AIO for 32-bit?

Hi,

will AIO for 5.1.6 and 5.2 be available for 32-bit Windows?

There have been discussions about the 32bit cost:benefit return. It was costing the AIO maintainer a day to build and test each 32bit package release. We had no reliable indication there was still anyone using the 32bit.

It is limited to 4GB addressable memory. Any that’s a pretty tight restriction for running a big database in Python.

It you still have a need for 32bit support, please explain the need.

The need is defined by the 32-bit Windows. Upgrading that to a 64-bit version is not easy, I think, but would require a full re-install, if at all possible on the user’s hardware.

When your machine has no more than 4 GB RAM, 32-bit Windows is more efficient, for the simple reason that 32-bit code needs less memory for all the administrative tasks that an OS does, which can be quite a lot.

A large memory is also not needed for Gramps. With my Karel de Grote tree, with about 640,000 persons, Gramps needs about 640 MB RAM, so that’s about 1 kB a person.

Fun fact: RootsMagic advises all users to download the 32-bit version of their program, unless they are absolutely sure that they need 64 bits. I have the 32-bit version here, and it loads that same tree in only 300 MB, so it looks like they know what they’re doing.

I am still using a 32-bit machine and I am currently not planning to buy a new computer with 64-bit architecture.
At present I am restricted to version 5.1.5. and can’t upgrade to higher versions of Gramps.

It is implicit that a person probably has a 32-bit Windows machine when they are asking about the 32bit AIO package.

Could say which model? It helps if we have an idea of which generation we’re discussing.

Every time Gramps has to move to a new version of GTK, Python or and of the libraries (typically because support for the earlier version has been discontinued); it takes significant effort to create downward compatibility.

Over time support for 32-bit components Gramps uses is dwindling. See this related thread: MSYS2 no longer supporting 32-bit bulids.. @prculley has a way to build the 32-bit components, but with the 64-bit build being fully scripted recently, I wonder about the time needed to keep the 32-bit builds on par with the 64-bit ones.

Statistics on installs of the 32-bit AIO would be helpful in determining cost-benefit.

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In theory, you could by moving to a 32 bit Linux. Here’s a list:

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