Canonical returning 32-bit Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu 19.10 Eoan Ermine

Last week Canonical announced plans to drop 32-bit packages and libraries from Ubuntu 19.10. These packages enable 32-bit software to run on 64-bit versions of Ubuntu. This move would have affected the dozens of Linux distributions based on Ubuntu. Taking away 32-bit support would mean losing a bunch of Steam games. While the Steam client software has a 64-bit version and would be able to run, many of the games on Steam are 32-bit and would become unplayable.


"Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases will not be officially supported by Steam or recommended to our users. We will evaluate ways to minimize breakage for existing users, but will also switch our focus to a different distribution, currently TBD." 
-Pierre-Loup Griffais
 
However after both developers and huge a amount of anger this weekend from gamers. Canonical backed off of their new plans. They say they will now have a community process to determine which 32-bit packages are needed to deal with legacy software. When Ubuntu stopped shipping 32-bit Ubuntu Linux ISOs it didn't seem to be a big deal to anyone. So I'm sure they didn't expect dropping the 32-bit libraries would cause problems. I guess they didn't understand that Steam on Linux has been a boom for GNU/Linux gaming. Plus Valve has always recommended that gamers run Ubuntu Linux. Both Steam and Wine depended on 32-bit libraries.