-07) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS#mac … 5_Catalina
Microsoft dropped support for 32-bit apps with Windows 10 version 2004 (2020-05-27), Microsoft will require new OEM devices to use 64-bit processors, and will therefore cease the distribution of x86 (32-bit) variants of Windows 10 via OEM channels. ... Windows 11 dropping 32-bit hardware support altogether. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_1 … quirements

The Windows 10 article a good read to check out the "32-bit" references. There's one that states a 32-bit Qualcomm ARM (2017) will be supported by a 32-bit windows emulator. iirc it was called Windows 10S and wasn't so great back then.

Chromebooks are different. Some use Intel Celeron, some use 32-bit ARM. Many phones & tablets are 32-bit ARM. Still no clear answer, but I'm not a kernel dev. (Thank you kernel devs.) My takeaway are those 2 bullet points. Computers/laptops released today that have macOS or Windows 10/11 bundled are going to be 64-bit.

Last edited by dcraig327 (2021-08-09 01:12:24)

Alad · 2021-08-09 05:21:51

Microsoft dropped support for 32-bit apps with Windows 10 version 2004 (2020-05-27)

I can run 32-bit apps with Windows 10 21H1 just fine.

seth · 2021-08-09 07:19:04

I can run 16 bit apps on windows 10 whatever just fine… (well, technically it's on an emulator)

It's because the article says nothing like

The OP misunderstandingly wrote:

Microsoft dropped support for 32-bit apps with Windows 10 version 2004 (2020-05-27)

wikipedia wrote:

Starting with Windows 10 version 2004, Microsoft will require new OEM devices to use 64-bit processors, and will therefore cease the distribution of x86 (32-bit) variants of Windows 10 via OEM channels.

There's a difference between kernel and userspace 32bit support.
MS will do what arch and a bunch of other distros have done and drop 32bit kernels, but just like arch and a bunch of other distros they will continue to support 32bit userspace processes, because otherwise their customers would eat them alive.

There's a gazillion of 32bit binaries out there; some of which cannot even theoretically be ported and some of which nobody has the source code for anymore or nobody knows who holds their IP.
Support to run those processes won't go anywhere anywhen soon - certainly not as long as the x86-64 architecture is dominating, since it's explicitly 32bit compatible - what is why intel got duped by amd here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IA-64

Awebb · 2021-08-09 09:04:43

You can find this out all by yourself with a couple easy steps for a, say, 80% satisfying answer. Not accounting for possible optional dependencies...

...go to the package page on the top left and select multilib as the only repository. Click search and look at every package that doesn't start with lib32. You've got some Steam and Wine stuff as well as nspluginwrapper, two emulators and some LISP stuff. If you click on any lib32 package, chances are you end up somewhere in the depedency chain of wine and/or steam. If I had to guess, then I'd say the multilib repository is one of the reasons why SteamOS 3.0 is Arch based.

Arch Linux

#1 2021-08-08 23:55:48

32-bit?

#2 2021-08-09 00:04:14

Re: 32-bit?

#3 2021-08-09 01:11:53

Re: 32-bit?

#4 2021-08-09 05:21:51

Re: 32-bit?

#5 2021-08-09 07:19:04

Re: 32-bit?

#6 2021-08-09 09:04:43

Re: 32-bit?

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