Steam and most of the content it delivers requires 32bit libraries to link into. Steam could build for 64bit, but it won’t help the gigantic amount of games that are 32bit also.
It would look a lot like steam on macos looks; so many games that technically should work, but have a little 🚫 next to them because macos bo longer ships with the 32bit libraries needed.
Steam is doing that, though rather piecemeal. Both their client and runtime are moving towards 64-bit.
but it won’t help the gigantic amount of games that are 32bit also.
Doesn’t WINE’s WOW64 implementation solve this? Albeit with a non perfect compatibility.
because macos bo longer ships with the 32bit libraries needed.
I have no idea what the MacOS software landscape looks like, but if it uses WINE it might just be its silver bullet? If Steam does move towards 64-bit only, they would want to keep it compatible with Linux, due to their SteamOS ecosystem, and in turn MacOS users could also reap the benefits.
In the case of macos, it doesn’t even use proton. As for windows games on linux, I’m unsure of the exact specifics so I can’t argue them with you. The issue is any game with a linux build will require 32bit libraries to be available, and the community would have to do all of that support themselves.
Ah. I understand now. I can see most distros dropping support for 32-bit libraries if this happens, my guess would be distro derivatives mantainers taking this burden instead. It’s not gonna be pretty for old or abandoned 32-bit linux builds.
Steam and most of the content it delivers requires 32bit libraries to link into. Steam could build for 64bit, but it won’t help the gigantic amount of games that are 32bit also.
It would look a lot like steam on macos looks; so many games that technically should work, but have a little 🚫 next to them because macos bo longer ships with the 32bit libraries needed.
Steam is doing that, though rather piecemeal. Both their client and runtime are moving towards 64-bit.
Doesn’t WINE’s WOW64 implementation solve this? Albeit with a non perfect compatibility.
I have no idea what the MacOS software landscape looks like, but if it uses WINE it might just be its silver bullet? If Steam does move towards 64-bit only, they would want to keep it compatible with Linux, due to their SteamOS ecosystem, and in turn MacOS users could also reap the benefits.
In the case of macos, it doesn’t even use proton. As for windows games on linux, I’m unsure of the exact specifics so I can’t argue them with you. The issue is any game with a linux build will require 32bit libraries to be available, and the community would have to do all of that support themselves.
Ah. I understand now. I can see most distros dropping support for 32-bit libraries if this happens, my guess would be distro derivatives mantainers taking this burden instead. It’s not gonna be pretty for old or abandoned 32-bit linux builds.