Gentoo Linux, a popular choice among advanced users for its flexibility and customizability, has officially announced the discontinuation of support for the IA-64 (Itanium) architecture.
Developed by Intel in collaboration with HP and launched in 2001, Itanium was designed to address the high-performance computing market, utilizing a unique instruction set architecture known as EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing).
Unlike the more common x86 architecture, which relies on Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC), EPIC enables the processor to execute multiple instructions in parallel, aiming to boost processing speed and efficiency.
However, despite its advanced design and capabilities, Itanium struggled to gain widespread adoption outside specific enterprise and scientific applications, primarily due to compatibility issues with software designed for x86 processors and the rise of more powerful and versatile x86-64 (AMD64) architecture.
Gentoo’s decision to phase out Itanium support was not taken lightly. The Gentoo Council, after a series of discussions on their mailing list and a formal vote (6 in favor, one abstaining), agreed to deprecate the IA-64 architecture. The primary factors influencing this decision include:
- Lack of Kernel and Library Support: With the Linux kernel and glibc no longer supporting IA-64, maintaining Gentoo’s compatibility with Itanium became increasingly challenging. Without these foundational supports, the Gentoo IA-64 team faced significant obstacles in continuing development and updates for this architecture.
- Scarce Hardware and Emulation Tools: The availability of Itanium hardware and functional emulation tools has dwindled over the years, making it difficult for developers to test and debug IA-64-specific issues effectively.
- Low User Interest: The Gentoo user base has shown minimal interest in continuing to use or develop the Itanium architecture. This lack of user engagement makes it difficult to justify allocating resources to support a nearly obsolete architecture.
So, starting from the first half of September 2024, all Itanium-specific profiles and keywords will be removed from Gentoo, and all related bugs in the Gentoo bug tracker will be closed.
This means that users still operating on Itanium systems must look for alternative solutions, such as switching to other Linux distributions that offer Itanium support or transitioning their systems to more commonly supported architectures.
For more information, visit the announcement.
