The loss of 32bit is a BIG nono and openSUSE should fix it!

English Soapbox
41

On Sun, 22 May 2016 20:46:01 +0000, usalabs wrote:

> So, 32bit IS essential where other software that hasn’t yet been built
> on an X64 platform is still being used.

No, actually, it isn’t - because you can run 32-bit software on a 64-bit
platform.

32-bit is going the way of the dinosaur. Many distros either have
dropped it or have announced that they’re dropping it.

In any event, though - as always - if there are enough people who want a
32-bit version enough to make it happen, then it’ll happen. openSUSE is
a community distribution, and members of the community who want it are
more than welcome to organize an effort to make it happen.

That’s how open source works.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

42

On Sun 22 May 2016 08:46:01 PM CDT, usalabs wrote:

I agree with a lot of people, 32bit is ESSENTIAL not just because as
someone said “32bit is only for 32bit computers” WRONG!!!, I for one
made the biggest mistake going, I upgraded from OpenSuSe 12.1 to 42.1
(Leap) using the web installer for distribution upgrade, and because
it’s all x64, mono-complete and mono-core, is x32 (mono -V shows
architecture: x86) which in fact relies on libgdiplus libraries which
are by default in 42.1, x64 and thus any calls to it from mono will
crash mono, so yeah 32bit is essential for other software that has not
yet changed to x64.

I (used to) run a virtual world development system on my home server
(heavily relying on mono and mysql) before upgrading which was 32bit,
but since I upgraded, this is not possible now, because of an
architecture conflict between mono and the libgdiplus.so library, and
downgrading is not possible because there’s over 80GB if files that I
can’t backup unless someone can provide a backup medium that can backup
80+GB of data in just 10 minutes.

Upgrading was a cinch, but if I had known that upgrading would change
the architecture to x64 I would have stayed with 12.1_X86

So, 32bit IS essential where other software that hasn’t yet been built
on an X64 platform is still being used.

EG.

mono -V shows architecture: X86 (32bit)

/sbin/ldconfig -p | grep libgdiplus

libgdiplus.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/local/lib/libgdiplus.so.0
libgdiplus.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/lib64/libgdiplus.so.0

which shows libgdiplus is X64 and running the virtual world software
using mono shows:-

[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.TypeInitializationException:
The type initializer for ‘System.Drawing.GDIPlus’ threw an exception.
—> System.DllNotFoundException: libgdiplus.so

Which means mono is looking for a 32 bit libgdiplus.so library and it
will not be found, because all the libraries in OpenSuSe 42.1 are 64Bit.

Hi
It’s still lurking on OBS (like 32bit mono has gone the way of the
dinosaur :wink: )…
https://build.opensuse.org/package/binaries/Mono:Factory/libgdiplus?repository=openSUSE_Leap_42.1

Grab the i586 devel rpm, extract the required lib from the rpm and pop
it into /usr/lib and run the command /sbin/ldconfig else look at
running tumbleweed 32bit in a VM for your development work.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE Leap 42.1|GNOME 3.16.2|4.1.20-11-default
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please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

43

It’s probably possible to run a version beyond EOL,
But of course that’d mean you’d be on your own.
No updates.
No official and very little community support.

You’d just need to <really> get to know what you’re doing (since you’d be on your own) and you probably need to have a very good backup system.
You’d need to severely restrict access to the system since it would become <very> vulnerable, so no Internet access and probably limited private network access. Modify network directory services to make the machine harder to discover. Install monitoring software.

It’s like planning to survive a world apocalypse.
If you do it well, you’ll survive as long as you don’t suffer something you can’t solve on your own.

For now, you may want to upgrade to 13.2 (since it still supports 32-bit natively) or Tumbleweed (although TW regularly risks breaking), 13.2 is scheduled to be supported until sometime early next year. You have that long to prepare if this is what you want to do.

TSU

44

It all depends. 32 bit is fine for server only applications, not desktop OS systems, unless it is something very basic.

45

A generalization that probably wouldn’t be true if you’re talking about line of production apps in general, both Server and Desktop.
Some webservers can benefit greatly by the greater address spaces provided by 64-bit, particularly under heavy load.
Database apps, like MySQL or Hadoop or a variety of others will <definitely> benefit in a multitude of ways, including not only resource usage but also crunching larger numbers at a time. In many cases 32-bit versions no longer exist.

IMO,
TSU