Change of scope and target market for i386

[Nicholas Skaggs]

This means 32-bit images / tests can also be removed from the isotracker.

Nicholas
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dimitri John Ledkov <***@ubuntu.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Change of scope and target market for i386
To: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-***@lists.ubuntu.com>, ubuntu-release <
ubuntu-***@lists.ubuntu.com>, Ubuntu Desktop Discussion <
ubuntu-***@lists.ubuntu.com>


Dear Release team,

Please action the below and remove Ubuntu Desktop i386 daily-live
images from the release manifest for Beta and Final milestones of
17.10 and therefore do not ship ubuntu-desktop-i386.iso artifact for
17.10.

As a followup to this thread it has been confirmed that argumentation
below is sound, and furthermore there is no longer any effective qa or
testing of the desktop product on actual i386 hardware (explicitly non
x86_64 CPUs).

There are no other changes requested to d-i, mini.iso, archive, or the
upgrade paths.

Regards,

Dimitri.

######
NB! this is a mailing list for developers, and this is a _proposal_
that I want to discuss with the *buntu developers. There is no need to
OMG this, especially since this is a recurring discussion every single
development cycle for many years now...
######
Hello,
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
* Netinst
* Board-specific pre-installed builds
i386 architecture is changing.
It is no longer the default, nor most widely used architecture on the
traditional form factors: desktop, laptop, rack servers.
But i386 is becoming more of a purpose built architecture, similar to
how in the past "embedded" devices label was applied. Today, I would
call it an IoT; single purpose device; and a cloud/container guest
architecture.
Ubuntu website download pages have stopped advertising traditional
i386 images for either desktop, server, or cloud, without any
significant backslash and without any noticeable drops in the download
rates.
Therefore I would like to propose the following change of scope for
the i386 architecture.
= Continue to provide for i386 =
* The Ubuntu archive with security updates
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* netinst
= Discontinue to provide for i386 =
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
= Rationale for change =
* Expand and grow deployments in the IoT devices sector
* continue to support the declining i386 classic desktop/server user

base

* Maintain support for minimal / workload-specific cloud deployments
(cloud & container guests)
= Flavors =
Flavor leads and developers, please consider if the above structure
would also be suitable for your target market and user bases. I.e.
Continue to provide packages and the upgrade path, but discontinue to
manufacture the i386 full-sized / live-cd installation media.
--
Regards,
Dimitri.

--
Regards,

Dimitri.

--
ubuntu-desktop mailing list
ubuntu-***@lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop

[flocculant]

Post by Nicholas Skaggs
This means 32-bit images / tests can also be removed from the isotracker.
Nicholas

Carefully so it only affects Ubuntu or any flavour that wants to drop 32
bit ...

:)

Post by Nicholas Skaggs
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Change of scope and target market for i386
Dear Release team,
Please action the below and remove Ubuntu Desktop i386 daily-live
images from the release manifest for Beta and Final milestones of
17.10 and therefore do not ship ubuntu-desktop-i386.iso artifact for
17.10.
As a followup to this thread it has been confirmed that argumentation
below is sound, and furthermore there is no longer any effective qa or
testing of the desktop product on actual i386 hardware (explicitly non
x86_64 CPUs).
There are no other changes requested to d-i, mini.iso, archive, or the
upgrade paths.
Regards,
Dimitri.

######
NB! this is a mailing list for developers, and this is a _proposal_
that I want to discuss with the *buntu developers. There is no need to
OMG this, especially since this is a recurring discussion every single
development cycle for many years now...
######
Hello,
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
* Netinst
* Board-specific pre-installed builds
i386 architecture is changing.
It is no longer the default, nor most widely used architecture on the
traditional form factors: desktop, laptop, rack servers.
But i386 is becoming more of a purpose built architecture, similar to
how in the past "embedded" devices label was applied. Today, I would
call it an IoT; single purpose device; and a cloud/container guest
architecture.
Ubuntu website download pages have stopped advertising traditional
i386 images for either desktop, server, or cloud, without any
significant backslash and without any noticeable drops in the download
rates.
Therefore I would like to propose the following change of scope for
the i386 architecture.
= Continue to provide for i386 =
* The Ubuntu archive with security updates
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* netinst
= Discontinue to provide for i386 =
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
= Rationale for change =
* Expand and grow deployments in the IoT devices sector
* continue to support the declining i386 classic desktop/server user

base

* Maintain support for minimal / workload-specific cloud deployments
(cloud & container guests)
= Flavors =
Flavor leads and developers, please consider if the above structure
would also be suitable for your target market and user bases. I.e.
Continue to provide packages and the upgrade path, but discontinue to
manufacture the i386 full-sized / live-cd installation media.
--
Regards,
Dimitri.

--
Regards,
Dimitri.
--
ubuntu-desktop mailing list
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement]

Post by Nicholas Skaggs
This means 32-bit images / tests can also be removed from the isotracker.

Right but the tracker is made so that removing them for the development
release would also remove them for previous releases and we still need
them for Xenial point releases.

JB.

Post by Nicholas Skaggs
Nicholas
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Change of scope and target market for i386
Dear Release team,
Please action the below and remove Ubuntu Desktop i386 daily-live
images from the release manifest for Beta and Final milestones of
17.10 and therefore do not ship ubuntu-desktop-i386.iso artifact for
17.10.
As a followup to this thread it has been confirmed that argumentation
below is sound, and furthermore there is no longer any effective qa or
testing of the desktop product on actual i386 hardware (explicitly non
x86_64 CPUs).
There are no other changes requested to d-i, mini.iso, archive, or the
upgrade paths.
Regards,
Dimitri.

######
NB! this is a mailing list for developers, and this is a _proposal_
that I want to discuss with the *buntu developers. There is no need to
OMG this, especially since this is a recurring discussion every single
development cycle for many years now...
######
Hello,
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
* Netinst
* Board-specific pre-installed builds
i386 architecture is changing.
It is no longer the default, nor most widely used architecture on the
traditional form factors: desktop, laptop, rack servers.
But i386 is becoming more of a purpose built architecture, similar to
how in the past "embedded" devices label was applied. Today, I would
call it an IoT; single purpose device; and a cloud/container guest
architecture.
Ubuntu website download pages have stopped advertising traditional
i386 images for either desktop, server, or cloud, without any
significant backslash and without any noticeable drops in the download
rates.
Therefore I would like to propose the following change of scope for
the i386 architecture.
= Continue to provide for i386 =
* The Ubuntu archive with security updates
* Ubuntu Core snappy architecture images
* Cloud images
* Container images
* Server subiquity img/iso
* netinst
= Discontinue to provide for i386 =
* Server classic img/iso
* Desktop live
= Rationale for change =
* Expand and grow deployments in the IoT devices sector
* continue to support the declining i386 classic desktop/server user

base

* Maintain support for minimal / workload-specific cloud deployments
(cloud & container guests)
= Flavors =
Flavor leads and developers, please consider if the above structure
would also be suitable for your target market and user bases. I.e.
Continue to provide packages and the upgrade path, but discontinue to
manufacture the i386 full-sized / live-cd installation media.
--
Regards,
Dimitri.

--
Regards,
Dimitri.
--
ubuntu-desktop mailing list
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop