14 DAY TRIAL // Due to recent escalations, Canonical updated their view on the removal of support for the i386 (32-bit) architecture for Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases to assure users 32-bit apps will still run on the Linux-based operating system.
Last week, Canonical announced that they will completely deprecate support for 32-bit (i386) hardware architectures in future Ubuntu Linux releases, starting with the upcoming Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine) operating system, due for release later this fall on October 17th. However, the company mentioned the fact that while 32-bit support is going away, there will still be ways to run 32-bit apps on a 64-bit OS.
As Canonical didn't give more details on the matter at the time of the announcement, many users started complaining about how they will be able to run certain 32-bit apps and games on upcoming Ubuntu releases. Valve was also quick to announce that their Steam for Linux client won't be officially supported on Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases, so now Canonical has clarified the situation a bit saying only updates to 32-bit libraries are dropped.
"I’m sorry that we’ve given anyone the impression that we are “dropping support for i386 applications”. That’s simply not the case," said Steve Langasek. "What we are dropping is updates to the i386 libraries, which will be frozen at the 18.04 LTS versions. But there is every intention to ensure that there is a clear story for how i386 applications (including games) can be run on versions of Ubuntu later than 19.10."
32-bit on Ubuntu: To be, or not to be
Therefore, if you still have a 32-bit (i386) PC and want to run 32-bit apps, Canonical offers you several alternatives. For example, you can use the long-term supported Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) release, which will receive updates until April 2024. While it doesn't have a 32-bit ISO image, the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) release also supports 32-bit apps, and there's also the case of conternized apps like Snaps and Flatpaks.
The reality is it's mid 2019 and most of us own computers, phones, and tablets powered by 64-bit hardware and 64-bit operating systems. Apple is a pioneer in adopting the 64-bit architecture for all of its operating systems and apps, so it's time for the Linux community to do the same and for the world to forget about the 34-years-old i386 (x86) family of instruction set architectures, as numerous GNU/Linux distributions already did.
Ubuntu being one of the most popular Linux-based operating systems, it is recommended by several major hardware manufacturers and it's expected to support 32-bit computers from 20 years ago. However, as Canonical's recent surveys showed, this is not the case anymore as 32-bit users have become a minority. Canonical already dropped 32-bit ISO images for Ubuntu, and now they want to completely drop 32-bit support, so it's time to move on and embrace 64-bit.
Update: Canonical issued a press statement regarding 32-bit application support in Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases, stating that they will work closely with the Wine and Ubuntu Studio communities to build selected 32-bit (i386) packages for the upcoming Ubuntu 19.10 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS releases to ensure certain applications and games run properly through the Snaps and LXD containers. More details are available here.