Cygwin x86 end-of-life

[Brian Inglis]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2022 16:16:28 +0000, 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.
> 
> When package updates resume (I don't have an ETA, but I expect it will 
> take a few days to attend to all the details), attempts to upload x86 
> packages will be rejected with an error.

>> (Instructions on the special steps needed to install from that archive 
>> will be forthcoming, once we've worked out what they are.)
>> 
>> If you're using x86 Cygwin under WOW64 on a 64-bit Windows OS, please 
>> strongly consider moving to an x86_64 Cygwin installation.
>> 
>> (If you have ARM hardware, we believe that x86_64 Cygwin works correctly 
>> using the x86_64 emulation in Windows 11)
>> 
>> If you're one of the tiny percentage of Cygwin users using x86 Cygwin on 
>> a real x86 Windows OS, don't panic! The current installation will 
>> continue to run on your system. You just won't get any more updates.

Give that it took anyone two months after my notices to this list that grep 
would be issuing warnings, and a month after release, before anyone responded, 
and that includes project leadership, providing less than a week's notice is 
obviously insufficient for most to even notice, given that it appears that many 
may not regularly read this list, have any time this month, be busy, or away on 
business or vacation, for weeks.

This appears to be a fairly major undertaking with previously unanticipated and 
unannounced impacts.
It also appears that detailed plans about what this work entails and impacts 
have not yet been fully worked out, no timeline is available, and the details 
and timeline of what is being done is only just being mentioned on this list, 
and not being detailed here or on the general public list for notice and feedback.

I think it is only fair that full details of the impact and timelines should 
first be worked out for whatever next steps need to be taken, and posted to this 
list, the announce, and general public lists, with sufficient notice before 
taking action.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis			Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte			Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter	not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer	but when there is no more to cut
			-- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry