[GNC] gnucash v 2.6.19 or newer on 32bit linux

Adrien Monteleone adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net
Mon May 9 12:19:48 EDT 2022 

If I recall correctly, the original plan was to stop 32-binaries & 
installers for 18.04, but the outcry resulted in a back-track. 
(thankfully, too many good machines in perfect working order out there, 
I manage several.)

The big push was Steam, but there were some other libraries that needed 
to continue 32-bit support. Canonical then realized they could continue 
to provide builds, sans stand-alone installers, but with the caveat that 
they won't take bug reports because they got rid of (or have a lack of) 
the physical hardware for testing. I think there are some core packages 
and libraries they try to continue to patch and support however.

I could almost bet that I installed 18.04 with fresh 32-bit installers, 
but I could be misremembering.

Regards,
Adrien

On 5/9/22 7:48 AM, Robert Heller wrote:
> *I* know for sure that Ubuntu 18.04 will run on a 32-bit machine (I have it on
> a VM).
> 
> The deal is this:  Ubuntu no longer provides *installers* for 32-bit machines
> -- I believe 16.04 is the last version of Ubuntu that includes installer /
> live CD ISOs for 32-bit machines.  Once you have a 32-bit version installed,
> you can always do a 'do-release-upgrade' on that 32-bit machine and it will
> upgrade to the next release -- on a 32-bit Ubuntu 16.04, do-release-upgrade
> will get you Ubuntu 18.04, then doing it again (after rebooting), you will
> have a 32-bit version of 20.04, and then doing it yet again, you will have
> 22.04, still 32-bit.  I don't know if (when?) Ubuntu will stop building 32-bit
> binaries -- I suspect that as long as there remain support for 32-bit in the
> kernel and as long as gcc supports compiling for a 32-bit target, you will be
> able to upgrade a 32-bit machine.  The only really issue is what happens when
> certain critical parts for that 32-bit machine stop being available.  OTOH,
> the only really 32-bit parts (CPU, motherboard, and memory) could last
> indefinately -- the only parts that will wear out would be some of the
> capacitors on the motherboard, which could be replaced.  It should even be
> possible to replace the CPU fan.  I don't know if there are BIOS issues with
> very large disks or if there will be some sort of "brick wall" issue with a
> 32-bit kernel dealing with ginormous disks -- I suspect that even a 32-bit
> kernel will have no trouble a 1KT drives, but by then the issue will be
> whether or not a it makes sense to get a hover mod for your Ford model A...
> :-)
> 
> 
> At Mon, 09 May 2022 08:02:00 -0400 "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Jonathan,
>>
>> I'm not a Linux person, but a search online turned up
>>
>> https://askubuntu.com/questions/768415/where-can-i-find-32-bit-version-of-ubuntu
>>
>> Which suggested that 18.04 was available for 32-bit:
>>
>> https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/18.04.5/release/xubuntu-18.04.5-desktop-i386.iso
>>
>> I also found:
>>
>> https://askubuntu.com/questions/1376090/latest-version-of-ubuntu-for-i386-architecture-32-bit
>>
>> Which links to:
>>
>> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/
>>
>> But I don't profess to understand the contents at that second link. I leave it to you to sort it out.
>>
>> According to the Gnucash wiki, 18.04 has  2.6.19. Such an upgrade might be a major undertaking...
>>
>> David
>>
>> On May 9, 2022 12:19:28 AM EDT, Jonathan Francoeur <goedible at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi David.  Thank you for asking.  I am using Linux Lite, Ubuntu 16.04 and GNU Cash 2.6.12 on the older machine.  As far as I know, I can not install any newer version of Ubuntu on this 32bit machine.
>>>
>>> Hi Adrien.  I'm kinda scared of attempting to build a newer version of GNU Cash without knowing that someone else has done so successfully.  I'm not that good with computers and the list of dependencies looks daunting to me.  Thank you for your suggestions none the less.
>>>
>>> On 3/25/22 4:25 AM, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
>>>> I think it would be helpful to know a bit more about the versions of Gnucash on the two machines. The message he got was that he needed *at least* 2.6.19, not that he needed to use it.
>>>>
>>>> Jonathan, does this imply that your older machine is running Ubuntu 16.04? The Gnucash wiki says that 16.04 had 2.6.12, while 18.04 had 2.6.19. The vintage of Ubuntu might affect your options here.
>>>>
>>>> And if your older system has a version greater than 2.6.19 on it, something else has gone wrong, and more info would be needed.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On March 24, 2022 9:20:25 PM EDT, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>>>> Caveat:
>>>>>
>>>>> You can have some dependency issues on that old machine that might
>>>>> prevent building the current version or using Flatpak.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd think you *should* be able to build 2.6.19 or 2.6.21 though. (2.6.21
>>>>> was the last 2.6 version)
>>>>>
>>>>> Please do report back what you are able to accomplish.
>>>>>
>>>>> If nothing works, consider possibly using RDP or VNC to your 64bit
>>>>> machine rather than a local install.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Adrien
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/24/22 8:00 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>>>>>> Jonathan,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You should be able to build a current version of Gnucash on your 32bit
>>>>>> machine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> See the instructions here:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Building
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And you can update to current on your 64bit machine to match.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You might also be able to use the Flatpak if you don't want to build.
>>>>>> (I'd try that first)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Adrien
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 3/23/22 2:52 AM, Jonathan Francoeur wrote:
>>>>>>> I have my accounts in dropbox and I was using a newer version of GNU
>>>>>>> cash on my 64bit computer.  Now I"m trying to use the files on my
>>>>>>> older 32bit computer and I get the error:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This Dataset contains features not supported by this version of
>>>>>>> GnuCash. You must use a newer version of GnuCash in order to support
>>>>>>> the following features:
>>>>>>> * Use account GUID as key for bayesian data and store KVP flat
>>>>>>> (requires at least Gnucash 2.6.19)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have not been able to install the Gnucash 2.6.19 from the tar.gz
>>>>>>> files.  I'm used to using .deb files on following instructions by copy
>>>>>>> pasting in to the terminal.  I haven't found anything like that for
>>>>>>> installing a newer version on GNU cash on a 32bit linux machine.  Any
>>>>>>> ideas?
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
>>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>>>>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>>>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>>>>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see
>>>>>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>>>>>> -----
>>>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>>>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>>>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>>>>> -----
>>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>>>> -----
>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>> -----
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>
>>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

More information about the gnucash-user mailing list