Hi Dave,
Since this news item was not posted on the 1st of april I guess this is not a joke - just to make sure: Is this really true, there won't be a 32-bit Arch Linux from November 2017? I ask this because we recently (okay, about 2-3 years ago) switched to Arch Linux for our devices, those devices run on 32-bit only and they will exist for at least the next seven years. We are in the railway industry, things don't change monthly.
It's true, but: There are community efforts to keep archlinux running on 32 bit.
This fact puts us in trouble. I see that manufacturers don't produce much 32-bit hardware any more (there still is though!) but there is still a lot of 32-bit hardware around that still runs and is meant to run for quite some time.
I think it's bad to discontinue 32-bit systems when still corresponding hardware is in use, this would support the same waste that other manufacturers push (e.g. XYZ that doesn't support its mobile phone one year after releasing it).
Am I the only one who thinks that way?
nope, you're not the only one. Check out archlinux32.org and/or visit the irc channel (#archlinux-ports on freenode.net) for further infos. However, this is still a work in progress - but I'm confident, we get things running until november. If all goes smooth, the transition for you should be as easy as changing your mirrorlist and updating your pacman-keyring.
Thanks for your clarification, arguments, thoughts, ideas!
Just some other thoughts: Arch is not the most stable linux I've seen (frankly, it's quite unstable, because it's so bleeding-edge) - why do you prefer it on "old" hardware in production - you certainly don't need all the new fancy (and partly buggy) software, do you?
Best Regards Dave
Cheers, Erich