Architecturally, many Linux distributions are removing 32-bit support, so these old binaries don't have much time left.

Well 32-bit kernels yes. 32-bit binaries not so much.

Besides, it should be possible to patch them. Just append zeroes to every memory operation. Or run them within QEMU or something. This stuff is so old that any performance penalty will be unnoticeable.

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yjftsjthsd-h 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> many Linux distributions are removing 32-bit support,

Are they? Fedora, sure, but they're Fedora. The only others I've seen are deprecating 32-bit host support while retaining multilib support for applications.

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chasil 4 days ago | parent [-]

It's gone from rhel 10, which will cause my successor great difficulty.

I am retiring next year, and I will not be fixing this.

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kragen 4 days ago | parent [-]

They'll just install Debian, probably.

	▲	chasil 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		"The corporate standard is rhel." "But the engineering group uses Ubuntu extensively?" "The corporate standard is rhel. We cannot discuss anything else." As I am soon retiring, I won't have to watch this demolition derby.

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asveikau 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Of course running a 32 bit binary is a different, lower effort problem than say, running on a 32-bit kernel.