Update: Linux Arm32 will be supported with .NET 9+.
Hey folks -- A couple of us have been talking about the CoreCLR architecture support roadmap. We're hyper-focused on Arm64 and x64 (alpha order). They are both critical to us. As it relates to Arm, all of our effort has gone into Arm64/Armv8. There have been no substantial improvement in Arm32/Armv7. We're not focused on it. We've started to talk about dropping support for it.
Our current thinking is to support Arm32 through .NET 7 and 8 and then end support after that (with .NET 9). We dropped support for Windows Arm32 some time ago. This thinking is specific to CoreCLR, not Mono.
We encourage Arm32 users to migrate to Arm64 if that's a choice. Our best work on Arm is absolutely on the 64-bit side, and there is more coming. Also, we'd absolutely love more (functional or performance) issue reports on Arm64 to improve it further. This can be on Raspberry Pi class devices or on big servers in the cloud.
The IoT space is an important part of the .NET + Arm ecosystem. Raspberry Pi 3 Model B was the first 64-bit capable Pi and has been available since February 2016. We've been waiting since then for Raspberry Pi to announce their 64-bit OS. In fact, I've tested .NET on Raspberry Pi with Manjaro and also other distros while waiting. Yes, I use Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit now. It's great to see the Raspberry Pi Foundation focused on 64-bit enablement, particularly since most of their hardware lineup (including the latest Pi Zero) is Arm64-capable. We also appreciate that they adopt new Debian versions at a decent pace, but that's a separate topic.
Gosh! We've not even shipped .NET 7 and we're already talking about .NET 9? We plan to be shipping new .NET releases to/for you for a long time. This proposed architecture change (a removal of support) is perhaps the most important one we've considered. We're wanting to start a conversation about it and see if our read of your hardware needs is well-informed or not.
There is at least one party that we know has a hard dependency on Arm32. Assuming that Arm32 is still relevant at the start of the .NET 9 project, we won't delete Arm32 support from the codebase, but enable other parties to efficiently maintain it over time as an upstream project. This is similar to other open source projects.
Some folks might ask if we have similar plans for the other 32-bit platforms we support: Wasm and Windows x86. We also have a community supported port of Mono for Armv6. No changes are planned for those projects. For mobile platforms, we follow the requirements of Apple and Google/Android. As they drop support for 32-bit, so will we.
What are your thoughts on this proposed change?
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