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Bug#1124838: release-notes: 5.1.2. Reduced support for i386: provides incorrect information

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Package: release-notes
Severity: important
X-Debbugs-Cc: martin-eric.racine@iki.fi

Release notes for i386 currently state:

"The i386 architecture is now only intended to be used on a 64-bit (amd64) CPU.
 Its instruction set requirements include SSE2 support, so it will not run 
 successfully on most of the 32-bit CPU types that were supported by Debian 12."

"Users running i386 systems should not upgrade to trixie. Instead, Debian recommends
 either reinstalling them as amd64, where possible, or retiring the hardware.
 Cross-grading without a reinstall is a technically possible, but risky, alternative."

The second paragraph is especially problematic since 32-bit hardware cannot run 64-bit binaries. What it should instead state:

"Users running i386 systems should therefore not upgrade to Trixie. Starting with
 Debian 13, the i386 architecture is only intended to be used on 64-bit (amd64) CPUs.
 Its instruction set requirements include SSE2 support, so it will not run successfully
 on most of the 32-bit CPUs that were supported by Debian 12. While it should still
 work on Intel Core and newer CPUs, users are strongly discouraged from upgrading.
 Instead, Debian recommends retiring all 32-bit hardware."

It would be desirable for the above text to be updated accordingly ASAP.

Thanks!
Martin-Éric

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Bug#1124838: release-notes: 5.1.2. Reduced support for i386: provides incorrect information Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> - 2026-01-07 10:50 +0100
  Bug#1124838: release-notes: 5.1.2. Reduced support for i386: provides incorrect information Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com> - 2026-01-07 12:00 +0100
  Re: Bug#1124838: release-notes: 5.1.2. Reduced support for i386: provides incorrect information Richard Lewis <richard.lewis.debian@googlemail.com> - 2026-01-08 00:50 +0100
  Re: Bug#1124838: release-notes: 5.1.2. Reduced support for i386: provides incorrect information Richard Lewis <richard.lewis.debian@googlemail.com> - 2026-01-09 23:00 +0100

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