So, where there is need/desire to keep Debian running long(er) term on
x86 32-bit ("i386") (e.g. Pentium class chips that are not at all
64-bit), what's the best way to go about that?
Recommendations/experiences?
So, e.g. one could ...
Stick with Debian 12 (the last released "i386" installable and kernels),
and continue with that, now into oldstable, into LTS, then perhaps ELTS
or self-support after that. Or ...
Well, one of things I pleasantly discovered on Debian 13, is though it
no longer supports i386 as installable nor provides i386 (686) 32-bit kernels, it does still have most everything else still available in i386 architecture. So, e.g. it is possible (I've done it now, at least for testing on some VMs), to have Debian 12, configure APT and suitable
pinning, such that both Debian 12 and 13 are configured, everything
prefers 13, except the kernels, and all but the kernel(s) is(/are)
upgraded to Debian 13, and with that configuration, the Debian 12
kernels also do still receive their (security, etc.) updates (through oldstable, and later LTS, maybe even ELTS). Meanwhile, all else is
supported and current under stable{,-{updates,security}} (and likewise oldstable for the kernels). I'm also wondering how that's likely to
play out going forward, as Debian 14, etc. are released. Could again, upgrade everything but the kernels, and might still work, but I suspect likely at some future point, other core components/libraries/etc. will
cease to be compatible with a sufficiently too old kernel (or Debian
might more fully drop i386 with some > release).
Anyway, at present do have some (effectively) Debian 13 i386 (all but
kernel, kernel from Debian 12) systems, and wondering about the long(er)
term viability of that (and support, etc.), vs., e.g. just keeping
everything on 12.
And I do of course realize these are relatively untested configurations,
so, at least eventually, some things may break and/or not (fully) work.
But I'm also guestimating, for the most part, only one major version
apart, should for the most part work, notably also as often in-service systems transition through that phase through major version upgrades,
and generally without issue.
So, where there is need/desire to keep Debian running long(er) term on
x86 32-bit ("i386") (e.g. Pentium class chips that are not at all
64-bit), what's the best way to go about that?
Recommendations/experiences?
So, where there is need/desire to keep Debian running long(er) term on
x86 32-bit ("i386") (e.g. Pentium class chips that are not at all
64-bit), what's the best way to go about that?
upgraded to Debian 13, and with that configuration, the Debian 12
kernels also do still receive their (security, etc.) updates (through oldstable, and later LTS, maybe even ELTS). Meanwhile, all else is
supported and current under stable{,-{updates,security}} (and likewise oldstable for the kernels). I'm also wondering how that's likely to
play out going forward, as Debian 14, etc. are released.
Well, one of things I pleasantly discovered on Debian 13, is though it
no longer supports i386 as installable nor provides i386 (686) 32-bit kernels, it does still have most everything else still available in i386 architecture.
Well, one of things I pleasantly discovered on Debian 13, is though it
no longer supports i386 as installable nor provides i386 (686) 32-bit kernels, it does still have most everything else still available in i386 architecture.
IIUC one of the main use-cases of the i386 port nowadays is to support running old (proprietary) i386 binaries in virtual machines. As long as that's kept as one of the goals, then indeed you should be fine if you
can find some other kernel (either from an older Debian or one you
compiled yourself)
Currently I'm using the above setup for my trusty Thinkpad X30.
I don't know how long that'll last, tho.
As others have pointed out, it's hard to justify the effort to maintain
that port since there's a lot of amd64-capable hardware being discarded anyway. In my case, I use my Thinkpad to project the PDF slides when
I teach, where the main value is to show to my students that a computer
older than them can still get regular updates, so they should consider
it *unacceptable* their much more recent devices stop receiving updates.
It's also a good conversation piece when I explain to them that back
when I received that computer, the rate of hardware improvement
suggested that by 2026 we'd have laptops with TBs of RAM and thousands
of CPUs running at >100GHz, so I would have never imagined back then
finding this Thinkpad still usable in 2026 with anything vaguely
resembling modern software.
When Debian finally drops support for i386, I guess I'll just move to
the 3 years older T60 (where I already upgraded the CPU to run amd64),
which is actually a lot more usable (for many/most tasks, I don't
really notice much difference between that and a modern machine).
== Stefan
IIUC one of the main use-cases of the i386 port nowadays is to supportActually, you don't need a virtual machines to run i386 binaries -- you just need the i386 shared libraries. An x86_64 cpu can *natively* run i386 code, and a x86_64 kernel can load 32-bit programs and run them in 32-bit mode.
running old (proprietary) i386 binaries in virtual machines. As long as
that's kept as one of the goals, then indeed you should be fine if you
can find some other kernel (either from an older Debian or one you
compiled yourself)
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