Hi everybody
Fred, you will get lots of opinions on this thread and obviously the 32 bits users will ask their distro to be supported.
I think it would be good to work this way:
1- get a clear idea of the number of users who are actually use PB to build 32 bits executable in the last year.
You can get that kind of information by making a poll on the purebasic download page, the main doc page online and the forum plus watching specific 32 bits request on the PB forum for the last year.
2- compare that kind of demand to the non specific demand (ie 64 bits that is the 64 bits downloads counts of PB versions).
3- get a clear idea of what they make on the 32 bits as type of applications, what kind of functions / datatypes / structures they use, to determine what's most important for 32 bits user to get implemented first?
If 32 bits is a very very tiny part of the demand and they don't especially require any update because they don't ask for specific new functions, it makes sense to simply keep a reliable version quite static for them and put all your efforts on making the 64 bits versions better.
And if a BIG name or BIG user still use 32 bits then ask him / her to cash out so you can put some efforts in improving the 32 bits version if he / she requires it.
On the other hand, if you're a fond of 32 bits architectures and love programming it, then why not investing a significant amount of time on it because that what gives you a high? Anyway your consumers vote with their money so if they all went 64 bits, then I think that's what you need to support according to the income they generate.
Also if PB is used to make demos and the demoscene still use 32 bits architecture, it makes sense to support the 32 bits. But are they making demos on linux 32 bits? Check the demand on demoscene portals.
It's a bit like if you own a car from the 30's then you know that any kind of repair you'll have to get done will cost you relatively far more for the same service than for a new car: car mechanic able to repair 30's car are a rarity like those cars. The owner may argue that his 30's car is far better built then newer cars, the point is you as a regular car mechanic / application coder can't spent a big amount of time and money on it because your main market is new cars / 64 bits CPU / GPU / OS / APIs (and with the complexity of Linux distros you can't spend time on covering any wim).
Useful links:
Linux stats usage: 47% of developers use Linux, Linux, the third most popular desktop OS, has a market share of 2.09%. (Statista):
https://truelist.co/blog/linux-statistics/
So almost nobody uses Linux as a Desktop OS but this 'nobody' counts for 47% of developers
To get to know exactly how popular which distro is when it comes to PB usage, you need to check your logs:
what the overall linux market says is not what your logs says because the overall market is not the PB market.
