Title: 32-bit s390 support dropped
Author: Andreas K. Hüttel <dilfridge@gentoo.org>
Posted: 2026-06-28
Revision: 1
News-Item-Format: 2.0
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0/systemd
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0/split-usr
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0/time64
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0/time64/systemd
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/s390/23.0/time64/split-usr

The legacy 32bit ABI support for IBM S390 mainframes is on the way out just
about everywhere:
* Pure 32bit hardware is by now nonexistent (64bit support exists since 2002).
* Full 32bit kernel support is gone since 2014.
* The 32bit ABI userspace emulation layer has been dropped in the kernel since
  version 6.19.
* glibc will drop 32bit ABI support in version 2.44.
* gcc will drop 32bit ABI support in version 17.
As a consequence, Gentoo will also drop support for it, effective immediately.
There will be no stage builds anymore. The 32bit profiles will be marked
deprecated and experimental, no longer receive any testing, and be removed
in the next profile version. Corresponding bug reports may get ignored or
closed immediately. If you are still using this configuration, we urge you to
find an alternative.

This does *not* affect the 64bit code ("s390x", CHOST=s390x-ibm-linux-gnu)
with its profiles and stages.