Get the latest tech news
Debian 64-bit-time transition
Contents Current Status The t64 transition is ongoing (end March 2024) in Debian Co-ordination is occurring on #debian-devel IRC A fairly complete analysis of ABI changes was done from May-Oct 2023. About 495 library packages change ABI, and between 5063 and 5975 packages which depend on those will need a no-change rebuild.
However there is quite a lot of cost-sensitive 32-bit computing still out there, and still shipping new devices (automotive, IOT, TVs, routers, plant control, building monitoring/control, cheap Android phones). Most such new hardware will be running build-from-source OSes like OpenEmbedded, or Alpine, Android, or Gentoo, but the Debian-based niche is likely to remain for some years, and some stuff built with it is likely to be in use/installed for long enough to hit Jan 2038. A large in-place transition will affect all of Debian, but only benefit the remaining 32-bit arches, so we do need to try and do this reasonably efficiently in order not to hold things up for too long.
Or read this on Hacker News