Firefox Ending 32-bit Linux Support Next Year
- Reference: 0179032734
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/05/199223/firefox-ending-32-bit-linux-support-next-year
- Source link:
> Firefox has continued providing 32-bit Linux binaries even with most other web browsers and operating systems going all-in on x86_64 support. But given that 32-bit Linux support is waning by distributions and the vast majority of distributions aren't even shipping i686 install images anymore, they will be removing 32-bit Linux builds in 2026.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2025/09/05/firefox-32-bit-linux-support-to-end-in-2026/
[2] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Firefox-Ending-32-bit-Linux
How many tabs could you have open with 32-bit? (Score:2)
I'm guessing 2.
Re:How many tabs could you have open with 32-bit? (Score:4, Interesting)
Firefox can spawn multiple processes to run groups of tabs. The browser as a whole isn't limited to 4GB of address space when compiled as 32 bit.
Old! (Score:4, Insightful)
> "Firefox Ending 32-bit Linux Support Next Year"
It seems sad, but 32-bit-only systems are now really, really old. And browsing the modern Internet with a machine that old has to be really, really, really slow. And it probably has nowhere near enough RAM either (and lord help you if you are swapping onto spinning rust with an ancient 32 bit system).
Re: (Score:2)
i mean not really look at chrome books. you dont need much of a system even for the modern web. and they make some super light linux like tiny core or puppy.
Re: (Score:2)
While the processors are dogshit yes, they are modern architectures that provide better efficiency and a modern GPU that can provide good hardware acceleration. You are unlikely to find either of those things on a 32-bit system, which will make browsing the internet with it painfully slow.
Re: (Score:2)
True, Aquafox on PPC is not by any means quick.
Maybe? (Score:2)
Eh, I am typing this in Firefox on a 64-bit machine that's been used for several years but running 32-bit Windows 7 (I screwed up during installation and don't have time to redo it). So, it's limited to 2 GB of RAM, though it has more physically installed. The machine is only used for web browsing and printing an occasional PDF. Right now it has Firefox and Chrome open, each with several tabs displaying web pages (sometimes I open a third browser for special situations). There are never performance issu
But Steam for Linux still only available as 32-bit (Score:2)
Steam for Linux is the key app that blocked this recent Fedora change - [1]https://www.phoronix.com/news/... [phoronix.com]
Any of their OSes I can see on their [2]https://store.steampowered.com... [steampowered.com] are using 64-bit.
I get old games makes it more difficult, but we need a 64-bit version of Steam to start making progress. They can still maintain old libs for those games in Steam itself (as they already do...)
[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Fedora-43-Change-No-i686
[2] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
Re: (Score:2)
> All of my Linux Steam games have already stopped working.
> Proprietary software is always a ticking time bomb.
It is quite sad how old Linux software often won't run on newer systems. Luckily there is nothing stopping you from running an older Linux in an emulator or virtual machine, but that feels like a sad workaround and you can do the same thing with Windows.
Steam itself really should be 64 bit by now. I run almost no Linux native games, and where there is both a Windows version and a Linux version, I always run the Windows version. Usually the Linux version was half-assed, and/or support is half-assed. It's als
I wonder (Score:2)
I wonder if this means they will stop providing 32 bit binaries only, but you can still compile it yourself. Or are they going to start using 64 bit only statements.
NetBSD and Slackware still compiles Firefox for their 32 bit systems. Will that be able to will continue ? OpenBSD dropped Firefox of i386 a release or 2 ago. FreeBSD is dropping 32 bit support, so a non-issue there.
Re: (Score:1)
When they fired Mr. Eich I ended my support for Firefox, 32-bit or otherwise, and you should too.
Brendan Eich who got cancelled in 2014 for supporting California's Proposition 8 in 2008.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Brendan Eich, I didn't know you had an account here.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Refusing to use the only functional browser over an old political grudge?
That's called cutting off your nose to spite your face.