Brief: Arch Linux joins the growing list of Linux distributions that terminated support for 32-bit systems.

Arch Linux has ended support for i686 architecture i.e 32-bit systems. This is not a sudden decision because an announcement was made in January this year. Decreasing popularity was cited as the driving factor behind this decision: “Due to the decreasing popularity of i686 among the developers and the community, we have decided to phase out the support of this architecture.”

Since March 2017, 32-bit images of Arch Linux have not been available. Which means you can only install Arch Linux 64-bit version for some time now. Existing 32-bit installs were given this ‘grace period’ to plan their switch to other Linux distributions that still support 32-bit processors.

After a 9-month deprecation period, the time has come to put 32-bit Arch into the ground.

Arch Linux broke the news yesterday that “By the end of November, i686 packages will be removed from our mirrors and later from the packages archive”. It also states that the [multilib] repository will not be affected.

In other words, Arch Linux 32-bit will stop getting any updates starting today. By the end of this month, Arch Linux distribution will only work on computers based on the x86_64 architectures i.e. 64-bit systems. The 32-bit Arch install will not get any kind of updates or install any program, practically making them useless.

Arch Linux 32-bit lives in the form of archlinux32

One of the reasons why I love Linux is its open source nature and the enthusiastic community.

Meet archlinux32, a community maintained fork of Arch Linux 32-bit. Check out their official website:

archlinux32

Transition instructions from Arch Linux to archlinux32 are also explained. Check out the transition instructions. A dual-bootable installation media has also been made available for users.

What do you think about Arch ending support for 32-bit systems? Please share your views in the comment section.