Re: RE: Cygwin x86 end-of-life

[Jon Turney <jon.turney@dronecode.org.uk>]

On 14/11/2022 21:29, Jason Pyeron wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Brian Inglis
>> Sent: Monday, November 14, 2022 3:17 PM
>>
>> On Mon, 14 Nov 2022 16:25:18 +0000, Jon Turney wrote:> On 11/11/2022 16:16, Jon
>> Turney wrote:
>>>> On 11/11/2022 15:50, Jon Turney wrote:
>>>>> As has previously been announced, Cygwin is dropping support for x86
>>>>> Windows. Cygwin 3.3.6 is the final version supporting x86 (32-bit)
>>>>> Windows, and the forthcoming Cygwin 3.4 will be released for x86_64 only.
>>>>>
>>>>> Concurrent with that, updates to x86 packages will be stopped, and the
>>>>> Cygwin x86 package repository will be archived.
>>
>>>> I plan to pause package uploads this coming Monday (2022-11-14), before
>>>> starting the re-organization of the package repository to make this
>>>> archive.
>>
>>> Since there have been some complaints about short notice, and to give
>>> time to work out the issues with gettext/libunistring, I'm going to
>>> defer this by one week, until Monday 2022-11-21.
>>
>> Thank you very much appreciated, hopefully we can deal with the remaining issues
>> quickly.
> 
> I do not have an articulate retort to ending support, but all I can say is that I feel there must be a middle ground.
> 
> I feel that there could and should be some form of "we don’t support it" but we are not going out of our way to prevent it.

I'm unclear if this means:

(a) "releasing Cygwin 3.4.x DLL for x86 OS"
(b) "don't require x86 uploads, but don't prevent them, either"

The problem I have with (b) is that we probably end up in a state where 
x86 is missing package updates people want or need; or broken, but we 
don't know it, because nobody uses it.

> Can I throw resources at a solution? If so what?

Sure, if that's what you want to do.

According surveys, 32-bit Windows has a fraction of 1% market share, and 
declining. Our own (limited) metrics are in accord with that, so I 
basically see any time I spend on this as wasted.

So, the first resource you'll need provide is manpower.