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# Fedora Looks to Completely Ditch 32-bit Support
- URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/fedora-32-bit-support/
- Published: 2025-06-25T15:30:11.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-01T11:29:14.000Z
- Description: Fedora plans to drop 32-bit packages completely.
- Author: Sourav Rudra
- Tags: Development Updates, News, #Import 2025-11-08 21:15

The demise of the [32-bit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32-bit%5Fcomputing?ref=itsfoss.com) (*i686*) architecture has been slow but well-known within the Linux ecosystem, as popular distributions have stopped providing 32-bit kernel packages, installer ISOs, and other related packages.

For [Fedora](https://www.fedoraproject.org/?ref=itsfoss.com), this started with the Fedora 31 release, where **many 32-bit components were shed** in favor of focusing development and support on 64-bit architectures and improving *multilib* compatibility.

Now, [it looks like](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Drop%5Fi686%5Fsupport?ref=itsfoss.com) Fedora is ready to take the next major step when it comes to 32-bit support.

📋

Since this article went live, there's been [an update](https://news.itsfoss.com/fedora-32-bit-support-stays/?ref=itsfoss.com) to Fedora's plans.  
  
**Updated on July 1, 2025, at 11:30 UTC.*

## The End of 32-bit Support: What’s Proposed?

![a change proposal that is titled drop 32-bit multilib support on x86_64 and stop building packages for i686](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/06/i686-package-drop-fedora-change-proposal.png)

Starting with Fedora 44, support for the 32-bit architecture **is planned to be discontinued in a two-step process** where the first step involves removing 32-bit libraries from the 64-bit (*x86\_64*) repositories, a change that can be reversed if any issues arise.

The second step will permanently end the building of any i686 (32-bit) packages, making the discontinuation of 32-bit support final.

For **those looking to run 32-bit applications**, the developers mention that Wine’s [WoW64](https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/releases/wine-9.0?ref=itsfoss.com#wow64) configuration will be required. This setup enables 32-bit Windows applications to run on 64-bit-only systems without the need for native 32-bit Linux libraries.

As for the reasoning behind this move, here's an excerpt from the change proposal:

> Many projects have already been officially dropping support for building and / or running on 32-bit architectures, requiring either adding back support for this architecture downstream in Fedora, or requiring packaging changes in a significant number of packages to adapt to this dropped support.

> By dropping support for the i686 architecture entirely, this additional - and growing - maintenance burden is eliminated.

In the [discussion thread](https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f44-change-proposal-drop-i686-support-system-wide/156324/?ref=itsfoss.com) for it, **many have opposed this move**, citing concerns that it could break older games, disrupt Steam, affect OBS game capture, and create problems for downstream distributions like [Bazzite](https://itsfoss.com/fedora-could-kill-bazzite/).

Fortunately, **this is still just a proposal in the feedback-gathering phase**. It will only move forward if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee ([FESCo](https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fesco/?ref=itsfoss.com)), which seems unlikely given the strong community pushback.

*💬 Do you think Fedora will proceed with this? Add your thoughts in the comments below!*